FARLEIGH-HUNGERFORD CASTLE. 117 



strong faciug of masonry, the house did not rise immedi- 

 ately lipon the outer edge of the court, but stood back 

 several yards within it, leaving space for a narrow strip of 

 yard, the pitching of which is still to be seen. 



Farleigh Castle was much embelllshed by a Sir Walter 

 Hungerford, temp. Elizabeth. Of the coats of arms that 

 were in the window, or on the walls, some notes were taken 

 on the spot by Le Neve, the antiquary, who made a hasty 

 visit here, in 1701. These are in one of his manuscripts in 

 the British Museum. A fine hall table, said to have been 

 part of the Castle furniture, is still preserved at Hinton 

 Abbey ; and various fragments of the building, such as 

 carved heads, mullions of windows, mantel-pieces, etc., have 

 been recognized in the neighbouring cottages. 



THE TOWERS. 



Two out of the four towers which formed the sqiiare of 

 the dwelling-house, are still left. A line drawn between 

 thein would xuark the south front, as approached from the 

 first court. In each of these towers were small rooms, a 

 ground floor, and two stories. There was no subterranean 

 Chamber. The foundations are very strongly built, in broad 

 circular courses of masonry, each lower com'se being 

 broader than the one above, until the lowest becomes, in 

 fact, one entire substratum. The tower at the south-west 

 angle of the quadrangle ( and which is the first that meets 

 the eye in passing under the archway of the gate-house,) 

 was for many years held together by a net-work of ivy, 

 growing from a single stem, nearly two yards wide. The 

 boughs were as thick as a cable. On the fifth of Novem- 

 ber, 1842, through the carelessness of some chlldren, the ivy 

 accidently caught fire, and was entirely destroyed. The 

 tower l)eing thut? dcprivcd of its girdcrs, a largc part soon 



