[142] Tour in Normandy, I. p. 37.
[143] It is hoped, that this assertion is not too bold.—The accounts of Tamworth castle, as a building, are indeed particularly unsatisfactory: neither Leland, in his Itinerary, nor Shaw, in his History of Staffordshire, throw any light upon the æra of its construction. Yet, even from the wretched plate given in the latter work, the castle, all altered as it is, appears to preserve somewhat of the character of its Norman origin; while the fact of its having belonged to the powerful family of Marmion, immediately after the conquest, adds historical probability to the opinion. With regard to Colchester, no one who has seen it will feel hesitation on the subject, although the quantity of Roman bricks visible in every part, very naturally lead to the conclusion, that it was raised upon the ruins of a far earlier edifice.
[144] Carter's Ancient Architecture, p. 36, pl. 42, fig. E.
[145] Strutt's Manners and Customs of the Anglo-Saxons, &c. I. p. 28.
PLATE LXVIII.
CHURCH OF PERRIERS.
Plate 68. Church of Perriers, near Caen.