The antiquities of England and Wales . that famous and far-feen caftle, built there bythe laft Ranulph, the famous earl of Chefter; and, withoutqueftion, was a place, when fuch flrong holds were in requeft,of admirable and impregnable ftrength. It is mounted upon thetop of a very fteep hill of ftone, the chief tower whereof, in thevery fumitty of it, had a draw-well of an incredible depth, toferve it with water ; I have meafured it, and notwithftandingthat by the great number of ftones, which from the ruinatedwalls thofe that repair thither do caft in, it is fuppofed the wellin the outward to
The antiquities of England and Wales . that famous and far-feen caftle, built there bythe laft Ranulph, the famous earl of Chefter; and, withoutqueftion, was a place, when fuch flrong holds were in requeft,of admirable and impregnable ftrength. It is mounted upon thetop of a very fteep hill of ftone, the chief tower whereof, in thevery fumitty of it, had a draw-well of an incredible depth, toferve it with water ; I have meafured it, and notwithftandingthat by the great number of ftones, which from the ruinatedwalls thofe that repair thither do caft in, it is fuppofed the wellin the outward to be half flopped up ; yet it is of true meafureninety-one yards deep, and the other above eighty yards deep byM. S. and from that tower, a circular wall of a large compafs,containing a fine plat of ground, where, in the circuit of it, andin the middeft of that, another well, which yet, by the long de-fcent of a ftone before it falls down to the water, when you fliallIjear the fall pf it of a huge depth j and the foot pf the whole wall. CHESHIRE. 29 wall {landing fo deep on every fide, that faving one way up tothe gates of the caftle towards the eaft, and thofe very, fair and{lately, men can hardly {ind a footing to {land on any part ofthe faid hill ; concerning which, though I have no rea{on to {ixmy belief upon any, either idle prophecies, as they call them, orvain predictions of vulgar report; yet, neither will I be fo fcru-puleus as not to make mention of the common word thereaboutsufed, that Bee{lon ca{lle {hail fave all England on a day; nor foenvious as not to take notice of old Lelands bold conje6lure of thefuture exalting of the head of it in time to j v»hereof I onlyfay this, that I wifh every man to look upon what grounds hegives credit to any old dreams. To the place I wilh all good, andto the name of Beefton I could alio wifli a continuance as thecaille {lands, being now in the poffeffion of an ancient knight. SirHugh Beefton, of much refpedl; but now, through
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