A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE W- Stones, which are the only remains of the original mansion.'" Probably the ' mansion ' was little more than a Peel Tower, or some such structure. There is a modern approach from the east, which may occupy the position of the original entrance. No less than nine mount, or mount and court strongholds, stand within 4 miles of Cusop, ample evidence of a period of constant contest. DowNTON-ON-THE-RocK : The Tump. — A mile and a half east-by-south of Leintwardine. This small castle mount stands upon ground about 540 ft. above sea level, and 150 ft. above the River Teme. The position has no natural defence, and the entrenchment is not in a perfect state of preserva- tion, but apparently consisted of a small mount o4o«"a either entirely surrounded by a fosse or only cut off from the high land on the west by a ditch ; Tump, Downton-on-the-Rock but the more probable theory is that the ditch was complete, and much deeper than now. The depression upon the summit may be the work of excavators, or the site of a tower or tree. The situation of the mount near the church and river indicates that its object was for defence. The nearness of the earlier stronghold on the south-south-east, called here the ' camp ' to distinguish it from this mount, should be noted. Eardisland Mounts. — Four and a half miles west of Leominster. The castle mounts are in close proximity to the River Arrow, the larger and more important work being on the southern side of the stream, the smaller on the northern. The work upon the south is without doubt a castle mount ; it is of fair circumference, averages 22 ft. in height, and with the moat much deeper, as it was in its original condition, would have been a place of considerable strength. The moat is fed by a cutting from the river, which, however, may or may not have been the original source of supply. The small mount on the north of the river is now insignificant, but with its moat complete, as originally, it may have been a useful adjunct to the southern castle. Near the castle mounts of Shobdon, 3 miles north-west, and Walford, 8 J miles north, are found similar smaller mounts. Eardisley : Lemore. — Three miles south-by-east of Kington. We should include this small circular inclosure as a homestead moat (Class F), but that there is the faint trace of a rampart both inside and out. Whether ramparts existed or not, without doubt the ditch, now slight,' was once deeper, and the water from
- Church
Eardisland Mounts SCALt OC rtCT ,._„, a 100 zoo Jflo Lettore , ' (/lanjfon) Lemore Mount, Eardisley "J. Duncumb, Hist, and Jntij. of the County of Hereford (1812), ii, 286; Trans. Woolhope Field Club (1886-9), 360- 226
