LEEDS, OR LEDES, CASTLE, KENT.
LEEDS Castle is a very peculiar structure. It stands upon three rocky knolls, of which two are islands in a lake of 15 acres, and the third occupies the central part of the artificial bank by which, as at Kenilworth and Caerphilly, and in some degree at Framlingham and Ragland, the waters are or were retained.
The central and larger island is girt by a revetment wall, having half-round bastions, and rising about 15 feet out of the water. This was the wall of the outer ward. About 40 feet within, and concentric with this, are indications of the wall of the inner ward, which was about 8 feet thick and 20 feet high. At each end, connecting the two walls, and occupying the space between them, were the gatehouses, of which that to the south remains, and is a very curious structure. It represents, probably, a late Norman work; but its oldest recognisable part is a doorway of the time of Henry III., surrounded, however, by masonry apparently of that of Edward, his son. A bretache is mentioned in a Survey of 1314, but the present corbels overhanging the gateway, and upon which the timber work rested, appear to be of the age of Richard II., and probably date from 1386. The Constable’s room, placed in the rear, and at the level of the portcullis chamber, is entered through a doorway, the valve of which is original and peculiar, being composed of planks of a taper section, the narrow edge of one fitting into a groove in the back or broad edge of the next.
The domestic buildings occupied the north end of the two wards, and are replaced by a modern house, excepting only a vaulted cellar, which may be late Norman, and is certainly the oldest known masonry in the place, and a bracket which supported the ancient oven, and is placed near what (17 Henry VI.) is described as “Una coquina juxta pedem pontis de la Gloriet,” which kitchen was not long since removed.
In this ward also, or rather partly in this and partly in the outer ward, near a building of the age of Henry VIII., is a very remarkable bath,—“balnea domini regis apud Ledes,” as it is designated, which was constructed for the use of Edward I. in 1291–2. This is now used as a boathouse. It communicates with the lake by a passage in which are still seen the grooves for the portcullis, and the recesses for the oblique gates by means of which the water was retained or excluded. Mr. Wykeham Martin’s investigations of the accounts relating to this bath are very curious. The hundred Reigate stones, 2 feet square, which are there specified, just tally with the area of the chamber.
Thus far the castle is, or has been, a concentric structure, after the plan much in use in the latter part of the reign of Henry III. and throughout that of Edward I. Its peculiarities are caused by the circumstances of its position, and remain to be described. Of these the chief is the keep, or Gloriette, a shell of wall rising from the deep water around it to a considerable height, and containing apartments round a central court, an arrangement usual in Norman shell keeps. This shell contains the chapel, no doubt the “major capella” of the records, the kitchen, and amidst much work of the date at least of Edward I., more that is of that of Henry VIII., and even of recent date. This island is thought to have been the original stronghold of those who first appropriated the spot, but the oldest work now seen dates from Edward I., and the style of the chapel points to about 1280. It contains, however, an excellent low side window, open 17 feet above the water, probably an insertion by Richard II. There is also a postern at the level of the water, part of which appears old, as does an adjacent garderobe. The basement, by which the ground-floor is raised about 12 feet above the water, is solid, and probably very old, for no occupant of these islands for the purpose of security could have neglected this site. Edward, no doubt, remodelled this work with the rest of the castle, and possibly rebuilt the whole of the outer wall. Sir Henry Guildford, custos here for Henry VIII., seems to have removed part of the earlier building, and to have built a spacious hall, a large fragment of which is the present kitchen. During the reign of Charles II. these additions were much injured by fire, so that most of the buildings next the court are modern. Still the general type and arrangement was evidently preserved; and there is little doubt but that this structure represents a late Norman shell, if not an earlier Saxon house of timber. A handsome clock-tower, to which the term Gloriette is sometimes confined, contains a very early clock, and is of the date of Henry VIII., guarding the covered bridge which connects the keep with the larger island. This bridge is of two openings, and has two stories, and was originally a drawbridge, the pit being contained between the side walls, and dropping into the water. It is called in the accounts “pons gloriettæ.”
The term “Gloriette” is not of frequent occurrence, and its meaning has not been precisely defined.[1] It was first brought under notice in the ancient miscellanea of the Exchequer relating to Corfe Castle, amongst which Mr. Bond cites a document dated 8 Edward I., that mentions “Camera que vocatur Gloriette.”[2] It was probably like “Butavant” and “Cocaygne,” one of the towers of the enceinte of the castle, and may have been of somewhat greater elevation. Scarcely any vestiges remain. The name seems sometimes to denote the whole of the buildings near the Queen’s Tower and Hall; in that part of the castle there existed a chapel called the chapel of the Gloriette. It appears that the Gloriette tower at Corfe was newly built by Richard II., about 1379.[3] Amongst the conventual buildings also of Christ Church, Canterbury, there was a “New Lodgyng, juxta antiquam Priorum mansionem vocatam Le Gloriet.” Professor Willis informs us that it was the upper chamber at the north end of the range of buildings, known as the “Privata Camera,” or “Prior’s Mansion.”[4] A building on an elevated spot in the palace grounds at Schönbrunn, commanding an extensive view of Vienna, is called “La Gloriette.”
The third great division of the castle, also very peculiar, is the barbican, or tête-de-pont, which is placed on the counterscarp of the lake, here reduced to 50 feet in width, and at the outer end of the bridge which carries the road of approach into the great island. It is composed of three parts, which were isolated by three wet ditches, of which one is the river Len, and having three entrances, one from each wing of the dam, and one, the main one, central, from the south. Each approach had its drawbridge, gateway, and portcullis, and the three met upon a small central plot, open towards the fortress, and whence sprung the bridge leading up to the great gateway. This is the bridge that was broken down by the great horses and heavy wagons of Aymer de Valence. It is of two arches, the inner of which was open between the parapets for the pit of the drawbridge. One division of the barbican contains the mill, a strongly-fortified building, in advance of which were the barriers which are known to have covered the southern approach, and to have been standing in 1385. They were no doubt mainly of timber, though there are traces of foundations in masonry. This triple composition of a barbican has not been elsewhere observed. The object of its lateral gates was the defence of the dam, which might otherwise have been mined and cut through. Also those who came either from the east or the west could only have reached the south gate by a wide detour, for the causeway along the dam was defended on the outside as well as the inside by water, the lake to the south-east being of large area, and known as the “stagnum exterius,” while, to the south-west, was a deep watercourse and marsh formed by the Len.
The late Mr. Wykeham Martin, whose investigations of his hereditary fortress were a labour of love, seems to have established firmly, on sound critical grounds, the date of its several parts. He shows the high probability of its occupation by at least a Saxon lord, and the changes it has undergone from the Crevecœurs, Leyburns, and the Plantagenet and Tudor monarchs, who, from Edward I. to Edward VI., held it in possession.
Like many Saxon strongholds, Leeds is thought to date from the ninth century. It was held, probably by a Norman arrangement, by castle-guard tenure under Dover. To Bishop Odo, who obtained it at the Conquest, is attributed some Norman work in the church, but the earliest masonry in the castle, probably represented by the curious vaulted cellar, is thought to be the work of Robert de Crevecœur, who founded Leeds Priory in 1119, and afterwards removed three canons into the chapel of his castle. A later Robert shared in the defeat of Lewes, and was in consequence obliged to yield up Leeds in exchange with Roger de Leyburn, a powerful Kentish baron, father of that William whose unscrupulous boldness is well described in the Roll of Caerlaverock, which designates him as “A valiant man, without ‘but’ or ‘if.’”
Out of the disputes between the dispossessed and the dispossessor Edward seems to have established a title by the strong hand. He gave to the fief the character of a royal manor, was a frequent visitor at the castle, and appears to have completely remodelled the fortress of the Crevecœurs, giving it the aspect which in many points it presents at this day. By Edward it was settled upon the queen, part of whose funeral charges were incurred here in 1291. Here also the king founded a chantry in the castle chapel for her soul’s health, and it was about this time that he caused the bath to be constructed.
Upon Edward’s second marriage Leeds was again settled upon his queen, and for several reigns this continued with some exceptions to be the practice. It was also much used for the reception of visitors of distinction who rested here on their way from Dover to London.
In 1321 the king’s defences were put upon their trial. The castle seems to have passed by an exchange to Bartholomew de Badlesmere, a great lord, who in 1321 was away in the North plotting with other barons the fall of Despenser, while his wife and children remained in the castle, the Constable being a certain Walter Colepeper.
One night in midsummer, Queen Isabella, with a large retinue, presented herself at the gates demanding hospitality. The Constable, dreading her designs, boldly refused it. “Nor queen, nor any other, should enter without his lord’s order.” The “She-wolf of France” ordered an instant attack, in which several of her people were killed, whose skeletons, bearing marks of violence, have recently been discovered before the barbican. The attack failed, and her Grace had to lodge as best she might outside. Of course, this event had its consequences. The king proclaimed a levy en masse through four counties and raised besides the “posse comitatus” of Kent. The muster place was Leeds Castle, the day the 23rd of October. Thither at the appointed time came the king and his brother and a large force, the command of which was given to Aymer de Valence, who pressed the siege vigorously. Badlesmere attempted a diversion, also by the display of a force, much inferior, however, in numbers, at Kingston, where he was on the 28th of October. All attempts at a negotiation between Badlesmere and the king failed. The castle held out till the 1st of November, when this, its only known siege, ended in a surrender, apparently to the king in person. The brave Constable and twelve others were hanged, and Lady Badlesmere and her family committed to the Tower. It was thought that the execution of Badlesmere himself, when taken afterwards at Boroughbridge, was partly in revenge for his having, in writing, sanctioned Colepeper’s resistance.
Edward, having thus recovered the castle, was frequently there, his last visit being on the 15th of June, 1326.
Edward III. settled the castle upon his queen, and it was placed with other royal buildings under the surveyorship of William of Wykeham, who in 1359 seems to have laid out £16. 6s. 8d. upon it, of which sum £5 went to replace glass windows blown in by a hurricane, 24s. to repair Aymer de Valence’s injuries to the bridge, and 70s. was spent upon the old chapel. In 1367 occurs a curious charge for habergeons, basnets, and other harness for a body of archers, for materials for making armour, and for the carriage of two beds from Leeds to Canterbury for the use of the Count of Flanders, and of six to Leeds from Sittingbourne. The castle cannot boast of any attentions from Edward III. in person.
Leeds formed a part of the settlement of Anne of Bohemia, the queen of Richard II., who was himself much here. A list of the military stores of the place in 1385 is preserved, and includes the following curious items relating to the defences of the great gate or barbican:—“Duas portas nudas vocatas portes colys, et viginti pikes cum viginti platis de ferro, quatuordecem platas de ferro longas, viij platas de ferro curtas, centum sexaginta et quinque clavos de ferro pro eisdem portis dictis portes colys novo ferrando, unum circulum ferreum pro barreris juxta molendinum, unum magnum crowe, unum parvum crowe de ferro, unum magnum slegge, unum parvum slegge, unam magnam cathenam, unam parvam cathenam, sex forcipes, unum vertinuel, sex vyles, unum cable, unum nayltol,” etc. The “nudæ portæ” were, of course, open timber gratings upon which the iron was to be plated. The barriers near the mill show them to have been in advance of the centre entrance, and the crows, sledge hammers, chains, and files would all be necessary for the setting up of portcullis or drawbridge.
Ten years later, 15th of July, 1395, Richard from hence despatched the proxies who were to plight his troth to the French king’s daughter, and at the same time received a visit from Froissart, who was a great favourite, and accompanied the king to Eltham, where he was to discuss the French match with the magnates of the realm.
It was also at Leeds, and at the same time, that Richard signed two mandates, one for the expulsion of the Lollards from Oxford, and the other directing the University to sit in judgment upon the “Trialogus” of Wycliffe. Leeds was also one of the places to which Richard was carried after his deposition.
Henry IV. was at Leeds in 1401, but he seems to have granted the castle to Archbishop Arundel, who thence followed up Richard’s edicts against the new heresy, by citing in 1413 Sir John Oldcastle to appear before him in “the greater chapel of Leeds Castle,” where also, on his non-appearance, he passed upon him for contumacy the sentence which led to his martyrdom in the following reign.
In that reign, 4 Henry V., 1416, Leeds gave hospitality to the Emperor Sigismund on his return from London to Dover, when its resources must have been taxed to house the very splendid retinue provided for him. Two years later a royal but enforced visitor here was Joan, mother of the Duke of Brittany and stepmother to the king. Her stay at this time as a prisoner was short, but she resided here after her liberation in the next reign.
On the accession of Henry VI., Katherine of Valois was put in possession of Leeds, but Henry was there in 1436–1438, and ordered certain repairs to the roof of the keep. In 1441, Duchess Eleanor of Gloucester was tried for sorcery in the chapel by Archbishop Chichele.
Under Edward IV. Leeds ceased to be assigned to the queen consort, and remained vested in the king, but the castle was no longer visited by royalty, and seems to have been allowed to fall into decay until the reign of Henry VIII., under whom Sir Henry Guildford resided here, and seems to have made considerable alterations, especially in the keep.
Edward VI. alienated Leeds from the Crown in favour of Sir Anthony St. Leger about 1550, whose descendants, after 1618, sold it to Richard Smith of the Strangford ancestry, whose heir, after 1631, resold it to Thomas Colepeper of the family of the former constable. The Smith occupation was marked by the construction of a handsome Elizabethan mansion at the north end of the larger island. The Colepepers, created barons in 1644, farmed the castle, in 1655, to the Government for the safe keeping of about 600 French and Dutch prisoners, under the general charge of John Evelyn, who records himself to have “flowed the dry moat, made a new drawbridge, and brought spring water into the court of the castle to an old fountain.” The prisoners, however, much damaged the building and set fire to part of the keep.
The Colepeper heiress carried the estate to her husband Thomas, fifth Lord Fairfax. Robert, the seventh lord, repaired the dwelling-house and laid out the park, and here, in 1778, entertained George III. and his queen, the latest of very many royal visits to the place.
Lord Fairfax left the castle to his sister’s son, Dr. Martin, known later as Dr. Fairfax, who died 1800, and was succeeded by his brother, General Martin, on whose death, in 1821, it descended to Fiennes Wykeham, representative of the younger branch of the Wykehams of Swalcliff, where they held lands as early as the Domesday Survey, and whose son, Charles Wykeham Martin, was the author of the history of the castle.