The Saxons immediately took advantage of the Romans leaving Britain, to pour in their own troops, under pretence of protecting the natives; but they soon threw off the mask, and erecting fortresses to defend what they had seized, they shortly became possessed of the whole Island. At this period ’tis probable the former Castle of Norwich was first founded. Vulgar chronology makes it as old as Julius Cæsar; but its gothic structure belied such conjecture—the elevated spot on which this castle stood, commanding a prospect over a large space of country, pointed it out as a proper place to fix an advanced post. Uffa is considered the first Saxon monarch over this part of the kingdom, in the year 575; but it appears, notwithstanding, from undoubted authority, that Grecca, the father of Uffa, was the first sovereign of East Anglia. The monarchy, therefore, was probably established between the years 530 and 540, and the castle erected about the same period. In the year 642 it is said to have been a fortified royal seat of Anna, the seventh king of the East Anglian line. From this time till the reign of Alfred, we find little or no mention of the Castle: but during the incursions of the Danes, it was frequently possessed by them and the Saxons alternately; and it appears, that king Alfred in his time, finding the walls and ramparts of Norwich Castle insufficient to repel the attack of the Danes, caused others to be erected with the most durable materials. Norwich Castle was evidently a military station in Alfred’s time, as appears also by the coin struck here, about the year 872, before noticed; but in the reign of Etheldred the II. it is described to have been utterly destroyed by an army under Sweyne, king of Denmark, about the year 1004. In 1010 the Danes again settled in and fortified Norwich, and the Castle appears to have been rebuilt by Canute, about the year 1018; to have been first used as a prison in the early part of the 14th century, and from this period, its history merges into that of the city. Mr. Wilkins says, Norwich castle is the best exterior of this kind of architecture extant. The area of the ancient castle, including its outer works, contained about 23 acres, the whole of which was surrounded by a wall; the principal entrance was by Bar, now Ber-street, through Golden-Ball-lane, by the Barbican Gate, which was flanked by two towers, and connected with the external vallum, by a wall; the extent of the outermost ditch reached on the west part to the edge of the present Market Pace, on the north to London-lane, which it included; and on the east almost to King-street; the southern part reached to the Golden-Ball-lane, where the grand gate stood.