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 ANCIENT EARTHWORKS ^ 11// .vv<>"""""*,, V Church^ <s-;--. X ..<#"» KiNGSLAND Castle latter are the remains of the castle, consisting wholly of earthworks ; the masonry, if ever used, having long since disappeared. The position has no natural defence, save that slight protection is afforded by the stream upon the south- west. The keep mount now rises only 1 8 ft. above the lowest part of its moat, but the latter was originally much deeper and supplied with water from the stream, which also fed the moats surrounding the courts. The river itself no doubt pro- tected the south-west side of the strong- hold. As the plan shows, there were three courts or baileys, but a large portion of the track of the northernmost defences can hardly be traced. There is no evidence of earthen ramparting, and it is possible that defences of wood or stone stood on the inner verge of the moating,^' <;■■' Kington : Lower Hergest Castle TwTs. — This work is formed of a natural knoll, a mile and a half south-west of Kington, and stands upon land 700 ft. above sea level and about 200 ft. above the River Arrow which flows a quarter of a mile east. The position is naturally defended west and south by the fall of the knoll. The actual entrench- ments are very slight ; there is a fosse cutting off the south-west portion, the earth from which has been thrown inward to form the mount ; the south side also may have been scarped, but it is difficult to determine whether the scarp is natural or artificial. It appears as if the attempt to form a castle mount here was abandoned before completion. LiNGEN Castle. — This stronghold is situated 3J miles north-east of Presteigne and stands upon low ground near a stream on the east. The entrenchments are for the most part in a fair state of preservation, and con- sisted of: (i) a mount some 20 ft. above the present depth of its surrounding moat, roughly level on its summit, though the north-eastern portion is higher ; (2) a court or bailey on the west, of rectangular form, apparently once defended by a fosse and inner rampart ; on the south, the lower side, a second rampart formed a ^i^Lz^^^^B bank to the moat. The western defence Lingen Castle '!^o Lower Hergest Castle Twts, Kington " Leland, writing about 1529, says: 'Constant fayme sayth that King Merwald sometymes lay at this place.' The Rev. C. J. Robinson adds ' the meadow adjoining the Castle and asserted to have been the burial-place of the Saxon king, still bears the name of Merwold Croft.' Castles ofHerefs. (1869), 85. I 241 31