A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE of 26 ft., facing towards the north, descends to another plateau with a scarp of 65 ft. to a stream, a very precipitous descent. At the north-east of the lower plateau a platform rises 4 ft. in height, protected by a shallow rampart. A bank, or rampart, also flanks each side of a descent to the river, thus forming a sunk road 100 ft. long. The railway has cut away the eastern boundary, and on the south no defence is visible. WITHERLEY (xxxiv, 1 6). Six miles west by north from Hinckley. Immediately south of the village, situated upon the Watling Street which here divides Leicestershire from the county o f Wa r w i c k i s a camp which has been identified with the Roman sta- tion of Man- duessedum, one half of which is in the parish of Mancetter, Warwickshire. It is rectangular in plan with an area of nearly 7 acres. The ancient road passes through the middle of it on the line of its longer axis ; the half which is in Leicestershire is called ' The Old Field,' and the other moiety in the adjacent county is known as ' Castle Bank.' Dr. Stukeley, about 1724, described both ditches and banks as in a good state of preservation ' ; and Nichols tells us that the vallum was perfect in the year i8n. 2 At the present time no vallum is extant on the north, a scarp 7 ft., perpendicular measurement, only remains, and that a feeble defence, for it is 19 ft. on the slope. On the other three sides is a very low bank, unworthy the name of vallum, which, indeed, is scarcely visible on the south. The strongest part is on the east, facing the long stretch of road as it gradually declines to the former station at High Cross. The River Anker flows about 850 ft. distant on the north-west side, and turning to the north-east a short distance from the camp it provided an additional protection to this its weakest side ; a spring rises outside the northern boundary. Memorials of the early inhabitants have been found in celts and flint weapons, and Roman coins have been unearthed in the camp. MANDUESSEDUM CAMP, NEAR WITHERBY Itinerarium Curiosum, 761.
- Leicestershire, iv, 1027.
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