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270 MedicBval Military Architecture. could have no bond, and are about the worst material that could, under ordinary circumstances, have been selected, but so firm is the mortar that the wall remains sound, and in places, even the parapet, 2 feet thick, and composed of the same material, is standing. Towards the north-east is a sharp angle, and another of some bold- ness towards the south-west, but neither there nor elsewhere do there seem to have been any mural towers, although it must be confessed that a dense underwood of thorn and bramble renders a close inspection of the exterior impracticable. The Norman keep stood upon or just within the line of the eftceinte, at its south end, close to the east of the entrance, and opposite to the church. It was a square of 40 feet, standing north and south, and about 240 feet south of the mound. Its walls at the base were 9 feet 6 inches thick, and at the summit but little, if anything less, and its exterior face was vertical. The basement chamber at the ground level was 21 feet square and 14 feet high, and above it were three stages, all with timber floors. The height to the ram- part wall is, by guess, about 70 feet, or a diameter and three-quarters. The first floor, 23 feet high, either rested upon joists which were supported by the north and south walls, now gone, or, which is more probable, upon a ledge in the wall, which is reduced in thick- ness at that level about 6 inches, as seen on the west side. Only the west wall remains, and the lower 6 feet or 8 feet of the east wall. The north and south walls are entirely removed. The west wall is solid at the base, but the east wall is recessed in a curious way inside, and seems besides to have contained two cavities like cess- pits. The whole mass has, however, been so pulled about, that little can be made of it. At the first floor, also, the west wall is solid, save that in its south end is a short mural passage, vaulted, which seems to have ended in a garderobe, the vent of which is marked by a sort of vertical furrow in the wall. This passage was probably entered by a door in the south wall, near the south-west angle. The east floor, 19 feet high, rested upon six joists in the east and west walls. In its west wall is a full-centred recess, 3 feet deep, 2 feet above the floor, 5 feet wide, with jambs 7 feet high. In the recess is a window 3 feet wide, with jambs 5 feet high, also full-centred. Both recess and window are quite plain, and are not splayed. The third floor, 14 feet high, also rested on six joists, east and west. This has no window to the west, but in the wall are two recesses for the vertical beams of a roof, and at the base of each a corbel. This looks as though the roof was inclined, as at Bridge- north and elsewhere, at a low pitch, the north and south walls being its gables. There are some indications, in a foundation, as of a forebuilding attached to the north face, where probably was the entrance. The material of the keep is chalk flint, laid in copious beds of mortar. The flints are undressed, and the workmanship is coursed rubble, very plain and good, but rather rough, with a tendency to herring-