CASTLE GARY. 85 



look carefully to discover the few traces of baronial power 

 and pride which time and man have spared. 



Two large mounds, covered with grass, in the paddock 

 immediately above the lake on the East side, defended on 

 the South side by a deep ditch, and on the North West 

 by a wall, built against the hill-side, are all that remain 

 of that ancient fortress, where, for nearly 300 years, the 

 Hon banner of the Perceval Lovell waved, and which 

 resisted the assaults even of royal armies, when the lords 

 of Cary upheld against Usurpation the cause of legitiinate 

 nionarchy. 



Barlow, in bis Peerage, published A.D. 1773, and in the 

 article on the Perceval faniily, states that " The Castle of 

 Cary consisted (according to the first construction of the 

 Normans) of a mound with a great tower thereon, situate 

 at one angle of a very extensive court, which was defended 

 on the other points by several lesser towers at proper dis- 

 tances round the inclosure, and by a great gateway." 

 Collinson mentions that in the intrenched area, which still 

 marks the site of the old Castle, " implements of war, and 

 bolts of iron " have occasionally been dug up. I have not 

 seen anything of the sort, nor do I believe they have been 

 preserved in this neighbourhood. 



There are remains of, probably, a more ancient fort on 

 the hill above the site of the castle. These earthworks 

 consist of a rampart, averaging 24 feet high, and conform- 

 ing to the line of the hill. On the top of this rampart is a 

 platform, about 40 feet wide at the Southern side, and 

 diminishing to the breadth of 12 feet where the hill turns 

 Northward, and the rampart terminates. A second and 

 smaller agger bounds the platform conformably with the 

 line of the outer agger; but, diminishing Northwards as 

 described above, this agger does not exceed 8 feet in 



