On the south of the inner court is a large piece of ground, elevated and surrounded by a stone wall, except on its eastern side; this was probably an adjunct of the original castle, and was used for tilting and other exercises. It was approached doubtless by the drawbridge already mentioned. Eastward it joins a still larger portion of ground on the south of the church—the castle garden or pleasaunce. This is walled in partially with brick, and has had two doorways in the south side. In the spandrils of one were the coats of arms of Cromwell and Tattershall quarterly, and that of Deincourt. The inner ward now is nearly flat, and contains no buildings save the great tower or keep, having unfortunately been levelled about 1790. Besides the entrance-gate already mentioned, we find from Buck’s view that in 1727 there still existed the eastern portion of the chapel, showing an apse of which two perpendicular windows were visible, and a great part of the dining-hall, which had a fine bay window and five other windows. To the left of the keep, and in the left foreground, are some buildings which very possibly were the remains of the castle of King Henry III.’s date. Next we come to the chief feature of the place, the so-called Castle, which in reality was only the representative of the keep of earlier days. The inner ward wall joined it at the north-east and south-east towers, where the marks are plainly visible; the north, west and south sides were defended by the outer moat. It is 87 feet long by 69 feet wide, and the parapet of its angle turrets is no less than 112 feet above the level of the ground at its base. It is almost entirely constructed of small red bricks, traditionally supposed to have been brought from Flanders, though there is no reason why they should not have been made in the county. The walls externally have patterns, chequers, and lozenges in blue-black bricks upon their surface, and the groining of brick in the upper rooms is most delicately moulded, and may well serve as a lesson to us, even in this twentieth century, in artistic workmanship. On this work still exists considerable traces of pink plaster with red lines, to imitate brickwork—a curious case of carrying coals to Newcastle! Local stone (Ancaster probably) is used for the windows (which retain most of their tracery and mullions, except those of the ground floor), the machicolations, the battlements (in one place cement has been used for repairs), and the very admirably executed chimney-pieces, which will receive special attention later on. There are brick relieving arches over all the windows, doorways, and fireplaces in the castle. The large windows, which are more evident on the west, the exposed side, than on that facing the inner ward, show that the great change in warfare was in progress—that “villainous saltpetre” was altering the type of fortification from a massive tall keep like Rochester or Conisboro’, or