TOWCESTER BURGH BURY MOUNT
Of the fifty burhs named in the chronicle, about forty-one have been identified, and of these about twenty-nine still exist. Of this number, twenty-two are moated mounds, mostly with base courts also moated. At Taunton, as at Chirbury, there is reason to suppose that there was a mound, and the works at Exeter, Rochester, Colchester, and Pevensey, which are Roman, possibly succeeding earlier British works, have been taken possession of and altered by the English, as is the case also at Chester, where was, and at Pevensey, where still is, a mound. At Rochester is a large mound, though outside the fortress. Rougemont in Exeter is itself a natural mound, and Bamborough, from its great height and steepness, needed neither mound nor earthwork of any kind. Of double burhs, commanding the passage of a river, the chronicle mentions Nottingham and those on the Lea, and others at Hertford, Bedford, Stamford, and Buckingham. Unfortunately, none of these are perfect. At Nottingham and on the Lea both mounds have long been removed; one is remembered at Stamford and Buckingham, and one may still be seen at Hertford. But the only double mounds remaining to show how, in the tenth century, the English defended the passage of a river, are those at York, which are not mentioned in the chronicle.
It appears then, that setting aside works that have not been identified, or which have been destroyed before note was taken of them, there are above a score of burhs, the date of the erection of which, and the name of the founder, are entered in a trustworthy record, and which are still to be seen. What then is a burh? A burh is a moated mound with a table top, and a base court, also moated, either appended to one side of it, or within which it stands. But the burhs, the dates of which are on record, and which are thus described, are but a very few of those found all over England, in the lowlands of Scotland, and on the marches bordering on Wales, which from their precise similarity in character to those actually identified must be assumed to be of like date and origin, and may therefore safely be attributed to the ninth and tenth and possibly to the eighth centuries, and to the English people, that is to the Northern settlers generally, as distinguished from the Britons and the Romans.
It happens also that, in very many cases where these burhs are found, they can be shown to have been the “caput” or centre of an estate. It is probable that this was always the case, but as a rule it is only with respect to the very large estates that this can be proved from records. Thus the mound of Wallingford was the seat of Wigod, whose heiress married Robert D’Oyley; Bourne or Brum was held by Earl Morcar in 870; Edwin, Earl of Mercia, Lord of Strafford Wapentake, in Yorkshire, had an “aula” at Laughton-en-le-Morthen, and Conyngsborough was the centre of a royal fee. The English Lord of Richmondshire had a seat at Gilling, the mound of which has not long been levelled. The mound at Halton was the seat of Earl Tosti. At Berry Banks, near Stone, dwelt Wulfer, Lord of Mercia. The chief seats of the English lords of Hallamshire are not known, but in that district the latter thanes were Waltheof, Tosti, Sweyn Lord of Sheffield, and Harold, whose seats must be sought for in the mounds and banks of Castle Hill and Castle Bailey, near Bradford; Castle Hill, at the meeting of the Sheaf and Don; Tickhill, Wincobank, and Mexborough, all moated mounds; also in Lancashire and Yorkshire are Melling and Hornby in Lonsdale, Castle Hills at Black Bourton, Robin Hood’s butt at Clapham, and Sedbury or Sedda’s burh, a well-known mound with oval courts, Castle-dykes at Ledescal and Langwith, Maiden Castle at Grinton, and Kirkby Malessant. The great mound at Clare in Suffolk was the fortified seat of Earl Aluric, who held an enormous estate in that district. Eye, in the same county of Suffolk, the seat of Earl Edric, has a fine mound, as have Thetford and Haughley. The hill of Hedingham and that of Norwich are natural, but the latter was raised artificially and fortified with a ditch and horseshoe appendages, probably in the ninth or tenth centuries. Dudley also was a great English residence, as was Bennington mound in Hertfordshire. Hereford was fortified by the great Harold, Ewyas by another Harold; Kilpeck and Richard’s Castle were also early seats, as were the mounds of Clun, Oswestry, and Whittington, in Shropshire. In Scotland upon the mound called the “Butte of Dunsinane,” tradition places the residence of Macbeth early in the eleventh century. The butte stands within an oval area defended, says Pennant, by banks and ditches. Opposite Kingussie on the Spey is a very curious natural mound, rising on three sides out of the marshes of the river, and which is known to have been the residence of the celebrated Wolf of Badenoch. There is also a moated mound with appended courts on the banks of the Clyde.
LAUGHTON-EN-LE-MORTHEN
The burhs are mentioned in the early laws of England, but by this time the signification of the word had become extended, so that it was frequently applied not only to a moated mound but to the town that had sprung up around it. By the laws of Æthelstan, every burh was to be repaired within fourteen days after the Rogation days, and money was allowed to be coined at royal burhs. By the laws of Edmund the king’s burh was a place of refuge, and under those of Æthelred, he who fought in a king’s burh was liable to death. Burh-bryce was the violation of a castle or dwelling. Burh-bote, a payment for keeping burhs or fortresses in a state of defence, was a branch of the well-known “trinoda necessitas.” Originally, the English burh was a fortified house, the “Domus defensabilis” of Domesday, the “Aula,” the German “Saal,” of the owner of the surrounding estate or manor, which the tenants were bound to defend; of which the designation may sometimes be Norman, but the thing designated is undoubtedly of far earlier origin. The term burh naturally became extended to the cluster of surrounding huts, and a hedge with a ditch was their primary enclosure, the repair of which is provided for in very early Saxon laws. A good stout hedge, even of quickset, is not to be despised, and the cactus and bamboo hedges of India will turn a band of soldiers. The word “Haia” is not infrequent in Domesday, and it there means an enclosure into which wild beasts were driven, “Haia in qua capiebantur feratæ.” It was also used for the enclosure of a park, as the Haye Park, at Knaresborough, and the Hawe Park attached to Skipton Castle. King Ida’s hedge at Bamborough was for the defence of annexed pasture lands, for the castle scarce needed any such addition to its surpassing strength. The word was also extensively used in Normandy, both for a defence and for an enclosure. One of the old Herefordshire castles bears the name of Hay.
CASTLE HILL MEXBOROUGH