[365] The hall may be a little earlier than the fourteenth century: the windows seem to indicate the period 1290-1310. The great chimney and the heavy battlement were added when the porch to the hall was built.
[366] Such a position for a medieval stronghold was not unusual. Thus Richmond castle is commanded by much higher hills on the north and south-west. In medieval warfare, however, before fire-arms had received any full development, an enemy would have gained little advantage by occupying a commanding position at some distance from the place attacked. In 1644, the Parliamentary force which besieged Wingfield attempted to breach the walls from Pentrich common, on slightly higher ground to the south-east. This was found impossible, and the cannon had to be moved to a wood on the west side of the manor before any damage was done.
[367] The additions at this end were possibly the work of John Talbot, second earl of Shrewsbury (d. 1460), to whom Cromwell sold the manor shortly before his death. The earl certainly did some building at Wingfield: see the short, but carefully compiled Guide to Wingfield Manor, by W. H. Edmunds, p. 11.
[368] This can clearly be seen from the small open courtyard on the north-west side of the great chamber block. The kitchen block is there seen to have been built up against the west wall of the great chamber and its lower stage, without any bonding.
[369] At Conway, Porchester, etc., however, the large hall was probably intended for the use of the garrison. The great hall at Wingfield was essentially the hall of a dwelling-house, in which the inner court is kept quite separate from the base-court, where possibly a common hall was provided for the men-at-arms who might be lodged there.
[370] This tower, like that at Stokesay, can be entered only by an outer door. This is at the foot of a turret containing a broad vice. The doorway had no portcullis, but was commanded by a slit in the wall from the stair, which ascends on the left of the entrance lobby.
[371] The gateways of the outer and inner courtyards each had double doors. There was no provision for portcullises. Each gateway has a small postern entrance on one side of the main archway. This would be used after the great doors had been closed for the night.
[372] These have recently been removed, to the great detriment of this noble tower.
[373] The high tower at Wingfield is not machicolated, and affords a curious contrast in this respect to Tattershall.
[374] The late thirteenth-century hall at Little Wenham, near Hadleigh, is an early example of a brick house in this district.