ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



obtained the grant and probably made Ongar the * caput ' of his great 

 Essex fief, 1 he materially altered the defences, and that it was not till 

 Richard de Luci's lordship in the twelfth century that the final develop- 

 ment took place, a development which made Ongar Castle a huge 

 fortress. 



The plan shows all that is left of the ramparts, but it is necessary 

 to add that solidly built rubble and tile masonry occurs at e, probably the 

 only gateway from the outer to the inner bailey. 



The earthen ramparts were mainly crowned with stockades or 

 palisading of timber, but here and there towers of masonry may have 

 been erected, as rubble is found at one or two points on the bank. The 



Sff 



ON CAR CASTLE. 



I r, Remains of tile and rubble masonry. 



old local idea was that the masonry which is exposed at e ran round, 

 forming a core to the bailey rampart, but excavations have proved that 

 chalky boulder-clay, gravel and sand rammed together are the main 

 constituents of the wall. 



PLESHEY. It has usually been considered that the construction of 

 the outer entrenchment at Pleshey took place long anterior to the time 

 when the great mound and court castle was thrown up, perhaps destroy- 

 ing a portion of the older work on the southern side. The outer work 

 consisted of a rampart of earth with a fosse or moat without, both are 

 well defined in a portion of the circuit but much reduced in the height 



1 See Mr. J. H. Round in Essex Arch. Tram. n.i. vii. 143, and Chisenhale-Marsh's Domesday, be. 

 1 297 38 



