Page:VCH Staffordshire 1.djvu/399

 SCALE OF O IOO -ZOO "iOO ANCIENT EARTHWORKS covering now a space of only about 150 ft. by 90 ft., and being not more than 20 ft. in height. It has been said it was originally built in a pool. Its situation is known as Pool Dam ; though in the midst of the parish of Newcastle, Pool Dam was until recently in the parish of Stoke on Trent. The nearest altitude given in the Ordnance map is 388 ft. STAFFORD. Everyone passing this prominent feature of wooded hill and crowning towers rising from the low level of the flat meadows beneath it at Stafford, credits the building with hoary age, but this is not the actual case, for whatever may have been in the past the present building is of recent date ; but of the mound on which the building stands more has to be said. The earthwork con- sists of an oval mound with its axis north-east and south-west, measuring on the top 63 yds. by 50 yds. On its summit is a raised hillock of ellip- tical shape whereon the present building now stands. The height of the mound above the fosse is in places 35 ft. The entrance has been at the south-east, and duly de- fended. The slope of the mound starts from the pla- teau itself. The altitude is 476 ft. From the Anglo- p _ f,. . jlMflte^D Saxon Chronicle we learn that in 913 the Lady Ethelrleda built a fortress at Stafford. TAMWORTH. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Lady Ethelfleda in 913 constructed a castle here. This was possibly a part of the present castle mound carrying some remains of Norman masonry, together with works of later dates which stand at the junction of the Rivers Tame and Anker. A mound here was essential for the establishment of anything in the way of defence of the place whenever and by whomsoever that might be required. The town and castle were defended by the ' King's Ditch,' which was of great extent, and inclosed the parish church in the line parallel with the river, its ends terminating in bastions, whence two other sides ran down to the river which itself forms the remaining defence. At the present time the mound is, roughly speaking, circular with a table top of 37 yds. in diameter, and a base of 80 yds. in diameter, which, however, has in some places been 355 SECTIONS. >CALE 80= ,6 10 o STAFFORD CASTLE