West of the castle is a considerable table-land, defended by two valleys on its north and west; an excellent place for a display of any cavalry that might be included in the garrison.
THE CASTLE OF PENRICE, IN GOWER.
THE castle of Penrice, or, as it was anciently called, Penrees, in West Gower, in the county of Glamorgan, is inferior only to Caerphilly, Cardiff, and Coyty, in the area contained within its walls, and is second to none in its strong, commanding, and picturesque position. Penrice stands at the bottom of Oxwich Bay, a mile within the shore, and about 150 feet above the sea. It occupies the rocky crest of a steep slope of greensward, at the base of which is a small lake, and beyond this a sort of lagoon communicates with the bay, here fringed by a line of sand-hills.
The castle, though high, is backed on the north-east by the long and still higher ridge of Cefn Bryn, about half a mile distant. It stands upon the south-eastern end of a platform formed by the crop edges of the mountain limestone, which here is almost vertical, having been lifted up by the old red sandstone of Cefn Bryn. On the south and east the castle is defended naturally by a cliff ranging from 10 feet to 40 feet in height; on the west the ground is broken and strong; on the north it is level, or nearly so; and this, naturally the weakest side, has been converted by works into the strongest and principal front of the place.
The position and outline of the fortress have been governed by the disposition of the ground; the general design is simple, but is by no means of one date, and to the original structure there have been considerable additions. In plan the castle is composed of a principal court, or bailey, of irregular figure, and about 60 yards north-east and south-west by 80 yards east and west. Three sides are curtains only; the fourth, or northern, is composed of the gatehouse and main buildings, or corps de logis, and a large drum-tower with its appendages. The curtain skirts the edge of the precipice on the east and south sides. It ranges from 30 feet to 40 feet in height outside, and is about 25 feet within, and from 8 feet to 9 feet thick. It is strengthened outside by a number of half-round buttresses, of about 12 feet diameter; these are solid, and have no projection within; they rise to the height of, or a little above, the walls, and form small flanking places of arms upon the ramparts. Of these buttresses there are none on the east, two on the south, and one on the west face; there is also one larger and loftier, but still solid, capping the south-western angle. There is besides a buttress tower near the south-east angle, of larger dimensions, and hollow; but this, in its present form at least, is probably a late addition built for a dovecote, as which it is still fitted up. The wall near this tower has been broken through and rebuilt, and again broken through to make space for a rectangular building, one angle of which is seen outside the line of the curtain; the rampart wall or battlement remains, and, though more or less ruined, is original. The merlons are about four times the breadth of the embrasures, and each is pierced with a loop; the rear wall remains.
The north, or upper, side of the court is occupied by the main buildings and front of the castle, extending about 70 yards. At the east end is the gatehouse, at the west the drum-tower and its appendages. Between these two was a large square mural tower, placed in the middle of the front. Westward, between this and the drum, was no doubt the hall; eastward, a single curtain connected it with the gatehouse. The gatehouse seems to have been an addition to the curtain wall; it contains a central passage and two lateral chambers, which occupy two flanking towers of bold projection towards the north or exterior front; these are neither rectangular nor half-round, but more near to the latter figure, the angles having been rounded off. The floors were all of wood. There is but one groove, and that of very rude construction, for a portcullis, which defended the outer gate; and there seems to have been a drawbridge which let down between the flanking towers, probably over a pit, for there are no traces of a regular ditch.
The drum-tower caps the north-west angle of the castle, and projects into the court. Its clear diameter is about 36 feet, the walls being 8 feet thick, and the space within 20 feet across. It is of three floors; the basement is entered from the hall side; the first floor by two doors, one of which seems originally to have been a window. Of these doors, one opened from the hall, and one from an appendage on the south-east; there is also a loop towards the court, and a small vaulted chamber and garderobe on the east or outer side, perhaps an addition. The upper floor of the tower is remarkable; it has no entrance whatever, and no opening in the walls; it must have been reached by a trap-door. The floors were all of timber.
On the south-east side of this tower is a concentric addition, a sort of chemise, or rather chemisette, covering less than a quarter of its circumference, and projecting into the court; it is entered by a door from below the hall, and is lighted by two loops towards the court; it ends abruptly by a square wall. There was an upper floor opening into the hall and into the first floor of the drum, and there is a curious curved opening in the jamb of the lower door, evidently for a squint, with a rebate for a wooden shutter. On the north, or exterior side of the drum has been added a rectangular building of three stories, with fireplaces and chambers for garderobes. This building projects and forms the end of the north front, facing somewhat towards the north-west. From it a subordinate building, also rectangular, and containing garderobes, projects towards the west. The space between this group of buildings and the central square mural tower was contained between two walls, one still remaining, which is also the wall of the court, and another now destroyed, which formed the exterior defence on this side. As the square tower is also destroyed to its foundations, the manner in which the space was occupied can only be inferred by the openings in the remaining wall. Probably there was here, on the first floor, a hall and below it smaller rooms, perhaps cellars; there is, however, a door opening on the ground floor through the wall into a very small building projecting into the court, and which appears to have had two lateral and one end or south longer window. This may have been a chapel, but its axis, without any necessity of position, is nearly north and south. Within the court, attached to its east wall, remains a gable end, which, no doubt, belonged to a great barn, storehouse, or barrack; it was not a hall, as it had no large windows.
The ruins of the castle, though very considerable, are so devoid of ashlar and ornamental work, and the masonry throughout is so uniformly of a rude and inferior character, that it is exceedingly difficult to arrive at any certain conclusions as to the extent of the original building, or the order of construction of the parts now remaining. All that can be inferred with absolute certainty is that the round tower and the contiguous east curtain are the oldest extant parts, and, though without bond, nearly of the same date; that the north-west lodgings are much later than either; that on the north front were other lodgings now destroyed, and that the enceinte wall of the court, including the gatehouse, are additions to the original building, converting what was at first an exterior curtain into an interior wall looking into the enclosure.