86 Phjmpton in the Olden Time, by James Hine, F.R.I.B.A. 
ballium wall, where stem warriors peered over frowning battlements, 
is now a " lovers' walk." Such are the tendencies of modern 
civilization. Surrounding the castle wall was a deep moat about 
40 feet wide, still to be traced, except on the eastern side, where it 
has been filled up. In Leland's time it was full of water, and 
stored with carp. There are no remains whatever of the great 
gateway of the castle (with its drawbridge and portcullis), which, as 
shewn by the seal of the Lords of Plympton, was on the north 
side. There were probably towers at the different angles. 
In the time of Baldwin de Rivers, second Earl of Devon and 
Lord of Plympton, the castle was the scene of events which 
strikingly illustrate the then unsettled state of the country, and 
the insubordination of even the most privileged class. Baldwin 
de Rivers was considered one of the richest and bravest men of 
the age ; but having with some other nobles rebelled against King 
Stephen, on account it is said of the king refusing to confer 
certain honours on them, he fortified himself in his castle at 
Exeter, where he was besieged by the monarch ; and it appears that 
certain knights, to whom he had intrusted his castle of Plympton, 
being apprehensive of the Earl's danger, or alarmed about their 
own safety, treated for the surrender of Plympton ; and the king 
sent 200 men with a large body of archers from Exeter to Plymp- 
ton, who unexpectedly appeared under the walls of the castle 
about daybreak, and, according to the chronicler, the fortress was 
then almost entirely destroyed. 
The lands of the Earl, which extended far and wide round 
Plympton Castle, and said to have been abundantly stocked and 
well cultivated, were harried by the king's troops, who drove off 
to Exeter many thousands of sheep and oxen.* Baldwin was then 
dispossessed of all his honours, and banished the kingdom ; but 
afterwards siding with the Empress Matilda, in the civil wars 
♦ Devonshire wool was already a valuable commotlily, and was bought at that time, it 
is said, by Flemish merchants who frequented our Devonshire ports. 
