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it is a Danish earthwork, thrown up by the Danes when they besieged the city in 885. But if our contention in Chapter IV. is just, the Danish fortifications were not mottes, nor anything like them; and (as has already been pointed out) the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle indicates the nature of the fortress in this case by its expression, "they made a work around themselves";1 that is, it was a circumvallation. Moreover, at Rochester the Danes would have had to pass under the bridge (which is known to have existed both in Roman and Saxon times) in order to get to the Boley Hill; and even if their ships were small enough to do this they would hardly have been so foolish as to leave a bridge in their possible line of retreat. It is therefore far more likely that their fastness was somewhere to the north or east of the city.2

It is a noteworthy fact that up till very recently the Boley Hill had a special jurisdiction of its own, under an officer called the Baron of the Bully, appointed by the Recorder of the city. This appears to date from a charter of Edward IV. in 1460, which confirms the former liberties of the citizens of Rochester, and ordains that they should keep two courts' leet and a court of piepowder annually on the Bullie Hill. The anonymous historian of Rochester remarks that it was thought that the baron represented the first officer under the governor of the castle before the court leet was instituted, to whose care the security of the Bullie Hill was entrusted." This is probably much nearer the truth than the theory which would assign such thoroughly feudal courts as those of court leet and

1 "Ymb sætan tha ceastre and worhton other fæsten ymb hie selfe." See ante, p. 49, note 2.

2 Mr Hope suggests the east side, as the north was a marsh. 3 History of Rochester (published by Fisher, 1772), p. 285.

ROCHESTER-ROCKINGHAM

201

pie-powder to an imaginary community of Danes residing on the Boley Hill. When we compare the case of the Boley Hill with the somewhat similar cases of Chester and Norwich castles we shall see that what took place in Edward IV.'s reign was probably this: the separate jurisdiction which had once belonged to an abandoned castle site was transferred to the citizens of Rochester, but with the usual conservatism of mediæval legislation, it was not absorbed in the jurisdiction of the city.

The value of Rochester at the time of the Survey had risen from 100s. to 20/1 The increase of trade, arising from the security of traffic which was provided by William's castles on this important route, no doubt accounts in great measure for this remarkable rise in value.

ROCKINGHAM, Northants (Fig. 29).-Here, also, the castle was clearly new in William's reign, as the manor was uninhabited (wasta) until a castle was built there by his orders, in consequence of which the manor produced a small revenue at the time of the Survey.2 The motte, now in great part destroyed, was a large one, being about 80 feet in diameter at the top; attached to it is a bailey of irregular but rectilateral shape (determined by the ground) covering about 3 acres. There is another large bailey to the S. covering 4 acres, formed by cutting a ditch across the spur of the hill on which the castle stands, which is probably later. The first castle would undoubtedly be of wood, and it is probable that King John was the builder of the "exceeding fair and strong" keep which

1 D. B., i., 56.

2 "Wasta erat quando Rex W. iussit ibi castellum fieri. Modo valet 36 solidos." D. B., i., 220.

2

stood on the motte in Leland's time,1 as there is an entry in the Pipe Roll of the thirteenth year of his reign for 126/. 18s. 6d. for the work of the new tower. This keep, if Mr Clark is correct, was polygonal, with a timber stockade surrounding it.

Rockingham was only a small manor of one hide in Saxon times, though its Saxon owner had sac and soke. It stands in a forest district, not near any of the great ancient lines of road, and was probably built for a hunting seat.

The value of the manor had risen at the time of the Survey.R

During the Civil War, the motte of Rockingham was fortified in an elaborate manner by the Parliamentarians, part of the defences being two wooden stockades :* an interesting instance of the use both of mottes and of wooden fortifications in comparatively modern warfare. Only the north and west sides of this mount now remain.

OLD SARUM, Wilts (Fig. 30).—-Sir Richard Colt Hoare printed in his Ancient Wiltshire a document purporting to be an order from Alfred, "King of the English," to Leofric, "Earl of Wiltunshire," to maintain the castle of Sarum, and add another ditch to it." The phraseology of the document suggests some doubts of its genuineness, and though there would be nothing

1 "I markid that there is stronge Tower in the Area of the Castelle, and from it over the Dungeon Dike is a drawbridge to the Dungeon Toure." Itin., i., 14.

2 "In operatione nove turris et nove camere in cast. 1267. 18s. 6d." 3 D. B., i., 120.

4 See the plan reproduced in Wise's Rockingham Castle and the Watsons,

p. 66.

5 Vol. i., p. 224: cited by Mr Irving in his valuable paper on Old Sarum in Arch. Journ., xv., 1859. Sir Richard made a vague reference to an MS. in the Cottonian and Bodleian libraries, for which Mr Irving says he has searched in vain.

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