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 394 MedicBval Military Architecture. and Chepstow, of which Wigmore is reputed one of the oldest Honours in the kingdom ; Monmouth ; Ewyas, founded before the Conquest, and repaired before Domesday, by Alured de Marleburgh; Avretone ; Caerleon, famous for its Roman walls and its mount ; Ferrars Castle; Herdeslie; Waterleye. These and several others not mentioned in the Survey, but existing at the time, were strengthened and held by the Norman invaders. Clifford Castle stands on the right bank of the Wye, at the bottom of one of those short, sharp bends so frequent along the course of this river, and which add so much to its beauty. It crowns a red sandstone cliff about 150 feet above the stream, and close to it. The scarp, naturally steep, has been recently made steeper by art, to allow of the passage of the Brecon and Hereford Railway between the castle and the river. The cliff is part of a knoll of high ground, about half a mile long, and cut by the long-continued action of the river into a semilunar figure. The highest part of this knoll is converted into a narrow tongue by a broad and deep ravine, which descends from the north nearly parallel to the Wye, and terminates in the river bank. A long, tapering ridge is thus isolated between the ravine and the river, and upon this stands the fortress. The ravine bounds the ridge on the south and east, and a natural depression of no great depth crosses the latter at the broad north end. The intermediate part is traversed by two artificial cross ditches, which run from the river to the ravine, about 100 feet deep, but still considerably above the level of either. The central and highest part thus isolated contains the inner ward ; south of this a very small but strong division constitutes the outwork ; and on the north is the lower but broader expanse of the outer ward, the three being thus in a line. The inner ward, of which alone any buildings remain, is roughly quadrangular, about 100 feet square. Along the west or river front are the hall and withdrawing-room. On the south front is a half- round tower and a curtain. The east, or ravine, side is destroyed to the ground level, as is nearly all the north end, in which was the gate-house. The hall, 20 feet by 40 feet, was on the first floor. There was a store or cellar under it, of which the east and south walls are gone. Its entrance, and any light it may have had, were probably given on the court or east side. The hall had a timber floor. It was lighted by three windows in the west or river wall. Of these, the recess of one remains, with a rather low, pointed arch. A door in the north wall led into the withdrawing-room, and one at the south end into the mural tower. The east and south Avails are gone. The withdrawing-room occupied the curved angle of the ward between the hall and the gate-house ; beneath it was a ground-floor. The south end of the hall, like the west side, was an outer curtain. It abutted against a half-round tower, 30 feet diameter, with walls 9 feet thick, and a gorge wall, 5 feet thick, flush with the inner face of the curtain. This tower seems to have had an under ground-floor, now filled up. The basement has a