. The Victoria history of the county of Lancaster;. Natural history. A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE peninsula, which entered at Conishead Bank, and followed the line now called Red Lane. It is possible the site was originally chosen as command- ing this road. , At this point the stream called Pennington Beck runs south m a rather deep ravine, and on the east bank the cliff projects in a rather sharp elbow or angle. This elbow has been isolated by a semicircular rampart and tosse forming a quadrant-shaped inclosure, the ward of which measures 156 ft. by 1-22 ft. In digging the fosse the earth has been
. The Victoria history of the county of Lancaster;. Natural history. A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE peninsula, which entered at Conishead Bank, and followed the line now called Red Lane. It is possible the site was originally chosen as command- ing this road. , At this point the stream called Pennington Beck runs south m a rather deep ravine, and on the east bank the cliff projects in a rather sharp elbow or angle. This elbow has been isolated by a semicircular rampart and tosse forming a quadrant-shaped inclosure, the ward of which measures 156 ft. by 1-22 ft. In digging the fosse the earth has been thrown inwards, making a rampart the highest point of which (on the north) seems about 12 ft. above the ward level. The ditch itself measures about 45 ft. from the rampart top to the outer edge, but was never intended to hold water. The precipitous slope which forms the north-west and south-west sides of the inclosure probably is much the same now as when the fortress was made, for there seems no real reason to suppose (as has been suggested) that part of the inclosed area has been washed away in his- torical times. No trace of rampart or parapet exists on the edge, but a strong palisade alone would make a good defence here. The exca- vated defences are strongest on the north side, as there the ground is level outside, whereas on the south there is a moderate slope. There is a break in the rampart on the south-east which seems an ancient entrance. Pennington is a pure Anglian name, and it appears in the Domesday Survey with two carucates. From time immemorial the manor has belonged to the Pennington family (now represented by Lord Muncaster), whose ancestors are said to have abandoned it as a seat in the thirteenth century. The ' capital messuage' of Sir William Pennington is, however, mentioned in a dispute as late as 1318, and the Castle Hill may therefore be the site of the Penningtons' early home, or it may be more ancient. The great tumulus half-a-mile to the south-east (
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