The battlements generally have a plain ∧ coping, with a beaded ridge towards the field. The merlons are much broader than the embrasures, but are not pierced. The coping is not repeated in the embrasures. No well has been discovered, nor any lead piping, as at Ledes, where the castle was supplied with pure water from a spring at some little distance. On the whole, the castle, for its period, is unusually severe in its arrangements, there being scarcely any traces of luxury. It was a castle, not a manor house, nor palace. There remains to be described a very singular feature in this castle, the approach to the great gateway. At present, a causeway of earth, about 6 feet broad, springs from the north bank of the moat, and proceeds direct, about 62 feet, towards the opposite gateway. It then stops abruptly, and its head is revetted in masonry, which, however, is modern. Opposite, 11 feet distant, the water flowing between, is an octagon of 16 feet on each face, or 40 feet diameter, rising as an island out of the moat, and revetted all round. There was evidently a shifting bridge of some kind between this octagon and the causeway. Whether this octagon carried any superstructure is uncertain, probably it had only the parapet, of which traces remain. Crossing the octagon in the same straight line, there is reached a second gap, of 6 feet, and beyond this is a rectangular island about 21 feet north and south, by 20 feet broad, also revetted all round, and on which revetment stood the walls of the barbican. This was, therefore, a rectangular building, traversed by the entrance passage, and having a doorway at either end, the outer guarded by a portcullis, and the inner by doors. The passage was vaulted and apparently groined. It seems to have been of one stage only, the platform resting on the vault and battlements. In the north-west corner was a well-stair, opening from the passage, and ascending to the roof. Grose’s drawing shows this as though it was a side or foot entrance, which does not appear to have been the case. The work is excellent ashlar, but only the west side remains. The barbican is about 54 feet from the great gate, and at present is connected with it by a causeway. As this causeway is here and there seen to be revetted, it may be original, in which case it was possibly broken at either end, and the connection carried on by bridges falling from the barbican and from the great gate. This, however, is conjecture only.