Crossing the octagon in the same straight line, there is reached a second gap, of 6 feet, and beyond this is a rectangular island about 21 feet north and south, by 20 feet broad, also revetted all round, and on which revetment stood the walls of the barbican. This was, therefore, a rectangular building, traversed by the entrance passage, and having a doorway at either end, the outer guarded by a portcullis, and the inner by doors. The passage was vaulted and apparently groined. It seems to have been of one stage only, the platform resting on the vault and battlements. In the north-west corner was a well-stair, opening from the passage, and ascending to the roof. Grose’s drawing shows this as though it was a side or foot entrance, which does not appear to have been the case. The work is excellent ashlar, but only the west side remains.
The barbican is about 54 feet from the great gate, and at present is connected with it by a causeway. As this causeway is here and there seen to be revetted, it may be original, in which case it was possibly broken at either end, and the connection carried on by bridges falling from the barbican and from the great gate. This, however, is conjecture only.
Some doubt has arisen as to how the octagon was originally approached from the main land. This doubt is caused by the presence of a demi-pier of masonry projecting from the west bank a few yards from its north end, and therefore opposite to the octagon. It is therefore supposed that the causeway from the north bank is an addition, and that another causeway, or some kind of communication, was laid from the west bank to the octagon, a much greater distance, nearly thrice as far. No doubt a similar half-pier on the south bank indicates a communication thence with the lesser gateway, but here there seems no reason whatever for the suggested lengthening and bend in the approach. On the whole, for whatever purpose the western pier may have been intended, the evidence is in favour of the approach having always been along the present line. Neither the north nor the west bank is commanded seriously by higher ground. That to the north rises, no doubt, but scarcely so as to give any great advantage to archers posted to annoy those entering the castle, and certainly no greater advantage than could be gained from the rising ground to the west. Possibly the pier was intended for the mooring and protection of the boats employed on that side of the moat. A road, still traceable, led up to this demi-pier.
This double outwork in the moat is peculiar, it is supposed, to Bodiham. At Ledes, indeed, there are two barbicans, but they are not exactly in the moat, but upon the bank, and are deeply intrenched, so as to carry the water round them. At Caerphilly, there is a single large isolated pier in the centre of the moat, now dry, which pier was connected by drawbridges with the great gate and the counterscarp, and may be likened to the octagon in the present instance.
BORTHWICK TOWER, IN MIDLOTHIAN.
BORTHWICK has been selected and is included in these examples as a noble specimen of military architecture, and the finest extant specimen of the Peel tower so celebrated upon the Scottish border; meaning by a “Peel” a stronghold of which the tower is the only considerable work, and which stands within a walled base-court or barmkin of moderate area. Here, indeed, the dimensions of the tower are those of a Norman keep, and the court, though small, is guarded by bastion towers of large diameter, but still the tower is itself the fortress, and was obviously the residence of the lord and his family, not only during a siege, but at all times. Such fortresses as Lochleven and Urquhart on Loch Ness, though far inferior to Borthwick in strength of masonry and grandeur, are nevertheless castles, whereas Borthwick is a Peel.
SECTION A B, LOOKING WESTWARD.
Though a ruin, and deserted probably for a couple of centuries, Borthwick is still in tolerable order, having been preserved by the unusual thickness of its walls and the excellence of their masonry, and the fact that both its basement and uppermost story are vaulted, and the upper vaults protected by stone roofing of a very substantial character. The intermediate timber floors are all gone, and the vast cavities are inhabited by a numerous colony of jackdaws, whose heaps of guano might be removed with advantage. No care has been or is bestowed upon the place, which until recently needed but little; now, however, the rank vegetation on the roof is displacing the tile stones, and the water penetrates the vaults. The grand fireplaces have fallen, and some of the lesser ones are about to fall. At present a few score pounds judiciously laid out would arrest the decay which, unchecked, will certainly in a very few years bring down the upper vaults, and involve the whole structure in irreparable ruin.