WAREHAM : rrs INVASIONS AND BATTLES. 101 



There is, moreover, reason to suppose that a stage or narrow ledge 

 existed at the base of the North Wall and gained by this sally port, 

 which would have served the purpose of landing or embarking troops, 

 either to depart from the town to the deeper water of the harbour, or 

 by sailing through the ditch frustrate the designs of an enemy who 

 had the boldness to attack Wareham Castle. The vigilance of the 

 sentinels of Wareham is not recorded as extraordinary. The shallow- 

 ness of the ditch might raise an objection to this theory, but 

 it can be accounted for. When Hutchins wrote his description 

 of these walls it should be remembered that as fortifications they 

 had been effectually ruined by the Parliamentarians, after the 

 battle fought at the West Gate in August, 1644. The endeavour of 

 the enemy was to prevent their being again restored and 

 strengthened, and this suggests a reason why the walls at the 

 entrances to the town are so battered and all traces of the gates 

 obliterated. The twelve hundred horse and foot who fought and 

 forced an entrance at the West Gate would do much towards filling 

 up the ditch, a work which would be continued by battering down 

 and demolishing the walls ; the work then begun the rough 

 carelessnesses of centuries would finish ; moreover, the Gate being 

 destroyed, we see a reason for the short roadway made between 

 Wareham and Westport. The Vandalism of the period is yet 

 manifest in the magnificent ruins of Corfe Castle, and it was not 

 till above a century after the deliberate destruction of the strong- 

 holds of the neighbourhood that Hutchins took the measurements 

 and wrote the description of the walls for which, though brief, we 

 are deeply indebted to him. At the angle of this wall is a double 

 rampart mentioned by Hutchins ; suggestive of additional strength 

 and protection. A few yards east on the North Wall is an opening, 

 supposed by Mr. Warne to have been a water gate. Such a supposi- 

 tion is reasonable ; it might also have served for landing and 

 embarking troops ; the base suggests the probability that a stage or 

 platform ran the whole length of this wall, and as the deeper water 

 was doubtless N.E. of Wareham the stage might also have served for 

 loading and unloading vessels at the time of an extensive com trade. 



