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to the first floor and the foot of the newel stair leading to the upper stories. Close to it is the large opening opposite the fire-place (see cut No. 3), and which, reaching to the ground, is not a mere window of large size. Its use may have been two-fold, either to furnish access to the exterior by a ladder or any moveable steps, or, as it seems more likely, for hoisting bulky and heavy articles not easily introduced by the small staircase in the turret. Exactly over it, and in the story above, are two small openings, which have at one time been covered with a small projecting roof; and, as there are two small corbels remaining at the base, it would appear that a small gallery masked this part of the building, and was intended for additional protection to the larger opening below, or for working the machinery employed in hoisting up heavy goods to the story beneath.

Above are also well-developed corbels, continued round the other sides of the building, and which once supported a gallery, probably of wood, access to it being had by a doorway at the summit of the stairs in the tower. By means of the intervals between the corbels, the bottom of the walls was protected against sapping or undermining, while from the gallery would be discharged missiles, preventing too close an approach to the walls.

It would be a matter of deep regret if this interesting relic of medieval Pembrokeshire were permitted to fall to ruin from neglect, or by conversion into a quarry of hewn stone. The walls at present seem substantial and in fair condition, and very trifling repairs from time to time would preserve in its present condition for many years.

At the back of some cottages lining the principal street of the village exist the ruins of a large square building, which has little in common with the majority of Pembrokeshire remains. The present building appears to be tolerably complete in itself with the exception of the entrance, which was probably fortified, if

such an inference can be drawn from the deeply splayed opening, half-window and half loophole, a part of which appears to the left of the cut (No. 5) representing the

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interior. It is questionable whether the building consisted of one or two stories; if the former, the arrangements must have been confined to the basement, and a large hall above. The basement must have been illprovided with light, while the hall, from the size of its windows, must have been unusually well lit. No traces of the usual vaulting exist. The floor of the hall was supported by a huge beam running the length of the hall, the joists also resting on ledges carried along each side of the room. In the angle is a small doorway, apparently leading to nothing, unless access to the upper story was obtained through this entrance by wooden steps capable of being removed at pleasure. This may have been the case, as there are no traces of any interior or exterior stairs.

Whatever external offices once existed have vanished, and have been succeeded by pig-sties and other un

seemly buildings. The recess with a stone shelf seems to have served as a cupboard. Cut No. 6 gives the exterior.

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Of the history of the house nothing is known. Fenton (p. 402) quotes Canon Lewis' opinion as communicated to Brown Willis in 1719, that it had been, or at least was, generally reputed to have been a nunnery. This story is preferred by Fenton to another; namely, that three sisters and coheiresses built each a house-one, the castle; another, this square building; and the third, a mansion at a little distance to the south-east, called the Hall. The three buildings are, however, of such different periods and characters as to enable us at once to include this particular tradition among similar ones found in all parts of the country concerning these mythical cooperative sisters. In confirmation of the nunnery theory, Fenton states that the site of a church could be easily made out in a field to the west of the village, called the Church-field. But even this circumstance throws little light on the matter. All that can be said is, that if this half-house half-castle was a nunnery, Pembrokeshire nunneries must have been very different from other nunneries. The same story of a nunnery was told of a house in St. David's which has been demolished a few

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