Returning to the west gate, the curtain on its right extends past the west Garret Tower to the Clock Tower, all rebuilt 1750–86. The latter is circular, with a flat gorge and keel-shaped salient, and caps the south-west angle. Outside the last-named curtain, and reached through it by a gateway, are the stable courts, riding-school, and guest-hall, 135 feet by 35 feet, by 25 feet to the spring of the open timber roof, a very noble structure. These buildings are of modern date, 1856.
From the Clock Tower the south curtain supports on its outside the estate offices. Part of this curtain is 1750–86, part 1309–15. This latter part includes the Auditor’s Tower, 1770, of which the square rear projects into the court and the half-round front outside. Beyond this is a bit of Norman curtain, 1150, against which on the outside is built the modern kitchen, and above which a modern corridor communicates between the duke’s room and the record-room in the Auditor’s Tower. The treatment of this part of the structure by Mr. Salvin deserves especial notice from the happy combination of the features of the Edwardian age with the appliances of the present day. The kitchen, with much to remind the visitor of Durham and Avignon, is as a whole superior to either, and is besides a model of culinary arrangement. These offices, originally within the keep at the east end of the hall, were placed here by the first duke, but were recast and rebuilt by Duke Algernon.
Formerly there stood in the west ward the exchequer and the stables. The exchequer was a large rectangular building, applied to the north limb of the west gatehouse, and, like it, embattled. The two ranges of stabling stood a little within and parallel to the curtains next the Clock Tower. These buildings, shown in the survey of 1650, were removed probably about 1755.
Traversing the middle gate, in front is the eastern or inner ward, and on the left the inner or gatehouse of the keep. On the right, outside the curtain, is the steward’s room, and beyond it the Warder’s Tower, mentioned in 1567, but altogether remodelled and rebuilt in 1860 upon a work of 1770. It now contains the Lion gateway, leading to the gardens. Below the gatehouse is an ale-cellar, and above one side of it, attached to the offices, the confectionary.
Beyond, the line of the curtain is irregular. About the salient it is Norman, 1150, and a very good example of the rough walling of the age. Upon it is the East Garret, 1309–15, and it ends in the Ravine Tower, the most eastern work of the castle, and capping an acute angle of the enceinte. This is a good-sized round tower, with a well-stair at its junction with the curtain. It has been much repaired since its foundation in 1309–15. It is defended by the ravine, whence it derives its name.
From hence the curtain trends to the north-west, being in great part Norman, but repaired at what is called the “Bloody Gap.” Beyond this is a garret bartizan, called Hotspur’s Chair. It was the gorge of a half-round tower, now removed, but shown in the plan of 1650. Beyond this the curtain is again mixed Norman and Decorated of 1312–15, to the Constable’s Tower. This is a strong half-round tower, capping a flattish salient to the north-east; it has an exterior entrance by stairs to each of its three floors. From this a short curtain, 1150, leads to the Postern Tower, 1312–15, rectangular, pierced below by the vaulted and portcullised passage of the postern, and vaulted also on the first floor. This tower is a fine example of a Northumbrian military building of the Decorated period. The arches are round-headed or segmental, and it has in its rear wall a remarkable two-light window with a transom, and in the head a foliated circle. There is also a very perfect garderobe with external shoot. From this tower a curtain, now removed, ran upwards to the bow of the hall tower of the keep, and thus completed the defences of this ward. The original postern passage is filled up, or nearly so, with earth, but by the side of the tower a way leads to a terrace walk between the keep and the river, and extending to Falconer’s Tower.
The eastern ward contained the castle chapel and the conduit, supplied with water by lead pipes from an exterior spring called Howling Well. The chapel, a considerable building, stood detached near the Bloody Gap, and was removed in 1755. The ecclesiastical establishment seems to have been on a respectable scale, and included a chantry for the performance of the obits of the family. In this quarter also stood the brew, bake, and slaughter-houses for the use of the garrison.
Alnwick Castle is probably the finest extant example of a Norman castle of this type, having an open keep and a complete enceinte; for although most of the present buildings are either of the fourteenth or the nineteenth century, the plan is certainly Norman, and certain detached portions of the construction. It seems also that the keep was never a mere shell, like Cardiff or Arundel, but was always set about with towers and provided with a handsome gatehouse. A notable feature is the use of the round-headed and the segmental arch in the Decorated period. This is not uncommon in the North of England. The very free use of stone warriors upon the parapets, carried to an absurd extent in the repairs of the last century, is also remarkable. They are seen at Bothal, and in Edwardian works both at Caernarvon and Chepstow, but by no means so freely distributed as here. They were obviously intended for ornament only, but, of all figures, that of the eagle at Caernarvon is the only one at all appropriate. No archer would or could have stood on the crest of the parapet. Most of the later figures were very properly removed by Mr. Salvin.
There is found upon the battlements of both walls and towers, in various parts of the castle, a convenient arrangement for hanging a movable wooden shutter in the embrasures, so as to defend the warders from a Scottish shaft, and from the scarcely less keen edge of the bleak winds of the Border. The shutter was suspended horizontally, like a port-lid, but from trunnions, of which one rested in a round hole in one merlon, and the other in a similar hole terminating in a groove in the other, so that the shutter hung freely, and could be lifted in and out if necessary. The arrangement is precisely that applied to the roller of a round towel. Traces of this arrangement remain in various parts of the castle. A perfect example is seen on the barbican. It may also be seen on the east wall of Goderich, at Chepstow, and elsewhere.
The officers forming the staff of this castle as a civil residence, in 1567, were the constable or governor; the porter of the outer gate; the greive, or executive officer or bailiff; the receiver or auditor; the feodary, who looked up the services and tenures; the steward, learned in the law, who administered justice; the clerk of the courts, who engrossed the rolls and kept the records; and the foreign or outer bailiff, who collected the castle-guard and cornage money, and summoned the tenants and suitors. The whole of the annual payment to these officers was £58. 18s.