CHAPTER IX. 



TOWN WALL AND HAVEN MOUTH, AND THE 

 OLD TOWN. 



N 1260 Henry III., upon petition of the 

 burgesses, granted them permission to 

 enclose the town with a wall and a moat, 

 but nothing of much importance seems 

 to have been done for many years. The 

 great plague which ravaged the town in 

 1349, swept off 7,052 souls, being most of the inhabit- 

 ants, reducing the trade and the town to a very low 

 condition. The wall was still unfinished 126 years 

 after the grant had been made. For the purpose of 

 building the wall the town was empowered to collect 

 a custom upon all goods imported and exported. 

 This was afterwards supplemented by voluntary con- 

 tributions from the inhabitants of the neighbourhood. 

 The wall contained a compass of about 2,238 yards, 

 having ten gates and sixteen towers. After finishing 

 the wall, a moat was made round the town, with 

 bridges at each gate ; the moat being deep and wide 



