The course of the Seine through Normandy, from below the conflux of the Epte to the sea, is one rapid succession of bold and graceful curves, the concavities of which, bluff and precipitous, are attacked by the advancing stream, in strong contrast to the opposite banks, which, deposited and encircled by it, are low and fertile, and studded with ancient villages, churches, and manor-houses, rising through a mantle of rich, smiling verdure.
At the bottom of one of the grandest of these reaches, on the margin of a vast amphitheatre, stands the saucy boast of Cœur-de-Lion. Right and left are the bold bluffs of the chalk range, masked with turf, green as that of Sussex or Kent, varied by the occasional protrusion of a cliff of chalk, and relieved by a band of vegetation covering up the foot of the steep, and intervening between the high ground and the river. In front, beyond the innumerable islands of the Seine, is the tongue of rich low land known as the peninsula of Bernieres, a village, which, with Toeni and Venables—names familiar in Anglo-Norman history—is seen in the foreground. The valley on the right, or east, and immediately below the castle, is that of the Gambon, upon which are the towns of Great and Little Andelys; the former the birthplace—or within a mile of the birthplace—of Nicholas Poussin and Brunel; the latter half-a-mile lower down, upon the junction of the stream with the Seine, and under the immediate command of the castle, and contemporary with its foundation.
Château-Gaillard is composed of two principal parts, the castle proper and the outwork: the one covering the whole head of the promontory, the other occupying the only level ground, being the root of the ridge, from which the fortress could be attacked on equal terms.
The castle proper is composed of a keep; an inner ward, of the enceinte of which the keep forms a part, and which has its own ditch; and an outer ward, within which the inner ward is placed, the two uniting, or nearly so, at the north end. This division of the fortress is therefore concentric. The outwork, in advance of the ditch of the outer ward, has a ditch of its own, and presents its salient or strongest part towards the south.
The keep is a tower of which one half, in plan, is round, and the other projects into the ward as a right angle, or spur—a form of tower well known in French castles. It is 48 feet in diameter, or 55 feet taken at the spur. The walls are 11 feet thick, at the spur 18 feet, and the circular interior is 26 feet. At this time it is composed of a basement and a first floor; nor does there appear to have been a second below the ramparts. In the basement is one window towards the west, or exterior, and a rough aperture towards the east, or the inner ward. There are marks as though this had been a door of 4 feet 6 inches opening; but if so, it was doubtless not original. This keep is not likely to have had an entrance on the ground floor.
The first floor has two windows towards the west, and a door to the north. The windows being on the cliff side, and inaccessible, are moderately large. They are of two lights, flat-headed, beneath an equilateral arch. Their internal recesses are slightly pointed. The doorway, also flat-headed, occupies the space of a window-light. In the other space is a loop, commanding the approach. Both are beneath a round-headed arch, the tympanum being closed.
There are neither mural chambers nor a staircase within the keep. The floors and stairs were of wood. There is no fireplace, nor visible garderobe, and no well. The spur is solid.
The exterior is very peculiar. The lower two-thirds batters considerably all round, so as to add strength to the base, and cause a missile dropped from above to be projected outwards upon an assailant. About half-way up this slope there commences from corbels a series of buttresses, which expand laterally as they rise, but have vertical faces. They are, in fact, machicolations, but commencing low down; and, like ordinary machicolations, are connected by a series of arches, carrying the parapet, behind which was a passage for projectiles, as, for example, at Avignon. These exaggerated machicolations give a considerable increase of space to the top of the keep, but they are confined to its inner two-thirds, the outer side being sufficiently secure without them. As the upper part of the keep has been removed, the arches are gone, and only the buttresses remain. One of these defences overhung the entrance.
From a curious representation of the castle in stone in the church of Great Andelys, there is evidence that the keep was surmounted by a second and smaller tower within the rampart walk, and this again by another within that, rising like the tubes of a telescope. These probably were of timber.
A narrow flight of steps, commencing at the ward level, and carried up the outside of the keep, ascended, with two turns, to the entrance. Part of this narrow and dangerous staircase remains. There are also traces of a lean-to building on the east side of the keep, probably an addition.