254 THE DOVER ROAD 



ill-neighbours, indeed, they were, for they were 

 established on the edge of the Castle ditch, where, 

 overlooking the outer ward, and being filled with archers 

 whose practice soon slackened the defenders' fire, they 

 would soon have brought the siege to a close, had not 

 the death of the English King removed internal quarrels 

 and aroused a united spirit of patriotism throughout 

 England which boded ill for the prospects of the French 

 prince. The invaders retired from London and the 

 southern counties which they had held, not so much by 

 force of arms as by favour of disaffected Englishmen ; 

 they gave up the siege of Dover Castle, and presently 

 re-embarked for France. 



The struggles between a despotic King and a 

 rapacious nobility which had caused these troubles 

 in the reign of John were soon resumed, and Dover 

 Castle became alternately the hold of one party or 

 the other. The most notable incident in these events 

 was that of 1265, when the Barons held the Castle 

 and had fourteen knights of the King's party 

 imprisoned in the Keej). Prince Edward attacked 

 the Castle from without, and the prisoners, bursting 

 out from their cells and rushing upon their gaolers from 

 within, forced the garrison to surrender. 



It was in the time of Edward the First that Dover 

 Castle reached its full development. That was the 

 grand era of castle -building in England, when military 

 engineering was practised without reference to ordnance, 

 and had attained to a remarkable ingenuity. Like all 

 Edwardian Castles, that of Dover is concentric and 

 has three wards, enclosed within high curtain walls 

 strengthened with a great number of defensible towers. 

 The outer ward had no less than twenty-seven of these 

 towers, among which the Constable's Tower and 

 gateway is first for size and beauty. 



It is a long, steep, and dusty climb to Dover Castle 

 from the town. Halfway up, the visitor of forty years 

 ago would be attracted by the tinkling of a small bell, 

 and, looking round, his gaze would fall upon haggard 



