times. It is square, of very rough and primitive construction, and composed largely of Roman bricks. Over the small doorway in its western side is a good example of the Saxon triangularheaded arch, which in this instance is built of bricks placed edgewise instead of the two long stones generally used.

Situated near the centre of the town, on slightly-rising ground, is the most interesting building of Colchester, the keep of Eudo's great Castle. It is of great size, being, in fact, the largest Norman keep in England; measuring 155 by 113 feet, it covers nearly double the area of the White Tower of London. Its plan so closely resembles that of the latter that the two must have been built from the same design. In Colchester Castle the upper story is wanting, having been thrown down in 1683 by one John Wheely, who bought the building for the express purpose of pulling it down; but fortunately the lower part escaped destruction, as it was so strong that he found its demolition would be too expensive. The walls are, in places, thirty feet thick at the base, and all the lower parts are of solid masonry. A noticeable peculiarity of the Castle is that it is constructed almost exclusively

of Roman bricks and cement-stones; and the Norman builders have appropriated not only these materials but the Roman method of disposing them in alternate layers, which has led some people to think that the building is Roman. The principal entrance is on the south side, through a fine Norman archway. The interior of the keep is roofless, and only one internal wall remains, its upper half consisting of Roman bricks arranged in "herring-bone" fashion. The staircase, just inside the entrance, is of unusual width, being sixteen feet in diameter. The former chapel of the Castle, on the first floor at the south-east corner, is now occupied by the Museum, containing one of the most valuable collections of Roman antiquities in England. In an adjoining room is a natural history collection; another room is devoted to the Library, of which the chief treasures are the books bequeathed to the town, in 1631, by Archbishop Harsnett of York, who was a native of Colchester. Many of these books are exceedingly rare and curious. Nearly all the other Norman buildings have gone. St. John's Abbey was destroyed in 1539; the Moot Hall, of which a description is given in Cromwell's "History of Colchester," was replaced

by the present ugly Town Hall in 1844; St. Runwald's, a small Norman church of no great interest, which stood in the centre of High Street, was removed in 1878. The towers of St. Martin's and St. Mary's-at-the-Walls, and parts of St. James's and St. Peter's churches, probably date from Norman times, and consist to a great extent of Roman materials. St. Botolph's Priory Church, the only other important building of the period, is now a picturesque ruin, having been severely damaged during the siege; but sufficient remains to indicate its former magnificence. The west front, which is fairly well preserved, is particularly interesting. It has a fine central doorway, with zigzag mouldings of stone; the south aisle door is a round-headed arch of several courses of Roman bricks; in the two arcades of intersecting arches which run across the whole front above the doorways, the same materials have been employed. Over the arcades is the remaining half of a large circular window, and on the right-hand of this what seems to be part of a tower. From their great roughness it is evident that the internal walls were originally covered with cement. The greater part of the north aisle still stands, and most of

the northern arches of the nave (of seven bays), with the triforium arches above. The south side is more dilapidated, and the clerestory, roof, tower, and transepts, with all the eastern portion of the church, have entirely vanished. Truly the ruination of this once beautiful building was not the least regrettable result of the siege.

The Gateway of St. John's Abbey, which dates from the fifteenth century, was until recent times a picturesque and interesting object, but it has been so completely restored "with no doubt the best intentions . . . that the whole gateway seems but the work of the present generation." Excepting that it was used by the Royalists in their defence of the town, and was much battered by the Parliamentary guns, it has no particular history. Not a vestige remains of the abbey itself, save in the form of fragments built into the wall which still surrounds its site.

As might be expected of a town with such a history, Colchester has contributed its quota of great names to England's roll of fame. In addition to those already incidentally referred to, a few others may here be mentioned. Thomas, Lord Audley, was closely connected with the town; before 1529 he was its town-clerk; in that