FAKLEIGH-HUNGERFORD CASTLE, 115 



earliest Speakers of the House of Commons, and Steward 

 to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. By Sir Thomas 

 and his son Walter, Lord Hungerford (temp. Henry 

 VI.,) the house of the Montforts was enlarged, and con- 

 verted into a Castle. It probably underwent some later 

 alterations. 



The princlple gate-house still remains. Over the arch 

 is a sickle, in stone, the device of the Hungerford family ; 

 above this is a shield of their arms, surmounted by a helmet 

 and crest, and the letters E. H., for Edward Hungerford. 

 The Single apartment above the archway was a guard-room, 

 with a door leading on to the walls. There is no trace of 

 a portcullis; but there are apertures for the beams of a 

 drawbridge. From this entrance, round the southern and 

 western sides, the Castle was protected by a narrow moat, 

 on the north a natural ravine, and, on the east, the steep- 

 ness of the knoll on which it Stands, defended it, As the 

 ground faUs away rapidly towards the north, the water 

 must have been held up at both extremities of the moat 

 by a strongly-built dam. The pipes by which it was sup- 

 plied have been traeed to a spring on the top of a liill nearly 

 three-quarters of a mile from the Castle. 



The general area was divided into two courts. The 

 outer one, which is the first entered after passing through 

 the gate-house, contained the stables and offices, etc. It 

 was formerly pitched all over with stone. Leland, who 

 visited Farleigh, terap. Henry VIII., says that there were 

 " diverse praty towers in the utti warde." Of these the 

 fragments of two still remain, in the wall on the south side 

 of the court-yard. Crossing this first court by the road, 

 we pass out of it between two thick walls, the remains of 

 another entrance. Close to this were latcly discovcred the 

 lowcr Steps of the winding stair-case, by which the walls on 



