THERE WAS AT ONE TIME A MOUND HERE BY THE ROAD-SIDE, COMPOSED OF PINS AND BROKEN CLAY PIPES, BY IMPLICATION QUITE EARLY. {1}~ 'IN THE MIDDLE OF THE C19 THERE WAS A PLACE ON THE WEST SIDE OF HARDWICK HILL...CALLED PIN HILL. AT THIS SPOT A MOUND, ABOUT THE SIZE OF A HEAP OF GRAVEL LAY BY THE ROAD SIDE, COMPOSED OF PINS AND BROKEN TOBACCO PIPES. THE PINS WERE NOT BRITTLE, NOR WERE THEY IN ANY WAY DIFFERENT FROM COMMON PINS. THE STORY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD WAS THAT A SHIP LADENED WITH PINS HAD BEEN WRECKED THERE. WHY THESE THINGS WERE DEPOSITED ON SCOTTON COMMON IS DIFFICULT TO SAY. PIN HILL IS ONLY 3/4 MILE FROM THE RIVER TRENT, WHICH AT THIS POINT IS TIDAL, AND SEA-GOING VESSELS, CAN AND DO, COME UP AT HIGH TIDE. THE INTERVENING GROUND BETWEEN PIN HILL AND THE RIVER IS FLAT, SOME OF IT BELOW THE LEVEL OF THE RIVER, SO THAT BEFORE THE BANKING OF THE TRENT BY THE DUTCH, (DURING THE REIGN OF CHARLES II) IT WOULD HAVE BEEN QUITE POSSIBLE FOR A SMALL VESSEL TO HAVE BEEN WRECKED OR TO HAVE RUN AGROUND THERE. PIN HILL IS QUITE 30 MILES FROM THE SEA. {2}~, HTM 7M