The little town developed outside the castle, mainly to service it and the immediate surrounding area, and to provide a market place for local agricultural surpluses. It was bounded by an escarpment dropping in the north to the Town Meadow, in the east to the River Rother and in the South to a tributary to the Rother. To the west it was bounded until the late 12th century by a 1.5-metre deep ditch, with a dyke and pallisade, approximately where Duck (or Dyke) Lane now lies.