175 



rapidly close these few hastily-gathered and imperfectly-arranged 

 remarks, merely glancing at the fact that there is the foolish 

 tradition (so usual with respect to castles near to religious 

 establishments) that there was a subterraneous passage connecting 

 this castle with the ancient house in Westham called Priesthawes, 

 between two and three miles distant, and that the rustic 

 inhabitants of the neighbourhood were considerably disappointed 

 when the late Mark Antony Lower proved, by careful excavation, 

 that the "passage," so called, which an old inhabitant assured 

 him he had seen at a few perches distant from the south-west 

 angle of the great gateway, was merely a large drain. " ' Why, 

 sir,' said one of them to me (says Mr. Lower), 'so this here 

 subterreenous passage as we've so long heerd an turns out to be 

 uothin hut a gurt dreen' " 



The party then scrambled over and about the ruins of the 

 Castle, the interior of which had been taken possession of by 

 about two hundred and fifty children belonging to the Eastbourne 

 National Schools. The large well in the centre of the Castle was 

 an object of some interest. It was stated by the President that 

 an attempt had been made to clean it out, and that after getting 

 to a depth of forty feet the work was deemed too difficult to be 

 proceeded with ; and it was mentioned by ]\Ir. Alderman Cox 

 that a number of wolves' heads were discovered amongst the 

 ddbris in the well. In the garden belonging to the house near the 

 Castle were several of the catapults — large round pieces of rock 

 — which were also found in the well. Resuming their seats in 

 the vehicles, the party drove to Hurstmonceux, passing through 

 the village of Wartjing, and pausing a short time to inspect the 

 interior of the church, which contains sevei-al beautiful monu- 

 meuts of white marble, erected to the memory of members of the 

 Curteis f;\mily, to whom the Castle of Hurstmonceux belongs. 

 Proceeding on their journey to the Castle, along a road shaded by 

 trees on either side, the vehicles gradually aj^proached this 

 remarkable pile of dismantled buildings, the property of Mr. 

 Herbert Mascall Curteis, of Windmill Hill Place, whose father 



