Page:VCH Suffolk 1.djvu/679

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ANCIENT EARTHWORKS The stupendous artificial conical mount, 210 ft. in diameter at the base, is Soft, in height, with a flat summit Soft, in diameter. The summit, however, is not concentric with the base, but considerably to the north, whereby the escarpment on that side is more abrupt and inaccessible, a feature to be considered as strengthening that side, which lies unprotected by the bailey. Beneath the soil of the top are the foundations of the shell keep of Hugh de Montfort, or one of the succeeding families in the Honour of Hagenet. The fosse surrounding the mount is very deep, and water has been conducted into it from the west, thus turning it into a water moat ; Haughley Castlb this is 12 ft. wide at the north and 26 ft. on the south and west. The height of the counterscarp is 6 ft. on the north-west, increasing to 12 ft. at point A, the junction with the fosse of the bailey. On the southern side — dividing the mount from the court — the counterscarp is 20 ft. at point B just within the bailey, decreasing with the fall in the ground to 4 ft. at the south-west, but at this point it is worn far below the original height by farmyard use. At the extreme west, between the fosse of the bailey and the cutting for the water supply, the counterscarp is 9 ft. The bailey lies due south, with the mount forming part of its circuit and with nearly half the circumference being within the base-court. The latter is nearly quadrangular, 390ft. wide by 300ft. from north to south; 599