eople of England, if the
story of the chronicler be true, have to be grateful to Henry II, who
set himself to work to root up and destroy very many of these
adulterine castles which were the abodes of tyranny and oppression.
However, for the protection of his kingdom, he raised other
strongholds, in the south the grand fortress of Dover, which still
guards the straits; in the west, Berkeley Castle, for his friend
Robert FitzHarding, ancestor of Lord Berkeley, which has remained in
the same family until the present day; in the north, Richmond,
Scarborough, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne; and in the east, Orford Keep.
The same stern Norman keep remains, but you can see some changes in
the architecture. The projection of the buttresses is increased, and
there is some attempt at ornamentation. Orford Castle, which some
guide-books and directories will insist on confusing with Oxford
Castle and stating that it was built by Robert D'Oiley in 1072, was
erected by Henry II to defend the country against the incursions of
the Flemings and to safeguard Orford Haven. Caen stone was brought for
the stone dressings to windows and doors, parapets and groins, but
masses of septaria found on the shore and in the neighbouring marshes
were utilized with such good effect that the walls have stood the
attacks of besiegers and weathered the storms of the east coast for
more than seven centuries. It was built in a new fashion that was made
in France, and to which our English eyes were unaccustomed, and is
somewhat similar in plan to Conisborough Castle, in the valley of the
Don. The plan is circular with three projecting towers, and the keep
was protected by two circular ditches, one fifteen feet and the other
thirty feet distant from its walls. Between the two ditches was a
circular wall with parapet and battlements. The interior of the castle
was divided into three floors; the towers, exclusive of the turrets,
had five, two of which were entresols, and were ninety-six feet high,
the central keep being seventy feet.[19] The oven was at the top of
the keep. The chapel is one of the most interesting chambers, with its
original altar still in position, though much damaged, and also
piscina, aumbrey, and ciborium. This castle nearly vanished with other
features of vanishing England in the middle of the eighteenth century,
Lord Hereford proposing to pull it down for the sake of the material;
but "it being a necessary sea-mark, especially for ships coming