entrance into the innermost ward, and on the left of that entrance a
winding staircase conducts you to the top of the innermost rampart; the
wall of which is 10 feet thick, and 32 feet high from the floor; the
inner room is 18 feet 6 inches diameter; it was divided by a planking
into two rooms. The upper room had to the east and west two large
openings, which were both windows and (as I am inclined to think) doors,
also in time of action to pass from this dungeon out upon the principal
rampart, from which the chief defence was to be made; for it must be
observed, that the second ward was covered with a flat roof, at the
height of that rampart, which made the area very roomy and convenient
for numbers. These openings, therefore, upon occasion, served as
passages for the soldiers to go from one rampart to the other. In the
upper room of the innermost building there was a chimney to the north;
underneath there was a dungeon, which had no lights. The lofty taper
hill, on which this strong keep is built, is partly natural and partly
artificial. It spread farther in the town anciently than it does now;
and, by the radius of it, was 320 feet diameter, and very high."

The building of Dunheved Castle has been generally attributed to
William, Earl of Moreton and Cornwall, the son and heir of Robert, Earl
of Moreton, to whom 288 manors in this county were given by William the
Norman. "But this opinion is most probably erroneous, as the style of
workmanship exhibited in several parts of the remains, is apparently of
a much earlier date. The walls of the keep, in particular, have every
appearance of being considerably more ancient; and from a retrospective
view of the events that have happened in this county, the conjecture
appears to be fully warranted, that its foundation is as remote as the
time of the Britons, who would undoubtedly endeavour to defend their
territory both from Roman and Saxon usurpation, by fortifying the more
advanced and important situations. The most therefore that can with