Of Donnington Castle near Newbury we have the remains of some walls and a gateway with two round towers. The walls are mainly flint with some stones of various sorts intermingled. There are stone courses and stone door and window frames. Repairs have been made with brick. The castle was built in the time of Richard II. It stands upon a hill or spur which runs out in a southerly direction from the plateau named Snelsmore Common, and it overlooks the valley of Newbury. On the west and south there is a steep slope down towards the river Lambourn, and on the east is a deep valley in the chalk. On the north the slope up to the Common is gradual, and so the position is a very strong one. Donnington Castle played an important part in the Civil War of 1642–9, and underwent a long siege in 1644–6.
Gateway, Donnington Castle, Newbury
In former times dwelling places, even though not fortified, were at least protected by a moat. The interesting old manor house of Ashbury is still moated on three sides, and the old moat remains in a more or less perfect state round many a farm in the county.
20. Architecture—(d) Domestic.
The churches of the eleventh and succeeding centuries which remain are well adapted for their use now, but this cannot be said of the dwelling-houses of Norman or Edwardian landowners, and this is one reason why we have but few left in anything like perfect condition. The residence of the chief landowners of the twelfth century, when not a castle, consisted of a hall, usually on the ground floor, but sometimes with a lower story half below the surface level, and the hall was not only a reception and dining room, but was also the sleeping place for the greater number of the persons living in the house. In many cases there were, no doubt, subsidiary chambers, which might serve as more or less private apartments for the landowner himself, and as time went on the number of the subsidiary chambers increased and the importance of the hall diminished, but it impressed itself so firmly on the popular mind that the word still remains in use for the house of the landowner, which is often spoken of as “the Hall.”
There is a doorway belonging to a hall of the Norman period at Appleton in the northern part of the county, and we have already noticed some remains of the residential buildings of the monks of Abingdon, belonging to the thirteenth century. At Charney, about seven miles to the west of Abingdon, there are some interesting remains of a building which was occasionally the residence of the Abbots. The private chapel and much of the house are still standing. These buildings, known as the “Monks House,” date from the thirteenth century and are incorporated in a modern house.
There are two old houses at Sutton Courtney south of Abingdon. The one is opposite the tower of the church, and is of Norman and Early English style, the second is a manor house of the time of Edward III, the hall of which, with its roof and windows, has been very little altered. Cumnor Hall has vanished, excepting a fragment of wall, but some of the windows and a doorway are still to be seen in Wytham Church.
It has been mentioned that one reason why few old dwelling-houses remain is that they would not be suited to modern requirements, but another reason is that they were often built of wood. In the fifteenth century buildings of timber and brick became common, and some of them remain at the present day. Ockwells, rather more than a mile south-west of Maidenhead station, was probably built in the time of Edward IV. It was for some time the residence of the Norris family (see page 138). The house was not fortified, and is of timber and brick with a tiled roof. One may gain a good idea of the appearance of the dwellings of our ancestors in Tudor times from the Horseshoe Cloisters in Windsor Castle, though they were practically rebuilt recently by Sir Gilbert Scott. Timber and brick farmhouses and cottages may be seen all over the county, belonging to all dates from the Tudor times to the present day.