Sir Roger Fiennes, an Agincourt veteran, was the founder, and probably the site had borne a previous fortalice. Like Bodiam, erected some half-century previously, the plan is quadrilateral, almost square, with four octagonal towers at the corners and three of pentagonal plan strengthening the curtain walls. The gateway is one of the finest and most impressive in existence; the towers which flank it rise over 80 feet in height, cylindrical at the upper parts and superposed upon 50 feet of octagonal bases, with smaller turrets rising still higher above them. A magnificent range of machicoulis with crenellation above protects the towers and the curtain between, the merlons being pierced with oillets. A moat, long since dry, encircles the building, a bridge spanning it at the principal entrance. There are three tiers of cross loopholes, and below occur openings for matchlocks to defend the bridge. With the exception of the grand towers of the south gateway and the shells of some adjoining buildings, there are only broken arches and shattered walls, piers, and buttresses now to be seen, and it is only by the description left by Grose and Walpole that the ichnography of the interior can be traced. Wyatt the architect is responsible for the vandalism committed, as he dismantled the Castle to furnish material for the owner's new residence adjacent. [Illustration: HERSTMONCEAUX CASTLE, SUSSEX.] Although Herstmonceaux has never undergone any struggles in the "fell arbitrament of war," yet painful memories cling to the ruins. Thomas Fiennes, the ninth Lord Dacre, succeeded to the estate at the age of seventeen. The youth had already laid the foundation of a brilliant career at Court when an escapade, planned by himself and some madcap companions, whereby they essayed to play the rôle of poachers upon a neighbouring estate, led to the death of a keeper whom they encountered. His three companions were arrested and hanged for murder near Deptford; Dacre was also tried and condemned, and the sentence was duly executed at Tyburn in 1541, the young man being twenty-five years old at the time.