SANDSFOOT CASTLE. 35 



I will briefly refer to Mr. Groves's remarks in passing. 



From a plan of Sandsfoot Castle dated 1789 (in my possession) 

 and which I was, many years ago, (by the courtesy of an 

 official) allowed to copy from one in the War Department 

 Office, on Bincleeves, the dimensions of the Castle are there 

 given as : length, 100 feet; width, 50 feet. 



The east, north and west sides still have the protection of 

 the ditch and rampart, and it is fair to assume that similar 

 works defended the south side; but all traces of these must 

 have been obliterated more than 70 years ago, by the occasional 

 subsidence of the cliff into the sea. 



That the opening in the east rampart was a gateway or 

 entrance is, I think, open to grave doubts. On a map and 

 plan of the Castle which I saw more than 50 years ago, and 

 which was then in the keeping of the War Department at 

 their Office on the Bincleeves, that opening is described as 

 being a magazine. Years ago there reposed in the ditch, 

 directly behind the so-called " gateway," a massive door jamb 

 of stone. The upper end of the jamb was turned, so as to form 

 half of the head of a semi-circular door arch. When the 

 corresponding jamb was in position it would accommodate a 

 door measuring 3ft. by 4ft. 6in. in the rabbet formed for this 

 purpose. A door of this size, although suitable for a magazine, 

 would be totally inadequate for the general purposes of the 

 Castle. When I last saw this jamb, it had fallen from the 

 ditch on to the undercliff below. I searched for it in June, 

 1918, but could not find it. Possibly it was hidden by the 

 rank growth of weeds, or had sunk in the soft earth. 



The grooves in which the portcullis moved are clearly in 

 view, also the stone stairway leading to the chamber (over the 

 main entrance) in which was the machinery used for raising or 

 lowering this. 



There were two entrances to the cellars, one at the north- 

 east angle of the Castle, the other a few yards to the south 

 of this. 



