But although the upper part is unaltered, the lower part has been masked by a Decorated gateway with portcullis groove and pointed arch, while in front of and flanking this arch two walls, 6 feet thick, project 15 feet, and contained between them the drawbridge. Above and upon these, concealing the upper part of the arch of entrance, is a low flat bridge, which carries the exterior walk, or chemin de ronde, over the entrance, and from which the grate was worked. Had it not been for this bridge, and its Decorated connexions, it might have been supposed that the chemin de ronde was a mere modern pleasure walk, whereas it is clear that it was a part of the defence, a work covering the foot of the wall, and no doubt strongly palisaded. There is no trace of a parapet.
The gatehouse seems early Norman, probably with most of the curtain the work of Roger de Buisli before 1089. The keep looks much later, but it must have been part of the original design, and possibly the works begun by Roger were completed by his son. In the Decorated period there were probably considerable additions. Probably when the gatehouse was masked, and the bridge thrown over it, the curtain also was repaired, and a new parapet added, and the chemin de ronde formed. Leland speaks of a hall, now gone. Where the chapel stood is not known. A door case which may have belonged to it has been removed and set up inside the gatehouse, and outside is an old oak door of the style of James I., on which are carved the words,—
Peace and grace
Be to this place.
The entrance-way now leads up to the gatehouse across a modern bridge, over the wet ditch. To the south of the place is a tributary of the river Torne or Thorne, which covered that front.
This is one of the most curious castles in Yorkshire, not only for its pure Norman gatehouse, and the undisturbed foundation of its shell keep, but because it shows how the Norman lords availed themselves of an English seat, and how their architects or engineers accommodated their defences to the already existing earthworks. It should be studied in conjunction with Pickering for the general plan and the Norman works, and with Barwick-in-Elmete and Laughton-en-le-Morthen for the general resemblance of the earthworks. Unfortunately there is no plan.
TRETOWER, BLAEN-LLYFNI, AND CRICKHOWEL CASTLES, BRECKNOCKSHIRE.
AMONG the passes that communicate between the open country of the upper Usk and the Wye, in the neighbourhood of Talgarth, Glâsbury, and Hay, and the valley of the lower Usk, there are two especially dangerous, and which, therefore, it behoved the Norman settlers to guard with peculiar care. These are the pass of the Bwlch, between Buckland and Cefn Moel, and the valley of the Rhiangoll. The strip of land bordering on the Usk, which flows close to the west of Mynydd Buckland, is very narrow, and in wet seasons was formerly scarcely practicable; and was besides, to a considerable extent, guarded by the castle of Blaen-Llyfni, which was specially built for the defence of the Bwlch, close to the north of which it is placed.
The Rhiangoll rises in Cwm Catwg, a deep, dark hollow in the Black Mountains, and flows down to join the Usk about three miles above Crickhowel. Near its head, where it lies open towards the north-west, it was guarded by the hill-castle of Dinas, and lower down by Tretower. Still lower down, the Usk itself is protected by the castled mound of Crickhowel, and still lower by that of Abergavenny; so that between the seigniorial castles of Blaen-Llyfni, Dinas, and Abergavenny, and the private posts of Tretower and Crickhowel, the incursions of the Welsh of Brecknock and Radnor were liable to be checked in their advance, and altogether cut off in their retreat.