Military Architecture in England During the Middle Ages

by A. Hamilton Thompson

Guildford

Where a new tower keep was added to castles of the usual type, whose main defences consisted of an earthen mount and banks, it was often raised, as at Canterbury and Hastings, on a new site, independent of the mount, which was probably avoided as affording insufficient foundation. Thus, at Rochester, the old mount of the eleventh century castle, now known as Boley Hill, remains at some distance from the later enclosure. But there were cases, and possibly more than are generally recognised, in which the mount was utilised for a tower. At Christchurch the comparatively small keep was built entirely upon the artificial mount. The keeps of Norwich and Hedingham ([135]), two of the grandest of their class, were built upon mounts, which, if in great part natural hills, had been scarped and heightened by art. The mounts at Guildford and Clun ([127]) are artificial. In both these last cases the summit of the mount was converted into a shell keep, surrounded by a wall; but on the eastern side of this enclosure a tower, of respectable if not large dimensions, was made. The tower at Clun was built against the east slope of the mount, the basement being entirely below the level of the summit of the earthwork. This is also partly the case at Guildford ([128]), where the tower is placed across the eastern edge of the mount. The inclusion at Kenilworth of artificial soil within the basement of the keep has led to the suspicion that the mount of the castle was reduced in height, and the tower built round the lower portion ([132]).

Scarborough; Plan

At Guildford and Clun the combination of a shell of masonry with a tower keep produced the effect of a small inner ward—which is virtually what a shell keep is—with a tower upon its enceinte. Frequently, as at Scarborough ([129]) and Bamburgh the tower keep stood upon the line of the curtain between the two wards. At Scarborough it actually stands athwart that line, but its greater projection is towards the inner ward, from which, of course, it was entered. The towers at Norham ([157]) and Kenilworth fill up a corner of the inner ward, but have no noticeable projection beyond the curtain. This is also the case at Porchester ([131]), where the north-west angle, in which the keep stands, is also the north-west angle of the Roman station.[175] Some, however, of the finest of these towers, Rochester, Dover, and Newcastle, stood wholly detached within the inner ward, although, as at Rochester, near enough to the curtain to enable the defenders to command the outer approaches from the upper stages.

Map of Rectangular Keeps

Porchester

From the point of view of dimensions the towers may be divided into two classes. There are the towers proper, such as Clun, Corfe, Guildford, Hedingham, Helmsley, Newcastle, Porchester, Richmond, Rochester, and Scarborough, in which the height is greater than the length or breadth. Such towers are approximately square; and to them must be added Dover, in which, however, owing to the immense thickness of the walls, the height is less than the length or breadth. In one case, Porchester ([131]), the measurement from north to south exceeds that from east to west by 13 feet, and at first was also in excess of the height; but the tower was raised to nearly twice its height not long after the completion of the original design. The second class is composed of keeps, of which one or both of the dimensions of the ground-plan exceed the height, without the exceptional circumstances which governed the proportions of Dover. Such keeps are noticeably oblong in shape. At Castle Rising and the tower of Bowes in Yorkshire the height is less than either the length or breadth. At Kenilworth ([132]) the length from east to west exceeds the breadth by nearly 30, and the height by 7 feet. Middleham, from north to south, measures approximately 100 feet by 80 from east to west: its height is only 55 feet, which, though it surpasses the 50 feet of Bowes and Castle Rising, is much less than the 80 feet of Kenilworth. Its length and breadth, however, make up an area far surpassing the 87 by 58 feet of Kenilworth, the 82 by 60 feet of Bowes, and the 75 by 54 feet of Castle Rising. The foundations of another keep of this class remain at Duffield in Derbyshire. Bamburgh, 69 by 61 feet, but only 55 feet high, is another member of the class. Another great Northumbrian keep, Norham, although its height is 90 feet, is oblong in plan; and its measurement from east to west comes within 4 feet of the height, so that it stands on the border between the second and the first class.