LEYBOURNE CASTLE, KENT.
THIS castle, the lords of which played a considerable part in the earlier troubles of the thirteenth century, when two of the name were summoned as barons, stands by the road-side near its parish church of the same name, between Snodland and West Malling, in Kent, and at no great distance from the ancient Neville seat of Birling.
The building, judging from its present remains, is scarcely in keeping with the wealth of its late lords, nor does it appear ever to have been more extensive. Part of the walls may be of Norman date, but the general aspect is of the date of Henry III., and the gateway may be of Edward III.
The most perfect portion is the gateway, a pointed and ribbed arch, which opens between two bold drum towers, placed unusually close together. Above the portal is a slit or chase, about 3 feet wide and 6 inches deep, pointing downwards and outwards, and much resembling a large post-office opening. The narrow dimensions of this opening, its straight sides, and thickness of the wall, would prevent its being used for the casting down of projectiles, and even as a horizontal loop its range would be very limited. It may possibly have been intended for the pouring down of water, supposing the outer gate to have been assailed by fire.
A little in advance of this wall, on either side of the doorway, is a portcullis groove, rectangular instead of a half round as usual; and these grooves, instead of ascending as a chase or slit in the entrance vault, placing the grate when lifted nearly out of sight, ascend in front of the door to about double its height, so that the grating would always be entirely visible, whether down or up. The chains by which it hung, also visible, ascended through a machicolation at the rampart level, formed by throwing a flat segmental arch from tower to tower, parallel to and about 18 inches in advance of the gateway and wall above it. This arrangement, seen at Neath and elsewhere, enabled stones or heavy projectiles to be dropped with but little risk to those employing them.
In advance of the portcullis grooves, two lateral holes at the level of the door-cill show where the pivots of the drawbridge rested. Bridge pit and moat are now filled up. The rear parts of the gatehouse and entrance vault have been destroyed.
The irregular outline of the castle may be traced, and two detached groups of ruins, with a couple of drum towers, remain; but there is nothing of any special interest excepting the gateway and its defences.