There are some indications, in a foundation, as of a forebuilding attached to the north face, where probably was the entrance. The material of the keep is chalk flint, laid in copious beds of mortar. The flints are undressed, and the workmanship is coursed rubble, very plain and good, but rather rough, with a tendency to herring-bone work. The window is dressed with ashlar, as are the hollow quoins of the interior, but there is no ornament, not even the usual Norman pilaster or plinth. The ashlar is probably the malm rock of the neighbourhood, a bed below the chalk, much like that used at Dorchester, and for some of the adjacent Oxfordshire churches. Altogether, this keep seems to be early Norman work, perhaps as early as Malling, and was probably built by the first De Braose before 1095, when his son was in possession. When the keep was blown up, as it evidently was, with powder, the south and east walls fell in four or five huge masses into the adjacent ditch, where they remain but little altered, though obscured with vegetation. If these were cleared, something more of the detail of the keep might be discovered. The north wall seems to have been broken up and removed. About 40 feet west of the keep are the remains of the entrance. So far as can now be seen there was no considerable gatehouse, probably only an arch in the curtain, as at Richmond. The fragment of a wall shows the approach to have been steep, and about 40 feet from the gate was a bridge, the pier and counter-pier of which, 13 feet apart, are still standing in the ditch, here not above 90 feet wide and 30 feet deep. The approach to the counter-pier rises steeply from the foot of the hill and passes the church. The only building of which there are positive traces, beside the keep, within the area, was a rectangular pile, built upon the curtain, 60 feet long, and projecting 24 feet into the area. This is placed opposite to and east of the mound, and the passage between the two was only 15 feet broad. A part of the base of this building remains, and shows a plinth and fragment of wall faced with squared flint. The work looks many centuries later than the keep, and most certainly is not Norman. There is no trace of a well. The parish church shares the protection of St. Nicholas, in common with Old Shoreham. It is in substance Norman, probably rather later than the castle, and was originally a cross church with a central tower. The nave and central square remain, but the choir and transepts have been removed, and the arches blocked up. The south door of the nave has a plain billet moulding, but the original opening has been walled up, and a smaller segmental doorway inserted. The cruciform plan seems to have been much in use here. It is seen at Old Shoreham, Steyning, and Broadwater.