CHAPTER VII.
THE CASTLES OF ENGLAND AND WALES AT THE LATTER PART OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY (continued).
THE castles of the shires of Nottingham and Derby, of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire, complete the tale of the fortresses south of the Tees and Lune. Nottingham, one of the castles ordered and possibly built by the Conqueror, on a rock high above the Trent, contained one of the grandest of the rectangular keeps. It was removed in the seventeenth century, and replaced by a building of about the same dimensions, but of very different character. At the foot of the rock were the two mounds thrown up in the tenth century to command the passage of the Trent, but these also have been removed. Another castle upon the Trent was that of Newark, the work of Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, in the twelfth century. The very considerable remains include the front towards the river, an imposing mass of masonry, the effect of which is heightened by the great gatehouse upon its flank, a Norman work of very unusual size and splendour. The ground plan of this castle is nearly square, and may represent a Roman encampment. There was a castle at Worksop.
The oldest and most remarkable of the Derbyshire castles is that of Castleton or Peveril in the Peak, with its small but strong rectangular keep, built on the edge of the precipice, at the base of which is the celebrated cavern, one of the marvels of the Peak. Bolsover, now nearly all rebuilt, was also a Peveril castle. Of Sheffield, the castle of the Furnivals and Talbots, placed upon the junction of the Sheaf and the Don, nothing now remains. There seem to have been early castles, or perhaps fortified houses, at Codnor, a Zouch seat, Melbourne, and Gresley. Also Bogis and Hareston were Derbyshire castles in the reign of Henry II.
The wide expanse of Yorkshire contained much worthy of defence, and was inhabited by a race of men not indisposed to provide it. The mounds of York, both of the first class in bulk and elevation, were posted on either bank of the Ouse, here a deep and broad stream. Of these mounds, one stands on the junction of the Foss with the Ouse, above a tract of marshy ground, between it and the wall of the Roman Eboracum. Here the Conqueror placed his first castle, and in the keep and within the spacious area below he posted William Malet and his 500 knights and their followers. Amidst much of modern work the old walls may still be traced, and a very fine shell, though of Early English date, still stands on the summit of the mound. The other mound, the Bayle Hill, south of the river, and connected with the earthworks of the later city, was also fortified by William, but in haste and with timber only, which does not appear ever to have been replaced with masonry. The city is strongly fortified with walls and a ditch, and the celebrated gateways or bars contain each a nucleus or core of Norman masonry. Next to York in importance is Scarborough, the stronghold of William le Gros, Earl of Aumarle, and the citadel of Holderness. The castle may be said to contain the whole table top of a rocky promontory, defended on three sides by a precipitous cliff, at the foot of which is the German Ocean, while towards the land is a deep natural depression. The approach was over a narrow causeway, raised upon arches, broken in the centre by a drawbridge and bridge tower, covered at the outer end by a strong barbican, and terminating below a lofty rectangular keep, much of which still remains, and by the side of which was the final entrance, and probably another drawbridge. In the words of Robert de Brunne—
“Was there none entree
That to the castle gan ligge
But a straight causee
At the end a drawbrigge.”