During the civil war Wareham was the scene of much fighting, being taken and retaken many times. It was garrisoned by the Parliament in 1642, then taken for the king, then in 1643 retaken for the Parliament. In 1644 the Royalists took it by storm. It was in these wars that the west bank was so much altered, to make it suitable for the defensive system of that day.

WHITE CASTLE, MONMOUTHSHIRE.

WHITE CASTLE, called also from the parish in which it stands, Llanteilo Cresseny, and in the records “Album Castrum,” stands upon very high ground about five miles east of Abergavenny, and commands an extensive and completely panoramic view over a country eminently characteristic of the old red sandstone. Within the wide circumference are mountains and hills green to their summits, deep valleys, oaks and elms of great size and in great profusion, and pastures of unusual richness. It is not to be marvelled at that the Welsh, having lost so glorious a possession, should strive to recover it, or that the English and the Normans, having won, should spare no labour or expense in the construction of strong places to enable them to retain it.

Unlike Grosmount, Skenfrith, Goodrich, and Chepstow, and the other castles upon the Munnow and the Wye, and the seaboard of the Channel, White Castle is far removed from any watercourse or defensible river, and is only to be reached by a long and steep ascent. It is five miles and a half from Skenfrith, and five from Grosmount—Grosmount and Skenfrith being four miles and a half apart—and forms the western and most exposed point of the celebrated trilateral. Its decay is due rather to time than to violence, for its walls and towers are all standing, and what is wanting are those parts which would naturally give way to rain and frost, or from time to time be removed for the rebuilding of houses and cottages in the neighbourhood.

White Castle is also as peculiar in its arrangements as in its position. It has no keep, and so far it resembles the Edwardian castle; but, unlike those structures—of which Caerphilly in South, and Beaumaris in North Wales, are typical examples—its main defences are confined to a single line, covered, however, at the principal entrance by a walled earthwork or barbican, and at the lesser entrance by a second and rather smaller earthwork, without, or with but little masonry. Its ditches also are on a formidable scale, both for depth, breadth, and extent, and altogether, both in position and details, it is not inferior in strength to any castle in the March, and is besides in the first class as regards capacity.

It is composed of a central ward, in general figure hexagonal, but oblong and somewhat pear-shaped, its internal diameter, north and south, being 50 yards, and its greatest cross diameter, east and west, 37 yards. The northern end measures, also internally, 15 yards, the southern 18 yards. The sides next to the north end are, in length, 27 yards, those next the south end 23 yards and 26 yards. The wall is 10 feet thick at the base, and slopes externally to 7 feet at a height of 15 feet. In height it is about 30 feet to the rampart walk or allure. The towers at the two southern angles are 18 feet internal diameter, with walls 7 feet thick. The two middle towers are 12 feet, the other two at the northern angles form the great gatehouse, and are 13 feet. They are about 45 feet high. The four southern towers have a basement floor a little below the court level, with one loop; a first floor with three loops, and a second floor, whence was a way to the ramparts of the curtain. There seems, also, to have been an upper or third story. The floors were all of timber, and there are no staircases or mural chambers. The gorge walls of the two southern towers are broken away, that of the western partially so; that of the eastern is perfect, and contains the entrance doorway of 3 feet opening. The gatehouse towers are also entered at the gorge from the court, but the gorge wall is thicker, and contains a series of mural staircases ascending to the summit. These are not “turnpike,” and are not continuous, but begin anew at each floor. The gateway, concealed, save from the front, by the unusually bold projection of the flanking towers, has a passage 10 feet wide and 8 feet deep. The barrel-vault remains, but the ashlar of the internal gate is gone, and its former existence is only shown by a bar-hole. Of the outer gateway two bar-holes remain, and a fragment of the portcullis groove, which is 4 inches square, and placed outside the gate, so that the grate was wholly visible even when raised, unless, indeed, concealed by a timber brattice. It was worked from a machicolation between the towers, now gone. The flanking towers are without loops, that to the left on entering is approached from the vault by a narrow doorway. If there was a drawbridge attached to this gate, its heel must have rested upon a large stone about 10 feet in advance and 6 feet below the level of the portal. The ditch at this point is nearly 100 feet broad, and 30 feet to 40 feet deep. It is evident that there were no bridge-piers of masonry in the ditch, so that the roadway probably rested on trestles.

The opposite and lesser gateway is in the south wall, close to its west end, and flanked, therefore on one side by the south-western tower. It seems to have been a simple opening in the curtain, about 10 feet broad. It is now a mere breach, but the bar-holes remain. There is no sign of a portcullis. The approach to this gate came up along the edge of the ditch, between it and the wall, from the east, and was commanded by two loops in the curtain and by the south-eastern tower.

The area of the court is quite clear of buildings, but a few heaps of rubbish show that it contained barrack buildings of timber, with stone basements, placed against the walls, which have been plastered. There is no trace of hall, chapel, kitchen, well, or permanent lodgings, and no ornament of any kind; no moulding, no mural chambers or garderobes, no staircase save in the great gatehouse, and only two small fireplaces, in the first and second floors of the north-eastern gate tower. The towers are not only bold and lofty, and about 60 feet high, but the outer half of their bases is carried many feet down the slope of the ditch, giving them great breadth of base, and a very substantial and massive character.