The Precincts of Mottingham Castle.

T

'HE Council made arrangements for an inspection of the surroundings of the Castle, on the afternoon of the 27th of July, 1904, when some seventy members assembled at the Castle Gateway at 2.30 p.m. Mr. Wm. Stevenson, of Hull (formerly of Nottingham), kindly undertook to act as guide on the occasion. Before start

ing the party assembled in the Drill Hall, where Mr. Stevenson explained that it was his intention, that day, not to follow the beaten track of written history, or to call attention to anything within the enclosure of the Castle, but to endeavour to interest the members in the unwritten history of its precincts and the Castle Rock itself. He asked them mentally to view this great sandstone rock, terminating suddenly at its southern end, as it appeared thousands of year ago, before any earthworks, or buildings, much more any stronghold, were placed upon it; in other words, to view it in the state in which nature formed it, viz.: high and steep on its western side, precipitous on the southern side, easy or undulating on its eastern side, and level on its northern line. Such a place, naturally defended on two sides, would be one of the first to be seized upon as a place of safety by early man, who would artificially defend it on the weak sides. by ditch and bank. This he no doubt did in a primitive way by cutting a trench, east of the ridge, from the cliff where Castle Terrace now stands to the top of St. James's Street, thence slanting it off westward through the present Hospital Buildings to the top of Park Row, where that

street joins the Ropewalk. There is undoubted evidence of such a work having been accomplished, and, although it has played little or no part in history, it was a work of amazing magnitude, and must have occupied a long time in making, before it accomplished the object for which it was designed; and it is marvellous that in its period of decay, it should have been so completely obliterated as it is to-day, when it appears merely as a slightly sunken road and a parish boundary. Even its old name "The Hollows," which survived till the first quarter of the 19th century when the Standard Hill property was built upon, has been lost.

Throughout the whole of its line from the east end of Brewhouse Yard to the top of Park Row, this great earthwork is rated as a hundred, a manor, a county, and a parish boundary. It is outside the mediæval castle, the south or lower part being utilised as its eastern defence. Its north or higher part has long been filled up, and used as a public road; its day as a great line of earthern defence must have passed away a thousand years ago.

Our first authority on this great work is the late Rev. James Orange, in his "History of Nottingham" (vol. I, page 477), who, speaking of the above neighbourhood, says: "There is a ditch opposite the top of St. James's Street, the eastern terminus of which may be discovered by anyone going along the Hollows; for a little above St. James's Church, in the wall bounding that side of the road, just at the southern extent of the hospital pleasure ground, the crown of an arch rises about 8in. above the flags, which, when this wall was built, it was found necessary to spring, because there was no substantial foundation. This was part of the ditch which stretched north-west from this place, extending under the new western wing of the hospital, and terminated

where the old postern used to stand." He further says (alluding to the west end of Hounds Gate), "About 1797 after the workmen had dug down 14 ft., they came to a solid cart road which used to be the surface. This accident supplies us with the means of ascertaining the depth of the ditch outside the castle walls eastward."

The second authority is the late James Shipman, F.G.S., who wrote a work, "Excavations at Nottingham General Hospital" (Nottingham: F. Murray, 1899), and furnishes plans, sections, and text, illustrative of the subject, connected with the recent erection of the great circular ward of the General Hospital. The cost of the foundations was materially enhanced, as they struck into two ditches, the greater one 50 or 60 ft. wide; the a smaller one on the north side, a few feet distant, about 13 ft. wide. The depth of the former is about 33 ft. below the present level of the lawn, 8 ft. of which has been added above the old road surface since the site was adapted for hospital purposes. The depth of the latter is about 17 ft. below the present lawn surface, 8ft. of the covering was found to be modern, reposing on an old road pavement. "The ground was all loose soil; the ditches followed a general east to west line, and cut across the top of the hill-side."

The south end of this great ditch is not obliterated by filling in, and is now known as Castle Road.

The northern end of this great pre-historic earthwork was the point from whence the manor line, now called Park Row, was drawn; this was a ditch and bank, improved as time went on and the science of military engineering developed, with a wall of stone and an impassable moat. The northern part of the enclosed area was a grass field, which in the middle ages was made historic as a camp, in the midst of which King Charles I. raised his standard in 1642, and ventured his all on

the fitful chance of war.

In connection with this enclosure, it may be mentioned that the town ditch terminated westward at its northern point, and here was situate the "postern bridge," of Edwardian origin, a name that wore down on the tongues of our fathers to Boston bridge, a construction rudely figured on the first map of the town, dated 1610, but by an evident error placed on the wrong or inside line of the wall.

We have no details of this postern itself, unless we identify it with that named by Thoroton (p. 490), when the walling of the town was decided upon; for Henry III., in the last year of his reign (1272), at the instigation of Walter Giffard, Archbishop of York, then the custodian of the Castle, commanded "his Bayliffs and Burgesses of Nottingham, without delay, to make a Posterne in the wall of the said Town, near the Castle towards Lenton, of such a breadth and height that two Armed Horsemen, carrying two Lances on their shoulders, might go in and out, where W. Archbishop of York had appointed it, who made the King understand that it was expedient for him and his heirs and for the Castle and Town." If this be accepted, it was a construction as large as the existing Castle entrance itself.

The site of the present north gateway of the General Hospital, facing the Ropewalk, fairly represents that of the departed postern, a spot where the three parishes of St. Mary, St. Nicholas, and Standard Hill still join hands.

Mr. Stevenson then proceeded to call attention to the Castle bridge, which led to the outer gate of the mediæval fortress, a construction still largely original, and clearly about 600 years old. He pointed out that the outer face of the great arch is chamfered, and a corresponding detail may be traced on the opposite end of the arch. The bridge is constructed of local material on