[1194] The walls of the Tower are from 12 to 15 feet thick at the base; those of Norwich 13; the four walls of Dover respectively, 17, 18, 19, and 21 feet; Carlisle, 15 feet on two sides. (Clark.) William of Worcester tells us that Bristol keep was 25 feet thick at the base! Itin., p. 260.
[1195] See Enlart, Manuel d’Archæologie Française, ii., 526.
[1196] MacGibbon and Ross, Castellated Architecture of Scotland, p. 159.
[1197] This type of castle was probably borrowed from the fortifications of Greek cities, which the Crusaders had observed in the East.
[1198] Conway and Carnarvon consist of two adjoining courts, without any external enclosure but a moat. Flint has a great tower outside the quadrangle, which is sometimes mistakenly called a keep, but its internal arrangements show that it was not so, and it is doubtful whether it was ever roofed over. It was simply a tower to protect the entrance, taking the place of the 13th-century barbican.
[1199] Köhler states that the gatehouse palace is peculiar to England: “only at Perpignan is there anything like it.” Entwickelung des Kriegswesen, iii., 480.
[1200] Köhler mentions the castle of Neu Leiningen as the first example in Germany, built in 1224. Kriegswesen, iii., 475. Frederic II.’s castles were of this type. The castle of Boulogne, finished in 1231, is one of the oldest examples of the keepless type in France. Enlart, Archæologie Française, ii., 534. The Bastille of Paris was a castle of this kind. According to Hartshorne, Barnwell Castle, in Northants, is of the keepless kind, and as the Hundred Rolls state that it was built in 1264, we seem to have here a positive instance of a keepless castle in Henry III.’s reign. Arch. Inst. Newcastle, vol. 1852. And it appears to be certain that Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, built the keepless castle of Caerphilly before Edward came to the throne. See Little’s Mediæval Wales, p. 87.
[1201] French archæologists are enthusiastic over the keep of Chateau Gaillard, the scientific construction of the towers of the curtain, the avoidance of “dead angles,” the continuous flanking, etc. See Viollet le Duc, art. “Chateau,” and Dieulafoy, Le Chateau Gaillard.
[1202] This type is extremely rare: Trim, in Ireland, and Castle Rushen, in the Isle of Man, are the only other instances known to the writer. Trim is a square tower with square turrets in the middle of each face; Castle Rushen is on the same plan, but the central part appears to have been an open court.
[1203] Enlart, Archæologie Française, ii., 516.