Mʳˢ. Traherne delᵗ.
J. H. Le Keux sc.
KIDWELLY CASTLE.
INTERIOR Of CHAPEL.
The retiring-room is of the breadth of the hall, and 30 feet long. It communicates with the north-east tower. Its west wall is tolerably perfect. It has been stuccoed, and includes a doorway. The cross wall, and perhaps the place of its door opening into the hall, may be traced. A trefoiled and recessed loop, of the date of those in the chapel, remains on the east side in the curtain; and close south of it is the fireplace, with a carved base to the chimney shaft. The whole of the east curtain seems to have been employed to carry the roofs of the hall and retiring-room, and was probably defended by a battlement accessible from the roof gutter. The commanding position of the north-east and chapel towers and the steep rise from the river would render this the least accessible side of the castle.
The kitchen is placed opposite to the hall, in the south-west corner of the court. It is 30 feet by 17 feet, and appears from its remaining gable to have had a highly-pitched roof. At each end, north and south, is a large fireplace, with magnificent tunnels. On the west side, which is formed by the curtain, a window of narrow opening but broad recess opens into the outer ward. Towards the south end is a third fireplace, of smaller dimensions, apparently intended for stewing and similar operations, like a modern hot closet.
In the east wall is a narrow doorway, placed within and on one side of a wider arch, which at breast high is opened to its full breadth. This seems to have been devised to allow servants to carry out large dishes without opening a doorway of unnecessary breadth. On each side of this door are low, broad openings, evidently intended for buttery hatches.
The north-west angle of this ward is occupied by an enclosure 45 feet square, of which the two curtains form two sides. It is walled in, and may have contained offices or barracks.
The Outer Ward is nearly semicircular, the inner ward being built upon the middle of its chord. Its parts are the great and lesser gatehouses, the curtains, the mural towers, and the offices. The inner ward has no ditch, and the space between the walls of the two wards is on the north side, 90 feet; on the west side, 60 feet; and on the south side, 80 feet.
The great gatehouse is a fine pile of building. It is an oblong mass, 80 feet broad by 50 feet deep, and 62 feet high. The gateway is 11 feet high, and 8 feet broad, and has a high drop arch. It is placed in a very flat, segmental, arched recess, 20 feet high. The sill of the doorway is 12 feet above the bottom of the ditch, and on either side it is flanked by a conical round tower, 24 feet in diameter below, and 20 feet above. Above the gateway, between and on a level with the top of the towers, runs a bold machicolation of three flat arches upon two corbels.
The gatehouse has a circular projection eastward towards the river; and at its north-west angle a square turret terminates in a watch-tower, which rises 93 feet above the court, and is known as “Pigin Tower” [Pigwn, Beacon].