Of the stone buildings which existed within the enclosures of early Norman castles, the traces which remain are comparatively few, and in most cases work of an altogether later period has taken their place. The great hall for the common life of the garrison, such as Robert d’Oily built in Oxford castle in 1074, would be indispensable. At Ludlow there can be little doubt that the original hall stood on the site occupied by the present hall, much of the east wall of which is apparently of the same date as the curtain. The two lower stages of the oblong keep at Chepstow are the hall ([103]), with the cellar below, founded by William, son of Osbern, before 1071. Although the upper stage was transformed in the thirteenth century by the insertion of traceried windows in the north wall, and of an arch between the daïs and the body of the hall, the walls are of eleventh century masonry, and the plain arcade which went round them is clearly visible on the north and west sides. In the south wall of the cellar are the loops which lighted it; these have lintel-heads with arch-shaped hollows cut in the soffits. The hall and cellar at Richmond, which occupy the south-east angle of the bailey, appear to be those built by Alan of Brittany before 1088. A few additions took place here at the end of the twelfth century,[128] but the windows in the north wall of the hall, which are of two lights, with edge-rolls in the jambs, are clearly of early date. When, for a time, the great stone tower became the fashionable form of keep, a great hall formed part of its internal arrangements; but this was the hall of the lord’s private dwelling, and was used by the garrison only in time of siege. Domestic buildings, including a great hall, may sometimes have been constructed of timber within the bailey, and at the end of the twelfth century were probably superseded by permanent buildings of stone, like the halls at Warkworth or at Oakham. As at Richmond, such halls would be placed against or close to the curtain, to leave the interior of the bailey as open as possible. In case of siege, freedom of movement within the area of the castle was essential, and the bailey formed the natural base of operations. The hall at Chepstow was on the highest and narrowest part of the rocky promontory on which the castle stands, at the head of the bailey; its south wall formed part of the curtain overhanging the great ditch between the castle and the town ([106]).[129]
Norman castle-builders were careful to provide chapels within their fortresses. In several cases, the chapel within the bailey appears to have been the first building of stone raised inside the enclosure. The small chapel at Richmond, in a tower of the east curtain, is almost beyond doubt that which was granted by Alan of Brittany to St Mary’s abbey at York about 1085. The details are very rude in character: there is a plain wall arcade, supported on shafts, the capitals of which have rough voluting and no abaci. The same type of capital is found in the wall arcading of the original gatehouse at Ludlow ([95]), and also, though with more finished ornament, in that of the circular nave of St Mary Magdalene’s chapel ([108]) within the same castle. Certain details in the chapel at Ludlow, especially the bands of chevron ornament round the arches, seem to indicate that the nave is later than the eleventh century. The arch which divided the nave from a rectangular chancel ending in a half octagon, is of advanced twelfth century date; and it is clear that the chancel must have been built or remodelled at a later date than the building of the nave. The aisled chapel at Durham castle, which now forms part of the basement of Bishop Pudsey’s building along the north side of the bailey, has groined vaults, cylindrical columns, and capitals with voluted crockets and square abaci, which may be safely ascribed to 1075 or a little later. The capitals may be compared with those of the original gateway arch at Richmond. The classical spirit which is so noticeable in them, and is derived directly from the contemporary work of Normandy, is also apparent in the capitals of the crypt of the castle chapel at Oxford. Oxford castle was founded in 1071, Durham in 1072. At Hastings, the first of the Conqueror’s castles, there is, as has been said, much herring-bone work in the north wall of the chapel nave and in the vice or turret-stair of the central tower. Such definitely architectural detail as is left, however, belongs to a rebuilding of the later part of the twelfth century.
Ludlow; St Mary Magdalene’s Chapel
The importance of the castle chapel in Norman times, and indeed throughout the middle ages, deserves a note. Chapels were often richly endowed, and, as at Hastings, Bridgnorth, and Leicester, were sometimes founded as collegiate establishments, with a dean and canons. The collegiate church of St Mary at Warwick, founded by Roger of Newburgh, the second Norman earl, probably had its origin in a castle chapel, removed to a new and enlarged site within the town. The greatest of these collegiate chapels, although one of the youngest, was St George’s at Windsor, founded by Edward III. The chapels at Hastings, Bridgnorth, and Leicester were churches of some size and importance; and their chapters, like those of the secular cathedrals, usually consisted of royal clerks, generally non-resident, whose duties were served by vicars. As royal chapels, they were exempt from episcopal jurisdiction; and the term of “free chapel,” which was given to them, became applied in course of time to chapels founded in private castles and even upon manors.[130] In most cases a castle chapel was served by a single priest, either the incumbent or his vicar. The incumbent of the free chapel of St Michael in Shrewsbury castle, usually a royal clerk holding his grant from the king, and inducted by the sheriff as the king’s officer, held the church of St Julian in Shrewsbury as parcel of his cure.[131] Where the Norman castle and parish church stood side by side, as at Earls Barton or Higham Ferrers in Northamptonshire, the lord of the castle and his household would doubtless attend the church. But the foundation of a chapel within the castle was a common thing, even when the church, as at Ludlow or Warwick, was at no great distance; and in later years, when chantry foundations became usual, castle chapels increased in number. Thus at Ludlow, a second chapel, served by two chantry priests, was built within the outer bailey about 1328;[132] and a college of eight chantry priests was founded in 1308 by one of the Beauchamps in his castle of Elmley in Worcestershire.[133]
CHAPTER VI
THE KEEP OF THE NORMAN CASTLE
We have seen that there were two types of early Norman castle in England. There was the ordinary mount-and-bailey castle, with its defences of earthwork and timber; and there was the castle founded on a rocky site, in which there was no mount, and the defences were of stone. In the first instance, the strongest position, the mount, was occupied by the donjon or keep. In the second case, as at Ludlow, the wall was defended by a strong gatehouse and a certain number of towers; but at first there was, strictly speaking, no keep. During the first half of the twelfth century, an era of constant rebellion against the Crown, private owners constructed castles in very large numbers, for purposes of aggression and self-defence. The second half, the age of the first Plantagenets, was an era of consolidation, during which the building of castles was methodised under royal control. Unlicensed fortresses disappeared, leaving only their earthworks to mark their place. The permanent castle of stone became the rule; and to this period, the second age of our medieval military architecture, belong some of our most formidable and imposing castles. The aim of the builders, during this epoch, was to strengthen to the best of their ability that point in the plan which would form a centre of ultimate resistance to an attack from without. This point was the keep.[134]