Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/260

 234 THE CASTLE. fosse or dyke from the South Gate to the West Gate was continued along the " Dockey " to the Watch Tower. The open space now occupied by the streets of the town formed originally a Base Court to the Castle. In that Court, by the wall between the North-east Gateway and the Guard Tower, ran the Castle dyke, or Castle ditch, which is frequently mentioned in our town accounts. This dyke was connected by a sluice with the dyke in the " Dockey." We are unfortunately without materials for describing the structure of Clje mtQt ©ate. From the account for 1381 {ante 105) we learn that it was then in charge of a single keeper. In 1384-5 and and subsequent years, to 1403, two keepers held it ; and in 1461-2 one of its locks was repaired. On the 25th April, 1646, immediately after Fairfax took possession of the town, it was further repaired. (Page 279.) We have found no reliable record as to the exact time when it was taken down, but it is said to have been " sore in decay " in the year 1709. As the West Gate guarded only the entrance from Bodmin and West Cornwall, and was materially aided by its stronger brethren — the South-west Castle Gate and the Watch Tower (the Barbigan, or Barbican), it was of comparatively less importance than the South and North Gates. Contentions no longer prevailed between counties and districts. Immediately outside the West Gate was the famous West Well. Its abundant flow of water might supply both the adjacent moat and the ordinary needs of the Castle. The tradition of an underground passage from Higher Madford to the base of the Castle Keep, and thence to the site of the Priory at Saint Thomas, may have had its origin either in provision actually made for conveying water from the higher level, or from the fact that at some