ANCIENT EARTHWORKS obtained the grant and probably made Ongar the * caput ' of his great Essex fief, 1 he materially altered the defences, and that it was not till Richard de Luci's lordship in the twelfth century that the final develop- ment took place, a development which made Ongar Castle a huge fortress. The plan shows all that is left of the ramparts, but it is necessary to add that solidly built rubble and tile masonry occurs at e, probably the only gateway from the outer to the inner bailey. The earthen ramparts were mainly crowned with stockades or palisading of timber, but here and there towers of masonry may have been erected, as rubble is found at one or two points on the bank. The Sff ON CAR CASTLE. I r, Remains of tile and rubble masonry. old local idea was that the masonry which is exposed at e ran round, forming a core to the bailey rampart, but excavations have proved that chalky boulder-clay, gravel and sand rammed together are the main constituents of the wall. PLESHEY. It has usually been considered that the construction of the outer entrenchment at Pleshey took place long anterior to the time when the great mound and court castle was thrown up, perhaps destroy- ing a portion of the older work on the southern side. The outer work consisted of a rampart of earth with a fosse or moat without, both are well defined in a portion of the circuit but much reduced in the height 1 See Mr. J. H. Round in Essex Arch. Tram. n.i. vii. 143, and Chisenhale-Marsh's Domesday, be. 1 297 38
