Roger, the next lord, was a great builder; he followed the fortunes and shared the fate of Thomas of Lancaster. He is thought to have made the additions to the eastern side of Brougham, where his arms and those of his wife, Maud Beauchamp, were long to be seen. His successor was his brother Robert, whose second and surviving son Roger, proved age 28 Edward III., recovered the family estates which had been forfeited, and kept his castles in repair. He died, 15 Richard II., seized of Appleby, Burgham, and Burgh. The four following lords fell in battle: Thomas in Germany, John in France, Thomas at St. Alban’s, and John at Towton. In 4 Henry V., the castle of Brougham lay waste, and the whole profits of the demesne were not sufficient to repair and maintain it. The next, Henry, was the Shepherd Lord, who, in 1519, held a great feast at Brough, at Christmas, which was followed, in 1521, by a severe fire, in which the castle was burned to the bare walls, and long remained waste. The succeeding lord and his son, both Henry, were the first and second Earls of Cumberland, of whom the latter died at Brougham Castle about 1560. George, the third earl, the admiral, who died 1605, was born at Brough in the last year of Queen Mary, 1558. With his brother Francis, the fourth earl, who entertained King James at Brough for three days in 1617, the male line failed, and the estates and baronies came to Countess Anne, the daughter of Earl George. This lady, who repaired Brougham and Brough in 1651–2, was born at Brougham in 1589, in the same room in which her father was born, her mother died, and King James was received. Margaret, her daughter, by the Earl of Dorset, carried the estates to the Tuftons, earls of Thanet, who also inherited the hereditary shrievalty of Westmoreland, until their extinction in the present century. They dismantled Brougham and Brough, and sold the fittings in 1714. The present owner appears to be very attentive to what remains of the two castles. Both are repaired in a very substantial manner.
BROUGHAM CASTLE.
This very curious pile stands on the right bank of the river Eamont, just below the point at which it is joined from the south by the Lowther, so that the combined stream covers the fortress on the north, as do the two waters and the marshy ground between them on the west front. The castle is placed but a few yards distant from and but a few feet above the Eamont, and between it and the large rectangular camp which marks the site of the Roman “Brovacum,” whence both castle and township derive their names; such, at least, seems the most probable etymology, though a claim has been set up for Burgham, which would have been more tenable had there been evidence of the place having been an English as well as a Roman stronghold.
The Roman road from Brough and Appleby towards Carlisle and Penrith skirts the north-eastern front of both camp and castle, and is carried, by a modern bridge, across the river, a few yards below the latter. Above the castle and upon the Eamont was placed the castle mill, the weir connected with which still remains. The actual site of Brovacum has been claimed for Brougham Hall, on the adjacent high ground; but, however this may be, the camp below is undoubtedly Roman, and an excellent example of the entrenchments of that people. A Roman altar was found, in 1602, at the confluence of the two rivers. What earlier name is embodied in the Roman Brovacum is not known, but “Bro” in South Wales is the old Welsh word for “the hill country,” and is preserved in Brocastle and Broviscin, in Glamorgan. The parish of Brougham is large; the church is called Ninekirks, probably a corruption of St. Ninian’s kirk. The parochial chapel, which stands near Brougham Hall, is dedicated to St. Wilfrid.
The camp is contained within a single bank and exterior ditch, both very well marked, though in height and depth very much reduced. Along the scarp or inner slope of the ditch are traces of a step or terrace, as for a line of palisades, in front of and below the main defence. The area within the ditch is 113 yards broad, and its length, now 134 yards, was probably 198 yards, those being the proportions of the camp at Brough. The ditch is about 25 yards broad. The entrance is gone; it was no doubt in the centre of the east side, that towards the road. The angles are, as usual, slightly rounded. The castle stands a few yards north of the camp, the adjacent parts of the latter having been cut away and levelled in forming its outworks. The castle is, in plan, a very irregular four-sided figure; the south and west sides meet at less than a right angle, and are in length 80 yards and 77 yards. The north side, at right angles to the west, and upon the river, is 50 yards. The east side has been partly rebuilt, with a low salient angle. It is in length about 40 yards. This area is the main, or rather the only, court of the castle. The keep originally stood clear within the court, near to its north-east angle; a large gatehouse now occupies that angle, and much of the north front, and is connected with the keep, which, therefore, is no longer isolated. The hall and domestic buildings stand against the south wall, and are continued a short distance along the east wall. A large square tower is placed at the south-west angle, and covers a postern. The west wall is free, and seems to have been low. The castle is about 50 yards from the river, and 30 feet above it. The entrance was from the east, along the bank of the river. A ditch, wholly artificial, and probably filled with rainwater, protected the west, south, and east fronts. Towards the west it is broadest and deepest, that being the exposed front. Towards the river the natural fall and the marshy character of the ground were a sufficient defence. The entrance is, and probably always was, in the east wall, at its north or river end. This part of the enceinte wall is built with a shoulder or re-entering angle, so as to command, for some yards, the approach to the outer gate. The moat is now traversed by a causeway of earth, replacing the earlier drawbridge.
Brougham Castle
The Gatehouse, rectangular in plan, and 90 feet long by 39 feet broad, occupies the space between the keep and the north wall, and extends either way beyond the keep. It is composed of two parts,—one, a block of chambers, lodges, &c., forms, or rather abuts upon, the curtain; the other, connecting these chambers with the keep, contains the vaulted entrance. The entrance is broken transversely into two parts, separated by a small open court. The outer passage, 34 feet long, belongs to the outer gate; the other, 36 feet, to the inner gate. The keep forms one side and the lodges the other. Thus, there are really two gatehouses,—one abutting on the north-east, and one on the north-west, angle of the keep, each with its own defences and gates, the buildings on the north communicating with both. The exterior portal is in the east wall. It has no flanking towers, being protected by the curtain. The north-east angle is capped by a square buttress, placed diagonally. The gateway has a plain, flat segmental arch over it. Upon a stone are the words, “This made Roger,” and above are two tiers, each of two good Decorated windows of two lights, with trefoiled heads and a quatrefoil in the head, and divided by a transom. Between the two upper windows are three bold corbels, intended to support a machicolation resembling those on each face of the keep. It is said that formerly the arms of Vaux, “checquy,” were carved over the entrance; but it seems probable that they were the arms of Clifford, “chequy, a fess,” or it may have been “a bendlet.” The passage within, 11 feet broad, is vaulted. The first defence was a portcullis, of which the square groove, 6 inches broad by 4 inches deep, remains. Within this is the rebate for a pair of gates, and on the right the small door of a lodge. At the inner end of the passage was a second pair of gates, opening towards the first pair, and beyond them the open court, with the keep wall on the left. Above this outer gateway is a large room, 21 feet east and west, by 32 feet long. In its west wall is a fireplace, and a door opening into the middle chambers. In its north wall a good Decorated window looks upon the river; in the east wall are two windows overlooking the outer gate, and between them, over the gate, a recess for working the portcullis.
Ground Plan of Norman Keep. Brougham Castle.
PLAN OF BROUGHAM CASTLE