" Fair Eddeva might fortify here before the Conquest . . .
or de Ver might do it during the war between Maud and Stephen . . .
or de Ver might fortify here upon King John's destroying the Bishop's Castle of Weytemore. "

" GREAT CANTIELD MOUNT.

By the Rev. E. A Downman.

The earthwork forming the remains of what is now called Great Ganfield Mount, is a good specimen of a special class of bygone fortifications. The largest and most perfect specimen in England and Wales is Pleshey, some nine miles East of Cai^eld in the same county, so that I shall call this class of camp the Pleshey type. The general form of these earthworks consists in a mound, either formed out of a natural hill as at New Radnor in Wales, or the local soil heaped up into a cone artificially as in this case at Canfield. Bound this mound is a deep trench or ditch in many instances containing water, and either entirely artificial, or where the bend of a river has been chosen, the wash of the stream has done part service for a ditch ; Clun Castle in Shropshire is such an instance. Near the mound, but separated by a portion of the ditch is the yard, generally also surrounded by a trench, which in every case runs into the moat or river guarding the mound. So we have in the Pleshey type, mound, yard and ditches. Some of the larger and more important strongholds as Pleshey, New Radnor, and Loddiswell, have in addition a large portion of ground also enclosed by a deep ditch. Canfield (considered by some to be a corruption of Campfield) has its mound 20ft. high above the level, 30ft. above its ditch in its present deepest portion. The castle yard, only two feet above the natural level, is protected not only by a ditch, but also a rampart 8ft. above the castle yard, 18ft. above the ditch, the whole forming an oval pinched in the middle, some 350 yards N. to 8. and 216 yards in its widest part E. to W. This camp or castle, whichever it should be rightly called, has no natural strength, neither could it have been at any time a hold of any special power, the surrounding country being flat. The shape is symmetrical and exceeds most others in this particular. But the special feature of interest in Ganfield is the way in which a small stream has been brought into service. In making the camp, the course of a stream was chosen, and apparently right in the centre of the bed the mound was thrown up, meeting the water as it flowed S. By deepening the trench below the natural bed of the stream and placing sluice gates on the S., sufficient water would be obtained to make a formidable moat. As to the date of the Canfield earthworks I am not prepared to make any statement ; the history of Canfield is wrapped up in the history of its fellow earthworks in other parts. It will be seen from the following that the Pleshey form of camp is by no means uncommon, nor is confined to any one part of the country, as they are found as follows : —

" This list is practically a complete one. I had hoped to have been able to give the names, but the list is too long ; but I hope to treat of these more fully at some future time, and gradually issue ground plans drawn to one scale so that they may be compared one with the other. I have rough plans of all the above, but I want to obtain the sections and know something of the natural state of the ground and its surroundings before I can say that I know the camp, and I have not yet visited all these.

A fact ought to be made known, namely, that many of the camps of the Pleshey form were fortified with stone- work in the Norman and later times ; portions of which remain to-day, as at Pleshey, Wigmore, Clun, Huntington (Radnorshire), Clare, &c , which of course may indicate that not only these, but all built upon the same principle, even though now as at Canfield, Rayleigh, Cranborne, &c., no stonework is visible, were erected about the Norman period, and as stone castles.

On the other hand, the mediaeval nobles may have only found a camp existing, and strengthened the same for their own use. Morton in Lincolnshire, a very fine specimen of a mound camp, is called by the Ordnance Survey a Danish remain, and if this is the earthwork (which seems probable) erroneously placed by Stukely, as at Navestock Common, Essex, then Stukely regarded the same as of Druidical times. Again Denton in Norfolk, small but of perfect form, is regarded by some as of Saxon origin, and Haughley in Suffolk is said to be a Roman camp, but this I much doubt, I have added a small ground plan, drawn 17 inches to the mile, of the Canfield earthworks. I am also issuing plans with sections of other earthworks in Essex and different parts of England and Wales, which will be drawn to the standard scale of one inch to the hundred yards, so that the size of the various camps may be compared one with the other. I shall be pleased to give further details of the plans to be issued to anyone interested on the subject.