The horn-work covering the western entrance remains in excellent preservation, and its revetment, except where in part quarried, is nearly as sound as ever, although its gatehouse and western pier, if ever they existed, have been destroyed. They were probably of timber. The moat, to the west of the horn-work, being still in wet weather the channel of a rivulet, is overgrown with reeds and aquatic plants; to the east or castle side it is swampy in wet weather; and on the south is the bed of the ancient inundation, now a plain of sward, across which a path leads to a spring.
Along the exterior line of defence to the north-west, the redoubt, fosses, and adjacent earthworks are obscured by young trees and brushwood, by the effects of tillage, and by the buildings of the castle farm.
Entering the castle by the east water gate, the wall parallel to the curtain which formed the back of the northern or stable gallery is seen on the right, levelled nearly with the soil, and, consequently, all regular access to the buttress chambers is thus cut off.
The counterscarp of the inner moat is in ruins, choking up the moat. All vestiges of the eastern drawbridge between the grand front and the middle ward have disappeared.
The flanking towers of the eastern gatehouse of the middle ward are destroyed, that on the south completely, and that on the north very nearly so, the ruins of the singular building attached to it having prevented its entire destruction.
At the opposite or western extremity of this ward, the gatehouse is in rather better condition. The portal has been broken away below, but the hollow semi-piers connecting it with the horn-work remain. The front of this gatehouse, of great thickness, is perfect, and is garnished with a pair of chimneys; its inner part has been destroyed. The windows in the front are the only vestiges of the upper story.
On the north front of this ward the curtain is much shattered by the fall of the inner towers, and, as all the bastions have been ruined and blown up, their exact line of boundary is scarcely traceable.
Upon the southern side, the wide lake and the strength of the outbuildings have, in some degree, preserved the curtain, but the doorway of the water gate, which opens in it, is much injured. A few feet below its sill, a long black stain marks the height of the water in former times, and gives about 9 feet as the average depth of the lake.
The gallery, kitchens, &c., which occupy this side, are much injured; but in front of the great oven a portion of the parapet remains, here about 12 feet high, and furnished with a loop.
The tank remains, though nearly choked up with stones and brambles. Since the fall of the adjacent wall of the bastion, its position has been insecure. Recently its wall has cracked, and, unless repaired, it may be expected soon to fall into the moat.