Journal of Proceedings. lxxxix
ings and other worked stone, &c. Especially noticeable was the chevron
or zigzag work of the Normans, also a spear-head, stirrup, and other
articles of the same period; some years ago a fine example of a
Norman sword was found here ; all of which are deposited in the Saffron
Walden Museum.
From the various remains of foundations, &c., surrounding the ruin,
which have from time to time been exhumed, we are led to believe that the
precincts of the castle extended in a westerly direction beyond the present
church : and its northern boundary to have been the north Bide of Castle
street; the eastern and southern boundaries are more uncertain. It has been
thought by some, that the "Repel" or " Battle Ditches " were outworks
connected in some way with the castle ; but they are evidently of much
greater antiquity than this building. Almost within the memory of
man, a ditch and vallum ran in a north and south direction, about fifty
yards on the western side from the present ruin, the Museum now
standing on part of the site of this defensive work; a writer in the
'History of Essex, by a Gentleman,' in 1769, says that "the keep and
other earth-works remain." The entrance to the keep is said to have
been over the hollow space on the western side " which was reached by
a flight of steps, and so recently as 1780 a large portion of this was
below the surface ; the earth which formed the rising ground having
been cleared away some hundred and twenty years ago." The flint
concrete work with which the structure is composed is conglomerated
together with an exceeding hard cement that defies the edges of ordinary
tools for its removal. A little more than ninety years ago, at which time
the interior of the ruin was used as a farmyard, a low entrance was
widened at the south-east corner for the purpose of admitting waggons,
&c. To accomplish this object, mill-wright's tools were used, the charge
for the sharpening of which alone amounted to nearly .€40.
In the time of the Domesday Survey we read that in Edward the
Confessor's reign " Ansgar was Lord of Walden ; " and it was called
"Ansgar's Castle " long after the Conquest, as is shown by the following
extract :—" In the year 1669, Cosmo, Hereditary Prince, and afterwards
the third Grand Duke of Tuscany of that name, made a tour in England,
an account of which was written by his secretary, Magalotti ; the
original narrative is still in existence in the Laurentine Library at
Florence ; it contains three large drawings of Audley End, and he thus
mentions his visit to the then residence of Lord Howard : ' On the 7th
of May of the year above mentioned, having heard mass privately, his
Highness set off, and pursued his journey on horseback, through all that
tract of country which lies betwixt Bishops Stortford and Audley End.
The road for the most part was an uneven plain, which near the villa
rises into a gentle eminence whence is discovered, at no great distance,
The Castle of Ansgar in the bosom of a beautiful valley, watered by
several rivulets ; these uniting form a lake abounding with trout, over
which is a bridge of stone' "
This Ansgar was a man of great substance and position, for in the
year 1042 he held a post of importance under his lord and king, Edward
the Confessor, being Master of the Horse to that monarch ; he also was
owner of Great Lees, and the manors of Great Dunmow, Little Canfield,
Margate Boding and Henham in Essex, besides Wallington and Great
Hormead in Herts. We also find this notable man, amongst others, on the
6th of January, 1066, at Ashwell, confirming a grant of land from one of
the Saxon Princesses to the Church of St. Peter's at Westminster. But like
many others of his countrymen, through the misfortunes of war he was
compelled to yield his property to the supreme Norman power, and his
possessions were, with those of other Saxon Thanes, swallowed up by one
of the favourites of Duke William, namely, Geoffrey de Mandeville, with