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that the castle occupied the whole half hide, which might be some 60 acres; but it extinguished the liability of that portion. At Windsor, however, we have no occasion to press this argument as a proof that the castle was new, since it is well established that the palace of the Saxon kings was at least 2 miles from the present castle and town, in the village long known as Old Windsor, which fell into decay as the town of Windsor sprang up under the Norman castle.1 The manor of Windsor was given by Edward the Confessor to the convent of Westminster, but recovered by the Conqueror. But as the Survey shows us, he did not build his castle in the manor of Windsor, but in that of Clewer. He built it for a hunting-seat, and it may have been for the purpose of recovering forest rights that he resumed possession of Old Windsor; but he placed his castle in the situation which he thought best for defence. For even a hunting-seat in Norman times was virtually a castle, as many other instances show.

It is needless to state that there is no masonry at Windsor of the time of the Conqueror, or even of the time of his son Henry I., in spite of the statement of Stowe that Henry "new builded the castle of Windsor." This statement may perhaps be founded on a passage in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which says that Henry held his court for the first time in the New Windsor in

1 Leland, iv., 1, 37. See also Tighe's Annals of Windsor, pp. 1-6. Until recently there was a farmhouse surrounded by a moat at Old Windsor, which was believed to mark the site of Edward's regia domus.

2 Edward's grant of Windsor to Westminster is in Cod. Dip., iv., 227. Domesday does not mention the rights of the church, but says the manor of Windsor was held of the crown T. R. E. and T. R. W. Camden gives William's charter of exchange with the convent of Westminster. Britannia, i., 151.

3 This is stated in the charter given by Camden.

1110. Perhaps the Chronicle here refers to the borough of New Windsor, as an entry in the Pipe Roll of Henry I. seems to show that he was the first to enclose the burgus of Windsor. For it is probable that the first stone castle at Windsor was built by Henry II., who spent £1670 on it in the course of his reign. One of his first acts after his accession was an exchange of land at Windsor, which seems to have been for the purpose of a vineyard, and was possibly the origin of the second bailey. At present the position of the motte is central to the rest of the castle, but this is so unusual that it suggests the idea that the upper ward is the oldest, and that the motte stood on its outer edge. Henry II. surrounded the castle with a wall, at a cost of about 128/3 The other entries in the Pipe Rolls probably refer to the first stone shell on the motte, and there is little doubt that the present Round Tower, though its height has been raised in modern times, and its masonry re-dressed and re-pointed so as to destroy all appearance of antiquity, is in the main of Henry II.'s building. The frequent payments for stone show the nature of Henry's work.

Although so much masonry was put up in Henry II.'s reign, the greater part of what is now visible is not older than the time of Henry III. The lower bailey seems to have been enlarged in his reign, as the castle

1 In I virgata terræ quam Willelmus fil. Walteri habet in escambio pro terra sua quæ capta est ad burgum. P. 721.

2 The Red Book of the Exchequer, which contains an abstract of the missing Pipe Roll of 1 Henry II., has an entry of 12s. paid to Richard de Clifwar for the exchange of his land, and regular payments are made later. There was another enlargement of the bailey in Henry III.'s reign, but the second bailey was then existing. See Close Rolls, i., 531b.

3 "In operatione muri circa castellum 117, 10s. 4d. Summa denariorum quos idem Ricardus [de Luci] misit in operatione predicta de ballia 1287. 9s." Pipe Roll, 20 Henry II., p. 116.

WINDSOR-WISBEACH

2

239

ditch was extended towards the town, and compensation given for houses taken down. The upper (probably the original) ward is rectangular in shape, and with the motte and its ditches covers about 6 acres. The state apartments, a chapel, and the Hall of St George, are in the upper ward, showing that this was the site of the original hall and chapel of the castle. The charter of agreement between Stephen and Henry in 1153 speaks of the motte of Windsor as equivalent to the castle. Repairs of the motte are mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Henry II.*

3

The value of the manor of Clewer had fallen since the Conquest; that of Windsor, which was worth 157 T. R. E., but after the Conquest fell to 7., was again worth 15%. at the date of the Survey."

WISBEACH, Cambridgeshire.-William I. built a castle here in 1072, after suppressing the revolt of Hereward, in order to hold in check the Cambridgeshire fen country. There is an early mention of it in the Register of Thorney Abbey. This castle, after being several times rebuilt, is now completely destroyed, and "several rows of elegant houses built on the site." Nevertheless, there still remain distinct traces of the motte-and-bailey pattern in the gardens which now occupy the site of the original castle of King William; the present Crescent probably follows the line of the

1 Tighe's Annals of Windsor, p. 21.

2 There is a singular entry in the Pipe Roll of 7 Richard I., "pro fossato prosternando quod fuit inter motam et domos regis," clearly the ditch between the motte and the bailey. Mr Hope informs me that this can only refer to the northern part of the ditch, as the eastern portion was only filled up in 1824. Mr Hope thinks that the castle area has always included the lower bailey. I regret that Mr Hope's History of Windsor Castle did not appear in time to be used in this work.

3 Fœdera, vol. i.

6 • D. B., i., 62b, 2; 56b, 2.

4

Pipe Rolls, 30 Henry II.
6 Roger of Wendover, in anno.

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