GROVE: CASTLE HILL WOOD.
"All hail! ye mighty, venerable work.
Of our forefathers, great in deeds of arms!
To late posterity memorial stand
Of their immortal fame."
The situation of Grove, being bold and commanding, and strongly fortified by nature, we can hardly suppose that it would escape the attention of those warriors, who, in ancient days led on their respective armies to the combat, as being a place admirably suited for military purposes, and capable of being used as an exploratory situation: to the greatest possible advantage. Accordingly I find such traces as strikingly corroborates the above supposition.
Within the precincts of the parish, is a wood, generally designated "Castle Hill Wood," where, as its name imports, has formerly stood a castle on a mount, which appears to have been surrounded by a double trench of considerable magnitude, having the entrance to the south-east.# To the south-east of this mount is a piece of ground, now almost level, where the traces of foundations are discernible; this is surrounded by a moat, both wide and deep, having formerly circumscribed a mansion or castle, but of which no memorials are now in existence. This place, as well as the one just alluded to, together with the greatest part of an extensive wood, are still circumvallated, and a trench or foss, in some instances double, may be distinctly traced for upwards of a mile.
It is generally acknowledged that this part of the country formed a portion of the settlements of the Coritani, but that in common with the rest of the island, it became a prey to the Roman armies, who, in making the conquest, were necessitated to undergo considerable hardships and privations, and on obtaining possession, to cast up those fortresses and bulwarks, which, in almost every part of the kingdom, remain to the present time, as mementos of their bravery and determined perseverance.
To this period therefore, it appears to me, may be properly attributed the formation of these extensive works, although others have supposed them to have been originally British. With this opinion I am not inclined to coincide, because there are other circumstances concurring with the above, tending to confirm the supposition of their being of Roman origin. About a mile beyond Gringley are the traces of an encampment to the right of the road leading to Leverton; which road has every appearance of having been Roman, and was continued to North Leverton onward to the Roman station at Littleborough,* without fetching the compass towards South Leverton, which it now does; and the old road may still be traced, being, with the intervention of a wood, nearly entire.+
# The situation is particularly noted in some of the oldest maps of this county, under the appellation of ‘Little Gringley Castle."
*This place has occupied the attention of antiquarians
for a long period, in attempting to fix upon it as the Segelocum, mentioned
in the Itenerary of Antoninus. Camden, in his first edition of the Brittanica
in 1504, had fixed this station at Eaton, but afterwards, it is said,
he changed his opinion in favour of Littleborough. Mr. Horsley, also decidedly
says "Segelocum or Agelocum, as called in two iters, is certainly
Littleborough. Dr. Gale was of the same opinion; and Pegge, in his British
Topography, seems to coincide therewith. To such an host of observations
and conjectures, I cannot presume to add any thing, save that of recording
an humble opinion in favour of that given by Mr. Horsley.
In 1684, when the inclosures between the bridge and town were first ploughed
up, many coins of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Constantine, &c. were found,
together with Intaglios of Agate, and Cornelian, the finest coloured urns,
and paterae, some wrought in basso relievo, with the workman’s
name generally impressed on the inside of the bottom; also a discus,
or quoit, with an emperor’s head embossed upon it. Again, in 1718,
two very handsomely moulded altars were dug up, and in 1759, the drawing
of another was communicated to the society of antiquaries. A curious tassera,
or tally, was also found near this place; these tallies were supposed
to have been used in the Roman armies, to distinguish each other from
the enemy, and for setting the nightly watch.
+On this road, between Leverton and Littleborough, formerly existed a stone bridge, about the repairs of which, several disputes arose. In 1253, the court of Oswardbeck was held at Sturton, when an inquisition was taken, as to whether the inhabitants of Sturton and Fenton, or the abbot of Welbeck should repair it; the jurors gave it in favour of the abbot. Another inquisition was likewise held at Retford, in 1290, when the jury found as before.
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