Penwortham was certainly not the _caput_ of a large soke in Saxon times, as it was only a berewick of Blackburn, in which hundred it lay. It was the Norman who first made it the seat of a barony. PETERBOROUGH.--The chronicler, Hugh Candidus, tells us that Abbot Thorold, the Norman abbot whom William I. appointed to the ancient minster of Peterborough, built a castle close to the church, "which in these days is called Mount Torold."[573] This mount is still existing, but it has lost its ancient name, and is now called Tout Hill. It stands in the Deanery garden, and has probably been largely ransacked for garden soil, as it has a decayed and shapeless look. Still, it is a venerable relic of Norman aggression, well authenticated. PEVENSEY, Sussex (Fig. 24).--The Roman castrum of Pevensey (still so striking in its remains) was an inhabited town at the date of the Norman Conquest, and was an important port.[574] After taking possession of the castrum, William I. drew a strong bank across its eastern end, and placed a castle in the area thus isolated. This first castle was probably entirely of wood, as there was a wooden _palicium_ on the bank as late as the reign of Henry II.[575] But if a wooden keep was built at first, it was very soon superseded by one of stone.[576] The remains of this keep have recently been excavated by Mr Harold Sands and Mr Montgomerie, and show it to have been a most remarkable building[577] (see Chapter XII., p. 355)--in all probability one of the few 11th century keeps in England. We may perhaps attribute this distinction to the fact that no less a man than the Conqueror's half-brother, the Count of Mortain, was made the guardian of this important port. Pevensey is mentioned as a port in the _Close Rolls_ of Henry III.'s reign, and was one of the important waterways to the Continent.[578] As has been already noted, the establishment of the castle was followed by the usual rise in the value of the _burgus_.[579] The area of the castle covers 1 acre. PONTEFRACT, Yorkshire (Fig. 26).--This castle is not spoken of in Domesday by its French name, but there can be no doubt that it is "the Castle of Ilbert" which is twice mentioned and several times alluded to in the _Clamores_, or disputed claims, which are enrolled at the end of the list of lands in Yorkshire belonging to the tenants-in-chief.[580] The existence of Ilbert's castle at Pontefract in the 11th century is made certain by a charter (only an early copy of which is now extant) in the archives of the Duchy of Lancaster, in which William Rufus at his accession regrants to Ilbert de Lacy "the custom of the castelry of his castle, as he had it in the Conqueror's days and in those of the bishop of Bayeux."[581] As Mr Holmes remarks, this carries us back to four years before the compilation of Domesday Book, since Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, whom William had left as regent during his absence in Normandy, was arrested and imprisoned in 1082.[582]