Page:Sussex Archaeological Collections, volume 6.djvu/315

 eighteen feet, the eastern side of which had had an inner arch of entrance 9½ feet wide. The stones are of very large size and somewhat displaced. Fragments of Roman imbrices from the original roof of the gateway were found, together with a third brass coin of Constantine, one of the amulets of Kimmeridge coal so often occurring with Roman remains, and within a yard of it, though at a higher level, a penny of Canute. Two large bases of cylindrical columns of a whitish friable stone were also found. The earth was next removed from a portion of the inner facing of the walls, and the masonry was found to be in a fine state of preservation.

A singular feature presented itself here and in various other places in the course of the excavations. The original floor or area has been covered with a bed of stiff red clay to the depth of five, six, or even eight feet, and this with the debris of the masonry and a superincumbent mass of animal and vegetable matter has so elevated the surface, that the walls, which on the outside are upwards of twenty-five feet high, are at some places internally little more than a breastwork. This applies more particularly to the eastern part of the area, and the only way of accounting for it seems to be that the Normans, when they took possession of the ancient fortification and built their castle within it, found it expedient for some purpose not very obvious to us to elevate the soil. Part of the accumulation may be accounted for by the removal of the earth necessary for the formation of the deep wide moat surrounding the northern and western sides of their work; but there must have been some other and weightier motive for the procedure.

After having developed the interior of the great gateway, we proceeded to excavate the earth in the vicinity of the little postern-gate b. This gate was first noticed by Mr. Roach Smith about two years since. It does not pass at right angles through the wall, but by a singular winding course, obviously for better defence. Nothing of importance was discovered here. The wall from this point in a north-easterly direction for about 200 feet has fallen, whether from some defect in the foundation or from violence we could not form a conjecture. From the end of the fallen wall in the direction of tower G we caused a deep trench to be sunk, disclosing the inner