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Brinsop ' Camp ' ANCIENT EARTHWORKS than a development of a work of the Homestead Moat Class (F). The work is placed higher than the immediately surrounding ground, and is protected mainly by a fosse or moat, which may, however, have been throughout provided with a ram- part on its inner verge, such as remains in parts as shown on plan. The smaller division, on the west of the main inclosure, retains no trace of a rampart. The stream and its marsh afforded added protection on the east, but probably more arti- ficial defences also existed there than can now be seen.'"' Eastnor: Bronsil Castle. — The remains of this late mediaeval stronghold lie in the valley beneath the shadow of Midsummer Hill and other high ground, aj miles east of Tenbury. It is in this chapter neces- sary only to record the earthwork defence, which may possibly antedate the traces of a masonry keep remaining on the island. The ground slopes, and it appears that the banking was rather to maintain a good level of water in the moat than to serve as a defensive rampart. The outer moat upon the east- south-east and the entrenchments upon the south-east are much destroyed and difficult to map correctly. The moating here may be no older than the earliest record of the castle — a licence to crenellate, granted by Henry VI in 1449. DowNTON-oN-THE-RocK : The Camp. — This small defensive work stands upon sloping ground 50 ft. to 100 ft. above the River Teme, and within 2 miles east-south-east of Leintwardine. The position is naturally defended on the east generally by the river and on the south-east by a steep fall of rock and the slope of the land. The en- trenchments are simple, consisting of a fosse, with the ballast thrown inward to form a rampart (mate- rial from elsewhere being added), the whole work in its original condition being of considerable strength. The entrench- ments on the north-east side are not as perfect as those on the west, and do Bronsil Castle, Eastnor ' nOt in their present State '"'"n. •/„" " The inclusion of the church within the defensive work indicates its close proximity to the lord's hall, a feature frequently met with in manorial strongholds. " There is a brief reference to the earthwork in the Trans. Woolhope Field Club (1881-2), 238, also a plan in vol. 1886—9, which shows the entrenchments in more perfect condition than they are now. 253
