ANCIENT EARTHWORKS The London and North-Western Railway cut through the work 40 years ago, but the broken lines may be traced on each side of it. A moat, averaging 40 feet in breadth, pierced for the entrance on the south, en- closes the inner ward. There are remains of a strong interior rampart, which on the east side leaves the moat and turns back towards the river, starting from a circular mound commanding the entrance. The same moat then continues in a straight line on the west until it bends at a right angle to enclose the outer ward. It also is stopped for the entrance, and then continues, 30 feet wide, until it joins a much broader flat- bottomed cutting which comes up from the river at a right angle. This measures 68 feet across the top, and gradually widens to 104 feet at the bottom, shelving down towards the water all the way. It is 170 feet long to the point where the railway embankment interrupts it. On the other side of the line, the old river bank of hard gravel, 12 feet high, is sliced through to meet it, some 230 feet in width, and the water bays in at this point as into a harbour. The two other moat ends which appear on this side of the line are stopped before they reach the water, with only narrow runnels in communication with it, which may or may not be original. The Rev. A. Orlebar, vicar of the parish, remembers that before the line was made the water invaded the whole extent of this har- bour, and in winter it used to be a favourite haunt of skaters. At the harbour head there are ramparts on both sides, some 8 or 9 feet high above its bed ; and also on both sides of the moat which joins it. Outside all these works, and enclosing them, the outermost entrench- ment ran, well preserved on the east side and evident on the south, although a modern road occupies the fosse. The east fosse is 20 feet in width, and the inner rampart 6 feet above the bottom of it. Following down towards the river a curious feature occurs near the railway. The moat suddenly widens into a small oblong 35 feet wide by 72 feet long by 6 feet deep, and then continues down towards the harbour mouth. These dimensions are almost the same as those of the ' nausts,' ship- sheds or small docks of the old Vikings in Iceland, such as the Floka- naust on the Vatsnfiord, intended for the single ship of Hrafn Floki, one of the earliest settlers in the ninth century. His ' naust ' was close to his house, and the outer wall of it was an earthen bank, as here. 1 At the head of the harbour is another oblong sinking, 1 10 feet by 60 feet, and there is a gap in the rampart between it and the harbour of 25 feet to allow of communication. The west side of this enclosure is shelving, but the other two are clearly cut, and its level is slightly above that of the harbour. This may have been another 'naust' or dock. The distance between the side of the harbour and the small 'naust' is 60 feet. The latter has two shelving entrances at the foot, some 18 feet wide, and there is a similar depression in the side of the harbour. 2 Close to the eastern entrance to the ' naust ' is the root of a circular mound, 25 feet in diameter by 3 feet high. There is a small additional 1 Thorsteinn Erlingsson, Ruins of the Saga Time (Viking Club), p. 87.
- The Northmen were wont to drag their ships overland on rollers, which they carried with them.
283
