The grand entrance, which is on the north side of the castle, was defended by a barbican tower, drawbridge, and causeway; on each side of the gate are two lofty square towers, machicolated ; the spiked iron portcullis over the entrance remains entire : there were also two additional ones in the passage leading to the court of the castle, dividing it into two vaulted rooms, with perforations in the ceiling for pouring down boiling lead upon the assailants. On the southern side is the sally-port, also defended by a portcullis, with similar perforations in the groined roof, and the exterior machicolated as the grand entrance ; on the opposite side of the moat is a pier of masonry, on which the drawbridge landed, a distance of ninety feet.
Sir William Waller, after taking Arundel Castle, despatched a party of soldiers to destroy all the strongholds of the Royalist gentry of Sussex, and among the number dismantled was Bodiam, leaving it a mere shell.[1]
THE HARBOUR.
Hastings had formerly a good harbour - , which was of sufficient depth to allow of large vessels to lie and unload at its pier. This pier, which ran in a south-eastern direction, from Nos. 11 and 12, Parade, to what are now called the pier rocks, situated below the fort, was destroyed by a storm in the reign of Elizabeth. Camden says, " The queen granted a contribution towards building a new harbour, which was begun, but the contribution was quickly converted*nbsp;-
- ↑ For further particulars, see Cotton's Bodiam Castle, to which clever and elegant little volume we are indebted for much of the above information : the work can be purchased at the castle.
