Robert haunts this castle, which appears
to have been of great extent, though its ruins are very indistinct. The
walls on the southern side are rents, and covered with brush-wood; and
no architectural feature is discernible. Wide and deep fosses encircle
the site, which is undermined by spacious crypts and subterraneous
caverns.--The fortress is evidently of remote, but uncertain, antiquity:
it was dismantled by King John when he abandoned the duchy. The
historians of Normandy say that it was re-fortified during the civil
wars; and the fact is not destitute of probability, as its position is
bold and commanding.
Bourg-Theroude, our next stage, is one of those places which are
indebted to their names alone for the little importance they possess. At
present, it is a small assemblage of mean houses, most of them inns; but
its Latin appellation, _Burgus Thuroldi_, commemorates no less a
personage than one of the preceptors of William the Conqueror, and his
grand constable at the time when he effected the conquest of
England.--The name of Turold occurs upon the Bayeux tapestry,
designating one of the ambassadors dispatched by the Norman Duke to Guy,
Earl of Ponthieu; and it is supposed that the Turold there represented
was the grand constable[55].
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