built on this outer
embankment exactly opposite to the ruin which yet remains, and only
divided from it by the great ditch. On either side of the tower, cutting
the embankment across therefore at right angles, was a little ditch
spanned by a drawbridge, which, if the defenders found it necessary to
retire to the tower, could at any time be raised. The foundations of the
tower and the position of the ditch can still be distinctly traced.

Supposing farther that it became impossible to hold the tower, the
besieged could retreat into the main body of the Castle by another
drawbridge across the great ditch. This would lead them through the arch
which can still be seen in the ruin, though it is partially blocked up.
The room on the east side of this passage was probably a guard room.

These are all the remains. The embankments to the south and west command
a great extent of country, and on the north and northwest, we trace the
precautions by the great depth of the ditch, and steepness of the
earthworks, though now overgrown with trees. All this must have been
done between the years 1138 and 1154, and great part of the defences were
thrown down in the lifetime of the founder. Merdon was not destined to
shine in sieges, in spite of its strength. Henry II came in, and forbad
the multiplication of castles and Merdon seems to have been dismantled as
quickly as it had been built.

The Bishops of Winchester however still seem to have resided there from
time to time, though it gradually fell into decay, and was ruinous by the
end of the Plantagenet period.

After the younger Oliver's death, his sisters endeavoured to obtain the
Hursley property to which their father had succeeded as his son's heir.
He was past eighty and the judge allowed him to wear his hat at the trial
in court, an act of consideration commended by Queen Anne.

After his death, in 1708, the estate was sold to the Heathcote family.
The old house, whose foundations can be traced on the lawn, and which was
approached by the two avenues of walnut trees still standing, was then
pulled down, and the present one erected.

{Doorway of Old Church: p6.jpg}

Most likely the oldest thing in Otterbourne is the arch that forms the
doorway of the Boys' School, and which came from the door of the Old
Church. By the carving on that arch, and the form of the little
clustered columns that support it, we can tell that it must have been put
up about the time of King Ri