Norman Waterworks in the Keep of Dover Castle

THE KEEP OE DOVER CASTLE. 169 mark the walls. There were also other wells in and near the Castle, so that it may not have been frequently used. Whether the lower portion of the well is of Saxon origin or not, it is difficult to say for certain. There is no masonry, and it is hard to draw any conclusions from rough-hewn chalk. If the Saxon well ended where the Norman steening begins, then there must be 131 feet of built-up soil underneath the present keep, which is admittedly a large amount. At the same time, the amount of soil cast up from the fosses and moats must have been considerable, and may well have been used to heighten the original contours. It is difficult to see why the Norman builders of the well carried the steening so far down, unless it was necessary because it was made-up soil, but further research has shown that the keep is built on the solid chalk. It may be noted that the blocks of Caen stone are of generous proportions and that considerable space would have been required to place them in position. This interesting investigation was quickly followed up by the discovery of further details of the circulation system. On the 29th January, 1930, the Warder of the Keep happened to be clearing some rubbish away from a small recess (Plate II) in the eastern wall of the well room, originally the outer wall of the keep. The recess is about 3 feet from the lip of the opening of the well and 14 inches above its present top. The Warder noticed two small depressions in the bottom of the recess and, when he had cleaned them out, two circular holes ten inches apart were revealed. A further search brought to hght the exposed ends of two lead pipes, 3| inches in diameter (Plate III), which were slightly flared.1 At a depth of 4 inches these pipes curved outwards and downwards. Several buckets of water were then poured down each pipe, and a search was made to ascertain if water was appearing in any of the rooms of the Keep. By listening carefuUy, the trickling of water in the walls was traced to a mural chamber in the N.E. waU, 20 feet below the top of the weU. In this room there is a recess in the waU 3 feet deep, 1 An analysis of the lead showed that it contained three times as much silver as modern commercial lead ; while nothing conclusive can be drawn from this, it is certainly evidence of its antiquity.