. Vanishing England . oln andColchester the works of the first conquerors of Britainwere eagerly utilized by him. One of the most important Roman castles in thecountry is Burgh Castle, in North Suffolk, with its grandand noble walls. The late Mr. G. E. Fox thus describedthe ruins :— According to the plan on the Ordnance Survey map,the walls enclose a quadrangular area roughly 640 feetlong by 413 wide, the walls being 9 feet thick with afoundation 12 feet in width. The angles of the stationare rounded. The eastern wall is strengthened byfour solid bastions, one standing against each of theround
. Vanishing England . oln andColchester the works of the first conquerors of Britainwere eagerly utilized by him. One of the most important Roman castles in thecountry is Burgh Castle, in North Suffolk, with its grandand noble walls. The late Mr. G. E. Fox thus describedthe ruins :— According to the plan on the Ordnance Survey map,the walls enclose a quadrangular area roughly 640 feetlong by 413 wide, the walls being 9 feet thick with afoundation 12 feet in width. The angles of the stationare rounded. The eastern wall is strengthened byfour solid bastions, one standing against each of therounded angles, the other two intermediate, and thenorth and south sides have one each, neither of thembeing in the centre of the side, but rather west of quaggy ground between the camp and the streamwould be an excellent defence against sudden attack. Burgh Castle, according to the late Canon Raven, wasthe Roman station Gariannonum of the Notitia walls are built of flint-rubble concrete, and there are. J ? ? ^55 r,i \-vcA T\0C ?•-?/ - 3u<roY, GwU< 114 VANISHING ENGLAND lacing courses of tiles. There is no wall on the west, andCanon Raven used to contend that one existed there buthas been destroyed. But this conjecture seems improb-able. That side was probably defended by the sea,which has considerably receded. Two gates remain,the principal one being the east gate, commanded bytowers a hundred feet high ; while the north is a postern-gate about five feet wide. The Romans have not leftmany traces behind them. Some coins have been found,including a silver one of Gratian and some of Constan-tine. Here St. Furseus, an Irish missionary, is said tohave settled with a colony of monks, having been favour-ably received by Sigebert, the ruler of the East Angles,in 633 Burgh Castle is one of the finest specimensof a Roman fort which our earliest conquerors haveleft us, and ranks with Reculver, Richborough, andPevensey, those strong fortresses which were erect
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