A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE Class C. — Rectangular or other simple inclosures, including forts and towns of the Romano- British period. Class D. — Forts consisting only of a mount with encircling moat or fosse. Class E. — Fortified mounts, either artificial or partly natural, with traces of an attached court or bailey, or of two or more such courts. Class F. — Homestead moats, such as abound in some lowland districts, consisting of simple inclosures formed into artificial islands by water moats. Class G. — Inclosures, mostly rectangular, partaking of the form of Class F, but protected by stronger defensive works, ramparted and fossed, and in some instances provided with outworks. Class H. — Ancient village sites protected by walls, ramparts or fosses. Class X. — Defensive works which fall under none of these headings. Fortresses of Class A are not found in the county, but those of Class B abound, mostly occupying strong positions on the hill-summits. The state of preservation of a few is good, but many have been much destroyed in the course of agricultural operations, and by other causes. In size Credenhill stands first, possessing 50 acres, Wall Hills, Ledbury, has 33 acres, Sutton Walls 30 acres, and Eaton Bishop 30 acres ; the remainder are of lesser area. Several inclosures may be said to belong to Class C, but typical exam- ples, those of Roman castrametation, have been destroyed, if they ever existed, excepting Leintw^ardine, which still shows work of the Romano- British period, and Kenchester, which retains some traces. Class D is present in remarkable numbers, suggesting the need for strong- holds along the troubled western border where the smallest holding had to be provided with its tower, alike to protect the holder and form a link in the chain of defence against the inhabitants of the wild west, ever ready to make raids into the settlements of their eastern neighbours. Though we should attribute the construction of most of these mounts, with their towers of timber, or in some cases of stone, to Norman days, it is possible that others may be of earlier date ; perhaps some were old burial tumuli utilized for defensive purposes.' Class E is well represented both in number and character. It must not be forgotten that these, presumably Norman, strongholds were at first provided, not with stone keeps and walls of which we see the ruins, but with strong wooden defences such as are depicted by the needle in the work at Bayeux. Most of the mounts are artificial and, necessarily, earth freshly thrown up would not sustain the weight of stone buildings. It was not till many years had passed that the old palisade defences were removed and stone was substituted, indeed in many cases wooden walls guarded the strongholds till they ceased to be of service or worth main- taining. Examples of Class F are found in abundance in many lowland districts of England, and are usually regarded as of late date, but where placed close to the parish church, or where occupying positions demanding special pro- tection, they probably originated in Saxon or Norman days. There is no work of this class of exceptional character in Herefordshire, but many of the simple form of homestead moats, just a deep moat or fosse dug round a ' It is to be regretted that the Ordnance Surveyors too often mark as ' tumulus ' works evidently intended for defence. 200
