Another most noticeable point about the work is the entire absence of buttresses. Every tower and curtain stands in its own unaided strength. The great diversities of design, especially as seen in the towers, should also be noticed. Without the least approach to affectation or extravagance in any, yet of all the nine included in the central group there are no two which bear the faintest resemblance to each other—the variety and beauty of proportion in its parts, and the admirable way in which they are combined, producing, as they did once, a sky-line perhaps unmatched in England, are really the glories of the castle. A perfect simplicity and directness of purpose, with infinite change and play of line, characterize the building throughout, and stamp it as the work of a master.
Modern alterations have so obscured and destroyed John Nevil’s work in the interior that there is little of it left to see. Still there is something. Leland, who mentions it, says, “The Haul and al the Houses of Offices be large and stately. The Great Chaumber was exceeding large, but now it is fals rofid and divided into two or three partes.” Now if by the “Haul” and “Great Chaumber” he refers to the same thing, which internal evidence seems to show he must, then the worthy itinerant was entirely mistaken. “A recent investigation, accompanied by a vigorous use of the pick, has shown me,” says Mr. Hodgson, “that the Hall, as its external appearance indicates, was always, from the very first, a double one, consisting, that is, of two halls of nearly equal height, one above the other. About ten feet below the present floor I came upon the line of the old one, which had been of wood carried on pillars (whence, perhaps, the mistake of being ‘fals rofid’), the mutilated remains of the great fire-place, and three doorways, all of which I partially opened out. The upper, or Baron’s Hall, called so, perhaps, to distinguish it from the lower, was a noble room. Ranges of long narrow transomed windows lighted it on each side, as well as two large traceried ones of three lights to the south, and another to the north. The roof, a very fine one of oak, was carried on cambered beams, each displaying the saltire on its centre. These were the ordinary arrangements. Extending the full width of the north end was a lofty stone music gallery, with arch cornice. In advance of it the screens, behind which, and leading to the Kitchen, Pantry, and Buttery, were once most likely the usual three doorways, but of these, owing to mutilations, I could only find one. At either end of the passage was a large arched doorway. One of these opened upon a staircase close to the Chapel door, the other upon the roof of a sort of cloister in the Great Court, which must have formed a promenade, and of which also I have found the traces. Platforms of this sort, carried on arches, and occupying an exactly similar position, occur in the castles of Coucy and Creil.”
The Kitchen, though it has a certain air of rudeness, and has lost its ancient fire-place, is still a very interesting relic, and one of the most perfect things in the castle. It occupies the whole interior of a large strong square tower. The windows, which have stepped sills, are set high up in the walls, and are connected by a perforated passage of defence provided with garde-robes, which runs all round. Two pairs of very strong vaulting ribs, intersecting in the centre, carry the louvre, which is of stone and of immense size. The lower part, twelve feet square, rises to upwards of the same height above the leads, and is surmounted by an octagon fifteen feet higher still. Externally it forms a very striking and effective feature. Below the Kitchen a cellar of the same shape and size has a well-groined vaulted roof carried on a central pillar. Another to the east, which has a large double fire-place at one end, has a strongly ribbed circular segmental vault. All the first-floor chambers of the west front, including Clifford’s Tower, have plain barrel vaults. The lower chamber of Bulmer’s Tower had till lately a richly groined vault of great strength and beauty. The Hall Tower has both its lower stories vaulted; the first ribbed, the second plain. The whole of this tower, inside and out, has been wonderfully preserved. Vaults, windows, grilles, doorways, stairs, garde-robes, all are nearly intact, and will bear careful examination. It is really the most perfect thing in the place. The Chapel, all mutilated as it is, still deserves notice. The Sanctuary, which forms the central portion of a tower, has a boldly ribbed quadripartite vault. Above it is a guard-chamber. Its exterior window, above the eastern one of the Chapel, is marked by a very remarkable little hanging machicoulis.
Raby Castle, West Side.
The entrance to Raby is by the Porter’s Lodge in the north-west portion of the embattled outer wall. In this Lodge are found some family relics; among others, the sword worn by Lord Barnard, son of the first Earl of Darlington, at the battle of Fontenoy, where a bullet, striking his sword, broke it, and then, glancing off, disabled its wearer. The Gateway is flanked by two towers, each of which is surmounted by a figure of a mail clad warrior.
The main entrance to the castle itself is on the west side, between two towers. It is a long passage, with groined roof and traces of portcullis; and carriages drive through this passage into the Quadrangle, or Court-yard. Crossing this, and facing the main entrance just alluded to, is the enormous doorway opening into the Great or Entrance Hall. Through this doorway the carriages literally drive into the mansion, and there set down the guests in the Hall itself, which is of great size, with an arched roof, supported by eight octagonal pillars in its centre. “When the brilliant gas above combines its glare with that of two enormous fires, and the roof is echoing to the tramp of horses and the roll of wheels, the visitor cannot but be struck with the unusual entrance,” says a recent writer. In this Hall is hung Turner’s famous picture of Raby Castle.
Above this Great Hall is the famous Baron’s Hall immortalised by Wordsworth, where
“Seven hundred knights, retainers all
Of Neville, at the muster’s call,
Had sate together in Raby’s hall.”
This Hall, which is 126 feet long by 36 feet broad, is ceiled with oak and contains a large number of family portraits; also “Interior of an Artist’s Studio,” by Teniers, and portraits of Queen Elizabeth, Cromwell, James II., and Frederick, Prince of Wales. The south end of the room is modern, being built over the Octagon Drawing-room. A staircase leads from the Baron’s Hall to the Chapel, renovated by the second duke. Some of the windows are filled with stained glass by Wailes; others with old German glass. The Chapel contains Murillo’s “St. Catherine” and “The Saviour bearing the Cross.”