Mediæval Military Architecture in England, Volume 2 (of 2)

by George Thomas Clark

2. Quarterly, per fesse embattled.

3. On a quarter a fret (or fretty).

4. Quarterly, 1 and 4, a cross botonné.

„ 2 and 3, three crescents inverted.

Next to this tower is the Hall, which occupies nearly the whole west side of the ward. This, for dimensions, proportion, material, and workmanship was probably the finest hall in the kingdom, wholly of the early Perpendicular period. It measured 90 feet by 45 feet, and stood upon a basement of the same size, of which the roof was vaulted in eighteen square bays, springing from ten piers, arranged with the walls in three equal aisles, while against the wall are fourteen responds, besides one at each of the four angles. Between each pair is an arched recess. This vast and beautiful cellar was aired by loops upon the east side only. The cross aisle at the north end was partitioned off by a stone screen as a passage, which traversed the cellar, having at its east end a door from the inner ward, and to the west a postern opening on the outer ward. This postern is a square-headed doorway, with a bold portcullis groove, and immediately above it is a small square window traversed by the grate, and in the cill of the hall window above is a round hole for the chain, by which the grate was lifted. This portcullis is rather a tribute to the military character of the building, than for the affording any special security, for the large windows of the hall above would have admitted an army. The cellar was entered by a side door from the passage, and at its south-west corner was a small apartment, a cellaret, whence a small well-stair led to the “buffet” above. The hall, resting upon its vaulted floor, is one storey above the inner ward level. It was approached by a broad, straight staircase, which landed in a porch at the north end of the east side of the room. The porch rested upon a vault, and was itself vaulted and groined and richly panelled. The hall was lighted by four large windows towards the west or outer ward, and by three towards the inner ward. At the upper two-thirds of the room, opposite each other, and between two pair of windows, are two large fireplaces. They have lintels slightly shouldered, no hoods or projection, and their splays are panelled.

At the upper or south end of the hall, on the east side, is a large half-octagon oriel, opening by an arch of 15 feet from the dais, panelled and groined, and containing three large windows of two lights with transoms and foliated heads, and a small fireplace. Opposite to this, in the west wall, is a recess of 10 feet opening, the roof of which is ceiled, and which is intended for a “buffet” or sideboard. It is flanked by two small octagonal turrets, one of which contains the stair which descends to the cellar and rises to the roof. From hence a passage led to the withdrawing-rooms at the south end of the hall. The buffet projection, with its turrets, matches the strong tower which caps the further end of this front. The north wall of the hall is gone, but there remains the jamb of a large door, probably opening into the buttery. In the north-west angle, in the window jamb, a small door opens into a well-stair, leading up to the roof. The south wall behind the dais is also gone, but one window of the music gallery remains. The windows are broad and lofty, set in deep, splayed recesses, panelled and fitted with seats. The arches, though four-centred, are rather highly pointed. The edge of each recess is replaced by a bold roll. The windows are coupled, each of two lights, divided by two transoms, and the heads of the openings thus formed are richly foliated. The roof was open, of timber, supported by five pair of principals, besides those against the wall at each end, and the spandrels of the window arches in the main wall are panelled. The exterior buttresses are set on square, but have diagonal faces. The door is set in a low drop arch. The whole building is Perpendicular of the purest kind, and early in the style.

From the upper end of the hall a suite of rooms stood along the south side of the court, of which only the ruins remain. Beyond the hall was the White Hall, now entirely gone; and beyond it a fine oriel window, looking into the court, is said to have belonged to the presence chamber. Behind this, upon the curtain, is a low turret of bold projection, 30 feet by 20 feet, divided by a cross partition into two public garderobes, with large cesspits below, a very curious appendage to a suite of state rooms. The base of the curtain on this front shows traces of Norman work, and seems original. Owing to the superior height of the inner ward, the lower 8 or 10 feet of the curtain on this side is a revetment.

Lancaster’s buildings end in the remains of an octagonal tower, on the curtain, and are succeeded by what are called Leicester’s buildings, though it is a shame to use that title at Kenilworth with reference to any other than the great earl to whom England owes so much. These form the south-east angle of the ward. They cover a plot of 50 feet by 90 feet, and are 80 or 90 feet high. They possess no architectural merit, and though built of sound ashlar, the walls are thin for their height, and they are cracked and much ruined. All the floors and roofs are gone. No doubt these buildings replace a Norman tower of some sort, but they probably project much further than that did into the outer ward. Beyond these, along the eastern face of the ward, Henry VIII.’s lodgings and Dudley’s Lobby extended nearly to the entrance; these are now removed, and with them the Norman curtain upon which they rested.

This inner ward was in itself a very tolerable fortress, the keep commanding the whole, and being, from its excessive passive strength and rocky base, practically impregnable. The curtains seem to have had buildings placed against them nearly all round; they were certainly lofty, and from this circumstance and the vantage of the ground on which they stood the inner ward overlooked all the exterior defences of the place. The ground falls rapidly upon the north, south, and west fronts. Along the east front, where the natural slope was gradual, was excavated a broad and deep ditch, which completed the defences of the ward. Moreover, it is not improbable that this ditch was continued along the north front, occupying the site of the garden, and dying out in the low ground near the Swan Tower.

The Outer Ward has next to be described. This is roughly an oval in plan, 270 yards east and west, by 174 yards north and south. The inner ward covers about one-sixth of its area, and is placed about 54 yards and 30 yards from its west and south boundaries, and 67 yards and 130 yards from those on the north and east, giving a large space in the latter direction, which seems to have contained various domestic buildings, the entrances, and the chapel. This ward was divided by the cross ditch already mentioned, and which extended from the exterior northern ditch 150 yards, nearly to the lake. Traces of it remain at either end, but most of it has been completely filled up, probably by Dudley after Queen Elizabeth’s visit. It was 70 feet broad, and across it a bridge led up to the entrance of the inner ward. At the north end this ditch must have been very deep; towards the south, in front of Leicester’s buildings, where part of it remains, the ground falls and it becomes shallow. Probably as an additional protection, a cross wall was built in the rear of this ditch from the south-east corner of the inner ward to the opposite curtain. Part of this wall was removed when Leicester’s buildings were constructed, but the outer end remains, and a part of a doorway in it. This ward is crossed by another wall of later date, which extends from the Strong Tower to the west curtain, about 34 yards. In its centre is a doorway of 10 feet opening, which, with the wall, seems of Perpendicular date. Henry VIII.’s “Plaisance” was built on each side of this gate to the north. The first wall is no doubt original, and was intended to prevent an enemy who had crossed the ditch where it was shallow pushing westwards along the outer ward; the second was probably built to shut off the garden on the north front, in the Lancastrian period. In this outer ward is what appears to be a part of the original earthworks of the early residence. In front of the hall, about on a level with its floor, so that the cellar wall is a revetment, is a triangular platform about 72 feet long at its base along the wall, and of about 63 feet projection at its apex. It is about 30 feet above the rest of the ward, and has a slope of one to one. The cutting for the path from the hall postern divides it from a smaller mound to the north, and the whole seems artificial, or nearly so. This platform commands the outer curtain. It is odd it was not included within the inner ward.