Note 311 — Chapter XII · THE LATER REIGN OF WILLIAM IN NORMANDY.[159] 1051–1066.
Reading edition
Will. Pict. 92. “Nempe eas latebras, id munimentum initæ elationis atque dementiæ ipse primus fundavit, et quam operossissimè extruxit in præalti montis Arcarum cacumine.” Will. Gem. vii. 7. “Nobilitate verò generis elatus, castrum Archarum in cacumine ipsius montis condidit.” So the Chronicle of Saint Wandrille in D’Achery, ii. 288. “Willelmus videlicet qui postea Arcas castrum in pago Tellau primus statuit.” The building was clearly something novel, and it struck people in Normandy almost as the building of Richard’s Castle (see vol. ii. pp. 138–143) struck people in England. I see no reason to doubt that the ruined keep is part of the original work. As to the gate, and the other parts assigned to the same date by M. Deville, I am not quite so certain.