Entering this door, the staircase is continued southward in the wall of the keep, up a roughly-vaulted, round-headed, mural gallery, until at the angle it reaches the level of the first floor. The gallery now turns the angle, and is continued on the level half-way along the south wall, when it is stopped abruptly. A door on the right leads upon the _enceinte_ rampart, and one on the left probably led into the keep. The interior of the keep is composed of a basement and an upper or, perhaps, two floors, divided by a north and south wall into two chambers on a floor. This division-wall is said to be original, and ought to be so in a keep of this size, but it looks of the sixteenth century, and may represent an older one. The west basement is much choked up with rubbish. The east chamber is tolerably clear, and shows an exterior aperture in its east wall, near the south end, which communicates with the adjacent south gateway. This may be original, but it is now a mere hole. In the north wall is a short mural gallery, entering a well-stair in the north-east angle, which ascends to the first floor and chapel only. The lower stage was not vaulted. The first floor has four windows on the north side, two in each room, and one on the east side. The second floor had also similar windows on its north, and a vaulted chamber on its east side; no doubt a chapel. This chapel is formed by throwing a vault from buttress to buttress for its floor, and at a higher level for its roof, and above this were the leads. There are traces of similar chambers on the north front. The upper story has been vaulted in six bays, three on each side, duly groined and ribbed, as is shown by the springers. The material and the workmanship, no less than the section of the ribs, show this to be a late addition, probably of the sixteenth century. [Illustration: PLAN OF THE CASTLE OF ARQUES, NORMANDY.] The supposed two upper floors were very possibly intended for one floor of state, with two tiers of windows and a chapel above. The chapel seems to have had a barrel round-headed vault, probably groined. The accounts show this eastern side to have been the royal chamber in the fourteenth century. The fireplaces seem to be confined to the upper floors. As now seen, they are of the date of the vaulting. In the south-west angle of the keep, very near the wall, is the well, of which the pipe was continued at least to the first floor, as in the additions at Richmond. It is about 6 feet diameter, lined with ashlar, and in 1768 was choked up at 254 feet deep, or about the level of the river; a depth now reduced to 30 or 40 feet. Outside, between the buttresses, are traces of walls, as though the spaces between them had been turned to account below as well as above; but these walls are thin, and do not seem original. M. Deville cites the public records for the existence in 1318 of four turrets on the keep, roofed with lead.