Probably the children of Maud de Nerford found it to their interest to allow the Crown to possess the castle, for at Earl John’s death it was held by Edward III., who granted the castle to Edmund of Langley, his fifth son, afterwards Duke of York, who died 1402, from whom it descended to his son Edward, also Duke of York. He fell at Agincourt, childless, 1415, and was succeeded by Richard, son to his brother Richard Earl of Cambridge. He became Duke of York, and was called also Richard of Conisborough, from his birth in the castle. Richard, who was great-grandson of Edward III. and father of Edward IV., was slain at Wakefield, 1460. His second wife and widow, Maud Clifford, held the castle in dower, and lived here. She died 1464. The decay of the castle probably dates from her death, for Edward Duke of York, who succeeded, became Edward IV., and nothing has generally proved more fatal to an independent historic estate than its absorption by the Crown.
Conisborough remained in the Crown, and, though probably the buildings were suffered to fall into decay, some of the offices attached to the castle and domain were kept up. As late as 1522, Sir H. Wyatt and John Melton were bailiffs and stewards of “the lordships of Conysborowe,” keepers of the park, &c., and there were constables and door-wards of the castle. Finally, James II. granted it to Carey, Earl of Dover, from whose family it passed to that of its present owner. King, in his “Munimenta,” has given elaborate plans, and a yet more elaborate history of this castle, but neither can be depended upon. There is also an excellent paper upon it in the fifth volume of the Archæological Journal by Mr. Milward, the plans attached to which seem, however, to be taken from King.
Conisborough Castle deserves a better fate than has of late years attended it, or than seems likely to attend it. Its position upon one of the most celebrated of the Yorkshire streams, its grand natural mount, and the striking character of the earthworks by which it is defended, are quite enough to attract public attention; but in addition it has an undoubted though obscure Saxon history, and from the Norman Conquest it was for three centuries or more the residence of a very powerful race of barons, the evidences of whose power and wealth are preserved in the ruins of their fortress. By whom, or precisely when, the present works in masonry were executed, is a question not exactly to be decided. William de Warren, the third and last earl of the old stock, 1138–1148, was a very likely man to have built in masonry this his most important northern castle, and it is probable that he built the enceinte wall of the inner court, and the hall and offices now destroyed. The keep is certainly later, scarcely much earlier than 1200, and is, therefore, probably the work of Hameline Plantagenet, who held the earldom and the castle from about 1163 to 1201. The tower was, no doubt, added for security only, for, though it contains state apartments and an oratory, these were dark and inconvenient, only fit to be inhabited during a siege. The hall and ordinary lodgings were, of course, more spacious and placed in the court, where are still traces of their foundations.
At a still later period, possibly under Earl John, who held the earldom from 1240 to 1304, the Norman curtain seems to have been repaired and strengthened with round bastion turrets, small and solid, along the southern and western faces of the inner ward. Then also the arrangements for crossing the ditch, and defending the lower entrance, were made more elaborate. The work of this period is of inferior quality, and much of it has fallen down. Since this no additions of any importance seem to have been executed.
It is probable that, during the civil war and after the death of King Charles, the curtain wall, domestic buildings, and lower gate-house were broken down, and the keep gutted and unroofed, but since that time, now nearly two centuries and a half, the ruins seem to have been left untouched save by the hand of time. Such is the excellence of the workmanship of the keep that for very many years the walls stood unshaken. During the last quarter of a century, however, the rains of autumn and the frosts of winter have begun to tell upon the structure, and the top of the tower is in a shaky condition. Still, it is not so far gone but that a few pounds judiciously laid out upon it would save it. The upper two or three feet should be removed, stone by stone, and replaced with water-lime or cement. The cost of this would be very trifling indeed; but what should also be done, and what would not by any means involve a very serious expense, is the replacement of the roof and floors. All Yorkshire, and indeed all the Archæological Societies in England, from the Society of Antiquaries down to the most recent local society, must feel an interest in this subject. Probably, if it were brought before the owner of the castle in a proper manner, the necessary repairs would be undertaken; if not, surely it would not be difficult to provide the means by private subscription. In any case something should be done at once, for the top of the keep is in that condition that every winter tells severely upon it.
The plans and illustrations appended to this notice of the castle are from actual survey by Mr. A. S. Ellis, and by him presented to the Yorkshire Archæological Society, by whose permission they are here reprinted. They will be found as far superior in accuracy as in completeness of detail to any plans as yet published, and it may be said of them, and it is no slight praise, that they are worthy of the important fortress they are intended to illustrate.
CONWAY CASTLE.
THE castle and town of Conway form together the most complete and the best preserved example of mediæval military architecture in Britain. The works are all of one date and design, apparently by one engineer, at the command of a monarch specially skilled in the art of war, and whose intention here was to command a very formidable pass, and to put a curb upon the boldest, most persistent, and most dangerous of the foes who strove to resist the consolidation of his kingdom. At Conway are displayed all the arts of defence as understood in the thirteenth century. The position is naturally strong, the walls are of unusual thickness, each part of the containing curtains is flanked by frequent towers, and the castle predominates over the whole position, commanding and protecting the town, and forming a citadel within which, as a last resource, a secure shelter would be afforded.
Conway, the Aber-Conwy of the Welsh, stands on the left or western bank of the river whence it derives its name, and which is commemorated by Drayton and Spenser as rich in “precious orient pearls,” and here is widening into an estuary. The southern front of the town is further protected by the marshy bed of the Gyffin, which here joins the Conwy. Town and castle cover a triangular mass of rock, of which the castle occupies the apex projecting into the water. The curtain wall which encircles the town is strengthened by twenty-eight towers, all but two or three of which are half-cylinders in figure, and open from top to bottom in the rear. They rise one stage above the curtain, which also is unusually high. Between two of them there project upon corbels from the curtain at the battlement level a row of twelve garderobes, showing that sanitary arrangements were by no means neglected even in the thirteenth century. There are three gates, each flanked by a pair of towers, defended by double doors, portcullis, grate, and drawbridge. One of these, Porth Uchaf, opens landward; a second, Porth-isaf, upon a quay along the water’s edge; and a third, Porth-y-felin, opens in a shoulder of the wall upon the river below the castle, and gave a way to the castle mill. There is, besides, a postern, also below the castle, and opening upon the sea-shore. Besides these defences a thick spur wall, defended above by a double battlement, extends from the sea-front into the sea. Formerly this was carried to low-water mark, and ended in a small round tower, and thus effectually prevented any attempt to turn the flank of the defences and attack the town from the sea-front. The town walls run up to, but their rampart walk does not communicate with, the castle, which, however, forms a part of the enceinte, and has one front with its main entrance within and towards the town.