1921 J SHIRE-HOUSE " AtfZ> CASTLE YARD 213 it is almost invariably close to the walls, so that an escape into the country might always be possible '- 1 This, no doubt, appears to have been so, when allowance is made for changes in the walled area of a town. 2 In a few cases, however, there was actual exemption, as at Norwich. Bristol Castle, for instance, ' was outside the city, and was not under its jurisdiction till James I granted this authority by charter 3 The case of Chester seems doubtful ; ■ it is quite certain ', Mrs. Armitage writes, ' that the Norman castle of Chester lay outside the city walls, as the manor of Gloverstone, which was not within the jurisdiction of the city, lay between the city and the castle.' Boley Hill at Rochester 4 raises a difficult question ; it was * at one time included in the fortifications of the present castle . . . was included as an outwork in Bishop Gundulf 's plan ', and was enclosed by Henry III within the city wall. Yet ' up till very recently the Boley Hill had a special jurisdiction of its own 5 As at Chester this area was 1 outside the line of the Roman wall '. It appears to me that these cases do not represent exempt enclaves, such as those of which we are in search. We have here, surely, further illustration of the point for which I am contending, namely, the extreme difficulty, under present conditions, of obtaining exact information as to any locality without tedious search or actual personal knowledge. Even' the latter, it appears, may not always be sufficient. At Cambridge, for instance, Maitland combined full personal know ledge with legal and historical learning ; thus qualified, he was able to assert that Cambridge Castle was ' economically ', but not legally, in Cambridge. 6 His rough sketch of the town of Cambridge shows the castle area not ' legally ' only, but actually within Chesterton and outside ' the fortified area ', ' the ditched, defensible, and house-covered nucleus ', ' the house-bedecked area'. On the other hand, a first-rate authority, the late Sir William St. John Hope, who had himself examined the ground, held (as cited by Mrs. Armitage 7 ) that ' the motte at Cambridge is placed inside the original bounds of the borough ', inside the 1 Ibid. 2 On this point Mrs. Armitage correctly cites me (p. 96) as stating that Colchester Castle is ' only an apparent exception ' ; for on the north it is open country from the north wall of the keep. 3 Mrs. Armitage, op. cit. (quoting Leyer), p. 112.
- Ibid. p. 32. So also p. 127. 5 Ibid. pp. 196-201.
6 Township and Borough, pp. 37-8. Cf. p. 119 : 'In the castle's exclusion from the borough there may be something of legal fiction ; but still the fact remains that in this quarter the open fields of another vill, namely Chesterton, came to the very verge of the fortified area of Cambridge.' 7 Op: cit. pp. 55, 57, 115, from his paper on 'The Norman Origin of Cambridge Castle ', in Camb. Ant. Soc. vol. xi.
