ROPSLEY
This
site is identified as Ring Dam on the first editions 6 " Ordnance Survey
map (Fig 96), but appears as Dam Ring in the Enclosure Award of 1796 (1).The
name 'dam' strongly suggests a fishpond complex, and a dam is part of the
fishpond arrangements adjoining Folkingham Castle, eight kilometres to the
east, where several field names relating to pisciculture survive.
The only documentary reference which
is likely, although not proven, to relate to these earthworks is a deed of 1335
citing a covenant between Robert de Kyrketon 'of Roppesle' and Roger Rohaut,
knight, the former claiming rights and liberties in Ropsley and Humby and a
fishery called 'Mickledam and Littledam'(2). There is no evidence for a manor
house or large establishment nearby to suggest that this was part of a moat or
formal garden, and the layout would not easily accommodate either of these. The
earthworks consist principally of a ditch forming three sides of a rectangular
area some 60 by 45 metres (Fig 97). The ditch contains some water and may be
fed from springs, although none are indicated on the 6" scale Ordnance
Survey maps. From here two narrow channels lead downhill to a stream alongside
the present south-east road out of Ropsley, merging into one below a narrow
bank which crosses them at right angles. There are shallower features
suggestive of terracing on the north part of this slope and less distinct
traces of a similar nature to the south. At the extreme south end of the field
is a mound eight metres in diameter, possibly a mound for a postmill.
1. LAO, Kesteven Enclosure Award 62.
2. 'Abstracts of Lincolnshire Deeds', Lincolnshire Notes and Queries 8
(1905), 235.