Christian antiquities -- Great Britain; Folklore -- Great Britain; Great Britain -- Antiquities
We shall now be equipped for steady work in eliminating all those
examples of miscalled barrows, which are, in truth, castle-mounds. The
path will then be cleared for an advance. Without pretending to give a
complete catalogue, we must notice some of the better-known mottes. The
hillocks at Barwick-in-Elmet, Yorkshire, Great Canfield, in Essex, and,
possibly, Towcester, in Northampton, belong to Dr J. H. Round’s group of
mounds without castles[160]. The Great Canfield motte-and-bailey (Fig.
15, p. 54 _supra_) is a fine specimen. It is remarkable from the fact
that a stream was diverted to provide the moat with water. Moreover, it
seems likely that there was a dam on the North-East, by which the supply
could be augmented from the river Roding. The interesting Norman church
of the village lies at the North-West angle of the earthwork.
Laughton-en-le-Morthen, near Rotherham, contains another noteworthy
motte. We know that the church of the village contains some masonry
belonging to the latter part of the tenth century[161]. Hence we are
moved to ask, Was the mound also of pre-Norman date, or did the Norman
settlers elect to rear their fortress near a spot already famous? In our
next chapter, we shall touch on a matter which is of interest in this
connection.
To continue the survey: we find that most counties afford examples of
mottes raised near churches. Lancashire, in addition to the cases
mentioned, contributes the Melling fortress to our list[162]; Yorkshire
gives us another mound, that of Bardsey, from the district once covered
with the Forest of Elmet. In Lincolnshire, we find Owston, where a
portion of the ditch is still visible[163], and Redbourn, which has its
Castle Hill, and traces of a moated area, often described by the older
topographers. Buckinghamshire yields, at the village of Cublington, a
somewhat unusual hillock, which is probably a moated mound,
[Illustration:
FIG. 17. Pirton church and Toot Hill, Hertfordshire, from the
South-East. The portion of the ditch in which the children are
standing frequently holds water. Further to the left, but out of
the picture, a stretch of the moat is permanently filled with
water.
]
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