piscina, aumbrey, and ciborium. This castle nearly vanished with other
features of vanishing England in the middle of the eighteenth century,
Lord Hereford proposing to pull it down for the sake of the material;
but "it being a necessary sea-mark, especially for ships coming from
Holland, who by steering so as to make the castle cover or hide the
church thereby avoid a dangerous sandbank called the Whiting,
Government interfered and prevented the destruction of the
building."[20]

[19] Cf. _Memorials of Old Suffolk_, p. 65.

[20] Grose's _Antiquities._

In these keeps the thickness of the walls enabled them to contain
chambers, stairs, and passages. At Guildford there is an oratory with
rude carvings of sacred subjects, including a crucifixion. The first
and second floors were usually vaulted, and the upper ones were of
timber. Fireplaces were built in most of the rooms, and some sort of
domestic comfort was not altogether forgotten. In the earlier
fortresses the walls of the keep enclosed an inner court, which had
rooms built up to the great stone walls, the court afterwards being
vaulted and floors erected. In order to protect the entrance there
were heavy doors with a portcullis, and by degrees the outward
defences were strengthened. There was an outer bailey or court
surrounded by a strong wall, with a barbican guarding the entrance,
consisting of a strong gate protected by two towers. In this lower or
outer court are the stables, and the mound where the lord of the
castle dispenses justice, and where criminals and traitors are
executed. Another strong gateway flanked by towers protects the inner
bailey, on the edge of which stands the keep, which frowns down upon