Let us first glance at the moated mound, and then at the rectangular keep. I do not desire, on the moated mound, to commit myself to all Mr. Clark’s views; but practical archæologists, I need scarcely say, are aware that the outer works of these most interesting strongholds were normally of horseshoe or crescent form, the mound being “placed on one side of an appended area.”[107] Mr. Oman, while acknowledging in his book, and in the columns of the ‘Athenæum,’ his indebtedness to Mr. Clark’s “admirable account of the topographical details of English castles,” describes the old English burhs as “stake and foss in concentric rings enclosing water-girt mounds” (p. 111). I pointed out in the ‘Athenæum’[108] that “Mr. Clark, who did more than any one for our knowledge of these burhs, was careful to explain,” in his plans,[109] that their outer defences were not concentric, as Mr. Oman asserts. Determined never to admit a mistake, Mr. Oman retorted: Of course, I am quite aware that in many burhs the outer works are not purely concentric; but the concentric form is the more typical. An admirable example of such a stronghold may be seen on p. 21 of Mr. Clark’s book, where he gives the plan of Edward’s burh of Towcester built in 921.[110] Yet, in dealing with the Norman shell keeps on these “old palisaded mounds,” Mr. Oman actually, in his own book, admits, of their “outer defences,” that as a general rule, the keep lies _not in the middle of the space_, but at one end of it, or set in the walls ... as a general rule the keep stands at one end of the enclosed space, _not in its midst_.[111] This is the feature of these striking works for which I myself contended, and which, on that account, Mr. Oman at once denied. As to the Towcester burh, I will place side by side my criticism and Mr. Oman’s reply: MR. ROUND. MR. OMAN. A comparison of the plan on p. 21 He states that Towcester with those on pp. 24, 25 will show burh, as drawn on p. 21 of Mr. at once that the former is that of Clark’s Mediæval Military the “water-girt mound” (as Mr. Architecture, is ‘a water-girt Oman terms it) alone, and contains mound alone, with no outer no “outer works,” concentric or works, concentric or other.’... other.[112] Apparently Mr. Round cannot read the simplest military sketch; in this map there are clear indications of outer lines other than the mere water.... In short, Mr. Round is writing nonsense, and I strongly suspect that he knows it.[113]