Page:VCH Kent 1.djvu/501

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ANCIENT EARTHWORKS to what period to assign it, though our belief is that Sandwich wall is wholly mediaeval.' On the northern side of the town ' the river Stour seems to have been considered a sufficient protection. A stream protected the wall on the west and on part of the south, and there the rampart is slight ; but when we reach the south-east and east, where the salt marshes approach the wall, we find the rampart reared to a height of 17 ft., with a wide, shallow, outer moat. The sea is now about two miles away, but in early days the tide may have nearly lapped the foot of this great rampart on the north-east.' Historical records refer to Sandwich Castle, but not a wrack remains ; only its site is indicated, about 250 ft. without the town rampart on the east. When Hasted wrote its foundations remained, and the field containing them was known as Castle Mead.* SiBERTswoLD, or Shepherdswell : Golgotha. — In a field are the scanty remains of a rectangular earthwork which is reputed to have been a Danish camp and burying spot. There is, however, no definite evidence of its purpose. CASTLE MOUNTS [Class D] Hill. This earthwork, situated nine miles is upon ground 195 ft. above sea-level and ArnVnT>~ B -CO Brenchley : Castle south-west of Maidstone, 145 ft. above the land a mile and a half north ; a quarter of a mile south the hill is 80 ft. above the enclosure, the work standing upon the side of a gently sloping hill which affords no natural defence. The entrench- ments are not in a good state of pre- servation, and the ground is very uneven in surface, both outside and within the enclosure ; hence the original plan is not ' The site may have been occupied in Roman times, as ' remains ' have been found, according to Mr. George Payne's schedule in his Archaeological Survey of Kent in Arch. (1889) li. = Remains of a town wall of masonry exist along this side, but it is of late mediaeval construction, and the barbican gate so late as Tudor times. i See Burrows (M.), Cinque Por// (1895), and map of theRutupian Ports in Hasted's Hist, of Kent.

  • Hist. Kent (1799) iv. 260.

407 rCET 7.00 »oo Castle Hill, Brenchley.