316 On Devizes Castle. \ \ 



earth-works, would form a most valuable addition to any futuref 1 

 history of the place. He concurred with Mr. Burgess that the old;! 

 entrance was probably by Castle Lane, and that opinion coincided |i 

 with the lines laid down by Leland, 



After some remarks by Mr. Cunnington, Lord Nelson said hel 

 regretted that Mr. Burgess had not been with them at Vespasian's 

 Camp, which, it seemed to him, was very similar to Bratton Castle. 

 On the previous day he had walked with Mr. Meek across the I 

 ground which belonged to Old Park by the side of a very deep] 

 ditch. He did not know whether Mr. Burgess had been out so far 

 or not ? On Mr. Burgess replying that he had not seen it, Lord 

 Nelson added that it went down the green lane and partly sur- 

 rounded Mrs. Smith's property, and he believed that ground had 

 always been granted along with the castle, as a dowry, in olden 

 times, to the Queens of England, and appealed to Mr. Smith as to 

 the connection of the Old Park ditch with the castle. 



The Rev. A. C. Smith said that it had always been considered as 

 the castle ditch ; and the Old Park estate as the " chase " belonging 

 to the castle : the ditch in question is not only very broad and deep, I 

 but a considerable portion of it is, even in the driest summers, filled 

 with, water, which has supplied cattle in times of drought, when all 

 the ponds of the neighbourhood are dry. One particular spot in 

 this ditch is known as the " Deer's Leap," probably from some tra- 

 ditional tale of olden time. 



This raised the question as to where the fish-pond and mill were 

 situated. There must have been a fish-pond : a fish-pond was almost 

 a necessity ; and also a mill, and as a wind-mill was out of the 

 question, there must have been a water supply for that purpose. 

 Could it be shown that the old town ditches were represented by a 

 running stream sufficient to turn a water mill ? 



Mr. Cunnington said he was strongly of opinion, and had been 

 for many years, that the valley below was dammed across, and pro- 

 bably sufficient water was retained to keep up the supply of fish. 

 Certainly there was more than a morass there, and it must have been 

 a sheet of water of some size. When the railway was being con- 

 structed, and the foundations of the bridge were being dug out, the 



