sea, by a wall which extended from the castle-cliff across the hollow in which the town lies, to the east cliff ; . . .a very small portion
of this wall still exists, and may be traced near the Bourne's Mouth, where there was a portcullis or gate ; a considerable part of it is stated to have remained about forty years since."-- (1784.)
Remains of the Town Wall, 1920 (see page 148).
This may be seen near the south end of Bourne Street, opposite East Bourne Street, and is another piece of antiquity which should be preserved by the Corporation, and a descriptive tablet attached.
This view is taken from the Courthouse, which stood upon the site of the present Police Station. The massive timber posts in the foreground are the remains of the great flood-gates, described in Corporation Records as " Adjoining the Court House," seen on the right, and was the site of the old Court House or Common Hall, where a prison has existed for centuries. Prior to 1702, a portion of the Court House was built over the Stream. The following reference from the Town Records reads : "On the 7th April, 1615, it was agreed at the common charge to build a new room, with a garret for a store house, on the north side of the Court Hall on the Bourne, to contain twelve feet broad and fourteen feet long, as Mr. Mayor and A his brethren should conclude and agree." A further and later reference reads as follows : 1702 "when all that was over the Bourne was directed to be pulled down, and also the roof of that part which was once the prison and duck-house which was pulled down to the Court Hall floor." It may be supposed that " ducking " the prisoners was resorted to as a method of punishment.
The tall building shown on page 150 was called the Watch-house or Lock-up, and added to the jail in 1820, together with the stocks.
The eastern walls of the jail were washed by the Bourne, before the erection of the Theatre a few years later. The Bourne was crossed here by a couple of planks from one side to the other.
Brett described the Stream, on the opening of the flood gates, in the following lines :
This Bourne water, sometimes clearly,
Would be running gently merely,
Drank by hundreds of humanity about the town;
Now and then a cleansing getting
When the penstock-man was letting
That which had been kept at bay to rush the channel down.
Often have I joined a party
Who, with shouts and laughter hearty,
Ran the course and crossings leaped before a hasty flood ;
Tumbling ever one another,
Helping p'rhaps a younger brother
Out of danger from a torrent of that liquid mud.
