PLAN OF CHÂTEAU-GAILLARD.
- A. Inner Ward and Keep.
- a. Postern.
- B. Middle Ward.
- b. Cellars.
- b′. Chapel.
- C. Outer Ward or Ravelin.
No regular gateway remains in this ward. There is an opening in the south curtain which led to the great outwork, but which could scarcely have been the regular entrance. Neither could this have been on the west or north fronts. Probably, therefore, it was to the north-east, where the wall is now wanting. It is said not to have been opposite the inner gateway. At best the approach must have been little suited to wheel carriages. There was a well in the east quarter of this ward.
Mention has to be made of some curious chambers cut in the chalk of the escarpment of the ditch, from which at this time they are entered. There are three or four of these, about 80 feet in length and 7 feet high. They are carved with a sort of rough regularity, with pilasters left against the wall, and bands representing segmental arches. One large octagonal pier has a cap and base, and the latter has the water-bearing hollow of the Early English style, and is evidently original. It is probable, from what is said of these places in the account of the surprise of this ward, that they had a door towards the ditch, but they seem to have been also entered by a round hole, 4 feet across, in the roof, as was the case with the dungeons at Coucy.
The outer ward has its proper ditch, cut with vertical sides across the ridge in front of the south wall, between it and the rear of the outwork. This ditch is about 30 feet wide and 20 feet deep, but runs out to nothing when it reaches the steep ground.
The outwork, ravelin, or outer ward, is an antemural work, intended to cover the only side upon which the castle was open to an attack from level, or rather rising, ground, and to occupy what would otherwise have been a very dangerous platform.
It is in figure an isosceles triangle, having a base of 125 feet, and sides of 175 feet. Each of the three angles is capped by a round tower of 35 feet diameter, having walls 11 feet thick, and which seem to have been at least 40 feet high. Besides these, in the side walls, 60 feet in rear of the front tower, are two subordinate towers, also round, of 25 feet diameter; and again, a few feet from these, the curtain is slightly bent, so as to present an obtuse salient to the field. The work, therefore, though in general plan a triangle, has really five angles and as many towers. The front tower has a well-stair at its junction with its western curtain. The curtain is much broken down, but must have been at least 30 feet high, and, near the front, about 12 feet thick, and elsewhere 8 feet.