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230 THE SUSSEX COAST
enjoyed one of the most magnificent views in Sussex. The topography of the town and the surrounding Downs may be conveniently studied; over the site of the Priory and the flats one looks down the valley to Newhaven and the Channel; to the north spreads a great expanse of the Weald up to the Forest Ridge. What remains of another tower is converted into a seventeenth-century summer-house with a large round arch; of the third foundations may be traced, of the fourth nothing remains. These towers may be the work of the earl who, in 1280, when writs of quo warranto were issued by Edward I. to inquire into the titles of land, drew his rusty sword and said that was warrant enough. He was defeated by Wallace at Stirling in 1297.
By John, Earl of Surrey and Sussex (1286-1347), the last of the House of Warenne, who took a prominent part in the events of the reign of Edward II. and served in Scotland and France, the beautiful barbican of squared flint with stone dressings was built out in front of the original Norman gate. A fine machicolated parapet projects on corbels; both the round turrets and the main gateway have cross-shaped openings for arrows, each expanding into a little circle at the bottom. The gateway arches are rather flat; there are two portcullis grooves ; a plaster ceiling has replaced the vaulting.
After the death of the builder of this latest part of the Castle, Lewes passed to Edmund Fitzalan, whose great-grandson left only three sisters, and they succeeded to the property as co-parceners. Ever since the Castle has enjoyed a triple ownership, and at present the Lords both of it and of the Borough of Lewes are the following noblemen— |
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