Maxstoke is one of the very few castles which have come down to us without the expression "dismantled by order of Parliament" being applied to it. It affords us an idea of the beauty the face of England would present, so far as magnificent castles are concerned, if the forces of destruction and revolution had never been let loose upon our fair isle. It dates from 1346, when William de Clynton, Earl of Huntingdon, obtained licence to crenellate. The Duke of Buckingham owned and occupied it in 1444; he was killed at Northampton in 1460, and his son Humphrey, Earl of Stafford, having died of wounds received at the First Battle of St. Albans in 1455, his grandson Henry succeeded him but was beheaded without trial at Salisbury in 1483. Edward Stafford, however, succeeded to the estates in the reign of Henry VII.; his death by beheading occurred on Tower Hill in 1521. Maxstoke came to the Crown but was given by Henry VIII. to Sir William Compton, from whose descendants it was purchased by the family of Dilke in whose possession it still remains.
MAXSTOKE CASTLE, WARWICKSHIRE.
The gatehouse is in excellent preservation, the entrance being flanked by hexagonal towers, while the archway contains the grooves for the portcullis, and also the old gates themselves, plated with iron and bearing the arms of the Stafford family. A fine groined roof is inside the gatehouse, while the battlements have an alur behind them. The walls of the enceinte and the four towers at the corners are in good preservation, and show marks of the wooden buildings formerly erected against them for accommodating the soldiers. The Chapel and a number of the domestic apartments are original, dating from the time of Edward III.
Raglan, one of the most imposing ruins in the British Isles, was erected shortly after 1415 by Sir William ap Thomas, who had returned rich in honours and also in worldly wealth from many a stricken field, the last being that of Agincourt. He married the daughter of Sir David Gam, and commenced the erection of the magnificent building which combines in such an excellent manner the characteristics of a mansion and a fortress. If either predominates it is undoubtedly the warlike portion since, presumably, the builder could not at once forget his bellicose proclivities. His son was made a baron by Edward IV. and afterwards Earl of Pembroke, and was beheaded at Northampton, 1469. The Castle came into the possession of the Somersets in 1503, the ancestors of the present Duke of Beaufort. The fifth earl carried out extensive work upon the pile, but shortly afterwards the demolition of the Castle was ordered by the parliament. Probably the most striking feature of the Castle is the detached Keep lying to the left of the main entrance, and called the Yellow Tower. It is surrounded by a wide and deep moat, and was undoubtedly a formidable obstacle before being slighted. It underwent a vigorous siege in 1646, when Sir Thomas Fairfax assailed it with a large force. The garrison ran short of ammunition, and, the north wall being breached, a capitulation ensued.
Herstmonceaux Castle.—One of the finest examples of the later castles is Herstmonceaux, in Sussex, dating from the year 1440. It has been described as "the most perfect example of the mansion of a feudal lord in the south of England," and, when visited by Walpole in 1752, was in a perfect state of preservation; Grose, writing a few decades later, gives a vivid description of all the principal apartments, which seem to have suffered but little at that time. Now, however, when there is some rumour prevailing of an intended restoration, the building is in ruins,—roofless, ivy-grown, and in many parts dismantled by the falling-in of roofs and floors. It is built of the small bricks then in use, two inches or less in thickness; they were brought to England from Belgium, strange to say the art of brick-making having apparently been lost since the departure of the Romans. Belgian workmen were also brought over to erect it.
Sir Roger Fiennes, an Agincourt veteran, was the founder, and probably the site had borne a previous fortalice. Like Bodiam, erected some half-century previously, the plan is quadrilateral, almost square, with four octagonal towers at the corners and three of pentagonal plan strengthening the curtain walls. The gateway is one of the finest and most impressive in existence; the towers which flank it rise over 80 feet in height, cylindrical at the upper parts and superposed upon 50 feet of octagonal bases, with smaller turrets rising still higher above them. A magnificent range of machicoulis with crenellation above protects the towers and the curtain between, the merlons being pierced with oillets. A moat, long since dry, encircles the building, a bridge spanning it at the principal entrance. There are three tiers of cross loopholes, and below occur openings for matchlocks to defend the bridge. With the exception of the grand towers of the south gateway and the shells of some adjoining buildings, there are only broken arches and shattered walls, piers, and buttresses now to be seen, and it is only by the description left by Grose and Walpole that the ichnography of the interior can be traced. Wyatt the architect is responsible for the vandalism committed, as he dismantled the Castle to furnish material for the owner's new residence adjacent.
