A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE still fairly perfect save at the north-western end. The wall is now 85 feet long, and has a height of from i o to 12 feet above the level of the ground outside. It is 3 feet thick, and formed of such large stones that only a single through course is used. Artificially piled up and cunningly fitted-in stones may also be noticed in certain places on the south side. CARL'* WAR* (SECTION OF WALL). The only entrance to the fort was by a path which passed along the base of the artificial western scarping, and then wound up a narrow entrance between two walls of rude overhanging masonry, gaining access to the summit by an opening on the south side at the western angle. Of this entrance Sir Gardner Wilkinson gave the following interesting account in 1860 : ' One of the most remarkable features in this fort is the gateway on its south side. It is 7 ft. 2 in. in breadth ; and as the road ascending from the valley below passed between the two curvilinear faces of the wall, which formed the entrance passage, an enemy advancing to force the gate was exposed to the missiles of the besieged on both sides ; while the position of it to the west, projecting like a round tower, raked the face of the wall to the right and left, and formed an advanced work over the ascent. The stones have been well put together, and some are of considerable size ; the largest I measured being 14 ft. 4 in. long by 3 ft. 4 in. in height.' Visiting the Carl's Wark in 1873, the writer found Wilkinson's account and illustration of this entrance singularly accurate and helpful. Alas ! a visit in 1893 showed that much of this mass of dry masonry had been wantonly and recently pulled down, some of the largest stones being used in the construction of a rude kind of hut. Nevertheless the main features of this remarkable entrance can still be traced. 2. On COMB Moss (xv. i) is a remarkably good example of an early defensive earthwork on a large scale, specially protected from attack both by nature and art. Comb Moss is the name of a lofty hill, having an elevation of about 1,600 feet above the sea level, a mile and a half south of Chapel-en-le-Frith. On the northern extremity of this bold promon- tory, high above all the surrounding country, is the fort or refuge, which used to be known by the name of Castle Dykes, and is still occasionally spoken of by shepherds and others of the locality as The Castle, or Castle Naze. Its shape is a triangle, on two sides of which nature has provided the defence, for the ground drops away in almost precipitous slopes to a depth of about 450 feet. Across the base of this triangle man has constructed a double rampart and fosse to form a stronghold or enclosure, by thus protecting the one side which could be approached on the level. This double rampart was carried right across the opening, leaving only a narrow entrance at the north-east corner on the verge of a precipice, 362
