Yet another kind of defensive earthwork is to be found in the shape of walls, ramparts, or ditches surrounding the sites of ancient villages. Of this we have a local example in Kingsbury Castle, an old fortified village lying to the south-west of the city of St Albans, and covering an area of about 27½ acres. The village stood upon a hill, of which the summit has been planed off and the material employed to form steep banks or ramparts, one of which was partially thrown down to form the present Verulam Road, while another portion persists in the shape of a steep fall in the gardens or yards at the back of the houses on the north side of Fishpool Street. The main structure of the castle was demolished during the tenth century, and the remnant about the year 1152. It may be added that the clay-pits on the north side of Kingsbury Castle are the reputed source of the material of the Roman bricks of which Verulam is built. The gigantic earthworks of the type of Beech Bottom and Grimm’s Dyke have been mentioned in an earlier section. 18. Architecture. (_c_) Domestic--Famous Seats, Manor Houses, Cottages. With the advent of less troublous times at the close of the Wars of the Roses a marked change is noticeable in the plan and architecture of the residences of the great noblemen and country gentlemen. The need for castles or fortified houses ceased to exist; and attention was consequently directed to comfort rather than strength in the construction of country mansions. Fortunately a number of these fine old Tudor residences have survived in different parts of the country; but many have been replaced by other later structures built on the old foundations. These Tudor mansions usually took the form of a large house built round a quadrangle, the hall occupying the middle portion of the building, with flanking wings on both sides. The building material depended upon the locality and on the taste and means of the owner; but in this county brick was extensively employed by the Tudor, and still more so by the Stuart builders. In lordly country seats, as well as in mansions of a less pretentious type, dating from the Tudor period downward, Hertfordshire, owing doubtless to its well-wooded and picturesque scenery, its good soil, bracing climate, and proximity to the metropolis, is especially rich, and in this respect presents a marked contrast to the neighbouring county of Essex. The majority of these houses, however, have been either completely rebuilt or more or less extensively altered at later epochs. [Illustration: Hatfield House, South Front]