B. WATLING STREET AND THE DANELAGH THE MILITARY ORIGIN OF THE BOROUGHS D. THE WORDS 66 CASTRUM" AND "CASTELLUM" PAGE 302 FIG. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Motte-Castles from the Bayeux Tapestry :-Dol, Rennes, Dinan, 2. Anglo-Saxon MS. of Prudentius 3. Wallingford, Berks; Wareham, Dorset 4. Eddisbury, Cheshire; Witham, Essex 5. Plan of Towcester about 1830 6. Shoebury, Essex 1. Typical Motte - Castles :-Topcliffe, Yorks; Laughton-en-leMorthen, Yorks; Anstey, Herts; Dingestow, Monmouth; Hedingham, Essex 10. Bourn, Lincs; Bramber, Sussex 11. Caerleon, Monmouth; Carisbrooke 12. Carlisle; Castle Acre, Norfolk 13. Clifford, Hereford; Clitheroe, Lancs; Corfe, Dorset 14. Dover (from a plan in the British Museum, 1756) . 15. Dunster, Somerset ; Dudley, Staffs. 16. Durham Frontispiece FACING PAGE 7. Willington, Beds 8. Arundel, Sussex; Abergavenny, Monmouth 9. Barnstaple, Devon; Berkhampstead, Herts; Bishop's Stortford, Herts 17. Ely, Cambs; Ewias Harold, Hereford; Eye, Suffolk 18. Hastings, Sussex; Huntingdon 19. Launceston, Cornwall; Lewes, Sussex FIG. 20. Lincoln 33. Tonbridge, Kent; Totnes, Devon 34. Trematon, Cornwall; Tutbury, Staffs 35. Wallingford, Berks 21. Monmouth; Montacute, Somerset ; Morpeth, Northumberland . 22. Norham; Nottingham 23. Norwich (from Harrod's Gleanings among the Castles and Convents of Norfolk, p. 133) 24. Okehampton, Devon; Penwortham, Lancs; Pevensey, Sussex . 25. Oxford (from Oxonia Illustrata, David Loggan, 1675) 26. Pontefract, Yorks; Preston Capes, Northants; Quatford, Salop. 27. Rayleigh, Essex; Richard's Castle, Hereford 28. Richmond, Yorks; Rochester, Kent 29. Rockingham, Northants 30. Old Sarum, Wilts 31. Shrewsbury; Skipsea, Yorks 32. Stafford; Tamworth, Staffs; Stanton Holgate, Salop; Tickhill, Yorks FACING PAGE 166 168 172 36. Warwick; Wigmore, Hereford 37. Winchester (from a plan by W. Godson, 1750) 38. Windsor Castle (from Ashmole's Order of the Garter) 39. York Castle and Baile Hill (from a plan by P. Chassereau, 1750) 40. Motte-Castles of North Wales:-Mold, Welshpool, Wrexham, Mathraval 41. Motte-Castles of South Wales :-Cilgerran, Blaenporth, Chastell 44. Scottish Motte-Castles :-Annan, Moffat, Duffus, Old Hermitage 174 178 180 188 192 194 202 204 208 212 220 226 228 232 234 236 244 260 282 290 294 310 336 THE EARLY NORMAN CASTLES OF THE BRITISH ISLES CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY THE study of earthworks has been one of the most neglected subjects in English archæology until quite recent years. It may even be said that during the first half of the 19th century, less attention was paid to earthworks than by our older topographical writers. Leland, in the reign of Henry VIII., never failed to notice the "Dikes and Hilles, which were Campes of Men of Warre," nor the "Hilles of Yerth cast up like the Dungeon of sum olde Castelle," which he saw in his pilgrimages through England. And many of our 17th- and 18th-century topographers have left us invaluable notices of earthworks which were extant in their time. But if we turn over the archæological journals of some fifty years ago, we shall be struck by the paucity of papers on earthworks, and especially by the complete ignoring, in most cases, of those connected with castles. The misfortune attending this neglect, was that it left the ground open to individual fancy, and each observer formed his own theory of the earthworks. which he happened to have seen, and as often as not, A stated that theory as a fact. We need not be surprised to find Camden doing this, as he wrote before the dawn of scientific observation; but that such methods should have been carried on until late in the 19th century is little to the credit of English archæology. Mr Clark's work on Mediaval Military Architecture (published in 1884), which has the merit of being one of the first to pay due attention to castle earthworks, counterbalances that merit by enunciating as a fact a mere guess of his own, which, as we shall afterwards show, was absolutely devoid of solid foundation. The scientific study of English earthworks may be said to have been begun by General Pitt-Rivers in the last quarter of the 19th century; but we must not forget that he described himself as a pupil of Canon Greenwell, whose careful investigations of British barrows form such an important chapter of prehistoric archæology. General Pitt-Rivers applied the lessons. he had thus learned to the excavation of camps and dykes, and his labours opened a new era in that branch of research. By accumulating an immense body of observations, and by recording those observations with a minuteness intended to forestall future questions, he built up a storehouse of facts which will furnish materials to all future workers in prehistoric antiquities. He was too cautious ever to dogmatise, and if he arrived at conclusions, he was careful to state them merely as suggestions. But his work destroyed many favourite antiquarian delusions, even some which had been cherished by very learned writers, such as Dr Guest's theory of the "Belgic ditches" of Wiltshire. A further important step in the study of earthworks was taken by the late Mr I. Chalkley Gould, when he founded the Committee for Ancient Earthworks, and |