The _Outer Ward_ has next to be described. This is roughly an oval in plan, 270 yards east and west, by 174 yards north and south. The inner ward covers about one-sixth of its area, and is placed about 54 yards and 30 yards from its west and south boundaries, and 67 yards and 130 yards from those on the north and east, giving a large space in the latter direction, which seems to have contained various domestic buildings, the entrances, and the chapel. This ward was divided by the cross ditch already mentioned, and which extended from the exterior northern ditch 150 yards, nearly to the lake. Traces of it remain at either end, but most of it has been completely filled up, probably by Dudley after Queen Elizabeth’s visit. It was 70 feet broad, and across it a bridge led up to the entrance of the inner ward. At the north end this ditch must have been very deep; towards the south, in front of Leicester’s buildings, where part of it remains, the ground falls and it becomes shallow. Probably as an additional protection, a cross wall was built in the rear of this ditch from the south-east corner of the inner ward to the opposite curtain. Part of this wall was removed when Leicester’s buildings were constructed, but the outer end remains, and a part of a doorway in it. This ward is crossed by another wall of later date, which extends from the Strong Tower to the west curtain, about 34 yards. In its centre is a doorway of 10 feet opening, which, with the wall, seems of Perpendicular date. Henry VIII.’s “Plaisance” was built on each side of this gate to the north. The first wall is no doubt original, and was intended to prevent an enemy who had crossed the ditch where it was shallow pushing westwards along the outer ward; the second was probably built to shut off the garden on the north front, in the Lancastrian period. In this outer ward is what appears to be a part of the original earthworks of the early residence. In front of the hall, about on a level with its floor, so that the cellar wall is a revetment, is a triangular platform about 72 feet long at its base along the wall, and of about 63 feet projection at its apex. It is about 30 feet above the rest of the ward, and has a slope of one to one. The cutting for the path from the hall postern divides it from a smaller mound to the north, and the whole seems artificial, or nearly so. This platform commands the outer curtain. It is odd it was not included within the inner ward.