What seems to be the most ancient part
is a high quadrangular tower with lofty pointed pannels in the four
walls; and though inferior in antiquity, an observer accustomed only to
the English castellated style, is struck by the variety of numerous
circular towers with conical roofs, resembling those which flanked the
gates of the town. Some of these gates still remain perfect; and one of
them, leading to the sea, now serves as a military prison. It was the
Sieur des Marets[4], the first governor of the place, who began this
castle shortly after the year 1443, when Louis the XIth, then dauphin,
freed Dieppe from the dominion of the English, attacking in person, and
carrying by assault, the formidable fortress, constructed by Talbot, in
the suburb of Pollet. Of this, not a vestige now remains: the whole was
levelled with the ground in 1689; though, at a period of one hundred and
twenty years after it was originally taken and dismantled, it had again
been made a place of strength by the Huguenots, and had been still
further fortified under Henry IVth, in whose reign the present castle
was completed; for it was not till this time that permission was given
to the inhabitants to add to it a keep.
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