Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/303

 Bridgenorth, Oldbury, and Quatford. 281 breastworks of that date, which, however, from the distance from the castle and the deep valley between, were probably not needed. The garrison held out three weeks, and capitulated on honourable terms. The castle was blown up, and the materials probably sold. Any account of Bridgenorth Castle would be very imperfect that did not take notice of the very remarkable earthworks seen in its neighbourhood, and which are evidently connected with the events referred to as of the ninth and tenth centuries. These are three in number — Oldbury, Quatford Casde, and Quatford ; and first of Oldbury. On the left bank of the Severn, about a quarter of a mile below and south-west of the castle, and on the opposite side of the deep dry valley that forms its western defence, the high ground of Old- bury is broken by three deep combes which descend to the river, and between which are two high ridges or knolls, steep towards the Severn and the combe on either side, and on the west connected by a neck with the higher land. The larger of these, that nearest the castle, is known by the inelegant but most descriptive name of beef-steak pudding just turned over out of the pan in which it was boiled. Naturally oblong, it has been scarped and rounded. The circular flat top is 150 feet diameter. In the centre is a slight nipple-like mound 3 feet high, and a raised bank now about 4 feet high crests its circumference. Towards the river the slope is steep for 50 feet or 60 feet, towards the land it is protected by a cross trench about 50 feet broad and 10 feet to 12 feet deep. Half-way down the slope on the eastern si'de is a narrow ledge or path which may have been protected by a stockade. Towards the south this ledge expands into a stage or shelf from 90 feet to 100 feet broad, and which is excavated so as to carry a ditch. The arrangements are very simple, and the mound is mainly natural, though scarped and fashioned by art. It was probably here that the Parliamentary guns were posted in the seventeenth century. Close south of this hill is a second work, lower, smaller, and less clearly defined. Its summit is also circular, and about 100 feet diameter. These two works are of one general type, and probably of one date, and if not the work of ^thelflseda are no doubt of her period. They are either English or Danish, not British. That the main work is older than the Norman fortress is evident from a document of 1299, in which it is called "the old castle." More- over, it is the burgh which gives name to Oldbury, the parish in which it is situated. Quatford Castle is on the left bank of the Severn, one and a quarter miles below Bridgenorth, and a furlong from the river, the intervening ground being a strip of meadow, while Danesford is still the name of an adjacent ford and village. A short steep combe descends from the high ground to the north-east, and, branching below, includes a knoll of rock perhaps 150 feet above the valley and 200 feet above the river. The soft red rock has been pared and
 * ' Pan Pudding Hill." It does, in fact, much resemble in figure a