This keep is also peculiar in its details. It was a rectangular tower, 50 feet north and south by 46 feet east and west. Its walls were fully 11 feet thick. There are no traces of pilasters, and the angles are chamfered off, the face of the chamfer being about 6 feet. At present only the east and west sides are standing, to a height of nearly 30 feet, and it is difficult to make out from them what were the arrangements of the building. In the west wall is one opening; on the east are two, flat-sided, 8 feet wide, about 18 feet high, and descending to the ground-level. They are closed above by very flat segmental arches—in fact, plat-bands—relieved by obtusely-pointed, if not round-headed, arches of construction in the work immediately above such details, so far as they can be seen or inferred. The low and large openings, the chamfered angles, and the absence of pilasters are utterly unlike what is usual in a Norman keep; though, from the great mass and general figure of the building, it can scarcely be other than Norman. Mitford, in Northumberland, though differing in detail from the present tower, differs quite as much from the ordinary type, and that certainly is of Norman date. The work of this keep is a sort of coarse ashlar, rough, but of good quality. Perhaps more details might be discovered but for a thick drapery of ivy, which, in this stage of its decay, serves to protect the building.
The hall, called the Constable’s House, is a rectangular building, 80 feet north and south by 35 feet east and west, placed on the margin of the leat, and rising out of it, so that its broadside forms a part of the outer line of defence towards the east. At present it is detached and stands alone, but it probably ranged with the curtain wall, of which, however, there are now no traces. There seems to have been a building connected with its south-west angle.
The building was composed of a basement and a first floor. At each end was a high-pitched gable, of which the southern only remains. The walls are 5 feet thick, and the interior dimensions therefore 70 feet by 25 feet. The basement is at the ground level and about 1 foot above the top water of the leat, the height of which is regulated by hatches. The entrance from the castle was in the west side, 16 feet from the north end. The doorway, of 5 feet opening, seems to have had a segmental head, but the ashlar has been roughly removed. In the two ends were loops: that to the south has long been closed. In the east side, towards its north end, are two loops. All these loops are mere rectangular slits, evidently intended for air, not defence. Each is placed in a splayed recess, 4 feet 6 inches wide, with a segmental head. Also in the east wall, 4 feet from the south end, is a similar recess, opening into a small door, which led into the garderobe turret. Next, north of this, 12 feet from the south end, is a door opening on the water, 7 feet wide, with a very flat arch, evidently original. The jambs are of ashlar, and they have capitals of a peculiar character. This was evidently the watergate for the admission of stores from the river, here a few yards beyond the leat and a few feet below it. The garderobe turret is a projection, 12 feet square, from the east wall at its south end, standing in the leat, and pierced below by a round-headed arch, or culvert, 4 feet broad, through which the water flows freely, and into which the garderobes discharged. This basement was evidently a store. It is said to have been crossed by a wall. Of this there is now no trace.
The first floor contained the hall, which occupied its whole area. The main entrance was at the south end, near the south-west corner, by a segmental-headed door; in the north wall is a window of two coupled lights, each under a segmental head, with exterior drips, and the whole placed within an exterior round-headed recess, the sides of which contain flanking shafts, nooked. Above, not quite over the centre, is a corbel carved as a human head. The arch-head and tympanum are highly enriched with varieties of the chevron moulding, and upon the chamfers of the lesser drips are rosettes carved with great delicacy. Though heavily draped in ivy, enough is seen of this window to show that it is late Norman, and of great beauty. There are windows similar in type, but less rich in ornament, in the side walls, two in each, and probably there were three, indicated by notches in the ivy. In the east wall, 20 feet from the north end, are the remains of a large fireplace, of which the convex back and the upper part of the circular tunnel remain, and above is a tall cylindrical chimney-shaft, probably original. A door from the south end of this wall led into the garderobe turret, which had a loop to the east. There is also a round-headed window in the south gable, which opened into the roof. There was no vaulting; the floor and roof were of timber, the latter open.
The view in Grose, taken in 1783, shows the garderobe turret to the full height of the side wall, and the great chimney-shaft unincumbered with ivy. It also shows the north-east angle unbroken, within which was then contained a well-stair. This angle has now fallen away or been removed, and its broken parts are so encumbered with ivy and rubbish that nothing has been ascertained as to what may remain; but no doubt the staircase ascended from the basement to the main floor and thence to the roof or to the ramparts of the curtain. In Grose’s time, the north wall was encumbered by a cottage and some chimneys and other additions in brick; these have now been removed. The garderobe turret was wilfully pulled down when the castle changed hands towards the end of the last century. There is a letter in the Gentleman’s Magazine complaining of this, and which possibly put a stop to further injuries.
It is remarkable that a building closely resembling this is found at Desmond’s Castle, at Adare, near Limerick. That castle is late Norman, with a rectangular keep, though not on a mound, as the ground is naturally high; and just below the keep, upon the bank of the river, is placed the hall-house. It has a basement on the ground level, evidently a store, with a separate entrance, and above is the hall, with a boarded floor and open roof. The garderobe turret is built out into the stream, has a culvert below, and is nearly perfect. The keep, hall-house, and gate-house are there preserved, and if, as is probable, the entrance at Christchurch was near the river at the foot of the bridge, the relative position of the buildings would be the same. An excellent plan of Desmond’s Castle will be found, with much else of a valuable character, in Lord Dunraven’s “Memorials of Adare.”
Christchurch Castle has not been the scene of any remarkable event, nor does its name occur with any prominence in the history of the country, or even of the county. The manor was first alienated from the Crown by Henry I. in favour of Richard de Redvers, whom he created Earl of Devon. In the “Monasticon” (vi., 304) is printed a grant or confirmation by this earl to the canons of Christchurch of the “Terram usque in aquam de havene, quæ est inter cimeterium et fossatum castelli, messuagium supra ipsius castelli fossatum, quod habent ex dono Gamelini.” This is the first mention of the castle, and would make it earlier than 1137, in which year Earl Richard died. As the masonry of the castle looks twenty or thirty years later, the allusion may be to the earthworks, or older castle; and the present building may be the work of Baldwin, the second earl, who granted a charter to the same effect with that of his father, confirming lands between the churchyard and the ditch of the castle (ibid., vi., 303). Earl Baldwin died 1155. In the rolls of Parliament, mention is made of John Randolph, a former justice, as having been warder of the castle in the time of Henry I. Baldwin’s son and successor was Earl Richard, who confirmed his gifts, and died 8 Henry II., 1161, leaving Baldwin, the fourth earl, who died childless, and was succeeded by his brother Richard, fifth earl, who also died childless. The heir was William, called De Vernon, sixth earl, brother of Richard, the third earl, and uncle to the two last earls. He flourished during the reigns of Richard I. and John. Probably during these transitions the Crown stepped in as custos, for in a plea before the Curia Regis, in 1194, a certain Roger Waspail affirms that seizin of certain lands was given to him by Earl John “in werra sua dum fuit in Castello de Cristescherche.” A little later, when Earl William was in possession, the king (2 John) confirmed a settlement made by William de Vernon, Earl of Devon, by which Plympton Castle, the caput of that honour, was to pass to his elder daughter, and Christchurch and the Isle of Wight to Joan, the younger. John was at Christchurch, either the priory or the castle, December 13, 1201. Probably this deed was drawn up before the birth of Baldwin, the earl’s son, or when it was supposed that Baldwin would die childless. As it was, it did not take effect, for though Baldwin died before his father, he left a son, Baldwin, seventh earl, who was also Earl of the Isle of Wight.
In 1210, 11 John, the king was again at Christchurch, on his way from Clarendon to Canford. Baldwin died 1245, leaving a son, another Baldwin, eighth and last earl of the House of Redvers. He died 47 Henry III., 1262–3, and is described as Baldwin de Lisle, Earl of Devon, and he died seized of the manor of Christchurch. It appears from the “Testa de Nevile” that he held that manor “de veteri feoffamento,” by what service is not recorded.
The earl’s heir was his sister Isabel, who married William de Fortibus, Earl of Albermarle, who died in 1260. Isabel succeeded to the whole estate, with the reversion of Christchurch, which was held in dower by Countess Margaret. Countess Isabel died before 1269, leaving one child, Aveline, who married Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III. She died childless, having inherited Christchurch on the death of the Countess Margaret in 20 Edward I., in which year she also died, having granted or bequeathed Christchurch and some other parts of the earldom to the king, by whom, in 1299, 27 Edward I., the “Castrum de Cristeschurche de Twynham cum burgo et Manerio de Westovre et Hundredo de Cristeschurche” were assigned as part of the dower of Queen Margaret. These possessions, as part of the earldom of Devon, were claimed, in 1315, 8 & 9 Edward II., by Hugh de Courtenay, as heir-general of Countess Isabel, but without success. The castle descended to Edward III., who placed Thomas West in it as custos.
In his third year, the king granted to Sir William de Montacute, afterwards Earl of Salisbury, the castle and borough of Christchurch-Twynam, the Manor of Westovre, and the Hundred of Christchurch. The earl died so seized, and his will is dated at Christchurch-Twynam, 20th April, 1397. With the exception of a short forfeiture by Earl John to Henry IV., the castle remained in the Montacutes until Earl Thomas, who died in 7 Henry V., and left it to his daughter and heiress, Alice, who married Richard Nevile. Probably it was regarded as a male fief, for in 32 Henry VI. was a grant of a lease for twelve years of the manor, borough, and hundred, to Richard, Earl of Salisbury, in right of the Lady Alice, his wife, at the rent of a red rose. The leasehold appears to have been extended, and eventually converted into a freehold, as the Christchurch estates were held by the son of Richard and Alice, the king-maker Warwick, and descended to his elder daughter and co-heir, Isabel, who married George, Duke of Clarence. Their son, Edward, Earl of Warwick, held Christchurch till his forfeiture and death, after which (5 Henry VIII.) his estates and the title of Salisbury were allowed to his sister Margaret, executed 1541, and who at her death or forfeiture held the manor, castle, borough, and hundred of Christchurch, which then escheated to the Crown. It is by descent from Countess Margaret, through her granddaughter Catherine Pole, that the inheritors of the Hastings baronies are now claiming the chantry erected for their Plantagenet ancestress in the priory church. They, no doubt, are the heirs-general; the heir male is the Earl of Huntingdon.