What stood upon the burgh, or how the margin of the area was originally defended, is of course a matter of conjecture; but considering the wealth of timber in the district, it is probable that the defences were all of that material, as well as the adjacent church, and thus supposing, we may figure to ourselves the “aula” of Earl Guerd, who was the lord of Bramber during the reign of the Confessor. The position is a very strong one, and the view from it to the east and north-east extensive. Bramber is one of the castles named in Domesday. It was then a part of the lordship of Washington, and held by Wm. de Braose, the Norman grantee. “Ipse Wills. [de Braiosa] tenet Wasingetune. Guerd comes tenuit tempore Regis Edwardi. Tunc se defend. pro LIX. hid. Modo non dat geldum. In una ex his hidis sedet Castellum Brembre.” William de Braose here mentioned probably was present at Hastings. A charter cited by Dugdale, dated 1075-6, shows him to have been of Braose, near Saumur, on the Loire. He had an immediate grant of nearly the whole rape of Bramber, and he adopted the castle as his chief seat. Although local history is silent as to De Braose’s operations, much may be extracted from the evidence of the existing ruins. Around the edge of the table area he or his immediate successor built a wall of _enceinte_. Where the ground was sound, this was founded upon the edge of the slope, but where the chalk had given way, the foundations were laid 3 feet or 4 feet lower down, so that the wall was built as a revetment, and the ground within formed a ramp against it. Of this wall of _enceinte_ some large portions remain, and its foundations may be traced all round. It was 7 feet to 9 feet thick, from 10 feet to 18 feet high inside, and outside from 20 feet to 30 feet. It was built entirely of large pebbles, as from the sea-beach, laid in very thick beds of mortar. Of course, such stones 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 boldness 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.