Within the confines of the castle ramparts are pleasure–grounds of great beauty, and although nowadays the houses of the town approach the walls more nearly than in ancient times, they can detract little or nothing from the grandly beautiful building itself. The main entrance is by the gate–house, which stands nearly opposite to the church of St. Nicholas. It was constructed in the first year of the nineteenth century on the site of an Elizabethan house, which belonged to an old Warwick family. In former times there were two other approaches to the castle—one situated on the north side at the end of Castle Street, and the other at the bottom of Mill Street, traces of which are still discernible. This drive leads to the outer court, which is known as the Vineyard, a title preserved since the fifteenth century, when vines really grew there in such numbers as to justify the employment of women for the purpose of gathering in the harvest of grapes. The gateway, which was constructed in the fourteenth century, was approached in ancient times by a drawbridge spanning the moat. It is on the inner side of this that the barbican stands, rising to the height of two stories above the archway and projecting from the wall. On either side are two octagonal turrets, freely loopholed for the purpose of defending the bridge and its approaches from attack. Within the drawbridge itself hangs the portcullis, and behind this in the ceiling are four holes through which blazing pitch, hot lead, or other equally unpleasant and destructive materials could be poured on the heads of assailants. In the rear of the portcullis itself stood the ancient and iron–strengthened doors. Even though the attacking party should have found its way through both portcullis and doors into the small court beyond, they would be still subject to a most murderous attack, and be almost entirely at the mercy of the defenders above; and even though surviving this they would still have to pass the gate–house, with a groined archway defended by a portcullis, loopholes, and doors like the barbican itself. The gate–house is flanked by towers, from the summits of which the defenders could pour down a shower of missiles upon the attacking party still within the court. In the lower chamber of the south–east turret still exists the windlass which in ancient times worked the portcullis of the outer gate. At the point where the road enters the inner court a fine view of the castle is obtained, with Æthelflæd’s mound or the keep, crowned with trees and shrubs, and crossed by the fortifications in which the northern tower stands, the dominating feature.