By this time the flanking towers, to be mentioned presently, had been added to the Bargate. The Quayages and Barbican duty, granted from 1323 to 1346 (see below) should also be mentioned as having an immediate connexion with the fortifications. To this period may be assigned the arcade work described below. The next efforts of construction were called forth by the invasion of the town in 1338. It appears that in spite of murages the town was not entirely walled. The enemy are supposed to have landed at 'the gravel' (see below) or in that immediate neighbourhood, and the weak quarter was now ordered to be strengthened. By the advice of his council the king issued a mandate for the building of a stone wall as quickly as possible towards the sea, Stephen de Bitterle being commissioned on 30 March, 1339, to find all necessary timber, and governors were appointed with a special view to the fortification of the town and the reassurance of the inhabitants. A writ in aid of the inclosure was issued in 1340. (VCH-ref Rot. Orig.)
The VCH is clearly using rather more than the given reference but what?