A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE of the hill, which is here 176 ft. in height. At the north-west another path gives access to a narrow terrace three parts of the distance down the hill-side, and thence to the lower ground. The main entrance was on the north, and curves inwards towards the east between two rocky heights which have been fortified, but the quarrying for sandstone has cut the defences almost beyond recognition. The natural fall of the ground on the north of the camp with the sentinels of rock, and the rise of the ground as it joins the chain of hills on which is the high road from Houghton to Tilton, formed a well-nigh impregnable position. MOUNTSORREL 'CASTLE HILL ' (xxv. 2). About 5 miles south-east of Lough borough there rises a precipitous rock, described as 'a steep and craggy hill,' high above the River Soar, dominating the town and surrounding country. The castle of Robert le Bossu which formerly crowned this eminence was razed in the early days of Henry III, but a fragment of the earthen defences is still discernible. Across the neck of land from which the natural rock arose stretched a wide fosse with an escarpment of 1 3 ft. and a counterscarp of 1 5 ft., with a revetment nearly 3 ft. high. On the fortress side of the fosse are two berms with an intermediate scarp of 1 2 ft. ; from the higher of these the rock ascends to its greatest altitude at the north ; but the most precipitous part is on the east side. A winding ascent from the east, around the south, is prob- ably on the original path to this almost inaccessible' stronghold. Upon the summit it is impossible to trace the position formerly occupied by the castle keep, al- though doubtless it was situated on the high rock to the north. Youthful sports and the amateur quarryman have obliterated most of its early features. HILL FORTS (CLASS B) BREEDON ON THE HILL (ix. 15) ' THE BULWARKS.' Five and a half miles north-east by north from Ashby de la Zouch, on the summit of a lofty lime- stone rock, with the natural line of the height as its boundary, is the strongest hill fortress in the county. The table-land is pear-shaped, the apex towards the THE BULWARKS, BREEDON ON THE HILL 246
