[35] This is the main contention of the theory so attractively enunciated by the late G. T. Clark, and endorsed by the authority of Professor Freeman.
[36] Nottingham castle is, in fact, considerably to the west of the probable site of the Saxon burh, which was more or less identical with the “English borough” of the middle ages, the western part of Nottingham being known as the “French borough.”
[37] The Danes were again at Tempsford in 1010, and, if the earthwork is of pre-Conquest date, it is more likely to have been thrown up during the earlier than during the later visit.
[38] The story (A.S. Chron., sub an. 755) of the murder of Cynewulf and its consequences, mentions the burh or burg of Merton with its gate: the house in which the king was murdered within the burh is called bur (i.e., bower, private chamber).
[39] Dr J. H. Round, Feudal England, 1909, p. 324, points to the phrase hoc castellum refirmaverat in the Domesday notice of Ewias, as indicative of the existence of the castle before the Conquest, and gives other reasons for the identification.
[40] Domesday, i., f. 23; “Castrum Harundel Tempore Regis Edwardi reddebat de quodam molino xl solidos,” etc. “Castrum Harundel,” however, applies to the town, not the castle; and it does not follow that the name was given to the town before the Conquest.
[41] Ord. Vit., Hist. Eccl., iii. 14; “id castellum situm est in acutissima rupe mari contigua.” The phrase may be used generally to describe a site which, in Ordericus’ own day, had become famous for its castle.
[42] Ord. Vit., Hist. Eccl. iv. 4.
[43] The Tower of London was outside the east wall of the medieval city. Baynard’s castle was at the point where the west wall approached the Thames.
[44] Ord. Vit., op. cit., iv. 4; “pinnas ac turres ... in munimentis addebant vel restaurabant ... Portæ offirmatæ erant, densæque turbæ in propugnaculis et per totum muri ambitum prostabant.”