Page:VCH Berkshire 1.djvu/360

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A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE dug up here during the last 150 years, but no signs of earthworks now remain. 1 WINKFIELD. At the extreme southern boundary of the parish and county, and south of the Easthampstead and Bagshot road is a field known as ' Roman Down,' where fragments of tiles and Romano- British pottery were ploughed up in 1783. At that time, 'in one corner of the farm was a small spot of ground enclosed with a vallum and a deep fosse without it, deep enough to take in a road waggon, tilt and all.' It has since been destroyed.* South SOUTH MORETON. CASTLE MOUNTS [CLASS D] Fortified mounds, that is to say circular mounds surrounded by a fosse, and intended rather as a place of defence than for sepulchral purposes, seem to be rare in this county. Perhaps some of those formerly in existence have afterwards developed a bailey and then a castle, or being small and not very conspicuous earthworks have totally disappeared. Three are here described under this heading, though these do not absolutely conform to the defini- tion ; and perhaps several more may be found which have been classed under the heading of tumuli. SOUTH MORETON. To the west of South More- ton Churchyard is a curious unfinished earthwork consisting of an irregularly circular mound with a deep trench excavated nearly all round it. It lies close to the brook, and seems to have been intended for a small fortifica- tion, but was never completed. READING. The mound in the Forbury Gardens at Reading should probably be classed under this head, though no ditch round it is now to be seen. As, however, there appear to have been further earthworks without it at some former time, its purpose seems to have been defensive rather than sepulchral. WALLTNGFORD. St. Peter's Church seems to stand on an artificial mound close to and commanding the old ford. The houses round it now disguise its form, but it seems likely that this was once a fortified mound. Cough's Camden, i. 225. Davey, Wantage Past and Present, 12. 2 Arch. vii. 266 FORBURY HILL, READING.