The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles.

by Ella Sophia Armitage

[734] A.-S. C.

[735] William of Poitiers calls it an oppidum, [p. 141].

[736] Hedges, History of Wallingford.

[737] “The Towne of Portsmuth is murid from the Est Tower a forowgh lenght with a Mudde Waulle armid with Tymbre.” Itin., iii., 113.

[738] “In burgo de Walingeford habuit Rex Edwardus 8 virgatas terræ; et in his erant 276 hagæ reddentes 11 libras de gablo.... Pro castello sunt 8 destructæ.” D. B., i., 56. If we divide these 276 haughs by the 114 acres enclosed by the town rampart, we get an average of about 1 rood 26 perches for each haugh; multiply this by 8 (the number destroyed for the castle) and we get an area of 3 acres, which is about the average area of an early Norman castle.

[739] Hedges, History of Wallingford, i., 139.

[740] Camden speaks of the motte as being in the middle of the castle, but this is a mistake.

[741] Such is the account in Hedges’ History of Wallingford, p. 139, but it sounds odd. It is to be inferred from the same source that the fragment of a round building which stands on the top of the motte must be modern; it is thick enough to be ancient.

[742] Close Rolls, i., anno 1223.

[743] D. B., i., 56.