

ANNALS OF HORESTON AND HORSLEY. 2 1 



castle, when the basement story of a small tower was emptied. 

 Amongst the debris thrown out I found a small sheep bell, which 

 I gave to the late Mr. Fox, of Morley, a boar's tusk, fragments of 

 rotten beams, and the lower portion of a pair of antlers with a 

 small fragment of the skull. 



Some years after this, I obtained leave of Mr. Hervey Sitwell 

 to prosecute the work, and removed the sloping bank from the 

 face of the masonry looking towards Horsley. The wall had 

 been covered to a considerable height with loose stones, and the 

 work solidified by pouring liquid mortar on the pile. We had 

 very great difficulty in clearing this mass away from the face of the 

 tower basement. It must have been thrown up in a time of 

 apprehended danger, and subsequent to the introduction of 

 cannon, but when it is impossible to say, for I cannot find that 

 there was a garrison at Horsley during the civil wars. 



I think there can be no doubt but that the present ruin formed 

 a portion of the keep, which appears to have been mult-angular, 

 and apparently constructed on an outcrop of the rock at a con- 

 siderable elevation above the rest of the castle buildings. 



Of the extent and size of this fortress it is impossible now to speak 

 with any certainty, but a large block of grouted rubble may be 

 seen about 50 yards below the present ruin. It lies on a curved 

 bank, which seems to me to indicate the course of the outer walls 

 of a court-yard ; but I may be mistaken, for the whole surface of 

 the hill, and specially the castle site, has been so thoroughly 

 disturbed by quarrying that its original features have entirely 

 disappeared. 



I have heard many times of the castle well, and a few years ago 

 there were some living who pretended to know its position, but it 

 has long been filled with rubbish from the quarry. 



A little while ago the castle hill was famous for its daffodils, and 

 there was one kind which was identified as the daffodil of Syria, 

 proving their eastern origin, but this variety has disappeared long 

 ago. Of the remainder, some were planted last year in Smalley 

 churchyard. 



In 1850 I noticed a few gooseberry bushes growing in the 



