Earthworks, Mediaeval and Later

Earthworks, Mediaeval and Later

(339) Moat, remains of, in Chesterton, N. of Scotland Road, at the centre of the circle described by Eastfield (O.S. 25 ins. XL 15; N.G. 465603), is on flat ground approx. 27 ft. above O.D. It was square on plan, enclosing an island 37 yds. wide and level with the ground outside. The ditch survives along the S.E. side; it is dry, 24 ft. wide and 3 ft. deep. The cutting elsewhere is filled in but faint traces of the scarp of the island are discernible. Condition, poor.

(340) 'Mount Ararat', raised enclosure, in Chesterton, on the N. side of Water Street, 250 yds. W.S.W. of the levelcrossing (O.S. 25 ins. XL 15; N.G. 472602), stands on flattish ground under 20 ft. above O.D. It is an irregular rhomboid in shape covering approx. 1 acre, raised from 1 ft. to 3½ ft. above the surrounding ground, scarped on the W., N. and E. sides, and with a low bank on the S. This last has a deep drain outside continuing E. some 40 yds. beyond the enclosure before turning N. at the field angle; from the angle a causeway 1½ ft. high leads back into the S.E. corner of the enclosure. The ditch continues N. and may have turned W. to form a N. boundary where is an apparently modern drainage channel. The enclosure is only some 60 yds. from the river and may have provided a cattle-fold in time of flood. Condition, much disturbed, with gravel pit on the N.

(341) Worts' Causeway, remains of raised roadway leading from Cambridge to the Gog Magog Hills S.E. of the city by way of Red Cross. It coincides in part with a more ancient way (see Roman Roads, Monument (10c)). William Worts, dying in 1709, left £1,500 for building a causeway from Emmanuel College to the Gog Magogs and an annual sum for upkeep (C. H. Cooper, Annals of Cambridge IV, 86). The convenience of the causeway is referred to in Cantabrigia Depicta (1763) 'gentlemen ride out [the 4 miles to the Hills] clean in the depths of winter'.

The Causeway is visible leading E. by S. from the Hills Road at Red Cross for nearly 1½ m., in part along the city boundary; it then passes out of the city and continues as an unnamed country road in Fulbourn parish. The embankment is about 17 ft. wide and stands 2 ft. to 3 ft. high.

See also:—

Cambridge Castle, Monument (77);

King's Ditch, Monument (78);

Maids' or Barnwell Causeway, p. 366.