British Castles

by Charles Henry Ashdown

The Tower of London.—This great fortress, palace, and prison, unique among the castles of England, dates from the time of William the Conqueror. The site occupied a position upon the river Thames immediately to the east of Roman London; the latter was surrounded by massive walls with mural towers which had subsequently been repaired by Alfred the Great. A portion of this walling undoubtedly furnished part of the western defence of the Norman citadel, inasmuch as remains have been found adjacent to the present Wakefield Tower. The wall thus adapted extended between two bastions, and possibly the first enclosure was merely stockaded.

It was, however, necessary to erect a more substantial fortress in order to overawe as well as protect London, and in 1078, William entrusted Gundulf, the architect-bishop of Rochester, with the commission. The great Keeps at Rochester and West Malling were also designed by him, and possibly he had much to do with those at Norwich, Colchester, and other places in England. To this period may also be ascribed some of the towers and part of the massive curtain wall lying to the west of the inner ward or ballium which at that period contained the royal palace, apartments for the court, and dwellings for the garrison. Possibly a narrow ditch encircled the walls on the inner line of the present spacious moat.

In 1155, the buildings were repaired by Thomas à Becket; but to Richard I. must be ascribed the carrying out of works which materially added to the general strength. Henry III. caused additions to be made, chiefly upon the river front, which give it the characteristic appearance it presents at the present day. The well-known Traitors' Gate dates from this period, and is one of the finest examples of medieval masonry in existence. About the year 1270 the Tower began to acquire those features which subsequently rendered it an excellent example of the concentric fortress; an outer wall of circumvallation was carried completely round, with a deep and broad moat washing its face. The outer ward was formed lying between the two lines of walls, thus producing three lines of defence, the innermost being the great Keep. A small barbican, which has now disappeared, stood upon the outer edge of the moat. In the early part of the reign of Edward III. some towers were added, the chief being the Beauchamp and Bowyer. Since the period of the Commonwealth the Tower has ceased to be inhabited by royalty, the removal of the palace, which stood against the south-eastern corner of the inner ward, being probably responsible for it. As the Tower of London has been inextricably involved in the major portion of events forming the history of England, it is obviously impossible to deal even in a cursory manner with them within the confines of this work. A few facts, however, relating to the Keep may be of interest, as it is undoubtedly the most ancient portion of the structure. It is rectangular in shape, 118 feet long by 107 feet broad; it rises to a height of 90 feet at the battlements and contains three stories. The usual Norman pilaster buttresses occur, those at the angles being continued upwards into three of the square turrets, while the remaining corner supports a large projecting circular turret containing the main staircase. The walls are of enormous thickness, ranging from 12 to 15 feet, and as usual the building is divided into two portions by a wall 10 feet thick, rising to the maximum height of the building.

CHEPSTOW CASTLE, MONMOUTHSHIRE.

The floors were originally of wood, but when Sir Christopher Wren destroyed the ancient interior features of the Keep, great brick vaults were built in the lower portion. St. John's Chapel is a magnificent gem of Early Norman ecclesiastical architecture; it stands upon the second floor, and its apsidal termination projects boldly beyond the walls of the Keep. The third floor contains the state apartments with the great Council Chamber, the walls of the chapel rising through it to the roof, and containing a mural passage and a triforium. The roof is flat and was adapted during the Tudor period for mounting artillery. The position of the original entrance to the Keep is now unknown, the present one being evidently a construction of later date. No traces of the forebuilding defending it have come to light. The internal arrangements for defence against surprise are marvellously intricate, the principal apartments being approached by mural passages so narrow that only one person could pass at a time. This was, of course, eminently desirable from a military standpoint, but inconvenient and awkward when occupied by the court.

Corfe Castle.—Seated upon an isolated chalk hill in the island of Purbeck, with a natural escarpment upon three sides where two rivers bifurcate on their way to Poole Harbour, and with a gentle slope upon the fourth side, the great castle of Corfe reared its massive front through many centuries of dramatic history, marked more than once with touches of the tragic. The remains of its cyclopean walls and towers now lie in mighty masses over its slopes, and tell eloquently of a day when destruction only seemed to occupy the minds of men, and all that was great and beautiful from the foregoing ages was marked out for desolation and ruin. Perhaps no castle in England has suffered so much as that of Corfe.

Its site is connected by history with the Saxon dynasty, for King Edgar is said to have founded it; and here the tragic deed was perpetrated by which it is popularly known, when his son Edward the Martyr, King of the West Saxons, was treacherously murdered by Elfrida his step-mother. Such an unholy deed was a sinister incident in the birth of a castle, and appears to have thrown a gloom over its subsequent history.

Four miles to the southward rises the bold coast-line of the Dorset littoral, while northward is the great depression occupied by the waters of Poole Harbour.