the name of the king’s tower, it is said, in consequence. In 1642 the castle was held for the king, and was the head-quarters of an active and somewhat unscrupulous body of soldiery. It was, in consequence, besieged and taken by Fairfax in 1644, and in 1648 was, by the Council of State, ordered to be slighted, which seems to have been effected by removing the curtain wall, and blowing away one angle of the keep. The castle occupied the whole area of the platform up to the edge of the ditch, the crest of the ravines, and the river cliff. In figure the plan is an irregular oval, in the proportion of about three parts east and west, to two parts north and south, and containing about 2½ acres. Close south of, and dependent upon, the castle, was the town. The area within the line of the town ditch measures about 500 yards north-east and south-west by 850 yards north-west and south-east, and includes all the older part of the town. About 170 yards of the ditch, where it divided the castle from the town, has been filled up since the dismantling of the castle. The castle was contained within a great curtain wall 7 feet to 8 feet thick, and of the unusual height in places of from 30 feet to 40 feet. The keep forms a part of the _enceinte_, being built upon the crest and slope of the northern ravine, not far from the centre of that front. The curtain abutted upon its two ends, so that the building was partly within and partly outside the area. Connected with its southern angle are some fragments of masonry showing that the area was divided by a cross wall into an eastern and western part, the one being the outer and the other the inner ward, and the keep is so placed that its south-eastern face looks upon the outer, and its south-western and north-western faces upon the inner ward.