254 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



The attem})t to take the Castle was abandoned for the 

 time, but a second etTort was more successful. The 

 Governor, Oglethorpe, while away from his duties, as 

 some say courting a fair lady in the neighbourhood, paid 

 for his temporary abberation by being taken prisoner ; and 

 Massey, suddenly appearing before the Castle, and de- 

 manding its surrender, it was yielded to him, and from 

 thence held by the Puritans. 



According to Bigland, the Castle was burnt down soon 

 after the siege, and a large dwelling house built within its 

 walls; that house was also burnt in 1691, and replaced 

 by the present farm house. But this hardly seems pro- 

 bable, it is more likely that the Castle was dismantled, 

 and the old Hall turned into a farm house, as suggested 

 by Blunt, and that this old hall, adapted as a farm house, 

 was the house which was burnt previous to the erection 

 of the present one. 



Next, with regard to the building itself, of which I 

 must regret there was no time to make a good plan. As 

 before suggested, it is possible that an earlier strong- 

 hold may have existed, and that the remains found in the 

 Rectory garden were part of it ; and there may be remains 

 of the Castle of 1225 in the lower portions and founda- 

 tions of the present building, but it appears to me to be 

 for the most part Edwardian. 



Blunt gives the following general description : — " The 

 " reconstruction of the Castle by Lord Berkeley left it a 

 " fine quadrangular structure, with — so tradition states — 

 " four towers (though only two now remain) a Barbican, 

 "a large Banqueting hall on the site now occupied by the 

 " dwelling house of the Castle Farm, and a moat im- 

 " mediately under the walls of the Towers and Curtains." 



" The western face of this Edwardian Castle still re- 

 " mains, consisting of a large square Tower, 34 ft. by 30 ft., 

 " at the southern end, a smaller one, 24 ft. square, set 



