Page:VCH Derbyshire 1.djvu/454

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A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE though the hard and rocky ground of Peakland prohibited the exten- sive use of the spade or its early forerunner ; whilst every variety and age of the subsequent classes has at least some representatives. 1 Of Class A Derbyshire has three examples all memorable, the Carl's Wark, Comb Moss, and Markland Grips. The first of these, which has more of stone than earthwork about it, has received considerable attention at the hands of both competent and incompetent writers ; whilst the last has hitherto met with the most strange neglect and silence. There are also three good examples of Class B, Cronkstone, Fin Cop, and Mam Tor, taking them in alphabetical order ; but whilst the last is still singularly fine, and in a well-known and commanding position, the other two are much less important and considerably obliterated. Class C includes rectangular works of no small interest of the Romano- British period, such as the forts of Melandra and Brough, but these come within the scope of the article on Romano-British Remains. Eight other examples have been placed in this division as coming under the head of ' simple enclosures ' of a circular form. Staden Low (pro- bably a former stone circle) can scarcely be called ' simple,' for it has a small rectangular enclosure associated with one of circular shape ; but it would otherwise have had to form a class to itself. Of Class D there are at least five Derbyshire instances, Holmesfield, Hope, Tapton, and two at Morley, and of these that at Hope and one of those at Morley alone retain any magnitude.* The seventeen cases of fortified mounts with courts or baileys attached, grouped together under Class E, bring together works of very diverse dates, some undoubtedly pre-historic, and others of a compara- tively late mediaeval date. In thus grouping them, the suggestion made by the Congress Report of 1903 has been followed, wherein it was stated that ' though not strictly within the scope of this enquiry, it is suggested that all mediaeval castles should be included in the schedules, since many of them originated in earthworks of Class E.' At Pilsbury there is undoubtedly pre-historic work, though perhaps used again in mediaeval times, and at Bakewell an almost certain example of a tenth-century work, which may have been subsequently converted into a post-Conquest fortress ; whilst at Duffield the site of a once massive Norman keep has been shown, by incontestable evidence of the spade and pick, to have been previously occupied by successive generations of Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon defenders. 8 The complicated rectangular enclosure of 1 The numerical references after the names of the various earthworks refer to the 25 in. to the mile Ordnance Survey maps, the Roman numeral giving the sheet, and the Arabic numeral the subdivision. In these great maps each sheet has sixteen subdivisions. If the exact reference to the 6 in. to the mile maps, with their four subdivisions to the sheet, is required, it is well to remember that the sheet number is the same, and that I, 2, 5 and 6 are ' N.W.' ; 3, 4, 7 and 8 ' N.E.' ; 9, 10, 1 3 and 14 ' S.W.' ; and II, 12, 15 and 16 ' S.E.'

  • Mr. Andrew has noticed what he considers to be traces of a mount of this description to the weit

of Chelmorton church. s The old name ' Castle ' applied to not a few of the Derbyshire earthworks dispels the popular conception of a castle being necessarily composed of masonry. The New EngRsb Diet, says that the word castle is rightly applied to ' ancient British or Roman earthworks.' 358