Military Architecture in England During the Middle Ages

by A. Hamilton Thompson

carnarvon castle: interior

While the actual defences of the curtain at Conway were more simple than at Carnarvon, the isolation of the site was greater, and the possibility of active movement in and out of the stronghold was less. The attack was bound to be concentrated upon the one main entrance; and consequently, next to the flanking of the curtain, the chief object was the defence of the gateway. The end wall, in which the gateway was pierced, is high above the adjacent town, and the level piece of ground in front was broken short by a steep edge of cliff, at the foot of which was the ditch. The entrance was therefore approached by a well-guarded barbican at right angles to the gateway. This outwork was reached from the town by passing along a rising causeway with a drawbridge at the end, which gave access to the gateway of the barbican, standing in advance of the north-west tower. A short rising path then led through a doorway closed by a wooden door to the platform in front of the gateway, along the west side of which, above the ditch, was continued the outer wall of the barbican, flanked by three small round towers, open at the gorge. The parapet above the gateway was machicolated, and the large corbels still project from the wall.[273] Into a narrow barbican like this, only a small detachment of an attacking force could venture; indeed, the position is practically impregnable. The north-west tower commands every inch of the approach; and the drawbridge, the portcullis and upper gateway of the barbican, and the oblique entrance to the gateway of the castle, formed successive and intimidating obstacles. The main gateway was closed by a portcullis, which was worked from a mural chamber, between the crown of the arch and the rampart-walk. It may be noted that, while the oblique entrance at Conway has some likeness to the ingenious entrances at Beaumaris, the works of Conway have at least two points in common with Harlech—the corbelling-out of the rampart-walk against the interior face of the towers ([261]), and the carrying up of the stairs of the four eastern towers into turrets above the level of the roof. The lofty stair-turrets above the roof are also a prominent feature at Carnarvon.

Conway Castle; Rampart-walk

The arrangements of the rampart-walks at Conway and Carnarvon were of the usual type. At Conway, where the cross-wall between the wards is still in existence, there is a walk along the top, so that no part of the curtain is really distant from another. The domestic buildings at Carnarvon unfortunately no longer stand; but the position of the hall and kitchen in the inner ward is still known. Probably, as at Conway, there was a large hall for the garrison in the outer ward. The domestic arrangements at Conway can be easily followed, although the kitchen, against the north curtain of the lower ward, is gone. The great hall, which is built against the south curtain, and follows the obtuse angle formed by it, stands above a cellar, but its floor was on a level with the surface of the ward. Its timber roof was built upon stone transverse arches, spanning the hall: the east end was screened off and formed a chapel. The buildings surrounding the smaller or upper ward formed a separate mansion, distinct from the great hall and its appendages. The chief features of this set of apartments were the smaller hall, against the south curtain, the separate withdrawing-rooms called the King’s and Queen’s chambers, and the small chapel or oratory in the north-east tower ([263]). This chapel was entered from the main stair of the tower, but a straight stair also led to it in the thickness of the east wall from the postern-gate, and communicated with a similar stair in the other half of the wall, leading to the King’s chamber and the lesser hall. Water at Carnarvon was supplied from a well in the tower west of the kitchen: at Conway a cistern was made near the south-east corner of the lower ward.

Conway Castle; Fireplace in hall

Conway Castle; Oratory

II. There are old castles, however, which were adapted to the new form of fortification with an ingenuity equal to that shown on new sites at Conway and Carnarvon. In alluding to the lessons learned by the Crusaders in the east, we have noticed the concentric form of fortification which they saw at Constantinople. The city was girt by a triple wall, each ring of which was higher than the one outside it. The advantage of this was obvious: while three successive lines of defence were provided, the three could also be used simultaneously, each row of defenders discharging its missiles over the heads of the next. The Crusaders, the variety and ingenuity of whose castle plans deserve much admiration, profited by the concentric method of walling a stronghold; and none of their fortresses is so remarkable as Le Krak des Chevaliers ([176]), rebuilt early in the thirteenth century, where the curtain of the inner ward rises high above the curtain of the outer enceinte.[274] Approximations to the concentric plan were not unknown even in England at an early date. The earthen defences of Berkhampstead castle ([42]) are concentric, although no attempt was made to correlate them by giving the inner banks command of the outer.[275] In the plan of the cylindrical tower-keep at Launceston, we have a striking application of the concentric plan to a small area. In France, Château-Gaillard, where the inner ward is nearly surrounded by the curtain of the middle ward, was an approach to concentric methods; but the leading idea was still the exclusion of an enemy by lines of defence arranged upon an elongated plan, with the donjon as the culminating point. Even at Coucy, where the defensive provisions are so elaborate, the donjon is the great point of interest, and the castle is not concentric in plan. In fact, the concentric plan, although long known in the east, was not adopted as a basis of planning in the west until the thirteenth century was far advanced. The fortifications of Carcassonne, where the plan was applied to a town ([264]), were begun by St Louis, and finished by Philip III.: begun earlier than Caerphilly, their erection covered most of the time in which our chief concentric castles were built.[276]