The forebuilding covers the whole of the east and about 45 feet of the adjacent south face of the keep. Its breadth ranges from 15 feet to 23 feet. It was strengthened by three towers, one over the north end or top of the staircase, one over the south-east angle or bottom, and one on the east front over the middle of the staircase. The middle tower, in which was the middle doorway, is unusual. These rose to about four-fifths of the height of the main building, and their battlements were reached, as has been shown, by doors from the upper gallery. The object of this forebuilding was to contain and protect the great staircase, and in it are three vestibules, a lower and upper chapel, and an ante-chapel, several mural chambers, and a well. The entrance at this time begins from the ground on the south front by an open staircase of ten steps, probably modern, as the original ascent seems to have been against and parallel to the keep wall. At the top of these steps is a landing, upon which opens the present entrance into the basement floor. The staircase then turns to the right and rises eleven steps, still open, having on the left the keep and on the right the flanking projection of the forebuilding, in which is the lodge, and above it the robing-room. In front is a lofty doorway, 7 feet wide, with a segmental arch, quite plain, and above it a loop which opens from the chapel passage. This was the lower entrance, and was closed by a barred door. Entering the doorway, eleven steps under cover lead to the lower vestibule, which is thirty-two steps, or 20 feet, above the ground. This vestibule is a handsome chamber, 15 feet by 12 feet, with an arcade of two arches in its south wall, each pierced for a loop. In the west wall, near the entrance, is the door of the lodge, a plain barrel-vaulted chamber, 13 feet by 6 feet, having a loop to the west. In the east wall of the vestibule is an arch of 7 feet opening, springing from coupled columns and flanked by two others. The head is moulded with the chevron pattern. This arch opens into the lower chapel, 14 feet by 13 feet, which occupies the south-eastern angle of the building, and is so placed that the altar could be seen if desired by each person who entered the keep. In its north and south walls are arcades of two arches, divided by a pier carrying two nook shafts and a third shaft in the centre. In the south-east arch is a loop, and opposite to it a cupboard. In the east end is also a loop, placed in a recess flanked by two shafts. The floor of this chapel is one step above the vestibule. The ceiling of both was flat, and of timber. Beneath chapel and vestibule is the vault already described. The walls of this part of the forebuilding are from 2 feet 6 inches to 5 feet thick.
From the vestibule a doorway, the second, opens in the north wall. This has a segmental head, and is original, but it has been reduced in breadth, probably when the basement door was opened, by the insertion of new jambs. It opens into a vaulted passage, 6 feet wide and 5 feet long, being the thickness of the north wall of the lower tower. It is occupied by three steps and a landing, from which four steps ascend into the middle vestibule. This is a chamber 25 feet long by 15 feet broad, having a modern roof and two modern windows in its east wall, which has been in part rebuilt. On the left, on entering, is a Tudor doorway, and above it a square-headed window of two lights, of the same date. This opens into a mural chamber already described, and thence into the first floor of the keep. A large arch of relief is seen above in the wall, and it is probable that there was always a door here.
Beyond this door the staircase rises by twelve steps to a broad landing at the end of the vestibule. Besides the Tudor doorway and window, on the same side, higher up, are loops from two mural chambers of the second floor of the keep, and in the south wall over the stairs a small door, not now used, which opens into the ante-chapel. In the north wall of this vestibule, a doorway of 5 feet opening, the third in order upon the stairs, opens into a passage 6 feet wide, which pierces the wall of the middle tower, here 6 feet thick, the whole tower being 14 feet. From this doorway a flight of twenty steps, 8 feet wide, ascends into the upper vestibule, to a large landing 19 feet by 14 feet. The vestibule itself is 25 feet by 14 feet, and lies between the middle and upper tower of the forebuilding. In the east wall, which has been rebuilt with the roof, are two modern windows. In the south wall a narrow passage, 10 feet long by 3 feet broad, leads to the outer well, the ashlar pipe of which is 4 feet diameter. It seems to have been used in modern times as a cesspit, and is choked up. The well is placed in the centre of the tower, which seems to have been a mass of masonry. At present the wall round the well has been broken away so as to form a rude chamber. It cannot now be ascertained whether the well stopped at this level, as is probable, or was carried up to the roof of the tower. In the north end of the vestibule, looking down upon the staircase, a door leads into a vaulted guard-chamber, 16 feet by 10 feet, with loops to the north and east, and a deep recess in the west wall. In the west wall of the vestibule is the great door of the keep and a loop from the well-chamber. There are traces on this wall of ashlar, as though it was originally intended to vault and groin this vestibule.
In the forebuilding, on the level of the second floor of the keep, remain to be mentioned the robing-room, ante-chapel, and chapel. They are placed in the lower tower of the forebuilding over the lodge, vestibule, and lower chapel, and were entered only from the keep, through the mural chamber already described. From this chamber a passage, only 2 feet 5 inches broad, lies in the wall over the outer doorway, and from it a loop opens over the staircase, outwards. This passage, 17 feet long, ends in two small doors, right and left, one entering the robing-room, the other the ante-chapel. Originally this was the only way into the chapel, and a very stout person could scarcely have reached it. The Plantagenet princes, though mostly big in the bones, were rarely corpulent. The robing-room is over the lodge. It is 10 feet by 7 feet, vaulted, groined, and ribbed; the ribs are of plain roll section, and there is no boss. They spring from nook shafts at the four angles. There are loops, or rather small windows, of a foot opening to the west and south, flanked by small columns. The ante-chapel, 16 feet by 13 feet, has an arcade of two arches in the north and south walls, and a loop in the north-east space, converted into a small door, so as to give a separate entrance. In the east wall an arch of 8 feet span opens into the chapel. It springs from coupled columns, flanked on each face by two others, and the arch has a chevron moulding. The floor was of timber, and rested on five beams. The roof is vaulted, groined, and ribbed, and the moulding a roll with a band of dog-tooth. The chapel is 14 feet by 13 feet. It is peculiar in its position, being placed over the base of the entrance stair, instead of, as at Middleham, at its head. It also has an arcade of two arches in the north and south walls, with nook shafts in pairs at the angles behind which, from a corbel capital, spring the ribs of the vaulted roof. These are of a roll section with a band of the dog-tooth ornament, and a central flowered boss. There is a small east window, and also south of it a piscina with a trefoiled head and projecting basin, now broken off. This seems a Decorated addition. There are two loops in the south wall, and one in the north near the east end, and in the other north bay a cupboard. The floor was of timber, resting upon four joists.
The material of this keep is chiefly the rag stone of the country worked as rubble, not very regularly coursed. Ashlar, mostly of Caen stone, is used freely for the door and window dressings and the quoins. The joints are close. The pilasters are of unusual breadth and projection. The chapels and the lower vestibule are highly ornate, with much of the chevron and roll mouldings, and occasionally of the dog-tooth. The arches are sometimes segmental, but more commonly full centred. There is no portcullis in the building; the entrances were closed with doors only, secured with wooden bars. None of the loops that open on the staircase could be used in its defence. Excepting about the main door there is no ornamentation in the keep itself. Doors, windows, and fireplaces seem to have been quite plain. This is the only known keep in which there is a second well, and it is difficult to understand why there should be two so near together, the expense of making which must have been so great. The upper gallery is of very rude masonry indeed; the lines of the passages do not coincide with the general direction of the walls, and the execution is very inferior. It is unfortunate, with ample buildings all round, that the authorities should pervert this very curious keep to vulgar and dangerous uses. The stores should be kept elsewhere, and the brick vaulting and additions be removed. The external breaches and doors in the walls should be closed, the second well cleared out, and the whole building as far as possible restored to its original condition. It might then be fitted up as a museum of arms, and every part, including the ward, made accessible. The reputed date of this keep is 1153, when the foundations are said to have been laid by Henry, grandson of Henry I., shortly before he succeeded to the throne. This coincides sufficiently well with the evidence of the building itself, which is late in the Norman style.
The general view here added is taken from the north, and shows the constable’s gate and bridge, and in the foreground the towers and curtains of the outer ward on this side. Immediately behind them are seen the square towers and the curtain of the inner, or Norman ward, and within all rises the keep, applied to the east side of which are seen the three towers of the forebuilding.
DUNSTER CASTLE, SOMERSET.
THE Castle of Dunster is of high antiquity, and for many centuries was a place of great military consideration in the western counties. It was the caput of an extensive Honour, and the chief seat of a line of very powerful barons. The hill upon which it stands is the north-eastern, or seaward extremity of a considerable ridge, from which it is cut off by a natural depression, and thus forms what is known in West-Saxon nomenclature as a tor. The tor covers above ten acres of ground, and is about 200 feet high, with a table top in area about a quarter of an acre. It stands upon the western edge of a deep and broad valley, which contains the park, and below the castle expands into a tract of meadow about a mile in breadth, skirting the sea from Minehead to below Carhampton. The park is traversed by a considerable stream, the Avill, one head of which springs from Croydon Hill, and the other, flowing past Wootton-Courtenay, rises about six miles distant under Dunkery Beacon. The home view, one of exceeding richness, is limited and sheltered on the south and west by the Brendon Hills and the high ground rising towards Exmoor. To the east it includes the vales of Cleeve and Williton, bounded by the Quantocks. Seaward on to the north the eye ranges over Bridgwater Bay to the headland of Brean Down and Worle, and commands the west or opposite coast from Penarth Point to Aberavan and Swansea.
West, and at the foot of the castle hill, and under the immediate control and protection of the old fortress, is the town of Dunster, a small and compact cluster of old-fashioned houses, many with timber fronts, in the midst of which is the parish church, once connected with the priory, the foundation of one of the early Norman lords. The eastern or monastic part of the building now forms the private chapel of the Luttrells, and contains several of their tombs.