Mediæval Military Architecture in England, Volume 1 (of 2)

by George Thomas Clark

The Norman keep stood upon or just within the line of the enceinte, at its south end, close to the east of the entrance, and opposite to the church. It was a square of 40 feet, standing north and south, and about 240 feet south of the mound. Its walls at the base were 9 feet 6 inches thick, and at the summit but little, if anything less, and its exterior face was vertical. The basement chamber at the ground level was 21 feet square and 14 feet high, and above it were three stages, all with timber floors. The height to the rampart wall is, by guess, about 70 feet, or a diameter and three-quarters. The first floor, 23 feet high, either rested upon joists which were supported by the north and south walls, now gone, or, which is more probable, upon a ledge in the wall, which is reduced in thickness at that level about 6 inches, as seen on the west side. Only the west wall remains, and the lower 6 feet or 8 feet of the east wall. The north and south walls are entirely removed. The west wall is solid at the base, but the east wall is recessed in a curious way inside, and seems besides to have contained two cavities like cesspits. The whole mass has, however, been so pulled about, that little can be made of it.

At the first floor, also, the west wall is solid, save that in its south end is a short mural passage, vaulted, which seems to have ended in a garderobe, the vent of which is marked by a sort of vertical furrow in the wall. This passage was probably entered by a door in the south wall, near the south-west angle. The east floor, 19 feet high, rested upon six joists in the east and west walls. In its west wall is a full-centred recess, 3 feet deep, 2 feet above the floor, 5 feet wide, with jambs 7 feet high. In the recess is a window 3 feet wide, with jambs 5 feet high, also full-centred. Both recess and window are quite plain, and are not splayed.

The third floor, 14 feet high, also rested on six joists, east and west. This has no window to the west, but in the wall are two recesses for the vertical beams of a roof, and at the base of each a corbel. This looks as though the roof was inclined, as at Bridgenorth and elsewhere, at a low pitch, the north and south walls being its gables.

There are some indications, in a foundation, as of a forebuilding attached to the north face, where probably was the entrance. The material of the keep is chalk flint, laid in copious beds of mortar. The flints are undressed, and the workmanship is coursed rubble, very plain and good, but rather rough, with a tendency to herring-bone work. The window is dressed with ashlar, as are the hollow quoins of the interior, but there is no ornament, not even the usual Norman pilaster or plinth. The ashlar is probably the malm rock of the neighbourhood, a bed below the chalk, much like that used at Dorchester, and for some of the adjacent Oxfordshire churches. Altogether, this keep seems to be early Norman work, perhaps as early as Malling, and was probably built by the first De Braose before 1095, when his son was in possession.

When the keep was blown up, as it evidently was, with powder, the south and east walls fell in four or five huge masses into the adjacent ditch, where they remain but little altered, though obscured with vegetation. If these were cleared, something more of the detail of the keep might be discovered. The north wall seems to have been broken up and removed.

About 40 feet west of the keep are the remains of the entrance. So far as can now be seen there was no considerable gatehouse, probably only an arch in the curtain, as at Richmond. The fragment of a wall shows the approach to have been steep, and about 40 feet from the gate was a bridge, the pier and counter-pier of which, 13 feet apart, are still standing in the ditch, here not above 90 feet wide and 30 feet deep. The approach to the counter-pier rises steeply from the foot of the hill and passes the church.

The only building of which there are positive traces, beside the keep, within the area, was a rectangular pile, built upon the curtain, 60 feet long, and projecting 24 feet into the area. This is placed opposite to and east of the mound, and the passage between the two was only 15 feet broad. A part of the base of this building remains, and shows a plinth and fragment of wall faced with squared flint. The work looks many centuries later than the keep, and most certainly is not Norman. There is no trace of a well.

The parish church shares the protection of St. Nicholas, in common with Old Shoreham. It is in substance Norman, probably rather later than the castle, and was originally a cross church with a central tower. The nave and central square remain, but the choir and transepts have been removed, and the arches blocked up. The south door of the nave has a plain billet moulding, but the original opening has been walled up, and a smaller segmental doorway inserted. The cruciform plan seems to have been much in use here. It is seen at Old Shoreham, Steyning, and Broadwater.

Bramber has little or no history. The lords were among the wildest, most turbulent, and most unfortunate of the Norman barons. Their founder, William de Braose, received from the Conqueror forty-one lordships in Sussex, chiefly in this rape, and others in Dorset, Hants, Berks, Wilts, and Surrey. He founded St. Peter’s Priory, at Sele.

Philip, his son, adhered to Rufus, but was opposed to Henry I., and was disinherited. He married Berta, daughter of Milo, Earl of Hereford, with whom he had Brecknock, Gower, and other south Welsh lordships, and thus laid the foundation of much of the power and most of the misfortunes of his race. He probably founded the strong castles of Oystermouth and of Swansea.