PLYMPTON OASTLE. 257 
Norman and almost every soke and large estate had, or the en- 
trenched residences of the ordinary thegns.* 
Fortunately for those who then lived in them, the counties of 
Devon and Cornwall had not many castles within their boundaries, 
and none were of any considerable importance, or their buildings 
of any great extent. Perhaps they were not required. The new 
building was something more than its predecessor. The latter was 
it is true a strong place, and one for defence, but the former was 
in every sense of the word a fortress. And it is remarked by one 
of the chroniclers,+ that the English were so easily subdued by the 
Normans principally through the want of defences of this kind. 
‘“‘ For there were very few fortresses, which the French call ‘castles,’ 
in the English provinces, and for that reason the English, although 
they were warlike and bold, were yet found to be weak in resisting 
their enemies.” To the Norman therefore the castle was a neces- 
sity. It was one of the objects of the foreigner who had received 
a grant of land to put himself in the place of his Saxon pre- 
decessor, to let it be felt that he was to be looked up to and 
obeyed ; and therefore he would be anxious to locate himself in 
the very position the English occupied, and to become the centre— 
military, judicial, and social—of the district over which he ruled. 
Hence he condescended to punish and redress, and to extend his 
protection to those beneath him. We therefore find that the 
Norman castle has an earlier history. But besides this it was 
necessary to make himself secure; and the care of the Norman 
lord was to erect such a fortress as he and his ancestors had been 
accustomed to in Normandy ; and in ordinary cases where it was 
thought inexpedient to adapt the earlier work to the new neces- 
sities, a rectangular tower of considerable strength was forthwith 
built, in which he and his followers could take refuge and defend 
themselves in case of hostile attack. This was the Norman keep, 
of which we have many fine examples in England remaining. 
Sometimes this erection was of small size, sometimes of considerable 
magnitude, but always of great strength and carefully constructed, 
no pains being spared to render it as perfect as possible, and all 
the appliances and knowledge of the skilled builders of the time 
were brought to bear upon the construction of the keep, with what 
success many ruins still show. But although the Norman builder 
preferred, as is evident, a rectangular keep, he was willing if 
* Clark, “ Arch. Journal,” vol. xxiv. p. 10. ¢ Orderic Vitalis. 
