There appears to have been more than one kind of drawbridge employed in this castle. In some places, as at the great gate, and at the passage in its gatehouse tower, the bridge, when drawn up, fitted into a depression, so as to lie flush with the upper wall, from whence, therefore, its length may be inferred. In other cases it simply rested against the wall, making a projection. It seems always to have been long enough, when up, to cover the gateway.
The method of hanging the bridge also varied. On the sides of some of the portals a stone has been inserted, into which the horizontal pivots of the bridge (of iron, from the small size of the pintle or hole) fitted; but, connected with the place for the gudgeon or pivot is another groove, which passes up at an angle of forty-five degrees for a few feet, and then passes on horizontally for a few more. It appears as though this were a contrivance, when the bridge was raised, for throwing its lower end upwards and forwards, so as more effectually to shield the upper part of the door, to present an oblique surface to missiles, and, by making the bridge lean back against the wall, to remove the strain from its chains or ropes, and to prevent it from falling, even should they be broken. It may be, however, that into these grooves fitted some lever, or other contrivance for working the bridge; where they occur, there are no holes above for the passage of the drawbridge chains into the portcullis chamber. Similar grooves are seen in the upper gatehouse at Chepstow.
The defences of the great, or water, postern are singular. The grooves, which in other cases form the portcullis slides, here stop abruptly a little above the arch. They are too deep for the hinges of gates, and were probably filled by a defence similar to a portcullis, but which was received into a cavity below. Indeed, as there is only a lofty wall, and no chamber above the postern, the regular plan was inadmissible.
There is a further contrivance for the defence of a gate, consisting of a sort of shoot, opening obliquely downwards from the sill of a window, employed in two places in this castle; one over the door of the eastern inner gateway, and the other over the door of the north-west principal bastion tower; in both cases evidently with a view to the defence of the towers when the enemy had gained the inner court.
The battlements and parapets throughout the castle are of a very plain description. They are massy and flat topped, the coping being a rough slab of sandstone. The height and thickness, together with that of the rerewall and the width of the rampart walk, may be always deduced from a careful inspection of the walls or towers against which they terminate. The parapet and rerewall are usually of the same height, and nearly as high as the top of the doors leading to them.
The embrasures are contained within parallel sides, and bear a small proportion to the merlons, which latter are each perforated by a loop. These details may be seen upon the summit of the leaning tower, or, more conveniently, upon the northern curtain, toward the north-west bastion tower. It is evident, from the unfinished character of the battlements, and the flat undressed coping, that they were intended to be masked by an exterior gallery, or brattice of wood, resting on the stone corbels which still remain. For this reason there are no machicolations in stone, or devices for dropping missiles through the floor of a projecting parapet—a contrivance which adds so materially to the grandeur of the towers of Warwick, Raglan, and Cardiff. Over the eastern middle gateway, the parapet has a false machicolation, or slight projection, supported upon a table of corbel blocks, but without apertures, or a projection sufficient to admit of any.
The windows, with certain exceptions, are either loops, or, if larger, of a very plain character. In the hall, however, and in the large rooms of the two inner gatehouses, they are very wide and lofty, and have been highly ornamented. The two latter rooms are so much injured, and the windows so mutilated, that it can only be said, that what little remains of ornament are seen resemble in style the more perfect ornaments of the hall. The oratory attached to the eastern inner gatehouse has a vaulted roof, divided into two square compartments, supported by transverse and diagonal ribs. The two windows towards the south are long and narrow, without a mullion, and trefoiled; their mouldings are only an exterior chamfer. There are some other windows in the gatehouses, looking towards the interior, which are much shorter, but otherwise resemble this. The four hall windows are lofty and well proportioned; they open to within four feet of the ground.
The exterior moulding of the windows is completely gone; that of the door was discovered by removing the grass about its base.
The interior mouldings of the windows are extremely rich, owing to the reduplication of the bands, to occupy the great thickness of the wall. The angles of the mouldings are, at two depths, removed, and their place occupied by a hollow groove, in which the pomegranate ornament is placed at intervals, making up the circle by its projection. Beyond each of these bands of pomegranates are pilaster strips, filleted at their angles, and surmounted by small angular capitals: within is a handsome ogee canopy, enriched with crockets and finials, in a very pure style.
The door has a good internal drip, but its inner moulding is composed of only one band of ball flowers. The outer mouldings are rich. There are three bands of pomegranates, which no doubt were continued, as in the windows, round the arch; and between them are two rows of small disengaged columns, with the circular concave pedestal. Of these only the pedestal remains.