926 REPORT — 1888. 



spring tides, that is, vertically 16 feet from its summit ; that it be made from 4 feet 

 to 10 feet thick of solid masonry, in large blocks pinned and cramped together as it 

 progressed, and set in hydraulic cement, the largest blocks used in the base with off- 

 set courses as shown in the drawing. Such a wall would be considerably below the 

 present base of the enclosing outer walls of the Castle, which it might be made to 

 underpin in places liy having projecting corbelled courses carried under and wedged 

 up to the same ; it would have to be got in in short lengths, and the excavated face 

 kept sufficiently in advance of the old walls to clear the hard sand crust in front of 

 the same next the sea, and the excavated face below supported by piling, caulked if 

 necessary, as the excavation progi-essed, to prevent any disturbance of the material 

 below the present walls. The outside of the toe of such encircling wall to be enclosed 

 by another parallel row of sheet piling driven down 12 feet below its base, i.e., 4 feet 

 below the level of low water. Each row of piles to be of rock elm timber, connected 

 by longitudinal wales, and together transversely, as shown, the excavated trench 

 within got out in short lengths and filled with clay puddle and concrete. The greatest 

 care would be requisite not to disturb the ground under the Castle walls. 



To avoid this it is, as before stated, proposed to keep the encircling wall at its 

 base, say, 5 feet from the present footings, and pile it at the base on both sides, as 

 shown on the accompanying plan. 



The above plan appears to me to present the fewest possible objections out of 

 several that have presented themselves and been considered. To underpin thoroughly 

 the existing walls would be exceedingly costly and difficult, and the driving of piles 

 near them hazardous. By keeping the inner work in advance as above proposed this 

 objection would be obviated, the pile-joints might be caulked, and the areas limited 

 by temporary cross-piling. *" 



This plan would, next the sea, admit hereafter of extension or widening at the 

 base should the shore lower still further, by the addition of another outer row of 

 piling, and stepping down the foundation within the trench so formed, as shown by 

 the dotted lines in the sections. 



Or this lowering of the shore might be met by a more economical plan, viz., stone 

 paving on concrete and clay, forming an apron next the sea, as proposed in my report 

 of 1856. 



In addition to the main enclosing basement wall, I propose that the moat walls 

 should, on the west or land side, be removed to the level of the sills of the lower 

 embrasures, the chalk hearting therefrom, and the material of the sloped embank- 

 ment to be used in filling up the moat between the N.W. and S.W. towers, as shown 

 on the plan, maintaining the south revetment walls and the south timber revetment 

 as long as possible, for the reasons before stated, leaving sufficient of the old moat 

 wall standing to form a pier to the drawbridge and a portion of the bank to form an 

 approach to the same, the masonry from the moat walls to be used as a pavement 

 over the surface of the moat so filled in on a bed of clay puddle ; the effect of this 

 would be to confine the range of the sea behind the Castle, at present undermining 

 the work on the N. side, where there is now 3 to 4 feet of water at high water of 

 springs, and it would render the basement drier if the above were done ; from one- 

 third to one-fourth of the circumference of the proposed main wall of defence might be 

 dispensed with until the sea had made further inroads : this on the assumption that 

 the N. moat barrier and N. timber retreated revetment are maintained, and the shingle 

 forms in front of them ; should they not be, the shingle would continue to retreat, and 

 the main enclosing wall must then be made continuous, and any further attempts to 

 maintain the south revetment wall abandoned. 



The total cost of the permanent works for the isolated defence of the Castle I 

 estimate at 16,000Z. If the west side of the enclosing wall be dispensed with and the 

 moat filled I estimate their cost at 12,000Z. They might be postponed until next 

 summer and until the effect of the more temporary measures first suggested are 

 demonstrated ; the immediate execution of these last I consider absolutely necessary 

 for the safety of the Castle. 



In order to ascertain that no material change had taken place since my first 

 inspection of the 17th ultimo I again visited the Castle on the 8th instant. 



I found that 9.5 feet of the west portion of the north groyne had been carried 

 away by the sea, and that a further portion of the adjoining counterscarp wall had 

 fallen, and the main fallen masses of the north revetment or counterscarp wall on 

 the east or sea side leaned more over seaward, and that the fissures under the south 

 revetment wall were more open. 



I also found the chalk-rubble bottom of the moat behind the breach more gulled 



