Abbeys Castles And Ancient Halls Of England And Wales

Author : John Times
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781331031789
Total Pages : 612 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (317 download)

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Download or read book Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales written by John Times and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-09 with total page 612 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales: Their Legendary Lore and Popular History About a mile and a half north of Salisbury lie the earthworks of Old Sarum, generally regarded as the Sorbiodunum of the Romans; its name being derived from the Celtic words sorbio, dry, and dun, a city or fortress, leads to the conclusion that it was a British post. The entrenchments are formed upon a conical-shaped hill, in two parts, circular or rather oval; the outer wall and ditch, and the keep or citadel. In digging the outer ditch, the workmen heaped the earth partly inside and partly outside, so that a lofty mound defended the approach to it; whilst a rampart, still more lofty, and surrounded by a wall 12 feet thick, and of proportional height, arose inside of it. This wall was strengthened by twelve towers, placed at intervals, and the entrances on the east and west sides were commanded by lunettes, or half moons. In the centre of this vast entrenchment was the citadel or keep, considerably higher than the rest of the city, and into which, the outwork being forced, the garrison and inhabitants might retire for safety. A well of immense depth supplied them with water; and the wall, also 12 feet thick, and inclosing 500 feet in diameter, and 1500 in circumference, would afford protection to a considerable multitude. Between the exterior wall and the citadel was the city, of which the foundations can be traced; of the buildings, the towers, walls, and ancient cathedral, only two fragments remain - built of flint imbedded in rubble, and coated with masonry in square stones. In the Saxon Times, Sarum is frequently mentioned. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.