The Castles Of England and Wales at The Latter Part Of The Twelfth Century

of the House of Clare. At various distances from this centre, according to the disposition of the ground, were posted within the northern and southern passes of the chalk ridge, Berkhampstead, an appanage of the Earldom of Cornwall, and Guildford, the early keep of which stands in part upon an artificial mound. Also, to the immediate south of London, were the episcopal Castle, still inhabited, of Farnham, and Earl Warren's castle at Ryegate, of which some traces remain. Higher up the Thames were Windsor, Reading, Wallingford, and Oxford, all fortresses of high antiquity and of the first rank. Between the Thames and the seacoast the country was well guarded, and the communications with Dover, Portsmouth, and Southampton, so important to sovereigns with possessions on the continent, rendered secure. Dover, called by William the Conqueror, according to Matthew Paris, " Clavis et repagulum," the key and barrier of the kingdom, was one of its oldest, largest, and strongest fortresses, and covered a nearly impregnable area of thirty-five acres. It crowned the crest of a chalk rock which seemed to rise out of the sea, and steep by nature, was rendered still more so by art, and bore traces of Norman, English, Roman, and probably British occupation. Its well of water is particularly specified, according to M. Paris, in Harold's celebrated covenant with Duke William. Indeed, there seem to have been two wells in the keep, besides another, no doubt that of Harold, in the outer ward, probably a Roman work. The town also was walled. In the rear of Dover lay the city of Canterbury, mentioned in Domesday as fortified. It was strong to the landward, with a formidable bank and ditch, revetted by a Norman wall, and towards the water was covered by the marshes of the Stour, at one time navigable up to the quays of the ancient city. At one angle, and just within the area, was a strong rectangular keep, a Norman addition, and near it was the Danejohn, a far older moated mound, older even than the bank and ditch of the city, which were laid out at an angle to include it. Near to Canterbury was Chilham, a Norman tower of peculiar form, on the site of a work burned by the Danes in 838-51 ; and at no great distance was Saltwood, given to the see of Canterbury in 103G, and

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