Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/414

 384 MedicEval Military Architechire. seem to have been at least 40 feet high. Besides these, in the side walls, 60 feet in rear of the front tower, are two subordinate towers, also round, of 25 feet diameter; and again, a few feet from these, the curtain is slightly bent, so as to present an obtuse salient to the field. The work, therefore, though in general plan a triangle, has really five angles and as many towers. The front tower has a well- stair at its junction with its western curtain. The curtain is much broken down, but must have been at least 30 feet high, and, near the front, about 1 2 feet thick, and elsewhere 8 feet. The rear or gorge wall is not exactly a curtain to the flanking towers. It is placed a little outside of them, on the edge of the ditch ; and between it and the east tower was the gateway, the special and independent entrance of the outwork. The north side is gone, but the other side shows the springing of the portal arches and a square portcuUis groove. In this gorge wall, not far from the gate, is a large arch, corresponding to that already mentioned in the outer- ward wall. This was, no doubt, a way of communication between the castle and the earthwork. This ditch was crossed by a wall at the east end, which connected the two works and protected the bridge. The west end is filled with ruins. There are now no traces of buildings in the outwork. The towers of the outwork are of great strength, and have been faced with ashlar. The front tower especially is strong, and does not appear ever to have been mined or breached. Also the rock beneath it is undisturbed. Possibly the breach spoken of at the siege was in the adjacent curtain on the east. In the rear of this work is the ditch already described, and along its front and flanks is another ditch, proper to the outwork, and the most formidable of all the defences. It is above 30 feet wide, and at the advanced point, where the ground rises, above 40 feet deep. The scarp and counterscarp are vertical. Besides these regular works are others of a less regular but very formidable character, on the west side. This face of the rock towards the Seine, steep naturally, has been scarped and defended by art. Half-way down the slope is a round tower, connected, it is said, with the work above, by a gallery cut in the chalk. From the tower a wall descended to the river, so that the approaches on this side and the road between the hill and the river were effectually commanded. This wall seems to have terminated on the river bank, in a pier of which traces remain, and which supported one end of a strong dam or weir of piles, which extended across the river, and was part of the original work of Coeur-de-Lion. Several other works were stepped into the rocky slope, and especially covered the west side. The weir crossed above the island, called formerly D'Andelys, upon which was the octangular fort, erected also by Richard, and of which traces remain. The bridges from this island, either way, to the banks, were of timber, and have left no trace behind. Finally are to be mentioned the fortifications of the lesser Andelys, now destroyed, and the lake, fed by the waters of the Gambon, and