A HISTORY OF LONDON single tile. This same piece of wall was cut into in 1885, nearer to St. Martin's Church, and a sketch then made shows the same peculiarity/^ two single courses being represented in the lower part, with double courses above. Indications of a Roman ditch were observed 20 ft. south-west of the gate, from which it appears to have been of a curved section and 25 ft. wide at the top. It was traced at various points on a line about 45 ft. from the Roman wall and parallel with it, having an average depth of about 30 ft. below the present surface, or 1 9 ft. below the Roman ground level. From Newgate Prison the wall passes behind the houses on the west side of Warwick Square, in the cellars of which some portions of it are said to be still preserved (Plan C, 51), and emerges at the back of the old Central Criminal Court. Its line is not, as commonly supposed, marked by the old ragstone wall which bounds the west side of the garden of Amen Court, but is some 7 ft. more to the west. A piece of the wall unearthed behind No. 8 Old Bailey has been described by Mr. Terry " (Plan C, 53). Here was the tower which has been drawn and described by Archer, who supposed it to be a bastion, and remarks that it was ' the only vestige of a tower belonging to the wall in its entire height and with its original roof existing.'^* There was considerable doubt as to the character of this structure, particularly as on the plan accompanying Archer's account he shows the tower projectirg on the inside of the wall. At the same time he says that the tower was at thi back of premises in the Old Bailey, and had been con- sidered only a portion of the solid wall closing the end of the yard, until its presence was detected through a dog having crawled into it. Quite recently, however, in clearing the site of the old Central Criminal Court, a large portion of this tower was discovered (Plan C, 54). It had become built up into accessory buildings, obscured and forgotten. It had suffered by portions having been removed ; but what remained was in good condition, and consisted of one side of the vaulted roof, a portion of the circular-headed window, and a trace of the jamb of the doorway, all of which could clearly be identified with the drawing by Archer. The ribs of the roof had also survived ; they proved, however, not to be of stone, but merely stucco mouldings laid on the brick vault. It was rectangular in shape, and was found to have been built over the base of the Roman wall, with its front formed from the upper later masonry of the City wall set back a little from the original outer face, while on the inside the thickness of the wall had been reduced and pierced for a doorway and two windows. A return side built of brick and rubble ran as far as the wall which bounds Amen Court, forming a chamber about 12 ft. wide and 10 ft. deep. It appeared, however, to have originally extended further in the direction of Amen Court. The vaulted roof was of brick, and was about 1 6 ft. above the street level of the Old Bailey, while below this level the foundations of the Roman wall rested 9 ft. in depth. This structure was clearly of late origin and had no connexion with the bastions. There is reason to suppose that two bastions stood in the Old Bailey, as shown on the plan of Francis Wishaw, one near to Newgate (Plan C, 55), which may have supplied the stones which were found under the prison, the '* Antiquary, xii, 96. " Land, and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans, (new ser.), i, 351.
- Vestiges of Old London, viii.
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