198 NOTES ON BERKHAMSTED CASTLE. 



thrown up by the besiegers to carry their great engines, and if 

 anyone cares to examine them, it will be found that they are 

 very suitable for this purpose ; the majority point straight to 

 the Keep, and they all have a slight slope to the front, as 

 though to suit a particular type of siege-engine. They could 

 easily have been thrown up under cover of the bank, while 

 archers, lining that, kept down the fire from the Castle. 



Before leaving the neighbourhood of the mound it may be 

 stated that by running a deep trench round the inner edge 

 of the ditch of the old mound, the footings of the curtain-wall 

 along that edge were discovered, facing the Keep. 



The excavations have allowed of a complete plan being made 

 of the principal masonry defences, so far as they exist 

 (Plates VIII and IX), and it is to be hoped that future work 

 may show something of the internal arrangements. 



A few miscellaneous remarks on the Castle follow. 



The triple ditches and double banks are very unusual; similar, 

 but less perfect, arrangements exist at Wallingford, Berks, and 

 at Whittington, Salop. 



At the south-west and south-east corners of the middle bank 

 are mounds intended to carry a tower to flank the long line 

 of bank. 



The big watercress-bed on the west, and the trace of a dry 

 ditch to the north of it, represent an earth barbican covering 

 the " great gate of the Castle upon the west." The exact 

 position of this gate has not been determined, but it may lie 

 hidden under the garden of the lodge. 



The small square projection on the north-west, beyond the 

 curtain, seems to have been the foot of a tower whose base was 

 level with the waters of the moat, but as all was ruinous except 

 about four feet of wall, the exact function of this is obscure. 

 Some tiles were found here, of a later date than those of the 

 " Chapel." 



The great width of moat on the south-west and south-east, 

 forming a stagnum or lake, should be observed. 



The ground south of the Castle, so far as the Bulbourue, 

 formerly a considerable stream, was at one time a swamp. 



I would like to add a few words on the subject of ivy and the 

 destruction it produces in old buildings. Its evil effects are 

 especially visible at Berkhamsted, and I have noticed much 

 disintegration besides that due to wet, frost, and small boys. 

 At the south-east corner of the Castle there is a flagrant case of 

 approaching ruin where a big ivy-trunk, growing in the thickness 

 of the wall, is about to split off its entire face. Ivy may be very 

 interesting from certain points of view, but when it destroys, 

 disintegrates, and conceals priceless old buildings and ruins, it is 

 a noxious weed and should be treated as such. 



Trans. Hertfordshire Nat. Hut. Soc, Vol. XIII, Part 3, February, 1908. 



