Situated in the midst of a fine agricultural
country, it was one of the stations of the Romans, and the terminus of
the ancient Icknield Way, so that an army landed there could easily
march into the country beyond. Afterwards it became the capital of the
West Saxons, Athelstan building his castle on an ancient earthwork
known--from the colour of the earth or rock of which it was composed--as
the "Red Mound." His fort, and the town as well, were partially
destroyed in the year 1003 by the Danes under Sweyn, King of Denmark.
Soon after the Norman invasion William the Conqueror built his castle on
the same site--the "Red Mound"--the name changing into the Norman tongue
as Rougemont; and when King Edward IV came to Exeter in 1469, in pursuit
of the Lancastrian Earls Clarence and Warwick, who escaped by ship from
Dartmouth, he was, according to Shakespeare's _Richard III_, courteously
shown the old Castle of Rougemont by the Mayor. We could not requisition
the services of his Worship at such an early hour this morning, but we
easily found the ruins of Rougemont without his assistance; though,
beyond an old tower with a dungeon beneath it and a small triangular
window said to be of Saxon workmanship, very little remained.
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