In December 1243 de Criol witnessed the covenant made between the King and Earl Richard. Payments were made for the carriage of many fowl and swans to the king's kitchen at Westminster, and for the king's huntsmen, over the next months. Responsibility for Kentish works fell to the Sheriff during 1244, especially for a building to contain the king's engines at Dover, for the repair or rebuilding of houses for the king's galleys at Rye, and for the installation at Dover of the catapult, trebuchet and ram, but all under the supervision of de Criol as Constable. De Criol and Caxton saw to the repair of the gate buildings at Canterbury Castle. He was occupied with the king's interdictions: during the spring of 1244 armed Scotsmen were to be sought out and arrested, and merchant ships in the ports were not permitted to sail. A year later, religious persons of any kind arriving were to be held and searched for letters, and not permitted to proceed without the king's approval. In May 1246 he was to appoint custodians in every port to prevent English coin being taken out, and no ship, or anything from which a ship could be made, was to be sold to anyone in fealty to the King of France. He completed repairs to the walls at Rye and Winchelsea, and received contributions for his court at Shipway. Meanwhile, the king sent gifts of bucks from the park at Elham, and Nicholas de Croill, royal groom ("vadlettus"), was sent hunting for them. Bertram received a goshawk from Hubert de Rewley, the king's fine for a market at Cattawade, by Orwell Haven. Liveried chaplains were appointed for divine service at Dover Castle in 1246, and in 1247 three silver chalices, a censer, and quantities of orphrey, samite and other precious cloths for making chasubles and dalmatics for the Castle chapels, including the pre-conquest church of St Mary in Castro, were supplied to de Criol. The King was then engaged in his new works at Westminster Abbey, and was soon to proclaim the Relic of the Holy Blood. Dover Castle's best hospitality, at the King's expense, was required for Baldwin II, Emperor of Constantinople, on his journey home in April 1247, but the Constable was to pay his whole passage. In August he was to prepare a good ship at Sandwich equipped for horses and men to be the king's messengers on a secret errand.