Cheshire, the palatine earldom of Hugh, named, probably by his posterity, “the Wolf,” standing upon the Welsh border, demanded and was supplied by many strong places. Chester, the seat of the earldom, represents the Roman Deva, the Castra Legionum; and the Norman castle, with a small and early rectangular keep occupying one corner of the area, stands on the verge of the river Dee. Near to Chester in Wirrall was Shotwick, of which the earthworks remain, and higher up upon the Dee was Holt. Beeston is almost the only remarkable fortress in the county. It stands on the platform of an inaccessible rock. The masonry is probably late, but the deep well may be a part of the Norman castle. All the fifteen barons of the palatinate, feudatories of Earl Hugh, had castles, but these, representing private estates, mostly continued to be occupied and became fortified houses. The sites and more or less of the remains are to be seen of Halton and Kinderton, the castles of William Fitz-Hugh and Venables; Shipbrook of the Vernons; Nantwich of Piers Malbanke; Malpas of Robert Fitz-Hugh; and Dunham of Hamo de Massy. There were also castles at Frodsham, Oldcastle, Uttersford, Pulford, Dodleston, Shockleach, Nantwich, Stockport, Burton, Ullerwood, Runcorn, West Derby, Northwick, Castle Cob, and probably some others. A large number of these sites are marked by moated mounds, and there are besides many similar mounds in the county to which masonry does not appear to have been added. Thus, between the Thames and the Tees, the Bristol Avon and the Lune, the central parts of England contained at the close of the reign of Henry II. at the least 214 castles, of which about 17 had rectangular and 44 shell keeps. As to the remaining 153, nothing is accurately known, or they are found not to have belonged to either of the great types. Of these castles probably at least 180 stood on old English sites, and very few indeed can be said with certainty to have stood upon altogether new foundations. There remain to be considered the castles of the northern counties, Westmoreland and Cumberland, Durham and Northumberland, for centuries exposed to invasions from beyond the Tweed, and fortified accordingly. In this tract were at least four castles of the first class,—Durham, Bamburgh, Norham, and the strongly-posted town and castle of Berwick; and of the second class Brough, Appleby and Brougham, Cockermouth, Carlisle, Prudhoe and Newcastle, Ford and Alnwick, and Warkworth. Besides these were others, some perhaps at times almost their equals in importance, but the continued incursions of the Scots were fatal to the English fortresses, as were those of the English to the Scotch, and thus many on both sides the border were again and again burned and levelled, until they were either not rebuilt or only represented by peel towers and castellets, which again were destroyed, so that of very many castles the names only are preserved.