Military Architecture in England During the Middle Ages

by A. Hamilton Thompson

Conway; Porth Isaf

During the epoch at which fortification reached its highest point, the wall of a town was systematically flanked by towers, which, as we have seen at Conway and Avignon, were left open upon the side next the town. Gates were made in the wall, where main roads approached the place. Thus the gates of Coucy were three, admitting the roads from Laon, Soissons, and Chauny. At Conway ([256]) there were three gates; but of these one communicated merely with a quay, while another gave access to the castle mill: the third or north-western gate alone was the direct entrance to the promontory on which the town and castle were built. At Chepstow, where the town also formed a cul-de-sac, there was only one main gateway, at the north-west end of the town. The main gateway of Carnarvon was on the east side of the town; while, opposite to it, in the west wall, was a smaller gateway opening, like the Porth Isaf[304] ([295]) at Conway, upon the quay. Not all towns, however, occupied positions like Chepstow, Conway, and Carnarvon, where water takes so large a share in the defence. Great centres of commerce like London and York, towards which a number of roads converged, had many gates, not counting the posterns in their walls. Four of the gates of York remain, Micklegate bar on the south-west, through which the road from Tadcaster entered the city, Walmgate bar on the south-east, admitting the road from Beverley and Hull, Monk bar on the east, through which passed the road from Scarborough, Bootham bar on the north, which was the entrance from the direction of Thirsk and Easingwold. The gatehouses are all rectangular structures, the plan and lower portions of which are of the twelfth century, and recall the stone gatehouses of early castles: the upper stages, however, are of the fourteenth century, and have tall bartizans at the outer angles. The great Bargate at Southampton, through which the road from the north entered the circuit of the walls, is similarly a rectangular Norman gatehouse, enlarged and supplied with flanking towers in the fourteenth century: the outer face was further strengthened, within a century of these additions, by a half-octagonal projection, the battlements of which were machicolated. There was another gate on the east side of Southampton, which now has disappeared. In the west wall the rectangular water-gate and a postern remain; while, on the quay at the south-eastern angle of the walls, there is another gate, covered by a long spur-work which projects from the wall at this point and crossed the town-ditch. For smaller gatehouses like the western gatehouses of Carnarvon and Southampton, the old rectangular form was sufficient; but the principal entries of towns needed effective flanking. As a rule, town gatehouses of the Edwardian period and the fourteenth century generally were flanked by round towers at the outer angles, like those at Conway ([295]), Winchelsea, or the West gate at Canterbury. In the fifteenth century, the warlike character of the defences of English towns was considerably lessened. The Stonebow or southern gatehouse at Lincoln, a long rectangular building with slender angle turrets of no great projection, had no special provisions for defence beyond the gates by which it was closed. Here and there, when the need of military defence ceased to exist, churches were built upon the walls and gateways of towns. Thus above the St John’s gate of Bristol, on the south side of the city, rise the tower and spire which were common to the churches of St John the Baptist and St Lawrence; while churches were built close to or immediately above the east and west gates of Warwick.

Monmouth; Gatehouse on Monnow bridge

Where one of the main approaches to a town crossed a river, the defence of the passage was of course necessary. In the case of the St John’s gate of Bristol, already mentioned, the course of the narrow river Frome, on which it opened, was defended by an additional wall on the other side of the stream; and in this wall, covering St John’s gate, was the strongly fortified Frome gate. The case of York, where the river nearly bisects the walled enclosure, is most unusual. In other instances, the town was confined to one side of the stream, and the approach from the river was protected by a barbican, which could take the form either of an outer defence to the gateway itself, or of a tête-du-pont on the opposite side of the stream, or of a fortified passage across the bridge. Of barbicans in general much has been said already; and we have seen at York and Tenby something of town barbicans, while in the Porte de Laon at Coucy, we have had an instance of a barbican acting as a tête-du-pont on the further side of a town ditch. The arrangement of the south-western approach to Kenilworth castle is a good instance of the combination, in castle fortification, of tête-du-pont, fortified causeway, and gatehouse with barbican. Fortified bridges were not uncommon in the middle ages, but those which remain are few. The finest example of all is the fourteenth-century Pont Valentré at Cahors (Lot), a noble bridge of six lofty pointed arches, divided by piers which are supplied with the usual triangular spurs or cut-waters. At each end of the bridge is a massive rectangular gateway tower, battlemented, with pyramidal roofs, and machicolated galleries below the battlements; while in the middle of the passage is a third tower, the ground-floor of which was gated and portcullised. The brick bridge, called the Pont des Consuls, at Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne), was somewhat similarly defended. Examples from other countries are the thirteenth-century covered bridge at Tournai, the bridge of Alcantarà at Toledo, and the bridge of Prague, which was defended about the middle of the fourteenth century with a tall rectangular gate-tower at one end, and a gateway, flanked by towers of unequal size, at the other. In England two small examples of fortified bridges remain. Upon the bridge at Monmouth ([297]) is a gatehouse with a machicolated battlement and a gateway which was closed by a portcullis: this stood well in advance of the Bridge gate of the town, which was at a little distance from the stream. At Warkworth, on the side of the bridge next the town, is a plain rectangular gatehouse, the arch and ground-floor of which remain intact. The triangular patch of land, south of the Coquet, on which Warkworth is built, was well defended on two sides by the river, and on the third side by the castle, and the gatehouse at the bridge was its only stone fortification.

wells: gatehouse of bishop’s palace

The progress of the art of defence under Edward I. was accompanied by the enclosure within defensive walls of areas and houses not originally intended for military purposes. Disputes between the cathedral priory and the citizens of Norwich led to the enclosure of the monastery within a fortified precinct:[305] the royal licence for the construction of the water-gate bears date 27th July 1276.[306] On 8th May 1285, the dean and chapter of Lincoln obtained their first licence for the enclosure of their precinct with a wall 12 feet high;[307] and ten days later a similar licence was issued to the dean and chapter of York.[308] On 10th June the dean and chapter of St Paul’s,[309] and on 1st January following the dean and chapter of Exeter,[310] had letters patent to the same effect. Bishop Burnell had licence to wall and crenellate the churchyard and close of Wells, 15th March 1285-6,[311] while he was busy building his strong house at Acton Burnell. Licence to crenellate the priory of Tynemouth, on its exposed site, was granted 5th September 1295.[312] Bishop Walter Langton had licence to wall the close of Lichfield, 18th April 1299.[313] Licence to the abbot and convent of Peterborough to crenellate the gate of the abbey and two chambers lying between the gate and the church was granted 18th July 1309.[314] At Lincoln, where a large portion of the close walls may still be seen, there was some delay in building. Two licences, confirming the letters patent of 1285, were granted by Edward II. in one year.[315] On 6th December 1318, the licence was again renewed: the wall might be raised to a greater height than 12 feet, and might be crenellated and provided with crenellated turrets.[316] Further, on 28th September 1329, Bishop Burghersh received letters patent, permitting him, in the most liberal terms, to “repair, raise, crenellate, and turrellate” the walls of the bishop’s palace.[317] Thus, in the reign of Edward III., there were no less than three fortified enclosures within the circuit of the walls of Lincoln—the castle, the close round the cathedral, and the bishop’s palace. To-day, as we stand in the open space at the head of the Steep Hill, to our left is the gatehouse of the castle; while to our right is the Exchequer gate, the inner gatehouse of the close. This is a lofty oblong building of three stages, with a large central archway, and a smaller archway on each side for pedestrians. On the west or outer side the face is plain, but on the eastern side it is broken by two half-octagon turrets, containing vices. There was also an outer gatehouse, some yards to the west.[318] The south-eastern gatehouse of the close, known as Pottergate, still remains, a rectangular building with an upper stage. At Wells, Salisbury,[319] and Norwich, the enceinte of the close may still easily be traced; while at Wells, close by the gatehouse of the close, is the outer gatehouse of the bishop’s palace. The palace itself retains its wet moat, and is still approached by its drawbridge and through a formidable inner gatehouse, which is flanked by two half-octagon towers ([300]).