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72 KIPLING'S SUSSEX
and again in 1377, when its flames shooting up against the dark, dense clouds alarmed the whole coast. After its evacuation, the unfortunate mayor and jurats were summarily tried for not having defended it more vigorously, and were incontinently hung and quartered. In 1448, it was once more visited by the French, who set fire to the church, and destroyed the nave and chancel. The plague scourged it severely on several occasions.
The Land Gate, on the road to Dover, is a noble machicolated structure, with a fine archway which opens between two round towers, forty-seven feet high. The corresponding gate on the south-west side, was pulled down in 1815. Edward III fortified the town on the north and west sides with strong walls, and these were the only entrances.
The Ypres Tower on the south-east side was built by William d'Ypres, Earl of Kent. This was the famous Earl who closed an illustrious career by shaving his head and donning the cowl, in his own Abbey of Laon in Flanders. Close at hand under the very shadow of " Wiper's Tower," as it is called by the Sussex rustics, is the Gun Garden. From this point the reader can command a view of the principal features of Romney |
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