Mediæval Military Architecture in England, Volume 1 (of 2)

by George Thomas Clark

BROUGH CASTLE.

Brough Castle covers the whole of a steep knoll which rises 60 feet on the left bank of the Swimdale or Helle Beck, and is about 50 yards from the water. The beck receives the Augill from the south-east, just above the castle, and their combined waters, at times of considerable volume and force, fall into the Eden about a mile and a half lower down. The castle itself is 630 feet above the sea-level, and the encircling fells of Westmoreland and Yorkshire rise to elevations of from 1,000 feet to 2,000 feet. About five miles to the east are the sources of the Greta and the Balder, and a little further off and towards the north the head springs of the Lune, not the noble stream that gives name to Lancaster, but a tributary to the Tees.

Even in this wild and almost impenetrable country are traces of Roman civilisation. The road from Lavatræ (Bowes) to Luguvallium (Carlisle) ran through Brough, which is identified with the station Verteræ, and by Appleby and Brougham, joining at Penrith the main road, the work of the same people, from the south. Five and seven miles to the east of Brough are two Roman camps, and there are others upon the same line of road at Redlands and Kirkby-Thore, and a very perfect one at Brougham. The Roman road at Brough runs generally east and west, and crosses the beck at Market Brough, so called in distinction from Church-Brough, which lies three furlongs to the south of the river, and contains the castle. The collective parish is named “Brough-under-Stainmore.” Verteræ, if identified with the existing camp and castle, stands off the main road, and south of the river, as at Brougham.

Brough Castle

Verteræ is represented by a rectangular camp, of which the castle covers the northern and higher end, that next to the river. This camp is 157 yards north and south, by 113 yards east and west, of which the platform within the ditch covers 134 yards by 90 yards. Of this area there is cut off at the northern end by a cross-ditch a plot, 90 yards east and west by 50 yards, which is occupied by the castle. This portion is further defended by some additional earthworks, perhaps Norman, to the east and west. The southern fragment of the camp seems to have been used as a sort of outwork to the castle, probably for the protection of sheep and cattle.

The castle was thus placed cross-wise in the camp, and parallel to the river, the action of which has carried away the outer half of its ditch, and converted the slope into a precipitous bank, at the top of which is the curtain-wall. The eastern outwork is composed of the end of the knoll, or ridge, on which the castle stands, and which is scarped into a triangular platform, the base of which, 57 yards long, covers the end of the fortress, and projects 38 yards. The ditch cutting off this work from the body of the place is 23 yards broad, and very deep. The earthworks westward are two banks and ditches, across the tail of the knoll, one 57 yards long, and 47 yards in advance of the main ditch, and the other 84 yards further in advance, and 94 yards long. Both are intended to cut off approaches along the river bank. The cross-ditch covering the south front of the castle is about 30 yards broad, and up it, from the east, came the main approach. These ditches, on the south-east and west fronts, are wholly artificial. There is also a trace of a bank and ditch along the east front of the camp, about 30 yards in advance of the main ditch, and about 60 yards long. A road, which may be Roman, comes up from the south, and crosses the Augill by a bridge, 250 yards above or to the east of the castle, to join the main road over another bridge in Market Brough. Upon this stream is the castle mill. The defences, in masonry, seem to have been confined to the castle proper. There is no trace of such upon the outworks, which probably were stockaded. The ditches were at far too high a level to have been fed from the river; but the soil is retentive, and they seem to have been filled with rain water.

The castle is composed of one ward, a trapezium in outline, the east, north, and west sides being at right angles, and respectively 77, 90, and 57 yards, and the south or oblique side, 94 yards. It is, in fact, a right-angled triangle, with the acute angle truncated. The keep is placed at the truncated end, and forms the south-west angle of the ward, its south and west sides being exterior, and in the line of the curtain. The domestic buildings were along the south side, and about the south-east angle, and built against the curtain. Near the centre of that side was the gatehouse, and attached east of it the hall, beyond which a large three-quarter drum tower capped the south-east angle. This and the gatehouse are the only mural towers. The kitchen and chapel, and some later buildings, probably rested against the east wall, and there are slight foundations between the gatehouse and the keep. The north curtain, towards the river, seems to have been free from buildings. Upon it are two buttresses, and in one a garderobe, entered probably by a side door and passage in the wall. This curtain is 3 feet to 5 feet thick, and from 12 feet to 15 feet high inside.

The Gatehouse is placed near the centre of the south side of the castle. It was an oblong building, and formed the west end of a block, of which the hall and withdrawing-room formed the eastern part and remainder. It was composed of a passage between two walls, of which one remains, and is 6 feet 6 inches thick and 45 feet long; the outer 10 feet being outside the curtain. The portal is gone, but the spring-stone remains of the inner doorway, 3 feet 7 inches broad, and recessed 8 feet 6 inches within the inner front. The vault of the passage, about 10 feet long, rested upon three bold ribs, of which the springing-stones remain, and beyond which was the outer gate, of which a part only remains. There was an upper floor, and if the rubbish were cleared away the plan of the gatehouse would be visible. The walls seem Norman, but the ribs, vault, and fittings are probably insertions of the Decorated age.

The Hall was poor. It was on the first-floor level, and had a floor above it, and, therefore, a flat ceiling. The basement is composed of three vaults placed transversely, with flat, slightly-pointed arches. The doors are towards the court, and one chamber has a small Tudor fireplace, in a corner. Each had a loop in the outer end, and in the ends of two are mural garderobes in the substance of the curtain. The hall was not above 12 feet or 14 feet high. In its north side is a round-arched recess, probably the original entrance, by an outer stair; and near it a fireplace. In the south or curtain side are two good late Decorated windows of two lights, rather flamboyant in tone, with plain exterior drips. Above these is a step, or ledge, for the floor of the upper room, and two windows, not directly over those of the hall.

There is no very decided evidence of a Chapel. The Kitchen, probably, was near the north-east end of the hall, and against the east end of the curtain. The withdrawing-rooms were at the east end of the hall, and extended into Clifford’s Tower, a fine bold drum of 30 feet diameter, which caps the south-east angle of the ward. This tower seems to be of Decorated date, and the base and part of the wall original; but it has been almost rebuilt, probably with the old cut stones, in the Tudor period, to which belong its numerous square-headed windows. Part of it was taken down in 1763.

The Keep stands upon rather the highest part of the enclosure. It is rectangular, 43 feet east and west, by 51 feet north and south, and stands upon the curtain, with which its west and south faces are continuous. As it does not quite cover the whole end of the ward, this is closed by a low curtain, 17 feet long and 3 feet thick, which extends from the keep to the north-west angle of the ward. The keep is composed of a basement and three floors, and is about 60 feet high. The parapet is gone. It has a plinth only on the two exterior faces, where the ground is low, and there are two sets-off which indicate the level of the second and upper floors. At the end of each face is a pilaster, 7 feet broad, and of 6 inches projection, and those adjacent meet and form a solid angle. These pilasters rose clear of the wall to form angle turrets, of which parts remain. From the upper set-off, on the north and south faces, rises an intermediate pilaster, 3 feet broad. The walls at the base are 10 feet thick, and, at the top, 6 feet. The basement is at present nearly filled up with earth and rubbish, concealing much of the east side. Part of the south-east angle fell in in 1792, and obscures the details of the main entrance.

The Basement is at present entered by a plain round-headed doorway of 4 feet 7 inches opening, in the north wall near its east end. This has a rebate for an inner door, but no groove for a portcullis. The outer jambs are broken away. It is pretty clear, from a comparison of its ring-stones with the original arches above, that this entrance is an insertion, probably of the time of James I. or Charles I. In the same side, near the doorway, is a very peculiar air-hole, formed of two loops, 2 feet apart, which converge to a single exterior loop. There are similar loops, of much later date, at Caernarvon. Possibly the basement was divided into two chambers, and one loop opened from each; but there is no trace of any partition. In the west wall there was probably another loop, now converted into a window of 2 feet opening, square topped, set in a bold splayed recess, evidently an insertion of a period when security was no longer the first consideration. The window opens in the line of the plinth, the set-off of which is carried over its head as a square hood-moulding. The south wall was blank, and so, probably, was that to the east. The basement was 13 feet or 14 feet high, with a flat timber ceiling. There certainly were no mural chambers, and no staircase in it. It was probably entered from above by a trapdoor and ladder, and used as a store.

The first floor, about 13 feet high, seems to have had loops in plain round-headed recesses in the north, south, and west sides, of which the latter is broken away, and a two-light Tudor window inserted. The northern loop has also been replaced by a similar window. In the south wall the loop is represented by a small square opening. In the ruins of the east side may be traced the remains of a doorway and the base of a lobby and staircase in the wall. It is clear that the external door was in this face, near the south end, and that it opened direct into the first floor, while right and left, in the thickness of the wall, was a mural passage, at its south end a mere lobby, but to the north containing a straight staircase which rises 13 feet by twelve steps, 4 feet 4 inches broad, towards the east angle, where was a small lobby which opened on the second floor, and was lighted by a loop in the east wall.

Thus, the second floor was entered in its east side by a direct mural stair, like those at Carlisle, at Chepstow, and at Ludlow. In each of the sides, north, south, and west, of this floor is an original round-headed recess, and in the east wall, over the mural stair, are traces of a shorter recess, placed higher up, whence seems to have been a passage into a mural chamber in the south-east angle. The southern recess alone contains its original window. This is a small coupled window of two lights, square headed, but within a round-headed arch. The dividing shaft is decidedly Norman, as is the whole character of the opening. The north window is also coupled and round headed, but looks like a Stuart insertion. The east and west windows are square headed, of Tudor date. In the north-west angle is a mural recess with loops, possibly a garderobe, and in the north-east angle a square-headed doorway opens by a lobby into a well-stair, which commences at this level and ascends to the roof. It is 7 feet 6 inches in diameter, and rises 31 feet by forty-six steps to the allure, or rampart walk. This second was originally the principal and uppermost floor, lofty, and with a high-pitched roof, the weather moulding of which is still seen on the east and west walls. The roof ridge was at the level of the rampart walk, and, as the north and south walls seem original, there must have been a deep cavity on either side, with the gutter in its bottom. Subsequently this roof was removed, and replaced by a flat roof, at the rampart level, the line of which is marked by a row of corbels in the north and south walls. The cause of this change, common, probably, to all Norman keeps, was the superior convenience for defence of a flat roof, rendered possible by the introduction of sheet lead as a roofing material.

The third floor was formed by dividing the height thus gained by a floor laid at the level of the springing of the old roof, and thus was created a second floor of 10 feet, and a third of 20 feet. In the west wall was opened a square-headed window, in a splayed recess, and close south of it is a small Tudor fireplace, the flue of which ascends into the south-west turret. The east wall is less perfect, but still shows the line of the old roof, and the jamb of a Tudor window. In the north-east angle is the door from the well-stair.

The floors of the walls were throughout of timber, the joists of the first and second resting in the holes in the north and south walls of the turrets; that at the south-west is probably modern. It contains the flues of several fireplaces which appear to have been inserted in the south wall, but which have fallen out. The keep probably had originally no fireplaces. The north-east turret contains the head of the well-stair. The other two turrets seem to have been mere shells, having only the two outer walls. They all rose about 12 feet above the rampart walk, and 5 feet or 6 feet above the crest of the parapet on the outside of the east and south walls of the keep. Near the top are ranges of triangular holes formed by thin tile-stones set on edge, and looking much like pigeon-holes, which they probably were. The row in the south wall has five holes, and in the south-east turret are three. In the east wall are two sets, one of three holes, and one, imperfect, of two. There is one hole in the north-east turret. They are evidently original, and do not appear to communicate with the interior. There is no trace of a regular forebuilding, for which the keep, like Goderich, was too small, but there was probably an open stair, either of wood or stone, ascending to the main door, which was about 12 feet from the ground. The exterior of the keep was quite plain, and of rather rude workmanship. The pilasters are of square stones, and the wall, in part of similar material, and in part of stones of irregular shape, laid as uncoursed rubble. There is no herring-bone work, and no visible trace of Roman material worked up.

The keep is evidently late Norman, and the walls are original, though much pulled about, and with many insertions of the Tudor and Stuart days. This is another example of the high-pitched roof, as at Richmond and Bridgenorth, the whole roof having been concealed by the walls.

Probably the founder of the castle built both the keep and the curtain wall on the lines of the present curtain, and cut the cross-ditch which isolates it from the rest of the Roman camp. The gatehouse and hall, and the south-east tower were probably alterations and additions of the Decorated period. The whole fortress was repaired by Countess Anne, whose hand may be traced throughout the structure. The keep has been split with gunpowder, probably by order of the Parliament, producing fissures in its north and south walls.

Robert de Veteriponte, or Vipont, the head of a great Westmoreland family, to which the armorial bearings of the Musgraves and Lowthers, the Blenkinsops and Hellbecks, show them to have paid early allegiance, is regarded as the founder of the castles of Brougham and Brough, at any rate in their Norman form. His immediate ancestor came over with Duke William of Normandy, and the family first planted themselves in the counties of Devon, Northampton, and York. Robert, the second or third in descent, flourished in the reigns of Henry II., Richard, John, and Henry III., dying in 1228, the twelfth of the latter sovereign. He filled many posts of military trust, was custos of many castles, and sheriff of many midland and northern counties. He was also a justice itinerant, and of the Common Pleas. In 1203 (4 John) he had a grant from the king of the Bailliewick of Westmoreland and the castles of Appleby and Burg, at first during pleasure, but afterwards in fee. Possibly the grant was connected with the fact that his mother, Maud, was a member of the great Westmoreland family of Morville, and probably a daughter of Hugh de Morville, one of Becket’s assassins. Robert’s wife, Idonea de Buisli, was heiress of the castle and Honour of Tickhill. He was a man of very great wealth and power, and likely to have taken steps to secure his Westmoreland barony against its northern neighbours. The grant mentions the castles of Appleby and Burgh; and Burgh, that is Brough, was sacked by William of Scotland in 1174. Probably, therefore, there already existed some kind of strongholds at those places, founded, it may be, by the English on the Roman stations. Moreover, the year 1204 is very late indeed for keeps of so decided a Norman type, and it is no doubt possible that De Meschines, or De Morville, the preceding lords of the fee, may have built both castles.[2]

John de Vipont, son and successor, died 25 Henry III., in debt to the king, who gave his estates in ward to the Prior of Carlisle, who neglected the castles. In his time the keep of Brough was out of repair, and the joists rotten. Lord John sided with the barons, and died of wounds received at Lewes. His daughter, and finally sole heiress, Isabel, was married to Roger de Clifford,—the Roger of the inscription over the gate of Brougham,—and who was killed in battle in Anglesea by the Welsh, in the reign of Edward I. Robert de Clifford, their son, lord of the Honour of Skipton, of Appleby, Brougham, and Brough, fell at Bannockburn. There were then two parks at Brough, a mill, and the demesne land. The castle ditches let for the herbage at 6s. 8d. per annum, and the constable had 40s.

Roger, the next lord, was a great builder; he followed the fortunes and shared the fate of Thomas of Lancaster. He is thought to have made the additions to the eastern side of Brougham, where his arms and those of his wife, Maud Beauchamp, were long to be seen. His successor was his brother Robert, whose second and surviving son Roger, proved age 28 Edward III., recovered the family estates which had been forfeited, and kept his castles in repair. He died, 15 Richard II., seized of Appleby, Burgham, and Burgh. The four following lords fell in battle: Thomas in Germany, John in France, Thomas at St. Alban’s, and John at Towton. In 4 Henry V., the castle of Brougham lay waste, and the whole profits of the demesne were not sufficient to repair and maintain it. The next, Henry, was the Shepherd Lord, who, in 1519, held a great feast at Brough, at Christmas, which was followed, in 1521, by a severe fire, in which the castle was burned to the bare walls, and long remained waste. The succeeding lord and his son, both Henry, were the first and second Earls of Cumberland, of whom the latter died at Brougham Castle about 1560. George, the third earl, the admiral, who died 1605, was born at Brough in the last year of Queen Mary, 1558. With his brother Francis, the fourth earl, who entertained King James at Brough for three days in 1617, the male line failed, and the estates and baronies came to Countess Anne, the daughter of Earl George. This lady, who repaired Brougham and Brough in 1651–2, was born at Brougham in 1589, in the same room in which her father was born, her mother died, and King James was received. Margaret, her daughter, by the Earl of Dorset, carried the estates to the Tuftons, earls of Thanet, who also inherited the hereditary shrievalty of Westmoreland, until their extinction in the present century. They dismantled Brougham and Brough, and sold the fittings in 1714. The present owner appears to be very attentive to what remains of the two castles. Both are repaired in a very substantial manner.