s.

The entrance to the first floor is on the east side, by a flight of steps
leading to a platform projecting outside fourteen feet from the wall. It
is now covered in, and forms a spacious vestibule, having three open
arches towards the east, one on the north, and one on the south, in which
is the entrance. It is usually called Bigod's tower, its erection being
by some attributed to Roger Bigod, in the reign of William Rufus, and by
others to Hugh Bigod, during the twelfth century; the whole of it has
undergone restoration. The doorway from the vestibule is through an
archway of Saxon character, supported by five columns with ornamented
capitals; two columns only remain; upon the capital of the first, on the
left, is a bearded huntsman in the act of blowing a horn, with a sword by
his side, and holding with his left hand a dog in slips, which appears to
be attacking an ox; on the second capital is another huntsman, spearing a
wild boar of an unusual size.

The fable of the wolf and lamb, the wolf and crane, a monstrous head and
arms, attached to the bodies of two lions, are amongst the other
ornamental carvings, traceable on the other portions of the capitals and
arches, but greatly mutilated.

Prior to the restoration of the tower, this archway had been totally
concealed by masonry; it is only surprising, therefore, that so much of
it should still be in so good a state of preservation.

A corridor led from this entrance to the chapel, which was on this floor
in the south-east angle, with an oratory or sanctum in the corner,
separated from it by an archway supported by two columns, the capitals of
which are ornamented, and at the angles are figures of pelicans. The
columns are decidedly Norman, the costumes and helmets bearing close
resemblance to those on the Bayeux tapestry. On the east side of the
oratory is a curious altar-piece in five compartments, representing the
Trinity, St. Catherine, St. Christopher, St. Michael and the Dragon, and
another figure too much mutilated to be recognized.

We confess ourselves indebted for these details, to more erudite and
heroic adventurers in the voyage of discovery among these ruins than
ourselves, the inaccessible looking archway of the oratory high upon the
wall, to be attained only by crossing a plank from a tier of cells
opposite, offering little temptation to us to ascertain for ourselves the
accuracy of statements made by learned authorities, whose researches w