The Project Gutenberg eBook, Mediæval Military Architecture in England, Vol. II (of 2), by George Thomas Clark

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MEDIÆVAL MILITARY
ARCHITECTURE
IN
ENGLAND.

By GEO. T. CLARK.

VOL. II.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

. . . . . Time

Has moulder’d into beauty many a tower,

Which, when it frown’d with all its battlements,

Was only terrible. . . . . —Mason.

LONDON:
WYMAN & SONS, 74–76, GREAT QUEEN STREET,
LINCOLN’S-INN FIELDS, W.C.

1884.

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II.

MEDIÆVAL MILITARY ARCHITECTURE.

DESCRIPTIONS.

“ . . . . . Time

Has mouldered into beauty many a tower,

Which, when it frowned with all its battlements,

Was only terrible. . . . . —Mason.

DOLFORWYN CASTLE.

DOLFORWYN CASTLE, MONTGOMERY.

DOLFORWYN, or “The Maiden’s Meadow,” is a name evidently transposed from the meads of the adjacent Severn to the ridge occupied by the castle, which rises 500 feet or 600 feet above, and half a mile west of, the river, from which it is separated by an intervening hill. The approach is by a steep road, which becomes still more so near the top of the ridge, and finally skirts along, and is commanded by, the works of the castle.

These works are very simple in plan, and of rude construction. A platform about 200 yards long by 100 yards broad occupies the centre of the ridge. Its rocky sides are scarped and revetted all round to a height of about 10 feet, and upon this wall was built a curtain of from 20 to 30 feet more, and about 5 feet thick. At each end a cross ditch was quarried in the rock, so as to isolate the castle from the equally high ground beyond. Probably there were no bridges across these ditches, and the entrance seems to have been by a plain doorway in the curtain upon the northern face of the works. The curtain appears to have been quite plain, without either buttress or pilaster or flanking tower, save at the eastern end of the area, near the centre, where are the remains of a circular tower about 30 feet in diameter with walls 5 feet thick. The curtain to the south, or most exposed, side is broken away; on the opposite side it is more perfect, and contains a doorway, broken, and now a mere hole in the wall. Within is a fragment of a building into which probably the gateway opened. The platform is very irregular, partly natural, chiefly from the heap of rubbish covering up the foundations of the domestic buildings. The building is not unlike Dinas Brân and Dinas Powis, and is probably of the age of Henry III. or Edward I., early in the reign. The material is the tile-stone of the country laid in courses. There is no sign of ashlar.

Dolforwyn has no history. All that is known is that it was granted by Edward I. [7 Edward I.] to Roger Mortimer of Wigmore as “the Castle of Dolvoron,” with the territories of Keddewy and Kery, to be held by the service of three knight’s-fees. In 14 Edward I. the castle was still held by a Mortimer, for Richard Labaunk was in prison at Wigmore, by reason of arrears in his account to Edmund de Mortimer whilst constable of his castle of Dolfnovan. He was liberated on bail. In 18 Edward I., Bogo de Knovill, being constable of Montgomery Castle, had a pardon for £90 due on his farm of lands of Kery and Kidgewenny. This, however, was from the king, who seems to have resumed possession. Dugdale says the castle was built by David ap Llewelyn, who flourished 1240–46, but the Welsh attribute it to Bleddyn ap Cynfin between 1065 and 1073. Bleddyn may have had some kind of stronghold here, as a place very convenient for a raid upon the flat country, then held by the English; but he certainly did not build the existing walls. These are not unlikely to have been the work of Roger Mortimer, and their destruction probably followed at the first convenient opportunity. The name of the castle has not been found in the Mortimer inquisitions, nor is it mentioned save as above, among their possessions, or those of any other landowner. After the settlement of Wales it would cease to possess any value.

DOVER CASTLE, KENT.

“Est ibi mons altus, strictum mare, litus opacum,

Hinc hostes citius Anglica regna petunt,

Sed castrum Doveræ, pendens a vertice montis,

Hostes rejiciens, litora tuta facit.”

—De Bello Hastingensi Carmen, i. 603.

THE tract of chalk which forms and gives character to the isle of Thanet and the south-eastern portion of the county of Kent, rises towards the sea to a line of cliffs upon which the promontories of the North and South Foreland and of Dover are the most conspicuous. The cliff line, however, is not continuous. It is broken at intervals by various valleys and gorges, down which the waters from the interior find their way to the sea, producing havens which in former days and for vessels of light burthen were much in request. Of these waters the chief is the Stour, which at no very remote period, near to the present Canterbury, fell into the head of a considerable estuary, the waters of which, guarded by the ancient fortresses Regulbium, Rutupiæ and Lemanis, maintained Thanet as an island, and gave to the trade of the period free access to the interior of the district. This estuary was not exempt from the general tendency to become silted up. Before the Norman Conquest the waters had receded from Canterbury to the parish thence named Stourmouth, and Thanet from an island had become a peninsula. The process of silting up has been since continued, and the mouth of the Stour carried many miles lower. The river, after a very winding course, falls into and in part forms what remains of the ancient English port of Sandwich, opposite to the anchorage known as the Small Downs.

About three miles to the west of the South Foreland, another and much smaller stream, fed from the lower chalk and greensand, flows down a deep valley, and, reaching the sea between two considerable heights, has given origin to the port, town, and castle of Dover, so called, without doubt, by derivation from a British name represented in the Roman times by Dubris. The town and port lie deep in the valley. Of the heights, a part of that to the west has been rendered famous by Shakespeare, and has long borne his name. That to the east is known as the Castle Hill, so called from the fortress by which, under some form or other, it has been crowned from a very remote period. A position so convenient and so capable of defence would, upon any shore, have attracted the notice of the very earliest inhabitants; for not only was the height strong and the port convenient, but these advantages were found at the point at which the island approached nearest to the Continent, and at which those who crossed the straits, whether as friends or foes, would first make the land, and, if not obstructed, would come ashore. The position, therefore, was of far more than local importance, and would be sure to receive the attention not only of the chiefs of the Cantii, but of the rulers, if such there were, of the whole of Britain. It is therefore probable that haven, town, and fortress date from very nearly the first settlement of the country.

Although the Western or Shakespeare’s Cliff is part of a larger range, the Castle Hill is better suited for defence. It is, in fact, an isolated knoll about 1,000 yards north and south, and 500 yards east and west, the summit being a steep and narrow ridge. Towards the south its boundary is the sea cliff, 320 feet high, and to the west the deep valley of the town. To the east and north are other valleys, less deep but by no means inconsiderable, and the sides of which are steep. Moreover, the whole hill is of chalk, that is to say, of a material easily scarped and capable of retaining any general outline to which it may be cut.

But though, on general grounds, a very remote antiquity may safely be attributed to both town and fortress, it is difficult to find any precise or special evidence on which to rest the claim. Here, as at Durovernum or Canterbury, the Roman form indicates a British origin, and, if the ancient name of the stream be indeed, as asserted, the Dour, may well be derived from it, and the Castle Hill is just the place upon which a British camp is likely to be found. The commerce of the Britons, known to have been carried on with activity through the Cornish ports and the Isle of Wight, has also been claimed for the route through Dover. The actual present traces of British occupation in this southern country are indeed very scanty, and confined to a few names of rivers and hills, a very few of towns or villages, and to occasional entrenchments upon high ground, and of an irregular outline. The great roads, whatever their remote origin, in their present form carry the stamp of Rome upon every mile of their course, and the oldest known works in masonry are due to the same people, while the general topography, all that relates to property and self-government, hundreds, lathes, rapes and tythings, parish and hamlet, grange and farm, and the crowd of bourns, dens, hams, hangers, hirsts, ings, tons, wolds and worths point with overwhelming force to the English settlers. Even the tenure in gavelkind, claimed as a British custom, and known in Wales by the expressive name of “Randyr” or “partible” land, is by most legal antiquaries regarded as Teutonic.

Although Cæsar does not mention Dover by name, there can be no doubt that his fleet lay before it in August, B.C. 55, the period of his first invasion of Britain. Dr. Guest has clearly demonstrated that the Portus Icius whence he sailed was a small and now silted-up haven between Cape Gris Nez, the Ician promontory, and Wissant, whence a ten hours’ course brought him in the morning abreast of Dover. Here he found the natives, in great numbers and armed, drawn up to oppose his landing. He therefore anchored in Dover Wick, the roadstead east of the town, to give time for his slower ships to arrive, and thence proceeded to Deal, where he probably landed with two legions, or from eight to ten thousand men. Dr. Guest has pointed out that the word Icius coincides closely with the Irish name for the English Channel, “Muir n’Icht,” “the Ician Sea,” “icht” being a form of “uch” or “ucha,” upper in height, which plays so important a part in the names of places in Wales and the north of Scotland. It was natural that the Channel should be named from its most remarkable feature, and to this day its name in Dutch is “De Hofden,” or “the heights.”

Cæsar stayed but three weeks in the country, and may not have visited Dover; but as, when he returned in the following year with a much larger force, he seems to have embarked and landed at the same points, he must have been familiar with the aspect of the port from the sea. As on this occasion he traversed Kent and crossed the Thames, he probably left no dangerous force behind him at Dover, which he does not mention, and which clearly was not then made a rallying point by the Britons. Had the heights been held in force, he would probably in the first instance have reduced them, or at any rate have mentioned the fact in his narrative. During the century that followed Cæsar’s appearance, Rome took no active part in British affairs, but it is probable that a considerable trade sprang up between the island and the Continent, and the Britons made great advances in commerce and civilisation. Towns were founded and coins struck. The next military invasion took place, A.D. 43, ninety-eight years after the first appearance of Cæsar, and under the reign of Claudian, and command of Aulus Plautius, who landed with four legions. The Cantii then held a tract nearly corresponding to the present county of Kent. Durovernum had been founded amidst its indigenous alders, and Camalodunum, beyond the Thames, was the chief city of the Trinobantes. Where Plautius landed is not precisely known. Probably at several points on the open beach between Rich borough and Laymen. Whether the Britons mustered north or south of the Thames is also unknown; but, when Claudian followed his lieutenant, the way lay open to that river, and he marched at once upon Camalodunum, where the Trinobantes were put to flight. Plautius probably subdued the country as far west as the Axe and the Tamar, and his progress may, it is thought, be traced by the remains of his rectangular camps opposed to those of larger area and irregular outline thrown up by the retiring Britons. As, in the year A.D. 40, Caligula had caused a lighthouse to be set up on the heights of Boulogne, it is not improbable that Plautius was the builder of the corresponding tower at Dover.

Ostorius Scapula is said to have occupied with a camp the Castle Hill. He, Suetonius Paulinus, and Agricola were busied mainly with the midland and northern parts of the island, and the southern province, Britannia Prima, seems to have been at peace. Roads were laid out, towns built, the metals were smelted, and agriculture prospered. Dubris (Dover), Durobrivis (Rochester), Rutupiæ (Richborough), Lemanis (Lymne), Regulbium (Reculver), and Anderida (Pevensey), came afterwards into notice as towns or havens. The Watling Street, which ran from Canterbury by Rochester northwards, seems to have been commenced at Dover. There were indeed roads from Canterbury to Lymne and to Richborough, but Dover would be the port reached by the production of the road in a straight line from Canterbury. In the reign of Valentinian, A.D. 364–7, a cohort of the Second Legion of 1,100 men was stationed at Dubris, where stamped tiles show them to have built a bath, and which is mentioned as a port in the Iter of Antoninus and as a town (civitas) by the geographer of Ravenna. In the time of Constantine, Dubris was one of the six ports south of Thanet, under the Count of the Saxon shore, the others being Rutupiæ, Regulbium, Lemanis, Anderida, and Adurnus (Portsmouth). It is, however, not included in the list of the twenty-eight towns existing when the Romans retired from Britain, of which Rutupiæ was one. Still, even if Dubris were one only of three heads of the Watling Street, its importance under the Roman sway was considerable.

To the Roman period is to be referred the burial-ground laid open near the edge of the cliff in 1797, and the bath discovered on the brook west of St. Mary’s Church. No mention is made of a Roman fortress, nor was it in accordance with the practice of that people to place a permanent camp, still less a military station, upon a height so inaccessible as the Castle Hill. The existing earthworks show no traces of Roman outline, nor, when they had possession of the whole district, was there any need to fortify the lighthouse. The lighthouse alone, of the works upon the hill, can with certainty be pronounced to be Roman, but this, of course, implies the existence and employment of the port. All that the topographer can affirm is that the earthworks do not now present, and, so far as description may be relied on, do not appear ever to have presented, anything of a Roman character.

Kent was probably the part of Britain first invaded by the Northmen, and certainly the first actually subdued and settled. It was the only independent state established and maintained by the followers of Hengist, the Jutes, a people who did not contribute largely to the conquest of Britain, neither did they occupy any considerable portion of the conquered country; but what they did retain became and still remains intensely Teutonic, and their early supremacy, during the conversion of the English to Christianity, is marked by the fact that their chief city became, as it has since remained, the ecclesiastical metropolis of the island. Dover was a considerable Jutish port, and before long was regarded as the key of England. Very probably the inner earthworks still to be seen, though too much altered to be recognisable, were the work of this people, and the collegiate church of St. Martin, founded in the town by Wihtræd, King of Kent (690–725), is said to have been removed by him from the Castle Hill. In the time of Alfred, Dover was placed in the bailiwick of Stouting, and the lathe of St. Augustine. Its history, however, properly so called, does not begin till the reign of the Confessor, whose charter to the Cinque Ports, which John is said to have inspected, was confirmed by many later kings.

In September, 1051, Eustace, Count of Boulogne, brother-in-law to King Edward, paid a visit to the English Court at Gloucester, and returning through Canterbury there rested his escort, and thence went to Dover on his way homeward. Before entering the town, he and his men put on their coats of mail, and attempted to take free quarters in the houses of the burghers. This led to a fight in which much blood was shed, and the Count finally, being expelled the town, returned to Gloucester with his complaint. The subsequent tale has often been told. Godwin, then Earl of Kent, took part with his injured countrymen, and withstood the strong Norman interest about the king, and was, in consequence, banished. Godwin proposed, says Malmesbury, “Ut magnates illius castelli blande in curia regis de seditione convenirentur.” Whether “castellum” can be taken for more than the fortified town is uncertain. It is not probable that Eustace would have ascended to the castle, since he sought quarters in the town. On the whole this passage can scarcely be taken to prove the existence at that time of a regular castle on the hill. Nevertheless, the existence of such a castle at that time is exceedingly probable, for in 1064–65 Harold, says William of Poitiers, swore to Duke William that, on the death of the Confessor, “se ... traditurum interim ipsius militum custodiæ castrum Doveram, studio atque sumptu suo communitum, item per diversa loca illius terræ alia castra.” Eadmer is more precise. In his account Duke William insists, “et insuper castellum Dofris cum puteo aquæ ad opus meum te facturum.” Malmesbury says, “Castellum Doroberniæ (Dubris) quod ad jus suum pertineret.” Here there can be no mistake as to what is meant. A well in the town could be of no special value, but a well on a chalk hill 290 feet above the water springs was an addition to the castle worthy of special notice. Such a well, moreover, was a very laborious work, and must have taken some time to complete. Harold’s oath is no doubt involved in a good deal of doubt and uncertainty, but the tale may at least be taken to show that there was, before the Norman conquest, a castle upon the hill, now crowned by the Norman keep, and that it had been strengthened by Harold. Malmesbury here, as in his account of the fray with Count Eustace, for Dover puts Canterbury, evidently in error.

Domesday Book opens with Dover. “Dovere tempore regis Edwardi,” &c. That king held two parts of half its rents, and Earl Godwin the other third, that is, the earl’s penny. The burgesses provided the king with twenty ships annually for fifteen days, in each twenty-one men. The king’s messengers also had certain valuable privileges, showing that the port lay in the usual route to the Continent. There was a mill at the entry to the port, much in the way of the shipping. The castle is not mentioned, but we read of the Gildhalla, or Guildhall, of the burgesses. The town, though thriving, had recently been burned, and the rent reduced in consequence.

The Normans landed, as their Teutonic ancestors had landed centuries before them, beneath the ancient walls of the Roman Anderida, which, under the name of Pevensey, had become an English, and was to become ere long a Norman fortress. Pevensey is a haven no longer, but within its circuit may still be seen huge fragments of Roman and Norman masonry, and the simpler, but, at least, equally durable mound of its English occupants, a grand and striking composition, and, to the instructed observer, eloquent of great events. William took possession of the ruins, and, on the following day, marched upon the battlefield, hastily fortifying with wood and earth the hill of Hastings in support of his position. After the battle Romney first felt the weight of the Conqueror’s hand, and he then turned to Dover. The castle was, says William of Poitiers, impregnable, and the town even then considerable; but the people, though assembled in vast numbers, had no leaders, and town and castle were at once surrendered, though in the transfer, either by design or accident, much of the town was burned. William paused here eight days, detained by sickness among his troops. He treated the people with great lenity, placed a Norman garrison in the castle, to the defences of which he added, and then proceeded towards the Thames, receiving the submission of Canterbury and Rochester on his way. Kent was placed under the command of Bishop Odo, who held Dover as its military centre. This continued to be its position, and in 1074, when the fierce Jutish blood broke out, and the men of Kent, headed by Eustace of Boulogne, rose against William, their first object was to gain Dover Castle, to which they laid siege. Its defences, whether English or Norman, were strong, but the attack was sharp. Bishop Odo and Hugh de Montfort, who had the castle in charge, were absent, but they exerted themselves in the county, and the castle was relieved. Towards the end of the reign the town is said to have been walled, and to have had ten gates. Its position, as the most important of the Cinque Ports, seems to have been established, to which its castle largely contributed. The five ports were Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich. Winchelsea and Rye were among the members. Their service was to provide fifty-seven ships annually, of which number Dover furnished twenty-one.

Important as the castle continued to be under the reigns of the Plantagenet and Tudor kings, its history does not possess any very particular interest. It was not the scene of any very remarkable event, and, though accounted the key of the kingdom, was not in any very intimate manner bound up with its history. It has always been held by the Crown and governed by a constable, usually a man of eminence, of which officials Lyon gives a list of 138. Three barons of the house of Fiennes held the office under the Conqueror, Rufus, and Henry I., and in their time seem to have been built the outer curtain and many of its towers. Walchelin Magminot, placed in office by Stephen, held the place against him in 1137, and in 1138 surrendered it to the queen, just before the battle of the Standard. Stephen died at Dover, probably in the castle, and Mr. Puckle has fought gallantly for the recent discovery of his remains. Henry II. is supposed to have built the keep and the wall of the inner ward in 1154, soon after his accession to the crown, and, if so, it was probably the actual work of one of the Barons Fiennes, who held the office of constable in that reign. Of these lords, the last, James Fiennes, was constable at the accession of Richard I., and in 1191 received, as a prisoner in the castle, Geoffrey, Henry II.’s natural son, on his way to take up the archbishopric of York. He was taken from the sanctuary of St. Martin’s church, and imprisoned by order of the Bishop of Ely, the chancellor. For this outrage Fiennes was suspended, and eventually the chancellor was excommunicated and banished. In 1198 the constable was one of the five officers appointed to inspect the treasures of the church of Canterbury. In the reign of John, the constable was Hubert de Burgh, to whom it fell to defend the castle against Prince Louis and the French invaders. Louis made great attempts to win over De Burgh to his party, but without success, and upon his final refusal he laid siege to the castle. Trebuchets and petraria, and much siege artillery were brought over from France, and a covered way was run along the slope outside the castle ditch on the north-west quarter. Wooden towers (Malvoisins) also were erected on the edge of the ditch to quell the fire from the walls, which were actually shaken by strokes of the ram. Also a small colony was established in temporary huts, so as to give the siege the aspect of a blockade. Hubert, however, was a true and loyal subject of England. He regarded his charge as held under his sovereign, whoever that sovereign might be, and his castle as the “clavis Angliæ et repagulum.” He returned attack for attack, stone for stone, until the death of John, by removing much of the cause of dissatisfaction, led to the retirement of the French from the country. The great spur-work in advance of the northern gateway, and which still, though much altered, remains, is probably the work of De Burgh, no doubt suggested to him by the direction of the French attack. Henry III. was here in state in 1255, on his way from Spain, and in 1259 the castle was in the hands of the barons, who refused to allow his brother Richard, King of the Romans, to enter the place until he had sworn to adopt their cause. Henry recovered the castle in 1261 from Hugh le Bigot, but was unable to hold it, and was refused admission when, with his brother and the Earl Mareschal, he presented himself before the gate in 1263. In the great struggle, Henry held the Tower of London, and the barons the castle of Dover. After Lewes, the Princes Edward and Henry were for a time held in durance in Dover. In 1265, when the prince had the upper hand, and Kenilworth had fallen, fourteen nobles of the royal party were imprisoned in the keep of Dover. Here they defended themselves, turning the tables upon their captors, who, attacked from without by Prince Edward, and thus placed between two fires, surrendered the castle. The Countess of Leicester, who was within it, was allowed to retire to France.

On his return from Palestine, after his father’s death, in the summer of 1274, Edward I. landed at Dover. He again visited the castle in 1278, 1296, and 1299. Dover was his usual port when he visited or returned from the Continent, and in his time the castle was maintained and strengthened, and some of its most considerable parts, such as the Constable’s Gate and St. John’s Postern, are of the conclusion of the reign of Henry or early in that of Edward, and most probably the latter.

Edward II. was here in the January following his father’s death, and here he embarked for Boulogne on the occasion of his marriage in 1308, and here he received the queen. Edward III. was not infrequently at Dover, but is more likely to have lodged in the Maison Dieu than in the castle. He probably drew troops from hence when he sailed from the port on his celebrated secret expedition to Calais in 1348. In the reign of Henry V. the Emperor Sigismond was received at the castle as a visitor, and from hence the king embarked his army for France in 1421, as did Henry VII. in 1491.

Henry VIII. suppressed the Maison Dieu, the celebrated foundation of Hubert de Burgh, within which very many kings and princes had been entertained, but the castle was an object of his special care, and was repaired and garrisoned. Henry also built the blockhouses of Sandown, Deal, Walmer, and Sandgate, and placed them under the charge of the Constable of Dover. Three bulwarks also were constructed under the cliff and upon the pier of the harbour. Later on the castle fell into neglect, and in the reign of Charles I., being garrisoned by a small force, and but little cared for, it was taken by surprise and held for the Parliament. In 1648 the Kentish royalists made a vigorous effort to recover it, but were repulsed by Algernon Sydney, then its governor.

DESCRIPTION.

Dover Castle is called by Matthew Paris “the very front door of England,” and described by William of Poitou as “Situm est id castellum in rupe mari contigua quæ naturaliter acuta undique ad hoc ferramentis elaborate incisa, in speciem muri directissima altitudine, quantum sagittæ jactus permetiri potest consurgit, quo in latere unda marina alluitur.” It presents a good combination of the defences of several architectural periods, the general result being a concentric fortress, the growth of many centuries, and which, a century ago, presented much both of earthwork and masonry of great and unmixed antiquarian interest. More recently, however, the works have been delivered over to the military authorities of the country, and the result has been a series of alterations, additions, and removals, necessary, it is in all courtesy to be presumed, for the defence of the country, but very destructive of the ancient features of the fortress. The ancient earthworks have been scarped, extended, retrenched, and tunnelled, barracks and magazines have been built, the keep has been converted into storerooms and water-tanks, and in its basement are two powder magazines. In its present condition, and having regard to the strict regulations, prohibiting even the use of the pencil, under which the whole is placed, an accurate examination of what remains of the ancient works, whether in earth or masonry, is almost impracticable.

The British camp was oblong, following the figure of the hill. It was composed of a deep and broad ditch, the contents of which were in part thrown inwards and upwards so as to form a bank. The area thus enclosed measured within the bank about 875 yards by 350 yards, the latter being its diameter at the cliff, by which it is cut off, the northern end running to a point. This main ditch has probably been deepened and more or less altered during the Norman period, and it is now connected with various bastions, hornworks, and caponnières, but its general outline is sufficiently clear, and it may, from internal evidence, be presumed to be British. Within the area, rather nearer to its northern end, a second earthwork, also composed of bank and ditch, has been thrown up. This includes the lighthouse tower, and is therefore called the Roman ditch, but there is nothing about it of a Roman character, and it is far more probable that it was the work of the English, and formed the inner defence of the castle which Harold undertook to surrender. The space between this and the great earthwork forms the outer ward of the Norman castle; the inner work has been divided into two parts. That to the south, containing the lighthouse, forms the middle ward; that to the north contains the keep, and is the inner ward. The lighthouse has been employed as a belfry to the adjacent church of St. Mary, which is the subject of an excellent memoir by Mr. Puckle, though he can scarcely be admitted to establish its connexion with the British church. The two are undoubtedly the oldest buildings within the castle area.

The Keep and Inner Ward are Norman, of the reign of Henry II., but the curtain and most of its towers have been refaced or rebuilt, a great part recently, but more or less on the old lines. The plan is an irregular polygon, about 120 yards each way, with fourteen rectangular mural towers of no internal projection, and not rising above the curtain, which, however, is lofty. Two of those to the south-west take their name from Magminot and one from Gore. The walls were of flint rubble, quoined with ashlar, and battering outside at the base, the top of which is marked by a bold cordon of stone. Upon the sides of some of the towers are bold machicolated openings from garderobes. The keep stands detached in the centre of the ward, and within the area, built against the walls, are several buildings, as Arthur’s Hall, the guard chamber, and the officers’ quarters, some of early English character, others modern.

There are two entrances, the north, or King’s Gate, and the south, the Duke of Suffolk’s, or Palace Gate. The gateways are vaulted passages, with a flat segmental arch, opening externally between two square flanking towers. There is a groove for a portcullis, and the vaults have an early English import. Each of these gates is defended by an additional work. A sort of hornwork is thrown out in advance, enclosed within a wall with towers, and with a second gate placed obliquely to the first, to allow the approach to be commanded. The north, called the King’s Gate, is tolerably perfect. The southern outwork is nearly destroyed. It had two gates, one to the south, connected with which was the tower containing a well, and one to the east, called King Arthur’s Gate, close to which was the Armourer’s Tower, and near this was Earl Godwin’s Postern. The masonry of this inner ward was probably of the date of the keep. It was included within a broad and deep ditch, now incomplete, on the southern front.

The Middle Ward includes the southern half of what was probably the English earthwork. Its southern two-thirds is rounded, but at its base are, or were, walls and towers connecting it right and left with the curtain of the outer ward, which it thus divided into two parts. In advance of this work were three towers: two, to the east and west, Clinton and Mortimer, were square. Both seem to have been of Norman date. The central tower to the south was circular, and was called Valence. It was, no doubt, later, probably of the reign of Henry III. The foundations of Clinton Tower were laid open and removed in 1794. A fragment of Mortimer’s Tower remains. Valence Tower was destroyed in the last century. The gatehouse of the ward is called Colton Gate. It is Norman, but an octagonal story has been added to the square base. The curtain connecting these towers is gone, and the lofty south bank has been scarped, and its outline changed. In this ward is a well 380 feet deep, once covered by a tower.

The Outer Ward is contained within a curtain, much of which is reduced by an internal ramp to a parapet wall. Upon the three landward sides it is narrow, and chiefly occupied by the ditch of the middle and inner wards. Upon the remaining or southern side it expands and includes a large space between the middle ward and the cliff. Its circuit is only not complete because its walls rest at either end upon the cliff. The plan of the wall is irregular, with an occasional angle or shoulder for raking the ditch. Exteriorly it rises from the outer dry ditch, and upon it are twenty-seven towers of various dates, figures, and dimensions, square, circular, and multiangular. Most of those on the western face are simply hollow bastions, and have no internal projection. Those on the eastern face are mostly mere sentry-boxes, or bartizan turrets of small dimensions. Upon the seaward front, where the cliff is perpendicular, there is no wall. The ingenuity of the engineer has been exercised on the landward and weaker sides. Five of the towers are connected with gates. These towers, commencing at the south-west angle of the ward, near the cliff, are: 1. Canon’s or Monk’s Gate, now destroyed; in it was a well. 2. Rokesley’s Tower, semicircular. 3. Fulbert de Dover’s Tower, square; near which was long the office of the “bodar,” or sergeant-at-arms, to whom all civil warrants of arrest for debt or breach of the revenue laws were addressed. Fulbert’s Tower was also his prison. 4. Hirst’s Tower, semicircular; it commands a shoulder or re-entering angle in the wall. 5. Arsick’s Tower, semicircular. 6. Gatton Tower. 7. Peverill’s, Beauchamp’s, or Marshall’s Tower. This is also the gatehouse between the two divisions of the outer ward, which was strong, with a ditch on the south front, and a drawbridge. It was also the marshal’s prison. 8. Port, Gosling, or Queen Mary’s Tower, having been repaired by that sovereign. 9. Fiennes’s Tower, or the Constable’s Gate. This is one of the grandest gateways in England. It is in plan a triangle with its obtuse angle presented to the field. The angles at the base fall within the line of the curtain, and are capped by two large drum towers. The salient angle in like manner is capped by an oblong tower, rounded at each end and flat in the centre, through which the entrance passes. These three towers are large and lofty, and are connected by an embattled curtain. Within the triangle a central tower rises to a still greater height, and commands the whole. The entrance passage is broad and vaulted, and provided with gates and a portcullis. Within, it opens upon the level of the outer ward; without, it terminates abruptly upon the scarp of the ditch, there about 50 feet deep. From this gateway a bridge communicates with the opposite bank. A single lofty pier rises from the centre of the ditch, and from it an arch springs to the outer abutment, carrying a regular roadway and parapets. In the opposite direction the parapets alone spring, as two arches, from the pier to the gateway, and serve to steady the pier, but the roadway is omitted, and its place supplied by a drawbridge. This arrangement is not uncommon, but is here specially necessary, owing to the height and consequent weakness of the pier. Upon the counterscarp of the ditch is a tête-de-pont, from which a steep road descends by a traverse towards the town. This gate, though open, is but little used. The ordinary gate is modern, and near the site of Canon’s Gate. The Constable’s Gate is of the Decorated period. Its interior is said to be very curious, but is not shown.

Sixteen towers, including Clopton, Godsfoe, Magminot (4), and Crevequer’s Towers (2), protect the north-west face. Clopton is a hexagon; the name of Magminot is borne by four towers. The two towers bearing the name of Crevequer mark the position of the great postern, a very curious work. Passing from the north gate of the inner ward, a range of arches cross the ditch and the outer ward, and terminate abruptly in a large low pier with salient angles to the right and left. Opposite to the pier, and no doubt at one time connected with it by a drawbridge, rise a pair of circular towers (Crevequer), connected by a heavy curtain and flanked by lesser towers (Magminot) at short distances, all forming part of the enceinte of the outer ward. Towards the field the curtain has a salient angle, and from its base a covered gallery descends into the outer ditch, and there reaches St. John’s, a drum tower built in the middle of it. The gallery passes through the first story of the tower, and terminates in the counterscarp, in a circular chamber cut in the chalk, and from this chamber three tunnels radiate to different parts of the glacis, of which one formerly led to a distant postern, and another still communicates with the old spur-work, attributed to Hubert de Burgh, and converted into a modern ravelin. Two other tunnels, apparently of Edwardian date, leave the main gallery under the castle wall, and the basement floor of St. John’s contains two sally ports, opening into the bottom of the ditch. The modern access to these galleries is by a shaft sunk in the pier of the old drawbridge, but the old entrance was nearer the curtain. The French siege of 1216 was directed upon this quarter. The approaches were made from the west below the Constable’s Gate, and under cover of a trench and breastwork. While the attack was impending Sir Stephen de Pencester brought a reinforcement into the castle by the postern under Godwin’s Tower. De Burgh, taught by experience, threw up the advanced work which still, under a changed form, covers the northern end of the castle, and it was to reach this in safety that the gallery from St. John’s Tower was executed.

Fitzwilliam’s Tower (18), placed about 80 yards east of the north gate, was connected with a second postern, not unlike the last, and now connected with a caponnière. Beyond this are 19 and 20, two watch turrets, and farther on 21, Albrinci’s or Avrenches’ Tower. This contains a third postern of peculiar arrangement. It is a low, polygonal structure, placed on a shoulder on the ditch, so as to rake its continuation southward. It was reached by a covered gallery from the south gate of the inner ward, which is continued through its basement so as to open on the counterscarp of the main ditch. Connected with this gallery was Veville or Pencester’s Tower, placed upon the curtain which on this side closed the connexion between the two divisions of the outer ward. Of the remaining towers, five in number, three are called Ashford’s, and near one of them was another well. This part of the defence has been completely remodelled. The names of the several towers are those of the knights by whom they were built, or whose duty it was to defend them, for to no castle in Britain, not even to Richmond, was the practice of tenure by castle guard so extensively applied as to Dover, and very numerous and valuable were the Kentish manors so held, amounting to 230½ knight-fees, of which 115¼ were attached to the office of Constable.

The Keep.—This is a very fine example of a late Norman keep. It is very nearly square, being, at the base above the plinth, 98 feet north and south by 96 feet east and west, with a forebuilding 15 feet broad by 115 feet long, which covers the east side and the south-east angle of the main structure. The angles are capped by pilasters 19 feet broad and of 5 feet projection, which meet to form a solid angle, and, rising to the summit, become the outer faces of four square turrets. On each of the three free faces is an intermediate pilaster, 15 feet broad by 5 feet projection, which rises to the same height with the parapet, and forms a bay in its line. There is a battering plinth, 6 feet high, from which the pilasters rise, and the total height of the wall is 83 feet, and of the turrets 12 feet more, or 95 feet. The base of the keep is 373 feet above high-water mark. The top of the plinth is marked, on the face of the pilasters, by a bold cordon or roll, and there are two sets-off of 6 inches common to both walls and pilasters, one at the first and the other at the second-floor level. The walls are of unusual thickness, even for a Norman keep. That to the west, between the pilasters, is 21 feet reduced to 19 feet at the first and to 18 feet at the second floor. The north wall is 17 feet, the south 19 feet, and the east 18 feet. The cross wall, which runs north and south, and divides the building nearly equally, is 11 feet at the base, and reduced to 7 feet and 6 feet at the top story.

The main entrance is in the east face, near its north end, at the second-floor level. The forebuilding which covers it is the finest in England. It is in fair preservation, all but its roofs and part of its east wall, which are modern. As at Rochester, it is of masonry inferior to the keep, at least outside, and there is no cordon at the base of its pilasters, but it contains within more ornamental work than the keep, with which it is so intimately connected that it cannot be an addition. In the north-east and south-west angles of the keep are well-staircases remarkably commodious and well lighted. They are 14 feet 6 inches in diameter, the stairs being 6 feet 6 inches and the newel 1 foot 6 inches. They rise from the basement to the roof by 114 steps, and communicate with each floor, the two lower by lobbies, the upper and upper gallery by branching passages. From the north-east lobbies doors open into the two tiers of vaults below the upper part of the forebuilding. The extraordinary thickness of the walls is intended to allow of the construction of a very unusual number of mural chambers, of which there are altogether twenty-seven. Besides the main entrance there seems to have been one at the first-floor level, also from the forebuilding. Others have since been made, one probably in the fourteenth century, direct into the basement, and another very recently into the base of the south-western staircase. Besides these, divers loopholes have been converted into doors, to give external entrance to the basement mural chambers which are used as water-tanks and powder-magazines.

DOVER CASTLE.

DOVER KEEP.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.

GENERAL REFERENCES.

  1. Main Entrance,
  2. Inserted Door,
  3. Modern Door,
  4. Main Chambers,
  5. Vaults,
  6. Lower Vestibule,
  7. Lower Chapel,
  8. Wells.

FIRST FLOOR.

BASEMENT.

The basement.—There is some doubt about the original level of this floor. At present it is 9 feet above the ground outside, but it contains two doors, the sills of which are 6 feet or 8 feet below the floor, and on opening the ground near the centre of the keep a pavement was found at the same level, so that the floor may have been filled in with earth and raised. If so, however, there must have been some kind of stair to supplement the well staircases, for the floor of their lobbies is certainly at its original level. The cross-wall between the two chambers is pierced by three plain round-headed arches of 11 feet opening.

The east chamber, 50 feet by 20 feet, has in its north end a deep recess, and a loop up to which the sill is stepped, while the arch overhead rises as the recess contracts. It is evident that the recess at the south end was similar, but has been converted into a doorway. This is the opening in general use, from the first landing of the exterior staircase. The wall here is 24 feet thick, and there are rebates for two doors, with bars within each. The arches are segmental and the angles rounded off. The alteration seems to have been made in the Decorated period, with a trace of later work. Close east of this door, and 6 feet below it, is another door, now partially concealed, which led into a vault 28 feet by 15 feet, occupying the south-east angle of the building. In its south wall a door leads into a second vault, 23 feet by 15 feet, below the lower vestibule and chapel. Each vault had a loop towards the east. They are now used as water-tanks, and reached by external openings. Returning to the east chamber, in its east wall are two doors, one at its north end and one near the middle, now blocked up. The northern door opens into the lobby of the north-east staircase, and from it a door led into a vault 28 feet by 12 feet, in the forebuilding, now used as a magazine, and entered through the outer wall. The middle door probably led into another vault, of which nothing is known. Thus at the ground level of the forebuilding there are three, if not four vaults, all originally entered from the keep. They are about 6 feet high to the arch-springing.

The west chamber, 50 feet by 16 feet, has a large recess and loop in each end, and in the west wall two doors, one opening into the lobby of the south-western staircase, where is the modern door, and the other, now blocked up, which led into a mural chamber 39 feet long by 12 feet broad, now a powder-magazine, and entered from the outside.

The first floor also contains two main rooms which communicate by a small door near the north end of the cross-wall.

The east chamber, 53 feet by 22 feet, has a recess 7 feet wide in its south end, which ended in a loop, now converted into a window. In its right or west jamb is a fireplace; in its left a door opening into a mural chamber 18 feet by 11 feet, with a loop to the south, and from the east end of which a door opens upon a staircase of the forebuilding. This door and the window above it are of Tudor date, but there are indications that there was an original door here, of which the Tudor frame is a replacement. In the exterior wall is an arch of relief in fine ashlar, which matches in size with the vault within, and looks as though intended to protect an original door. In the east wall of the great chamber is a door opening into the lobby, in which six steps descend to the north-east staircase. From this lobby a door leads into a vault 24 feet by 12 feet, with a recess in its north and south walls, and a loop in its east end. From this a short passage leads into a second vault, 17 feet by 2 feet, with a loop to the north. These two vaults are placed below the upper vestibule and great guard-room of the forebuilding. In the north wall of the great chamber, at the east end, a small door opens into a mural gallery, 16 feet by 4 feet, with a loop to the north, and which ends in a chamber 5 feet by 6 feet, also with a loop to the north. Above this gallery is a recess 7 feet wide, raised about 10 feet from the floor, to clear the gallery. Its loop is replaced by a modern window.

The west chamber, 52 feet by 20 feet, has also a 7-feet recess in its south end, with a modern window, and in its east jamb a door opening into a mural chamber, 13 feet by 9 feet, with a south loop, and a fireplace in the east wall. This, and the fireplace already mentioned, are placed back to back, and, though with Tudor fittings, may possibly be original. In the north wall of the great chamber is a high recess and window, similar to that in the east chamber. In the west wall are four openings; that at its north end opens into a chamber in the north-west angle, 23 feet by 10 feet, with loops to the west and south. From it branches a passage 18 feet by 4 feet, in the north wall, which leads under the high window recess to a chamber 7 feet by 6 feet. Both passage and chamber have loops to the north. Next follows a window recess of 6-feet opening at the floor level, rising by four steps to the modern window; then a door opening into a mural chamber, 20 feet by 9 feet, with a fireplace in the east wail and two loops to the west. Finally is a door opening upon the lobby which leads to the south-west staircase, rising three steps, and having a loop to the west. Besides the three fireplaces in mural chambers, there were two others under arches of 12 feet span, one in the centre of each face of the cross-wall. These, however, are closed up. In the same wall, at the north end, is a door between the two chambers.

DOVER KEEP.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.

SECOND FLOOR GALLERY.

SECOND FLOOR.

The second floor is the main or state floor of the building, and that into which opens the great entrance. As in the keeps of London, Rochester, and Hedingham, it had two tiers of windows, the upper passing through a mural gallery. Early in the present century this floor was covered in by two large brick vaults, slightly pointed. The object was to convert the ramparts into a platform for cannon. This clumsy addition completely conceals the upper half of the walls and destroys the effect of two very fine chambers.

The east chamber, 55 feet by 24 feet, is entered on the east side, near the north end, by a large, full-centred doorway, flanked outside by nook shafts. From this a vaulted passage, 5 feet broad, traverses the wall, here 16 feet thick, and descends by eight steps into the main chamber. This inconvenient height was evidently given to secure headway for the vault below the vestibule. In the entrance passage, on the left or south side, a door opens into the well chamber, a vault, 16 feet by 8 feet, with a loop to the east upon the great staircase. At the south end of the vault, upon a step, is the well, 4 feet diameter and 289 feet deep, lined, as far as can be seen, with ashlar. In the east wall is a recess for a spare bucket. Near the entrance, at the north end of the east wall of the great chamber, a door leads into a curved passage which descends eleven steps into the north-east staircase. At the south end of the same wall a large arch, 5 feet above the floor, opens into a mural chamber 8 feet by 7 feet. This arch has been reduced by modern brickwork, to support the great vault. In the same chamber a loop opens upon the grand staircase, and in the south wall is a door and a descent by eight steps towards the chapel. It is possible that the loop was originally a small door leading into the upper floor of the middle tower of the forebuilding, and that thence, in Tudor days, a small wooden gallery led to the north door of the ante-chapel. In the south end of the great chamber is a window recess of 7 feet, opening with nearly flat sides. In its west jamb is a fireplace, in the east a door leading into a mural vault 18 feet by 12 feet, over that by which the first floor is entered. This vault has a loop to the east upon the great staircase, on the north the eight steps, already mentioned, and in the south wall a narrow door and mural passage leading to the robing-room and ante-chapel. In the north end of the great chamber, near the north-east corner, a door opens into a chamber 7 feet by 5 feet, which lies in the north wall below the window recess, here of 8 feet opening.

The west chamber, 55 feet by 21 feet, has in its south end a window recess 7 feet broad, in the east wall of which a door opens into a mural chamber 14 feet by 9 feet, with a loop to the south and a fireplace in the east wall. In the west wall of the great chamber is a window recess 5 feet wide, commencing at the floor level, and there are three doors. That at the north end opens into a chamber, 22 feet by 9 feet, in the west angle, with loops to the west and north. From this opens a passage in the north wall 17 feet long, which ends in a chamber 11 feet by 5 feet; chambers and passage have loops to the north. Near the centre of the west wall of the great chamber a door opens into another mural chamber, 22 feet by 14 feet, with two loops to the west and a fireplace in the east wall. Another door leads, by a curved passage with a loop to the west, into the south-west staircase. In the great cross-wall is a door near its north end, and in each of its faces two large fireplaces, now walled up. In the north wall is a high window or recess of 8 feet opening.

The main gallery, though it threads the wall nearly all round, lies at different levels, and at one point is stopped. It is entered from the two staircases. That at the north-east gives off two branches, of which one rises by fourteen steps, with a loop to the north, and enters a passage in the north wall 16 feet long, having a loop to the north, and to the south an opening, now blocked up, into the great chamber. The passage ends in a chamber 18 feet by 8 feet, in the north wall of which is a loop, and near it a deep recess for a garderobe; and in the south wall is what seems to be the mouth of a gallery threading the cross-wall, where, however, it would be stopped, or very much reduced, by the shafts of the fireplaces. The other branch from the north-east staircase rises by six steps, when it gives off a branch to the east of nine steps, which lead to the roof of the upper tower of the forebuilding. The main passage then curves and rises ten steps more, in all sixteen steps, when it enters the substance of the east wall, where it is 60 feet long and 4 feet 7 inches broad, and has a door to the east, opening on the middle tower of the forebuilding, and a loop, and opposite to these are two openings in the west wall, which formerly opened into the great chamber, and now are blocked by the brick vault. The passage then turns and lies for 67 feet in the south wall. In its east end is a loop; in its south wall, there 10 feet thick, a door opening upon the roof of the lower tower of the forebuilding. In the same wall are two, and probably three loops, opposite to two of which seem to have been openings into the great chamber. The third is much broken. In the inner wall is a recess, probably the mouth of the cross-wall gallery. At its west end the main gallery descends twenty steps to reach the south-east staircase. From this staircase, at twenty steps higher up, a door opens into the gallery, which is continued along the west wall 68 feet. It has three loops in the outer wall, opposite to two of which are apertures, now closed, which looked into the great chamber. This gallery is continued 15 feet, with a width of 6 feet, in the north wall.

The roof of the keep is now an artillery platform, pierced on the south by six and on the west by five embrasures, the top of the pilasters forming a bay in the centre of each face. The two other faces are solid, and protected by guns “en barbette.” Of the four turrets, which are 21 feet square, with two entrances on each face, the two to the south have entrance stairs, and doors from the stair-head open in the side of those at the north-east and south-west angles. The north-west turret seems to be entered by an opening in its east face. Though these turrets have been much pulled about, their substance seems original.

The forebuilding covers the whole of the east and about 45 feet of the adjacent south face of the keep. Its breadth ranges from 15 feet to 23 feet. It was strengthened by three towers, one over the north end or top of the staircase, one over the south-east angle or bottom, and one on the east front over the middle of the staircase. The middle tower, in which was the middle doorway, is unusual. These rose to about four-fifths of the height of the main building, and their battlements were reached, as has been shown, by doors from the upper gallery. The object of this forebuilding was to contain and protect the great staircase, and in it are three vestibules, a lower and upper chapel, and an ante-chapel, several mural chambers, and a well. The entrance at this time begins from the ground on the south front by an open staircase of ten steps, probably modern, as the original ascent seems to have been against and parallel to the keep wall. At the top of these steps is a landing, upon which opens the present entrance into the basement floor. The staircase then turns to the right and rises eleven steps, still open, having on the left the keep and on the right the flanking projection of the forebuilding, in which is the lodge, and above it the robing-room. In front is a lofty doorway, 7 feet wide, with a segmental arch, quite plain, and above it a loop which opens from the chapel passage. This was the lower entrance, and was closed by a barred door. Entering the doorway, eleven steps under cover lead to the lower vestibule, which is thirty-two steps, or 20 feet, above the ground. This vestibule is a handsome chamber, 15 feet by 12 feet, with an arcade of two arches in its south wall, each pierced for a loop. In the west wall, near the entrance, is the door of the lodge, a plain barrel-vaulted chamber, 13 feet by 6 feet, having a loop to the west. In the east wall of the vestibule is an arch of 7 feet opening, springing from coupled columns and flanked by two others. The head is moulded with the chevron pattern. This arch opens into the lower chapel, 14 feet by 13 feet, which occupies the south-eastern angle of the building, and is so placed that the altar could be seen if desired by each person who entered the keep. In its north and south walls are arcades of two arches, divided by a pier carrying two nook shafts and a third shaft in the centre. In the south-east arch is a loop, and opposite to it a cupboard. In the east end is also a loop, placed in a recess flanked by two shafts. The floor of this chapel is one step above the vestibule. The ceiling of both was flat, and of timber. Beneath chapel and vestibule is the vault already described. The walls of this part of the forebuilding are from 2 feet 6 inches to 5 feet thick.

From the vestibule a doorway, the second, opens in the north wall. This has a segmental head, and is original, but it has been reduced in breadth, probably when the basement door was opened, by the insertion of new jambs. It opens into a vaulted passage, 6 feet wide and 5 feet long, being the thickness of the north wall of the lower tower. It is occupied by three steps and a landing, from which four steps ascend into the middle vestibule. This is a chamber 25 feet long by 15 feet broad, having a modern roof and two modern windows in its east wall, which has been in part rebuilt. On the left, on entering, is a Tudor doorway, and above it a square-headed window of two lights, of the same date. This opens into a mural chamber already described, and thence into the first floor of the keep. A large arch of relief is seen above in the wall, and it is probable that there was always a door here.

Beyond this door the staircase rises by twelve steps to a broad landing at the end of the vestibule. Besides the Tudor doorway and window, on the same side, higher up, are loops from two mural chambers of the second floor of the keep, and in the south wall over the stairs a small door, not now used, which opens into the ante-chapel. In the north wall of this vestibule, a doorway of 5 feet opening, the third in order upon the stairs, opens into a passage 6 feet wide, which pierces the wall of the middle tower, here 6 feet thick, the whole tower being 14 feet. From this doorway a flight of twenty steps, 8 feet wide, ascends into the upper vestibule, to a large landing 19 feet by 14 feet. The vestibule itself is 25 feet by 14 feet, and lies between the middle and upper tower of the forebuilding. In the east wall, which has been rebuilt with the roof, are two modern windows. In the south wall a narrow passage, 10 feet long by 3 feet broad, leads to the outer well, the ashlar pipe of which is 4 feet diameter. It seems to have been used in modern times as a cesspit, and is choked up. The well is placed in the centre of the tower, which seems to have been a mass of masonry. At present the wall round the well has been broken away so as to form a rude chamber. It cannot now be ascertained whether the well stopped at this level, as is probable, or was carried up to the roof of the tower. In the north end of the vestibule, looking down upon the staircase, a door leads into a vaulted guard-chamber, 16 feet by 10 feet, with loops to the north and east, and a deep recess in the west wall. In the west wall of the vestibule is the great door of the keep and a loop from the well-chamber. There are traces on this wall of ashlar, as though it was originally intended to vault and groin this vestibule.

In the forebuilding, on the level of the second floor of the keep, remain to be mentioned the robing-room, ante-chapel, and chapel. They are placed in the lower tower of the forebuilding over the lodge, vestibule, and lower chapel, and were entered only from the keep, through the mural chamber already described. From this chamber a passage, only 2 feet 5 inches broad, lies in the wall over the outer doorway, and from it a loop opens over the staircase, outwards. This passage, 17 feet long, ends in two small doors, right and left, one entering the robing-room, the other the ante-chapel. Originally this was the only way into the chapel, and a very stout person could scarcely have reached it. The Plantagenet princes, though mostly big in the bones, were rarely corpulent. The robing-room is over the lodge. It is 10 feet by 7 feet, vaulted, groined, and ribbed; the ribs are of plain roll section, and there is no boss. They spring from nook shafts at the four angles. There are loops, or rather small windows, of a foot opening to the west and south, flanked by small columns. The ante-chapel, 16 feet by 13 feet, has an arcade of two arches in the north and south walls, and a loop in the north-east space, converted into a small door, so as to give a separate entrance. In the east wall an arch of 8 feet span opens into the chapel. It springs from coupled columns, flanked on each face by two others, and the arch has a chevron moulding. The floor was of timber, and rested on five beams. The roof is vaulted, groined, and ribbed, and the moulding a roll with a band of dog-tooth. The chapel is 14 feet by 13 feet. It is peculiar in its position, being placed over the base of the entrance stair, instead of, as at Middleham, at its head. It also has an arcade of two arches in the north and south walls, with nook shafts in pairs at the angles behind which, from a corbel capital, spring the ribs of the vaulted roof. These are of a roll section with a band of the dog-tooth ornament, and a central flowered boss. There is a small east window, and also south of it a piscina with a trefoiled head and projecting basin, now broken off. This seems a Decorated addition. There are two loops in the south wall, and one in the north near the east end, and in the other north bay a cupboard. The floor was of timber, resting upon four joists.

The material of this keep is chiefly the rag stone of the country worked as rubble, not very regularly coursed. Ashlar, mostly of Caen stone, is used freely for the door and window dressings and the quoins. The joints are close. The pilasters are of unusual breadth and projection. The chapels and the lower vestibule are highly ornate, with much of the chevron and roll mouldings, and occasionally of the dog-tooth. The arches are sometimes segmental, but more commonly full centred. There is no portcullis in the building; the entrances were closed with doors only, secured with wooden bars. None of the loops that open on the staircase could be used in its defence. Excepting about the main door there is no ornamentation in the keep itself. Doors, windows, and fireplaces seem to have been quite plain. This is the only known keep in which there is a second well, and it is difficult to understand why there should be two so near together, the expense of making which must have been so great. The upper gallery is of very rude masonry indeed; the lines of the passages do not coincide with the general direction of the walls, and the execution is very inferior. It is unfortunate, with ample buildings all round, that the authorities should pervert this very curious keep to vulgar and dangerous uses. The stores should be kept elsewhere, and the brick vaulting and additions be removed. The external breaches and doors in the walls should be closed, the second well cleared out, and the whole building as far as possible restored to its original condition. It might then be fitted up as a museum of arms, and every part, including the ward, made accessible. The reputed date of this keep is 1153, when the foundations are said to have been laid by Henry, grandson of Henry I., shortly before he succeeded to the throne. This coincides sufficiently well with the evidence of the building itself, which is late in the Norman style.

The general view here added is taken from the north, and shows the constable’s gate and bridge, and in the foreground the towers and curtains of the outer ward on this side. Immediately behind them are seen the square towers and the curtain of the inner, or Norman ward, and within all rises the keep, applied to the east side of which are seen the three towers of the forebuilding.

DUNSTER CASTLE, SOMERSET.

THE Castle of Dunster is of high antiquity, and for many centuries was a place of great military consideration in the western counties. It was the caput of an extensive Honour, and the chief seat of a line of very powerful barons. The hill upon which it stands is the north-eastern, or seaward extremity of a considerable ridge, from which it is cut off by a natural depression, and thus forms what is known in West-Saxon nomenclature as a tor. The tor covers above ten acres of ground, and is about 200 feet high, with a table top in area about a quarter of an acre. It stands upon the western edge of a deep and broad valley, which contains the park, and below the castle expands into a tract of meadow about a mile in breadth, skirting the sea from Minehead to below Carhampton. The park is traversed by a considerable stream, the Avill, one head of which springs from Croydon Hill, and the other, flowing past Wootton-Courtenay, rises about six miles distant under Dunkery Beacon. The home view, one of exceeding richness, is limited and sheltered on the south and west by the Brendon Hills and the high ground rising towards Exmoor. To the east it includes the vales of Cleeve and Williton, bounded by the Quantocks. Seaward on to the north the eye ranges over Bridgwater Bay to the headland of Brean Down and Worle, and commands the west or opposite coast from Penarth Point to Aberavan and Swansea.

West, and at the foot of the castle hill, and under the immediate control and protection of the old fortress, is the town of Dunster, a small and compact cluster of old-fashioned houses, many with timber fronts, in the midst of which is the parish church, once connected with the priory, the foundation of one of the early Norman lords. The eastern or monastic part of the building now forms the private chapel of the Luttrells, and contains several of their tombs.

DUNSTER CASTLE.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.

  1. Tor and Keep.
  2. Lower Ward and House.
  3. Ancient Entrance and Later Gatehouse.
  4. Approach from the Town and Priory.
  5. The Park.

The fancy cloths once known as “Dunsters” have long ceased to be fabricated, and of the fulling mills the ruins have well-nigh perished. The haven at which these manufactures found shipping is also silted up, and the privileges conceded to the townspeople, being now shared by the community at large, are no longer commemorated, and are known only because the charters granting them have been preserved. Of the neighbouring hills, “Gallocks” is thought to be so called because there the high judicial powers of the lords were exercised in the view of all men, and “Grabhurst,” the castle ridge, is said to be named from an entrenched wood, though this use of the word “graff” is unknown or unusual in English nomenclature, and “Hirst” or “Hurst” belongs rather to Sussex and Kent than to Somerset. The fact is that the hill in old deeds is spelt “Grobefast,” and is at this time colloquially “Grabbist.” Near it is a lofty detached hill known as “Conygaer,” crowned by a tower of the last century. At present it is thickly planted, but no camp has been discovered there, such as the name might indicate. The castle mill remains. It is placed on the verge of the park, upon the stream, and concealed and protected by the castle.

The castle is composed of two parts, due to the natural disposition of the ground; these are the tor or keep, and the lower ward. The tor is in form oval, and its summit, naturally flat, has been further levelled by art, as the slopes also have been trimmed, and rendered almost impracticable for direct ascent. The summit measures about 35 yards east and west, by 70 yards north and south. The keep, which stood here, has disappeared, and its existence, long a matter of tradition, may now be deduced from a sewer and some foundations in the south-west corner laid open a few years ago. The present surface was laid down as a bowling-green in the last century, and a summer-house constructed at the north-east corner, in which is a window in the Perpendicular style taken from some earlier structure.

The artificial scarping of the hill sides is confined to the upper 80 or 100 feet. At this level are two platforms or shelves, one, a small one, towards the south, the other much larger, also chiefly natural, towards the north, and which forms the lower ward. The lower ward is of a semilunar or semioval figure, the hollow side being formed and occupied by a portion of the skirts of the tor. It measures about 33 yards north and south by 126 yards east and west, and covers about half an acre of ground. The outer or convex edge, steep by nature, has been cut into a low cliff, supported by a retaining wall, which, with its flanking towers and superstructure of parapet, protected this ward. At the foot of this wall, part of which supports the present house, the slope recommences, and, though now terraced by roads and paths, formerly descended unbroken to the base of the hill.

The keep was probably either circular or polygonal, approached as at Lincoln by a direct flight of steps from the lower ward. Its gateway seems to have been defended by a portcullis, as one is mentioned in the records, which could not have been in the earlier gateway or the later gatehouse. The buildings and inhabited part of the old castle were in the lower ward or its north-eastern quarter, upon the enceinte or curtain wall, and on the site, generally, of the present house. The wall was strengthened and flanked by half-round towers, of which the lower part of several remain incorporated into the later building and connected with fragments of wall, now a part of the house, and betrayed by their excessive thickness. One of these walls has a core of the natural red sandstone rock, enclosed in masonry, but traceable by an occasional exudation of dampness. The gateway of this ward remains between two of these flanking towers. It is 9 feet broad, with plain chamfered jambs, and a low stiff drop arch. There was no portcullis, and probably no drawbridge, the only defence being a door composed of bars of oak, 4 inches square and 4 inches apart, forming a grating, planked vertically outside with inch-and-a-half oak plank. Upon each oak bar was laid a bar of iron, and the whole fabric was spiked together with iron fastenings, having diamond-shaped heads. The meeting line of the two valves was guarded by an iron bar. In the right valve, on entering, is a wicket-gate 3 feet 8 inches high by 2 feet 6 inches broad, fastened with a huge iron lock in a wooden shell. This very curious specimen of carpenter’s and smith’s work, though of later date than the gateway, is old, not unlike that of Chepstow Castle, and probably of the time of Henry VIII. or Elizabeth. The gateway itself belongs to those of Henry III. or his son. In the last century the gates were permanently closed, and behind them was built a wall backed with earth. The gateway has recently been restored as far as possible to its original condition, and now gives access by steps to the lower ward.

The mural towers flanking the gateway are parts of circles, 16 feet 6 inches external diameter, and the lower 12 feet are original. One contains a curious vaulted basement with the usual three loops, and in the rear a doorway which opened into the ward. The other, or eastern flanker, had a basement chamber until recently filled with earth, and had also three loops, of which two are still visible outside. This tower was connected with a building in its rear, the foundations of which are original, and now form a part of the offices. Also upon the retaining wall, but about 20 yards beyond, and to the south-west of the old gateway, is another similar flanking tower, of which the upper story remains, and a part of a doorway. This tower is open in the rear. The towers, curtain, and entrance gateway are, in substance, all of one date, and what ashlar remains is of good quality and well jointed. The superstructure has been renewed recently.

The approach to the castle was steep, as it still is, from the town up to the old gateway, to enter which the road made a sharp turn. Just below the gateway, upon this approach, has been built a gatehouse, which projects from and is connected with the curtain, being incorporated into the tower, flanking the old curtain on the west side. This structure, the great gatehouse, still remains perfect, and, though evidently intended more for ornament than defence, makes a most appropriate approach to the castle, and gives to the whole structure much of a mediæval and something of a military character. This building is rectangular, 63 feet broad by 23 feet deep, and about 45 feet high, sixty-two steps leading to its battlements. It is pierced by a passage 10 feet 6 inches broad, having a plain pointed waggon vault, and at each end a not very highly pointed arch, with good moulded jambs continued round the head. There are no lodge doors opening into the archway, and neither portcullis nor drawbridge. The fronts are plain, save that the exterior has two flanking buttresses, and over the entrance is a rectangular panel containing nine coats of arms in three rows—one, four, and four. The interior front is flanked by two half-hexagonal turrets, of which that at the outer end contains a well-stair, entered from the outside by a small four-centred doorway, and communicating with each floor, and with the battlements. The corresponding turret is built upon one of the old mural towers which flanked the gateway of the lower ward. It contains a small chamber, probably a garderobe, on each floor. Against the outer end of the building are two buttresses, a large and small one, probably added to support the wall which then stood upon a steep slope and showed signs of settlement. The gatehouse is of three stages. The basement has a chamber on each side of the main passage, entered, one by the well-stair, the other by an exterior door. That next the well-stair is 14 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 8 inches, and has a window to the front. That on the other side of the archway is 21 feet 6 inches by 16 feet 3 inches, and is entered from the outside by a small doorway, probably an insertion. Opening from this chamber are two closets, and a well-stair ascends to the two floors above.

The first floor contains two rooms, 22 feet 10 inches by 16 feet 6 inches, and 21 feet 6 inches by 16 feet 6 inches, and 13 feet high. In its inner end are two closets.

The second, upper, or principal floor, was formerly of two rooms, but has recently been converted into a handsome hall, 47 feet by 16 feet 6 inches, with an open roof. It has five windows and a fireplace, and is entered on the level from the lower ward by a doorway, which seems an insertion of the date of Henry VIII., and which has the head of the well-stair on one side, and beyond, on each side, a closet. The windows of the gatehouse are mostly of two lights, divided by a transom into four, with the upper lights cinquefoiled and in the head quatrefoiled. The summit is embattled, and at the four angles are turrets, of which the two to the outer or front face are apparent only.

The shields on the exterior panel are, in the upper line, 1. Luttrell with crest and supporters. Below, in the next line, 2. Luttrell impaling Courtenay; 3. Luttrell impaling Beaumont of Sherwell; 4. Luttrell impaling Audley; 5. Luttrell impaling Courtenay of Powderham. In the lower row, 6. Luttrell impaling Hill; 7. Luttrell impaling blank; 8 and 9 blank. The Luttrell supporters were two swans chained and collared, derived from Bohun through Courtenay. The date of this gatehouse is uncertain. It has been thought to be the “novum ædificium castri de Dunster,” with the construction of which the accounts show Henry Stone to have been charged in the 9th of Henry V., but the lower part is of the style prevalent under Richard II. The door from the lower ward into the lobby is scarcely earlier than Henry VII. or VIII.

It is probable that the gatehouse was for some time used in combination with the gateway by its side, until the latter was closed. The approach and entrance, however inconvenient, were strong, and almost precluded any regular attacks by battering-machines, or even by escalade.

The history of Dunster commences with Domesday, in which it is recorded that William de Mohun holds Torre, and there is his castle. Aluric held it in the time of King Edward. “Ipse [Willielmus de Moion] tenet Torre. Ibi est castellum ejus. Aluric tenuit T.R.E.” These words are very appropriately inserted over the great chimney-piece in the hall. The Exeter Domesday also confirms the holding both of Mohun and Aluric. Who Aluric was is unknown. That he was a considerable Englishman none can doubt, but the name was common, occurring sixty-four times in Domesday, as does Alric, probably the same name, twenty-six times.

Mohun no doubt found the tor strongly fortified, after the English manner, for not only was it a frontier fortress against the western Celts, but it must have been exposed to the piratical invasion of the Northmen, who gave name to the opposite islands of the Holms, and the not very distant port of Swansea. The place was, in fact, a natural burh on a large scale, such as Æthelflæd and Eadward the Elder were wont to throw up artificially on a smaller scale in the early part of the tenth century. There was the conical hill with its flat top for the aula or domus defensabilis, and the courtyard below for the huts and sheds of the dependents and cattle.

William de Mohun was no mere adventurer. He was a great baron of the Cotentin, having the castle of Moion in la Manche. He fought at Hastings with a knightly following, and received from the Conqueror from sixty to seventy manors in Somerset, Devon, Dorset, and Wilts. These manors were in his time, or in that of his successor, combined into an Honour, as was the case with those attached to the chief seats of Plympton, Totnes, and Barnstaple. Dunster became the caput honoris.

The Honour of Dunster was one of about eighty-six in England, though in what they differed from baronies is not precisely understood. The nucleus of either was almost always an estate held before the Conquest, added to largely by the Norman who conquered it. In all cases it extended into more than one county, and was held of the king in capite by homage, fealty, and military service. By the laws of Henry I., every lord could summon his liegemen before the court, “et si residens est ad remotius manerium ejusdem honoris unde tenet, ibit ad placitum, si dominus suus summoneat eum.” The Honour is not a jurisdiction mentioned in Domesday, unless it be in a passage relating to Cornwall where it is recorded, “Hæ terræ pertinent ad honores chei;” chei being a place. The term is said to have been first used by the Conqueror in his charter to the Abbot of Ramsey. Most of the Honours seem to have fallen into disuse by the alienation of the manors composing them, as was the case with Dunster, although the records show that for many centuries the rights were maintained by the lord of the castle in full rigour.

To what extent the Mohuns were content with the earlier defences of the castle is unknown, but it is remarkable that no mouldings or fragments of Norman ornament have been dug up in or about the building, although there is original Norman work in the parish church. From the configuration of the ground the lines of the old fortress must have been where they still are, so that there would be no reason for pulling down the earlier works to enlarge the area; and yet it is difficult to suppose that works as durable as was the case with those of the Norman period could have fallen to decay by the reigns of Henry III. or Edward I., the date of the oldest extant parts. However this may be, it is certain that the castle of the Mohuns was one of the most important of the western fortresses; and in the lawless days of Stephen it was held for the empress against the king, during the great revolt of 1138, its lord being then William de Mohun, the second baron.

William, indeed, was not content with passive resistance. He is described as the “Scourge of the West,” ravaging and plundering the country up to the gates of Barnstaple, where he was held in check by Henry de Tracy. He is said to have been created earl either of Dorset or Somerset, or both, by the empress in 1140; but this creation rests on very uncertain authority, and has never been admitted as valid. The earldoms of that period were very irregular, and some were afterwards set aside. This lord founded the Augustine Priory of Brewton, in Somerset, and, according to the Black Book of the Exchequer, he held forty-four knights’ fees. It is not improbable that to him is due the circular or polygonal keep, which was common at that time where a castle possessed a mound, and which is known to have stood on the summit of the tor.

No mention of the castle occurs till the reign of John, who held the castle and Honour during the minority of Lord Reginald, when the fines, &c., for the Honour were levied by the king’s officers. In the Chancery roll of 1201–2, Nicholas Puinz accounts for 15s. 2½d., half a year’s pay allowed to the janitor of the castle, and the same to the watchman; and these payments are repeated by Reginald de Clifton, who, in 1204, was ordered to place Reginald de Moyon in possession of the castle of Dunster and the heritage then in his custody. A very little before this, the coming of age of Reginald, Hubert de Burgh was in charge, and had accounted “de finibus militum” of the Honour; and 25th February, 1202, John called upon the knights and free tenants to contribute through De Burgh for strengthening the castle. “Our castle,” the king calls it, probably not merely as holding it in wardship, but as asserting the general rights of the crown to all castles. A second Reginald seems to have founded a mass for the weal of his ancestors, to be said daily by a monk or a secular priest, to be provided by the prior, in the upper or St. Stephen’s chapel, in the castle, or during war in the chapel of St. Lawrence, within the priory. If the same was neglected, power was reserved to distrain upon the goods of the prior. Leland mentions St. Stephen’s chapel as connected with the keep. There seems also to have been a second chapel, as usual, in the lower ward. Upon the death of Lord Reginald, about 1213, the Honour again fell into the hands of the Crown during a long minority. Henry Fitz Count was placed in charge, and Alice the widow was allowed dower and “maritagium.” It is curious that John does not appear to have visited Dunster, although he was at Stoke-Courcy.

Henry III., in 1220, placed the forest of Dunster in charge of Peter de Maulay. He retained the castle in his own hands, and there occur several charges for the payment of Roger and William de Vilers, as “balistarii regis,” who dwelt in the king’s castle of Dunster. A specific order in 1222 places the Mohun lands in Carhampton in charge of William Briwer, probably next of kin to the widow, but reserves to the king’s hands the castle and vill of Dunster. Soon after, Watchet market, being unlicensed and injurious to Dunster, was put down (Close Roll I., 137, 418, 605). The above were not the only persons to whom from time to time this valuable wardship was committed.

Of the condition of the castle at the close of this wardship, nothing is on record; but the wealth of the family was much augmented by the match of Reginald, King John’s ward, with a Briwer co-heiress, and either his son Reginald, the founder, 1246, of Newenham Abbey, who died 41st Henry III., 1256, or his grandson John, who died 7th Edward I., 1278, the last baron by tenure, might have built the curtain and mural towers containing the lower ward, of which the bases remain. The keep was probably left unaltered, and indeed, from the great and inconvenient height at which it stood, could have been but little used. The purely defensive parts of castles, when not inhabited by the owner, were usually but little cared for, and the allowance for a porter and a single watchman shows that in this respect Dunster was no exception.

In 1376, John de Mohun, the eighth baron and the tenth in lineal descent from the founder of the family, died, leaving daughters only, and a sale of the castle and the rest of the property was effected by his widow Joan Burghersh. The purchaser was another widow, Elizabeth, daughter of Hugh Courtenay, Earl of Devon, and widow, first, of Sir John de Vere, and afterwards of Sir Andrew Luttrell, of Chilton, a cadet of the barons Luttrell of Irnham. Elizabeth was a lady of high rank, of kin, through the Bohuns, to Edward III., and with the command of great wealth. Her son, Sir Hugh Luttrell, became the new lord of the castle and Honour, and probably built the great gatehouse.

The Luttrells were steady Lancastrians, and their representative, Sir James, took knighthood on the field of Wakefield, and fell in the second battle of St. Alban’s, when his estates were confiscated, 1st Edward IV., though only to be restored, 1st Henry VII., in the person of his son, Sir Hugh. Sir Hugh Luttrell stood high in the favour of Henry VII., and seems to have lived at Dunster in great splendour. To a second Sir Hugh, Leland attributes the great gatehouse, and he may have completed or repaired it, and opened its south door leading upon the lower ward. Probably he also inserted the armorial panels over the entrance portal, the last of which, complete, bears his coat impaling that of Margaret Hill, his wife. He also repaired the chapel of St. Stephen. Leland describes the donjon, or keep, as having been “full of goodly buildings,” which, however, had disappeared even before his time. The inhabited part of the castle was then, as now, in the north-east angle of the lower ward. Sir Andrew, Sir Hugh’s son and successor, “built a new piece of the castle wall by the east.”

The next possessor who left his mark upon the castle was George Luttrell, Sheriff of Somerset in 1593. He built the market-house in the town and the older part of the present dwelling-house, which bears date 1589, incorporating with it much of the curtain wall, towers, and walls of the older and more distinctly military building. The entrance to the ward seems to have remained as before, through the gateway between the flanking towers.

During the wars between Charles and the Parliament, the Luttrells sided warmly with neither party, and were out of favour with both. Its owners at this time were Thomas Luttrell, who died 1644, and George, died 1655. In 1643 a Royalist garrison, under Colonel Wyndham, took possession, and the castle was visited by Prince Charles, whose chamber is still pointed out. In 1646 Blake laid siege to the castle for the Parliament, and battered it from the north-west, behind the Luttrell Arms. It was surrendered by Wyndham in April, 1646. A few iron cannon balls, memorials of this siege, have been found.

The government, although they apologised for the military occupation of the castle, levied a local rate for pulling it down. Probably this referred only to the upper part of the curtain wall on either side of the gatehouse. It is said that the gatehouse was injured, but its present condition shows that the injury could not have been of a very serious character.

A century later the accounts show that the Luttrells raised the surface of the lower ward, probably about fourteen feet, evidently with earth obtained by scraping the adjacent slope of the tor. This, which involved the closing up of the old gateway, was probably combined with the construction of a new approach, which passed below and outside of the gatehouse, wound round the castle and the tor, and entered the lower ward at the new level. Matters thus remained until the accession of Mr. George Luttrell in 1869, when, under the judicious advice of Mr. Salvin, a great addition was made to the Elizabethan house, a new tower was constructed on the west front, and the foundation and pavements of buildings along the north front, and connected with the entrance gate and the gatehouse were laid open, and the walls restored and rebuilt, and a terrace formed along a part of the curtain. The approach for carriages was also much improved, though, as before, at the cost of avoiding the great gatehouse.

The ancient walls incorporated with the later residence prove that there must have been very considerable buildings upon the ground now occupied by it, but there is some reason to suppose that both hall and chapel stood near the site of the later gatehouse, and, therefore, to the right or west of the original entry. If this be so, the extent of buildings in the lower ward must have been very considerable indeed, as in the other direction they certainly extended, as does the present house, to the foot of the tor, and were flanked by it. Nevertheless, considerable as the alterations have been, and handsome and convenient as are the rooms of the present mansion, it represents very fairly the original fortress, and, like it, is sheltered by the tor, and predominates over the park, the town, and the sea-coast, commanding a very extensive view, and, as becomes the representative of so important a military post, is itself visible from the tract of country of which it was sometimes the terror, but more frequently the protection.

THE KEEP OF DURHAM.

THE Castle of Durham is now given over to the use of the Northern University, and is in great part occupied by the students. Parts of it only are open to visitors, and any description of its details, under the present restrictions, would be of little value.

In a recent volume of the publications of the Surtees Society, Mr. James Raine, the worthy son of a distinguished sire, has given to the archæological world a very curious poem, now first printed, entitled “Dialogi Laurentii Dunelmensis Monachi ac Prioris,” a work of the time, and which records the intrusion of William Cumin into the see of Durham. This was a period of extreme interest in that important see, once including the city of Carlisle and the territory of Teviotdale, and at the date of the poem still holding the Castles of Durham and Norham, fortresses of the first rank, even in a district which contained Bamborough.

The strife between Stephen and Maud, severe all over England, was nowhere conducted with greater severity than upon the Tyne, the Tees, and the Wear. David of Scotland, Maud’s uncle and active supporter, unsubdued by his defeat at Northallerton, claimed the earldom of Cumberland in his own right, and that of Northumberland in right of his wife. Durham alone stood in his path, and its bishop, Geoffrey Rufus, strong in his impregnable castle, steadfastly adhered to Stephen. His death in 1140–41 enabled a certain William Cumin, an adherent of David, to obtain by force and fraud possession of the castle and the temporalities of the see, although he failed to secure his election to the bishopric. The result was a severe contest between Cumin and the lawful bishop, William de St. Barbe, in the course of which the cathedral was occupied by soldiery, and its monks were ill-treated and slain. It was not till 1144 that Cumin was put down, and peace restored to the house and patrimony of St. Cuthbert.

Laurence, who was born at Waltham and brought up in its holy house, came to Durham during the episcopate of Flambard, who probably completed the castle, the masonry of which, at least, was begun during the reign of the Conqueror. As an ordinary monk, he was celebrated for his facility in metrical composition. He became first precentor, and then a chaplain, to the bishop. The episcopal seat and church of Durham has been described as

“Half church of God, half fortress ’gainst the Scot,”

and the bishops themselves partook largely of this double character. In the bishop’s household, Laurence saw much of secular life. He became a hunter of the wolf and boar, a fisherman, and a judge of horse-flesh; and, if not actually a warrior, he certainly understood the principles of military defences. At the death of Bishop Rufus his connexion with the episcopal household ended, and he took an active part against the intrusion of Cumin and in the election of St. Barbe. He was for some time expelled from the monastery; but after his return became prior in 1149. On St. Barbe’s death, in 1152, he led in the election of De Puiset, Stephen’s nephew, and supported him against the Archbishop of York, by whom he was excommunicated and sentenced to a penitential flagellation at the door of Beverley. Nevertheless, he stood firm to the election, and was one of those who accompanied De Puiset to Rome, and witnessed his consecration by the Pope. He did not, however, live to return to England, but died in France; and his bones only were laid at Durham.

The Dialogues are but one of several of his poems. They may be referred to the first half of the twelfth century, when their author was probably resident within the castle with Bishop Rufus, and must have been very familiar with that nearly completed structure.

The castle still retains many of the features and some of the buildings described in the poem. The ditch which cut off the fortress from the cathedral is, it is true, filled up, and the pasture ward to the east is built over and obscured, but the south gate, though rebuilt, stands on the old site, and is still the main entrance; and the wall on the right on entering still extends towards the keep. The keep itself is a late work; but the mound upon which it stands is a part of the original fortress, and the masonry is laid on the old lines, and in outline the tower no doubt represents pretty clearly the work of Flambard. A strong wall still connects the keep with the lodgings of the castle, and forms the front towards the river. The chapel also remains but little altered, and the walls and arches of the dormitory are original. The well is still seen in the open court, and is, or was recently, in use. Notwithstanding various repairs, rebuildings, and additions, there can be but little doubt that the Castle of Durham resembles in its general aspect the fortress of the Conqueror and of Flambard; nor is there in England any more remarkable example of a Norman castle of the shell-keep type. The publication of the description of it by Laurence possesses, therefore, a peculiar charm; and this must be the excuse for the following attempt at its translation. The poem is here and there very obscure, and occasionally scratches Priscian’s head; and it may be that I have misapprehended one or two lines in the original:—

DESCRIPTIO ARCIS DUNELMENSIS, “LAUR. DUNELM.,” I.L., 367.

Arx in eo regina sedens sublime minatur,

Quodque videt totum judicat esse suum.

Murus et a porta tumulo surgente severus

Surgit, et exsurgens arcis amœna petit.

Arx autem tenues condensa resurgit in auras,

Intus sive foris fortis et apta satis.

Intus enim cubitis tribus altius area surgit,

Area de solido facta fidelis humo.

Desuper hanc solidata domus sublimior arce

Eminet insigni tota decore nitens.

Postibus inniti bis cernitur ipsa duobus,

Postem quippe potens angulus omnis habet.

Cingitur et pulchra paries sibi quilibet ala,

Omnis et in muro desinit ala fero.

At pons emergens ad propugnacula promptos

Et scandi faciles præbet ab æde gradus.

Cumque venitur eo via lata cacumina muri

Ambit, et arcis ita sæpe meatur apex.

Arx vero formam prætendit amœna rotundam,

Arte, nitore, statu, fortis, amœna, placens.

Hinc in castellum pons despicit, atque recursus

Huc et eo faciles pons adhibere solet:

Largus enim gradibus spatiatur ubique minutis,

Nec se præcipitat sed procul ima petit.

At prope murus eum descendit ab arce reflectens

In zephyrum faciem flumen ad usque suam.

Cujus ab āēra largo sinuamine ripa

Se referens arvum grande recurvus obit.

Obditus et siccis aquilonis hiatibus arcem

Exsurgens repetit fortis ubique feram.

Nec sterilis vacat aede locus quem circinat alti

Ambitus hic muri; tecta decora tenet.

Consita porticibus duo magna palatia præfert

In quibus artifices ars satis ipsa probat,

Fulget et hic senis suffulta capella columnis,

Non spatiosa nimis, sed speciosa satis.

Hic thalami thalamis sociantur, et aedibus aedes,

Et datur officio quælibet apta suo.

Hic vestes, ibi vasa nitent, hic arma coruscant,

Hic (sic) æra latent, hic caro, panis ibi.

Hic fruges, ibi vina jacent, hic potus avenæ,

Hic et habet propriam munda farina domum.

Cumque sic hinc domus atque domus jungantur, et aedes

Ædibus, inde tamen pars ibi nulla vacat.

Castelli medium vacat æde, sed exhibet altum

Ille locus puteum sufficientis aquæ.

Queen-like the castle sits sublime, and frowns

O’er all she sees, and deems the whole her own.

Straight from the gate the gloomy wall ascends

The mound, and thus the stately keep attains.

A close-built citadel, piercing the clear air,

Outside and inside strong, well fitted to its use.

Its base, of heaped-up earth three cubits raised,

Solid and firm, the floor does thus support;

On which firm base the supereminent keep

Rises, unrivalled in its glittering sheen.

On twice two timbers stayed, are seen to rest

The buildings there, for each main angle one:

While round each half circumference are wings,

Each ending in a formidable wall.

Springing from these a bridge, by easy steps,

To the high battlements an access forms,

Where the broad wall all round gives ample path,

And thus the summit of the keep is gained.

Stately that keep! a circle in its form,

Splendid and strong by art, and by position fair.

Thence, downward to the castle, leads the bridge,

And offers easy access to and fro;

For broad its path with many a shallow step,

The base attaining by a gradual slope.

Hard by, the wall, thrown backwards from the keep,

Faces the west towards th’ encircling stream,

On whose high bank continued, it enfolds

With a bold sweep an ample pasture there;

From parching northern blasts protected thus,

And so curves round to the stern keep again.

Nor does the space within the wall embraced

Stand without buildings: such there are, and good.

Two porches to two palaces belong,

Of which the work to th’ artist brings no shame.

Here, too, a chapel fair six columns boasts,

Nor large, nor small, but fitted to its needs.

Here beds lie near to beds, and halls to halls,

Each for its province suitably disposed:

Robes here, bright vessels there, here glittering arms,

Here bread, there flesh, and tempting coin concealed,

And corn and wine laid down, and barley beer,

And the clear flour here finds its proper bin.

Thus on one side house joins to house, and hall

To hall. The other too is occupied.

The court alone is free, and there is seen

The well, full deep, with water well supplied.

EATON-SOCON CASTLE, BEDFORDSHIRE.

THE Ouse, rising in the shires of Northampton and Bucks, and finally falling at King’s Lynn into the head of the Wash, flows deep and sluggish past Bedford, St. Neots, and Huntingdon, intersecting broad tracts of low and level land, now fertile meadow, but formerly almost impassable swamp, opposing great difficulties to the march of an invading force, especially if advancing from the eastern coast. At Eaton-Socon, between Bedford and Huntingdon, and a little above the town of St. Neots, the Ouse impinges upon the rising ground to the west, upon which stand Eaton Church and Village, and which afforded facilities for the construction of a large and lofty earthwork.

This earthwork, known as the Castle Hill, is placed upon the west or left bank of the river, about 30 yards from its present brink, and a furlong or so from the fine parish church. It is possible that when the earthwork was first formed, the course of the stream lay at the foot of the banks. At present there is a large mill upon the river, a few yards above the castle, the leat of which is reunited to its parent stream opposite to the south-eastern edge of the fortress.

The appended sketch shows the general plan of the place. It is, roughly speaking, a triangle, the east side, of 160 yards, resting upon the river, and the north side, of 140 yards, projecting from it at a right angle. The third side, or hypothenuse, is convex and irregular; measured upon the curve, it is in length about 220 yards. The area, complete, is about 3½ acres.

The work is composed of three parts—an Inner, Northern, and Outer ward. The inner and north wards lie side by side upon the river, separated by a cross ditch. The two are contained within another ditch, which communicated at each end with the river. Beyond this, covering the south-western front, is the outer ward, and beyond this again the outer ditch, which commences at the south-east corner in the mill leat, covers the south-western front, and at the north-western angle sweeps round to join the ditch already mentioned, and thus, through it, to communicate with the river at the north-east corner of the work.

The Inner Ward is about 45 yards north and south, or along the river front, by 54 yards east and west. Its figure is a rectangle, with the angles so rounded off that its aspect is almost as much that of a circle as of a square. Towards the river is a steep slope of about 20 feet. On the other sides a similar slope falls towards the ditch. On the crest of the slope on these three inland sides is a bank of earth about 8 feet to 12 feet high, especially strong at the north-west corner. The entrance was at the south-east corner. The inner area or platform of the ward is about 15 feet above the level of the exterior soil. On this platform, about 8 yards from the north-east corner, is a low circular mound about 5 feet high and 40 feet diameter upon its table-top. It may have been somewhat higher. It has no ditch of its own. The ditch of this ward is from 40 feet to 50 feet broad, and still contains water.

EATON SOCON, BEDS.

North of this is the North Ward, above 35 yards north and south, by 80 yards east and west. This also has a ditch about 40 feet broad, on the west and north fronts. From the inner ward it is separated by the cross ditch common to the two, and towards the river is a steep slope about 20 feet high. Besides these defences, the slope on the west and north is crested by a steep bank of earth, and towards the south, or inner ward, is one somewhat slighter.

The Outer Ward is in figure long and curved. Its breadth ranges from 29 yards at the north end down to 22 yards near the south-east end, beyond which it terminates upon the mill leat in a point. This ward is separated from the other two by a common ditch, which communicates with the cross ditch, and thus at three points, directly or indirectly, with the river. The south-eastern end opens at the junction of the leat with the river. The leat covers this end of the ward, and from the leat springs the outer ditch, from 40 feet to 50 feet broad, which covers the outer front of the ward, and at its northern end, sweeping round by a sharp angle, is continued till it joins the north ditch, of which it thus forms a part. The entrance was at the south-east corner, where a modern causeway crosses this outer ditch. The road thence skirts the edge of the outer ward, along the margin of the leat, and thence, by a second causeway, crosses the inner ditch, and, ascending the slope, gains the inner ward. No doubt these causeways represent drawbridges. It does not appear how the inner and north wards communicated. The bridge between the latter and the outer ward was probably at the south-west corner of the northern. The ditches are in parts reduced in depth, and evidently were originally fed from the river. There is not a trace of masonry, but depressions in the bank of the north ward seem to indicate towers at its north-east and north-west angles. It is convenient to use the term angle, but the lines are more or less curved and irregular, and are largely rounded where they meet. The plan has, in fact, nothing of the squareness of a Roman work, and the rounding of the angles is quite different. It is probable that the tendency to sharpness in its outline is due to the walls and towers of the work in masonry, which, though now gone, is reported to have been at one time present.

Eaton, or Eiton, appears in Domesday as held in capite by the Bishop of Bayeux, but there is no mention of a castle either then or at any later time. The Beauchamps, its later lords, do not there appear as Bedfordshire landowners. In the “Liber Niger,” however, about 1165, Simon de Beauchamp held a barony, under which Hugh de Beauchamp held one knight’s fee.

This Hugh was of Eaton. He was the eldest son of Oliver, a cadet of Milo de Beauchamp, of Bedford. Oliver and Hugh were founders of Bismead Priory, in Eaton parish. Hugh was a considerable baron. He was Custos of Rhuddlan Castle 3 Henry II., and, 22 Henry II., one of those who conveyed Henry’s daughter to Palermo, on her marriage with the King of Sicily. He was slain in Palestine, 33 Henry II., and succeeded by Roger, his brother, and he by a third brother, William, whose son John inherited, and, 6 Henry III., was seized of the family manors of Eaton and Sandy. His son was William, living 42 Henry III., father of Ralph, summoned as Lord Beauchamp of Eaton, and who died 21 Edward I., holding one fee in Sandy and Eaton, no doubt that held by Hugh, his ancestor. He held Eaton in capite, “per baroniam.” His son, Roger de Beauchamp, of Eaton, was the last summoned. He was aged 21 at his father’s death, and his descendants have not been followed up.

44 Edward III., John de Goldington and Jocosa his wife, John Hemmyngford and others, were seized of a third part of Eaton juxta St. Neots, and half of Sandy. 1 Henry IV., Sandy was held by Katherine, wife of Sir Thomas Engayne; and 1 Edward IV., Lord Zouch had Eaton. Long after the extinction of the barons, the barony remained, and Wyboldeston Manor was held of it by Sir John de Greystock. In the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, Eaton was held by the Lords Vaux of Harrowden, who sold it in 1624. They were cadets of Vaux of Gillsland, and are said to have inherited Eaton from the Beauchamps.

Although the manor of Eaton is not unfrequently mentioned in the records, we never hear of the Castle, nor is the addition of “Socon” ever used. Leland writes of “Eiton a good village in interiore ripa” [of the Ouse] ... “where be seen vestigia castelli between the church and the ripe, and almost hard on the ripe.... The ruins of Eiton Castle long to Lord Vaux.” In Leland’s loose language these terms may apply to the earthworks only. It is, however, probable, from present appearances, and from the place having for six descents been the chief, if not the only seat, of barons of the realm, that there was a castle, and Speed, writing a little later, names Woodhill, Tempsford, Eaton, and Ampthill, as the castles of Bedfordshire. It is possible that a very moderate excavation would lay bare the foundations, though no doubt, building materials being scarce in these parts, those who dismantled the castle would make a clean sweep of the masonry.

The position is a very strong one, and the earthworks much resemble those of Huntingdon, and are probably of the same age. The mill is no doubt a very old one, though this does not apply to the present structure.

THE CASTLE OF EWIAS HAROLD, HEREFORDSHIRE.

THE “Castellaria Aluredi Ewias” of Domesday was a tract, the particulars of which are not known, but which no doubt lay among those lines of hill and valley which converge like the fingers of a hand upon the Worm and the Monnow, between the Golden Valley and the Black Mountain, and form the south-western portion of the county of Hereford. The actual castle, “Castellum Ewias,” stands about six miles within the border, and about three miles outside or west of the presumed line of Offa’s Dyke at this point. The country is hilly, but fertile, well worth the defence, for which it affords many natural advantages. The immediate position is chosen with great skill, though it required an immense application of human labour to make it an almost impregnable fortress against the fierce and active hordes of Welshmen whose alienated patrimony it was intended to grasp. While the Mound of Builth remains an evidence of English rule, that of Ewias can scarcely be regarded as the advanced post, the “Castle Dangerous” upon the British territory; but it must nevertheless at all times have been a post of very great danger, and have borne, with Kilpeck, the brunt of the ordinary and frequent attacks of the men of South and West Wales upon Hereford.

In selecting the position advantage was taken of a tongue of high land, broad towards the west and north, but which came rapidly to a narrow and almost abrupt termination in a point about 300 feet above and within the junction of the two adjacent streams. Of these the larger flows along the northern front of the position, and the smaller down a deep valley along its southern front. The two meet a few score yards below the high ground; and upon the left or further bank of the larger stream, and a short distance above the junction, is the church, and attached to it the village, to which the castle and its English lord have given the distinguishing name.

It was decided to convert the point or eastern end of the high ground into the proposed strong place, and to form thus, in the northern fashion, an isolated mound. With this intent a broad and deep ditch was cut across the ridge, curved so as to embrace about one-half of the future elevation. At its north end the ditch was carried straight down the hill-side towards the brook. At its south end it came to rather a sharp conclusion, running out upon a natural bank and slope. Here, however, it was in some sort resumed at a lower level, and ended in a shallow ditch at the southern or principal entrance to the castle. The part thus isolated by the ditch formed the circular base of a mound of about 120 yards diameter and about 30 feet high. This the addition of the soil from the ditch raised to about 70 feet, and thus gave it, in the military sense, a command over the adjacent part of the original ridge. On its opposite, or eastern side, the mound does not descend at once towards the junction of the waters, but at its foot is a broad semicircular platform, which covers its east, north-east, and south-east fronts, and from the outer or convex edge of which descends a steep slope towards the water, which slope is again succeeded by inclinations of a far more gentle character, not included in the military works.

A fair general idea of this stronghold may be given by supposing a circular platform of 200 yards diameter to be bordered on the east and adjacent sides by a steep natural slope falling from its edge, and on the west and adjacent sides by a steep artificial slope falling to its edge. Then on the western margin is placed a conical table mound, 60 feet or 70 feet high, and about 120 yards diameter at the base, which necessarily converts the western slope into the further side or counterscarp of a ditch, and reduces the eastern side to an open crescent-shaped platform. Such is the original plan of the Castle of Ewias, and such its present appearance after the complete removal of the masonry which for about 600 years adorned or encumbered its earthworks.

The top of the mound is oval, about 34 yards north and south by 40 yards east and west. Upon it has stood a shell-keep, either circular or many-sided, about 30 yards diameter. Although no masonry remains, the outline of the keep is plainly indicated by the trench which has been dug while the foundations were being grubbed up. The keep seems from this to have stood, not in the centre, but nearer the eastern margin of the mound, probably to allow room for a couple of exterior towers, or perhaps a gatehouse, which seems to have stood where now are some circular pits. Towers would be well placed on this the weakest side, so as to give a still greater command over the approach along the high ground. There is no trace of any regular ascent to the keep,—no mark of an original winding path up the mound, that now in use being evidently very modern. The side is so steep that no wheeled carriage could ascend it, and scarcely any heavily-laden horse. Probably the way up lay by a direct flight of steps, as at Hawarden and Carisbrook.

There is no trace of a well. The material of the keep was evidently a hard schistose bed of the old red sandstone, fragments of which are seen in the excavations.

The outer ward or crescent-shaped platform, below and west of the keep, runs out to a point towards the southern end, but to the north or north-west it is stopped at a breadth of about 42 yards by the prolongation of the keep ditch. The breadth of the ward at its greatest is about 60 yards. Along the north-west front it is strengthened by large earth-banks thrown up from the contiguous ditch, but elsewhere the natural slope of from 30 feet to 40 feet, steeply scarped, needed neither ditch nor bank. This ward had a curtain wall along its outer edge, of which the foundation diggings remain open. The north-west end was continued up the mound, and probably the circuit on the opposite side was completed in a similar way, so as to make the mound and keep, as at Tamworth and Durham, a part of the general enceinte. A group of excavations shows that this ward contained a considerable number of domestic buildings placed in its north-eastern and eastern part, near to the curtain wall. At the foot of the mound to the north is a sort of notch in the line of bank, possibly indicating a postern. The main approach evidently rose gradually from the village bridge, and skirted the foot of the eastern slope of the outer ward nearly to its south end, where it turned inwards and entered that ward by a roadway or slight cutting.

There is no trace of masonry to be seen within or about the castle enceinte; the material seems to have been in request as building-stone, and to have been everywhere collected and even grubbed up with most covetous care. There is a limekiln on the south side, near the line of the entrance, no doubt built of the materials of the castle, and a sort of house, now a shed, between it and the brook, but the material shows no mark of the tool and no old mortar.

There are some mounds between the castle and the brooks, possibly thrown up on the occasion of some attack by the enemy. On the other or high side there are no outworks nor any indications either of attack or defence.

There are no remains of the priory save what are included within the parish church. This is a good-sized building, recently repaired or restored, and in excellent order. It is composed of a tower, nave, south porch, and chancel. The nave has been so completely restored that little of old work is to be seen in its walls or roof. It is probably in substance of Decorated date, judging from the buttresses on the south side. The porch is new. The chancel has in the north wall a sepulchral recess, of Decorated pattern, covering the original recumbent figure of a female with her hands in prayer, holding what looks like a covered cup. In the south wall are two lancet windows of one light, under pointed recesses, and between them a late Decorated window of two lights, trefoiled, with a plain four-sided opening in the head. The whole is in a round-headed recess. The arch into the nave is new.

The tower is the best part of the church. It is of large size, square, and short for its size, probably having had another story. It rests upon a bold plinth, about 5 feet 6 inches high, at the top of which is a bold half-round cordon, with a band. The south-west angle is covered by the pilaster buttresses, of 8 feet 6 inches breadth, and a foot projection, which die into the tower, near the present summit. In this angle is a well-stair. In the south side is an unusually large door, of 8 feet opening, with high lancet arch. In the centre of the flat jamb on each side is a half-column, 2 feet diameter, with a water-bearing moulding, and a sort of bell-cap, with several bands of moulding above it. The arch is plainly chamfered, and the cordon of the tower is carried round it as a hood. Above this is a clumsy window of two lancet lights under a pointed head, very plain. Above this again is a small broad window, with a trefoiled head, and above all an early English window of three lights, with three-quarter shafts before each mullion, with bell-caps. In the nooks of each jamb are two similar shafts, seven in all. The head is a drop-pointed arch, plainly chamfered. There is a window similar to this in the north wall. The church contains nothing earlier than this mixture of the early English with the Decorated style. The masonry of the castle was probably, from its plan, of a late Norman, or transitional date. The earthworks are of the regular Herefordshire type; attributable to the English of the early part of the tenth century. They resemble generally, in the presence of a mound, those of Kilpeck and Builth, Caerleon and Cardiff, of Brecon, Abergavenny, and many places in this county or district. No doubt this and the similar works were thrown up when the early Saxon inroads were made into Wales, and were the strongholds of the invading chiefs.

Ewias Harold certainly does not bear the name of its founder, and that founder was probably as completely forgotten in the eleventh century as now.

There are two places called Ewias in Herefordshire, distinguished by the names of their eleventh-century owners, as Ewias Lacy and Ewias Harold. Both are mentioned in Domesday, and both as the seats of a castelry, a sort of Honour or superior lordship attached to the castle. Under the lands of the church of Hereford, we are told that “in the manors of Dodelegie and Stane are ten hydes, all waste save one in Dodelegie. Of the nine, one part is ‘in castellaria Aluredi Ewias,’ and the other in the King’s enclosed land.”

Another entry explains that Alured was Alured de Merleberge or of Marleborough, a great tenant in chief, especially in Wiltshire. We read, “Alured de M. holds the castle of Ewias of William the King. For that king conceded to him the lands which William the Earl [Fitzosbern of Hereford] had given to him. Who refortified [refirmaverit] this castle.” Of it held seven knights, whose Christian names are given, besides other persons. The castle was then valued at £10. Agnes, the daughter of Alured, married Turstan of Wigmore.

How or when Alured gave up the castle does not appear; but in 1100 it was held by a certain Harold, also a large tenant in Domesday, though not in Herefordshire. He is called “Heraldus filius comitis Radulphi,” and as such held Sudeley, in Gloucestershire. Earl Ralph, called the Timid, was the Earl of Hereford who was beaten by the Welsh and English forces in 1055, when his son was a mere child. Ralph was a considerable man by descent, being great-grandson of Æthelred and great-nephew to the Confessor. Harold probably obtained some of his father’s possessions when he came of age, and Ewias may have been part of them. He and his descendants were liberal donors to St. Peter’s, Gloucester, in its behalf founding the Priory near the Castle of Ewias.

The names and order of Harold’s sons are preserved in the Gloucester Cartulary, and they correct Dugdale and all other authorities. They were Robert, Roger, John (to whom his father gave Sudeley, and whose issue were barons), Alexander, and William. Robert de Ewias, the eldest, is described in the “Gesta Stephani” as “vir stemmatis ingenuissimi.” According to the “Liber Niger,” he held in capite upwards of forty-seven fees, the mesne tenants of which were twenty knights. Dugdale mentions only twenty-two fees, and confounds him with a second Robert, his son, also Lord of Ewias. The elder Robert had by his wife Sybilla, Robert, and Richard de Ewias, who left a daughter and heiress, Sybilla, who married Philip Spenser, and left issue.

Robert de Ewias, the third owner of the castle, and the second baron, married Petronilla. He was living 1194–6. He also left a Sybilla, daughter and heiress of Ewias. She married, first, Robert de Tregoz; second, William de Newmarch, whom she married during her father’s lifetime, in the reign of Richard I. He was living 11 John. Third, Roger de Clifford, probably the second brother of William de Clifford. From this match spring the Earls of Cumberland. Newmarch had no children. Sybilla was dead 20 Henry III., and was followed by her son, Robert de Tregoz, slain at Evesham 1265. He was father of John and Henry, father of a line of barons who ended about 1405.

John de Tregoz died 1300, leaving two co-heirs, Clarice and Sybil. Clarice, who died 29 Edward I., married Roger la Warre, and had John, aged 23, in 1300; and Sybil married Sir William de Grandison, ancestor in the female line of the St. Johns, Viscounts Grandison. In the partition, John la Warre had the “body of the castle,” of which, 4 Edward III., he enfeoffed John de Cleydon. He died 21 Edward III. John, his eldest son, died before him, and as early as 12 Edward III. he had enfeoffed his grandson, Roger la Warre, and Elizabeth his wife, with Ewias Castle and Manor.

Roger la Warre died 44 Edward III., seized of Ewias Harold, and was succeeded by John, his son. 13 Richard II., Sir John de Montacute, sen., is seized of Ewias Harold, and three Wiltshire fees in the Honour of Ewias, and Teffont-Ewias, in Wiltshire, besides other Ewias lands in Herefordshire. 18 Richard II., these same lands were held by Margaret, wife of Sir John Montacute, Bart.; and 10 Henry IV., by Thomas de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury.

The nature of this alienation is obscure; for, in the midst of it, 22 Richard II., Sir John de la Warre and Elizabeth his wife are seized of the Castle of Ewias Harold. However, there seems to have been an actual and permanent alienation to the Montacutes; for, 7 Henry VI., Thomas, Earl of Salisbury, has Ewias Harold. Thence it passed to the Beauchamps, of whom Joan, widow of Sir William Beauchamp, of Bergavenny, had the castle, vill, and lordship in 14 Henry VI.; and, finally, the Beauchamp heir, Edward Nevile, Lord Abergavenny, died seized of the castle, &c., in Herefordshire, and of Teffont-Ewias, in Wiltshire.

THE CASTLE OF EXETER.

THE Castle of Exeter is not only a fortress of high antiquity, but is in many respects peculiar. It occupies the northern angle of the city, forming a part of its enceinte, and it crowns the summit of a natural knoll formed by an upburst of Plutonic rock, of a red colour, whence it derived its Norman appellation of Rougemont. The knoll rises steeply on the north-east and north-west from a deep valley, but on the other two sides the slope, though still considerable, is more gradual. The sides of the knoll have been scarped, and at the foot of its upper part a deep and broad ditch has been excavated, beyond which, to the north, a second scarp descends to the bottom of the valley. Towards the south, where the ground allowed of and required it, there was a second and outer ditch. The contents of the inner ditch were carried upwards and inwards to form a high bank round the original summit of the knoll, the central part of which was thus converted into a pit, and became the inner, and indeed the only, ward of the castle. In figure this ward, taken at the level of the circumscribing bank, is something between a square and a circle. Probably its outline was governed by the natural figure of the ground, and such angles as it now has are due to later modifications of the works.

Originally then, the fortress was a hill camp, composed of a bank about 30 feet high, cresting the edge of the knoll, and outside scarped down about 60 to 80 feet deep to the bottom of a broad ditch, which again was reinforced on the less steep side by a second ditch. The main ditch towards the north-east and north-west has been filled up and converted into a broad public walk and garden, but the outer or second scarp still remains, and descends to the valley now occupied by the station of the London and South-Western Railway. Towards the south-east and south the ditch remains unaltered, and is a very fine example of an ancient earthwork. Towards the east it seems to have been filled up.

The camp thus described is probably older than the city, and was an ordinary earthwork, constructed in the usual fashion of the Britons, with one main ditch, reinforced with parts of others where needed. The main entrance was probably always on the south-eastern face, where the ground is less steep than elsewhere. Here, no doubt, a cut traversed the bank, and the ditches were crossed by narrow causeways, as at Old Sarum and elsewhere. These original works were probably British, and were no doubt occupied and slightly modified by the Romans. When the city, if such there was, of Caerwisc, was founded by the Britons, they probably made it an appendage to the south side of the camp, on the site of the present city, the spot being indicated by nature for such a purpose. The city occupies an oblong, elevated platform, contained between the Exe on the south-west, and its tributary streams, with their valleys, on the north-west and south-east, and connected with the higher and distant ground to the north-east by a long narrow isthmus, pierced recently by the tunnel of the London and South-Western Railway.

The Isca Damnoniorum of the Romans was certainly this enclosure, though, no doubt, they gave their enceinte more of a rectangular figure than it afterwards maintained, and laid out the cruciform roads which are occupied by the two main streets of the present city. The camp was their citadel, and they would, of course, continue the defences of the city up its faces, so as to make it a part of the general enceinte. The Saxons, on their arrival, no doubt contented themselves with these previous arrangements, and made the best of them against the Danes in 876 and 894. Rather later Æthelstan walled in the city and the castle, and, amidst the varieties of ancient masonry still to be traced round the town, Mr. Freeman thinks it just possible that some of this great king’s work may be seen. These were the walls which enabled the citizens to hold at bay Swend of Denmark in 1001, when he threw up the earthworks at Penhow to the north of the city, and won a victory in the open field. When the Norman Conqueror appeared before Exeter in 1068, he approached from the north-east, and summoned the city at the east gate, just below the castle. Æthelstan’s walls were then in good order, and it was in them that the breach was effected. Probably, however, neither the city walls nor the defences of the castle were up to the Norman standard, for Baldwin of Okehampton was left in command with the usual instructions to build a castle, as the Normans understood that formidable structure. How long Baldwin contented himself with repairing the existing defences, and in what order he replaced them, is unknown, but enough Norman work remains to show the general plan upon which he or his immediate successor proceeded. A strong retaining wall was built against the face of the upper bank. This wall rested, and does still rest, upon the natural edge of the hill, and it supports, as a revetment, the made ground behind it, being about 30 feet high, and having carried a parapet of about 4 feet more. Probably this wall was carried on slowly, the old outer defences being tenable.

The earliest masonry now seen, earlier probably than the wall, is the gatehouse, which may safely be attributed to the latter part of the eleventh century. At the western angle, where the city wall joined the castle, was built a rectangular tower, the base of which still remains, and it is said at the north angle was a similar tower, the two thus flanking the north-west face. The wall had a high base or plinth, battering somewhat, and carrying the superstructure, which is vertical. There remain upon it two half-round solid bastions; one at the north end of the south-west face has three flat pilasters rising from the plinth, and is evidently pure Norman; the other, near the centre of the north-east face, is similar in pattern, but the pilasters are rather narrower and chamfered, and probably very late, or transition Norman. Most of the wall is rubble, but a portion of the north-eastern front, near the site of the castle chapel, is composed of good blocks of ashlar, possibly of the age of Richard II. The bank and wall have been removed in the centre of the north-west front, to make room for the Sessions House, an ungainly structure, ugly anywhere, but here especially out of place. The chapel stood in the court, near the western corner.

The gatehouse is decidedly original, and a good example of a rude Norman gatehouse. It is about 30 feet square, with walls 6 feet thick. At each end is a full-centred archway, of 12 feet opening, very plain, having a square rib 2 feet broad, with deep recesses or “nooks” of 2 feet on each side. The southern capital of the inner archway shows traces of Norman carving. There was no portcullis, each portal having doors; the space between the portals was covered with timber. On each of the two outer sides are two broad flat pilasters. The superstructure is lofty, and seems to have contained two stories. Above each portal are two windows, of 2 feet 6 inches opening, divided by a space of about 2 feet. The jambs are square, with a plain Norman cap or abacus. The present covering of each is formed of two inclined stones or lintels, which may be original, but are more probably late insertions. Above each pair is a larger single window. The inner portal opens at the level of the court. Outside, the ground is about 10 feet below that level. No doubt there was a drawbridge falling upon a detached pier, whence a causeway, probably with one or two bridges, crossed the ditches and carried the approach. The enceinte wall abuts against the gateway flush with its inner face, so that it has a projection outward of about 24 feet, flanking the adjacent curtain. In later days, probably during the time of Richard II., two buttresses, or rather pilasters, 4 feet broad by 5 feet deep, have been built against the inner face, one on each side of the portal; and at the other end are a similar pair, but of 14 feet projection. These latter, at the battlement level, outside, are connected by a flat segmental arch; and the sort of barbican, or forebuilding thus formed contained the drawbridge, covered the gateway, and above had a flat roof, where archers could be posted to protect the approach. The old entrance is walled up, and pierced with two loops, which look early, but can scarcely be so. In the east side of the gatehouse a small doorway, in the Decorated style, has been pierced, possibly as a postern, for any lodge connected with it would have been outside the castle. The present entrance is, and for very many years has been, close west of, and outside the main gatehouse. This evidently was due to a wish to preserve the gatehouse, but to avoid the inconvenience of entering at so high a level. Probably when the new entrance was made the ditch at this point was filled up, all but a narrow gut, across which fell the drawbridge shown in the later drawings of the castle. When this was dispensed with the whole was made smooth, and Castle Street took its present aspect.

There is no evidence as to what buildings, save the chapel, were contained within the court of the castle. There must of necessity have been a hall, kitchen, lodgings, stabling, and barracks; and probably most of these buildings stood near or on the site of the Sessions House, where there seems to have been a postern gate. There is no evidence of a keep, nor, at so great a height, was any needed. Rectangular keeps, though found at Corfe, Sherborne, and Taunton, were not common in the west. A shell-keep, as at Trematon, Launceston, Dunster, Restormel, or Truro, would, in such a position, have been the usual structure; but the previous earthworks had converted the only site for a shell-keep into a pit so deep that it would have been commanded from the ramparts. Probably the Normans regarded the whole court as a shell-keep.

Whether the city walls were built concurrently with the castle is unknown. Probably they were, for the water-gate, removed in 1815, had certainly a Norman arch, as had, though later, and in the transition style, Broad Gate, of which also Lysons gives a view. These walls crossed the ditches, and abutted upon that of the castle. That from the east gate, seen in the Club Garden, has been rebuilt; but the north-west wall is very perfect, and though the buttresses on its outside are of Decorated date, as were most of the gates of the city, the substance of the wall is original, and very strong. In its base, where it crosses the ditch, it contains a hollow place, much enlarged, and said to have been a dungeon, which is absurd. It probably was a culvert or sluice-gate, to allow the ditch to be drained and cleared out, for though these ditches could scarcely have permanently contained water, a wet season would have converted them into a pond.

FILLONGLEY CASTLE, CO. WARWICK.

THE CASTLE YARD.

THE scanty remains of this, the seat of the family of Hastings before they rose to their earldom of Pembroke, and now known as Castle Yard, are placed about a quarter of a mile south of Fillongley Church upon a small triangle of land formed by the beds and junction of two brooks which flow down from the south and the south-east to meet and form the point of the triangle to the north.

In the space thus protected towards the north, west, and east, was constructed a rudely oval shell of masonry about 50 feet east and west by 80 feet north and south, traces of which are seen in five masses of stone rubble-work, of which four are overthrown and a fifth remains in its proper place. A light ridge connects these detached masses, and indicates the line of the curtain of which they formed a part. The fragment standing in its place seems to have been connected with a curved recess, or, perhaps, a well-stair, but the others have been overthrown by gunpowder. The whole was on a small scale, and there are no visible traces of towers or gatehouse. The earth and rubbish heaped up in the interior of the area may cover foundations, and, no doubt, a light excavation here would disclose the plan of the whole structure and the place of the entrance, which, probably, was towards the east.

Outside the walled area the ground falls slightly, and there are traces at about 30 yards’ distance, towards the south, of a ditch and internal bank protecting this, by nature, the weakest side. The valley towards the east is occupied by one of the brooks which flows a few feet only from and below the wall. There is no trace of any second or outer circle of masonry, so that probably the castle was composed of a single ring wall, possibly set with turrets, but if so, of no great size.

The whole castle must have been a very inconsiderable place, though from the steepness of the little valleys between which it stands, and the marshy character of the ground watered by the brooks, it evidently possessed much passive strength, and if garrisoned by determined men, could have held out for some time.

Fillongley is unnoticed in any record older than the Conqueror’s Survey. We learn from Domesday that “Filungelei” contained two hides of land, of which one half-hide belonged to the Bishop of Coutances, and was held by Lewin; a second by the monks of Coventry; a third by a certain Alsi, who held it from before the Conquest; and a fourth by Robert le Despenser, which, though of less value, contained the church. Alsi may have resided upon the Castle hill. The half-hide held by the monks is identified with Old Fillongley, on the western side of the parish, and was held of them in the reign of Henry III. by Gerard de Alspath, whose name is preserved in Alspath Hall, in the south-west quarter of the parish. He held it as a fourth part of a knight’s fee. A part of this holding passed in some way from the ownership of the monks, who, in the time of Edward III., held in it one-eighth of a fee of Lord Hastings. Part of Le Despenser’s share passed to the Marmions, and thence, it would seem, to the Earls of Leicester, one of whom probably enfeoffed of it either Walter or Hugh de Hastings, one of the earlier members of that family, who long continued to hold it of the Marmions and Le Despensers. Thus the family of Hastings were of Fillongley in the reign of Henry I., and it speedily became their chief residence in Warwickshire, and the nucleus of a considerable estate. John de Hastings, 29 Edward I., had a license to crenellate “manerium suum et villam de ... Filungeleye,” though the castle is probably considerably older. With the church was the advowson which, in the reign of Edward III., Lawrence Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, sold to Clinton, Earl of Huntingdon. Fillongley, though it appears in the inquisitions of the Hastings family, is not mentioned as a castle, being, in fact, too inconsiderable to be claimed by the Crown, and so entered upon the public records, but it seems to have remained the chief, if not the only, residence of the family, until Henry de Hastings, in the reign of Henry III., married Joan de Cantelupe, who became a very great heiress, so that John, their son, the recipient of the above license, inheriting the castle of Abergavenny, resided there, as did occasionally his descendants. On the death of the last Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, Fillongley passed with much of his property to the Beauchamps, and so to the Nevilles, who held it when Dugdale wrote his very valuable history.

FILLONGLEY CASTLE.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.

FONMON CASTLE
GROUND PLAN

  1. North tower
  2. Dungeon tower
  3. Southern tower

Fillongley Church contains no monuments of the Hastings family, who buried at Polesworth and with the Grey Friars at Coventry.

FONMON CASTLE, GLAMORGAN.

FONMON Castle was, no doubt, built by Sir John de St. John soon after the conquest of Glamorgan; and part of the present building is original.

The castle rises from the western edge of a narrow and deep ravine, which conveys a streamlet from Fonmon village into the Kenson.

On its north front, but at some little distance from the castle, a similar steep bank slopes down direct to the Kenson, which there traverses a meadow, in earlier days probably an impassable morass. On its west and south sides the castle stands on table land, and was covered, no doubt, by a moat and outer wall. The keep, a rectangular building 45 feet high, and 25 feet north and south, by 43 feet east and west, including its walls, which are 5 feet thick, appears to be late Norman, and may be presumed to be Sir John de St. John’s work. Additions, probably of early English and early Decorated date, enclose it on the north, east, and partially on the south sides; on the latter forming a considerable wing, a part of which is a square tower which caps the south-east angle, and is a principal feature in the general view of the building. Two bow towers of the same date project from the east front. The principal additions on the north are of the seventeenth century, and were erected without reference to defence.

The outworks, with the exception of one tower which stands alone on the south-eastern front, about 140 yards from the castle, long since have given way to stabling, barns, and formal terraced gardens, most of which have in their turn disappeared. The remaining tower seems to have been the south-eastern termination of the defences of the outer court.

The St. Johns resided, more or less, at Fonmon until towards the fourteenth century, when, by intermarriage with the heiresses of Paveley, Pawlet, and, finally, of Beauchamp of Bletsoe, they became powerful English lords, and removed their head-quarters into Bedfordshire. Fonmon was probably left to the care of a bailiff, though some cadets of the family settled at Highlight, and there remained after the sale of the property to Colonel Jones, about 1655. Since that period it has been regularly inhabited by the Jones family, as it now is by their descendant and representative, Robert Oliver Jones, Esq.

The castle contains portraits of Cromwell and Ireton, and a fine one of Mr Robert Jones, grandfather of the present proprietor, by Reynolds.

FOTHERINGAY CASTLE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

THE masonry of this castle has been entirely removed, but the original moated mound and earth-banks remain, and the lines of the masonry may be traced by the trenches dug when the foundations were grubbed up. The mound stands on the left bank of the river Nene, and of the buildings the principal, disposed nearly east and west, was very evidently the great hall in which Mary of Scotland was tried and executed.

There is in “Ellis’s Letters” (First Series, Vol. II.) a draught plan, in Burghley’s hand, of the hall as it was ordered to be prepared for the trial.

The “great chamber” was 23 yards long with the window, and 7 yards broad. The length without the window was 21 yards. The window, therefore, was probably a bay or oriel, of 6 feet projection within. The draught plan was sent down with the figures blank to be filled in by special measurement.

At the upper, probably the eastern, end, and in front of the window, was a chair for the Queen of England. Against the wall on her left, a bench for thirteen barons; on her right, leaving space for passage between it and the wall, was a bench for twelve earls. Across the hall, 13 yards from the upper (east) end, and 8 yards from the lower end, was a bar, extending on the barons’ side nearly to the wall, but on the earls’ leaving space for passage. Within, close to the bar and opposite Elizabeth’s seat, was a chair for Mary.

The points of the compass are not marked upon the plan, but it is clear, from the disposition of the passage, that the door was on that or the north side, and most probably near to its west end. The door of a castle-hall would never have opened towards the defences of the place, but into the inner court.

The block for the execution was placed at the upper end of the hall; probably, therefore, where Elizabeth’s chair had stood during the trial.

The fireplace in which, after the execution, the block and bloody drapery were burned, probably was placed in the centre of the south wall.

Possibly, during a season of drought, some local antiquary may succeed in establishing the actual position of the door, the bay window, and the fireplace.

GROSMONT CASTLE, MONMOUTHSHIRE.

GROSMONT is one of five strong places disposed along the right or south-west bank of the Munnow river, the others being, below it, Skenfrith, and above it Oldcastle, Longtown, and the fortified house of Perthir; Monmouth Castle, and the town beneath its protection, occupied the junction of the Munnow with the Wye. These are some of the fortified buildings scattered broadcast over the Welsh marshes, and especially abundant in the county of Monmouth, and the remains of which, always picturesque, are often tolerably perfect.

In the rear of these castles on the Munnow were those of Brecknock, Tretower, Crickhowell, and Abergavenny, upon the Upper Usk; and over the whole of that country there is scarce a hill-top or point of vantage which is not occupied by some defensive earthwork, showing the importance attached to it by each of the several races, Celt, Roman, Saxon, and Norman, who in turn either attacked or defended this devoted soil.

Grosmont, about four miles above Skenfrith and five below Oldcastle, is placed, like the former fortress, upon the high concavity of a sharp bend of the river, about a hundred yards from its margin. Very near to it is the fine old cross church, which, having shared in the prosperity of the castle, has escaped its decay, and still remains in tolerable repair, although requiring a few subtractions and restorations at the hand of a judicious architect.

The castle is composed of a court or ward of irregular plan, more or less rectangular, with projections upon the south side, the wall of which contains a space of 110 feet by 70 feet, strengthened on the south by a larger and a smaller three-quarter mural tower, having a gateway upon the east face, and on the west traces of a building exterior to the curtain wall. The north side is occupied by a hall, also exterior to, or rather replacing the line of, the curtain, three of its four walls forming a part of the exterior defences of the building.

The whole is placed within a ditch of great depth, and, indeed, the earthworks generally are of so formidable a character as to make it probable that they are earlier than the present building, or than any other work in masonry. The actual platform occupied by the walls, and contained within the crest of the ditch, is about 150 feet in diameter.

Outside the ditch, to the east and south, and covering the entrance of the castle, is a large demi-lune, or platform of earth, scarped towards the field, and upon which are traces of walls and a defence of the nature of a barbican. The main ditch, now traversed by a modern embankment, was evidently at one time crossed by the usual bridge, of which a part lifted. The gatehouse, if such it can be called, presents two lateral cheeks of wall, projecting on either side of the bridge, and thus forming a covered way, from each side of which a cruciform loop is directed along the ditch. The pointed vault of the entrance is broken, but there remain the ragged grooves for the portcullis, and the two holes which received the large wooden bar fastening the gate.

Entering, on the right is the shell of the hall, 80 feet long by 27 feet broad, out of all proportion to the area of the defences. The floor, of timber, was laid 6 feet above the level of the court, so as to give height to a spacious basement store-room or cellar, but which, however, has a large fireplace in its east wall. The hall has windows at each end, and four in each side; but probably only the six to the east belonged to the hall, the other two lighting a withdrawing-room. The position of the fireplace on the north side seems to mark the centre of the hall.

On the left of the entrance the curtain extends to the south-east or smaller drum tower, and probably supported a spacious lean-to roof marked by the corbels or bearers for the upper wall-plate. This south-east tower seems to have been massive, but low, and to have been altered and enlarged at the gorge, on the side towards the court, which now projects inwards in a rectangular form. When this addition was made the tower seems to have been raised to three or perhaps four stories, and near its summit is a bold cordon.

A strong curtain extends from this to the south-west drum-tower, of larger dimensions, and broken down towards the court. The floors of these two towers were of timber. Between them, and parallel to the curtain, seem to have been some buildings, probably barracks.

The buildings outside of, and built against, the west curtain projected boldly into the moat. They are in great decay. Here was the fireplace, the flue from which, wrought out in the substance of the curtain, rises above it as an elegant octagonal chimney shaft, the summit of which is crowned by the elegant lanthorn or spiracle which has so often been drawn and is so well known.

Grosmont, as it now appears, is of moderate size and much mutilated; but its towers and walls, though stripped of their ashlar, are still standing, and the earthworks are large, bold, and well-defined.

Whatever may be its ancient history, the present building presents nothing earlier than the reign of Henry III. The additions seem to have been in the Decorated style, and, probably, are of one date, that of the reign of Edward I. After the South Welsh conquest, Grosmont was one of the numerous De Braose castles, and passed by inheritance to the Cantelupes. It then fell into the possession of Henry III., who granted it to Hubert de Burgh. In the well-known war waged by the Welsh and Richard Mareschal, Earl of Pembroke, against Henry III., it was besieged by Llewelyn and relieved by the king, who occupied it as head-quarters during the latter part of the campaign. After De Burgh’s fall, Henry regranted the castle to the Earl of Lancaster, and it has since, with the somewhat earlier castles of Skenfrith and Whitecastle, remained attached to the duchy. Henry, Crouchback’s grandson, was here born, and hence styled Henry of Grosmont. Probably he was the author of the principal additions.

The adjacent church contains a late Norman font, with cylindrical base and octagonal bowl; and the pier arches of the central tower are also Pointed Norman. Most of the remainder of the church is early English, and probably of the date of the castle; but there is a Decorated north porch, and also some other parts in the same style, which may have been the work of the artist who completed the additions to the castle and designed its elegant chimney-shaft and finial.

GUILDFORD CASTLE, SURREY.

GUILDFORD Castle, of which the keep was always the most prominent, and is now the chief remaining, feature, is in position, age, structure, and dimensions, a very remarkable fortress.

It is true, indeed, that though of great age, neither the town nor the castle have played any great part in English history. The town was never walled; the castle never stood a siege. No considerable battle was ever witnessed from its towers; no parliament or great council was ever held within its hall. Though always a royal manor, and long maintained as a royal residence, it was used also as a prison, and is but rarely mentioned, either in the records or by the chroniclers. The castle was not garrisoned in the great civil war, and so escaped being dismantled and blown up by either king or parliament. Its state of decay is due to the effects of time, powerfully aided by the local greed for building materials. Nevertheless, though wanting in many of the points of interest often attaching to English military buildings, Guildford Castle has certain peculiarities of its own not unworthy of notice, and which it is the object of this notice to set forth and explain.

The great chalk range which forms the bulwark of London and the southern limit of the vale of the Thames, from its mouth to the border of Hampshire, is contracted towards the west into a narrow but elevated ridge, which extends from Reigate nearly to Farnham and, resting upon the firestone and gault of the Weald of Kent and Surrey, supports the clay and gravels of the London basin.

This ridge, generally unbroken, is traversed by two well-known gorges about twelve miles apart, of which the eastern is occupied by the Mole at Dorking and Mickleham, and the western by

“The chalkey Wey, that rolls a milky wave.”

The Wey, the tributaries of which rise widely over much of Surrey and the eastern part of Hampshire, is, where it cleaves the chalk, a considerable stream, much less milky than in the days, or rather in the verse, of Pope; and twelve miles below the pass it falls into the Thames at Weybridge.

The town of Guildford is placed upon the right or eastern bank of the river, well within, that is, north-east of the gorge, and within and a little above the town is the castle. As the ridge is here steep and lofty and the gorge deep and moderately narrow, it might be supposed that this pass would at all times have been important to whoever wished to defend London and the Thames from invaders from the south. In position it is to the south of London what Berkhampstead Castle is on the north; both are placed in gorges of chalk, both upon tributaries of the Thames; both are late Norman castles, founded upon earlier English earthworks; and both were for centuries held direct by the Crown. Guildford, however, unlike Berkhampstead, though the nucleus of a large town, has no military history. Although Surrey and Sussex are by no means deficient in traces of early occupation, the immediate neighbourhood of Guildford is in this respect almost a blank. An early trackway has been talked of as taking the ridge of the Downs, and traces of an irregular, and therefore British, camp are said to have been formerly observed on St. Martha’s hill; but the long chalk crest and slopes of the Downs, so tenacious of the slightest works ever executed on their surface, are not known to exhibit any traces of the encampments or pits or other works usually attributed to the British, which, considering the dense forest that certainly extended to the foot of the high ground on the south side, and probably on the north, is very singular. Antiquaries, indeed, have placed the capital of the British Regni at Guildford and the city of Vindomis at Farnham, but nothing beyond general probabilities have been brought forward in favour of either supposition. It is curious, also, to observe how completely Celtic names have disappeared from the neighbourhood. Even the rivers, the first to receive and the last to change their names—the Wey, the Wandle, and the Mole—are Saxon, as are the names of Guildford, the chief town of the county and district, Farnham, the ancient episcopal seat, and the villages about them.

Neither are there any very decided marks of Roman occupation in Guildford. The Castle Hill at Hescomb, Hilbury in Puttenham, and Holmbury in Ockley, are said to be rectangular, and therefore Roman earthworks; but neither of the two great Roman roads from the south passes through Guildford. The Watling Street leads from Canterbury, by Rochester, to Southwark; and the Icknild Street, from Chichester, takes the pass of Mickleham in its way to the same destination. It is very curious that a town so remarkable in position, so strongly posted, and so directly in the way from the south-west to London, and withal so sheltered, and placed close to pastures so fertile, should exhibit no marks of occupation by the Romans or the earlier or later Britons.

The early history of Guildford, like its name, is Saxon, and, like its name, savours wholly of the arts of peace. Of the “guild,” or mercantile community, which in early times must have been established on the “Ford” of the Wey, nothing is recorded; but from the lingering presence of such names as Burgh Road, Burgh Field, and the Bury, it has been supposed that the earliest Saxon municipality was seated on the west, and not, as now, on the east bank of the river. It has been said that the cause of this was the establishment of the fortress on the east bank, and the consequent want of space for private dwellings. But the fact is probably just the reverse. A fortress, whether Saxon or Norman, would, as a rule, attract inhabitants to place themselves under its protection; and, however spacious may have been the area enclosed—and a little under six acres is the very utmost that has ever been assigned to it—there must always have been ample room between the walls and the river to the north, where the present town is located. If ever the town stood upon the west bank, the balance of probability is in favour of its having been transferred across the stream as soon as the earliest stronghold was established there.

There is reason to believe that the principal thoroughfare of the present town—the High Street—existed in the thirteenth century, and probably some centuries earlier. Guildford is a borough by prescription, and therefore may be of any English date, however early. It has paid the castle the fitting compliment of placing it on the borough shield, which bears “on a mount vert, a castle.” The town stands in three parishes: St. Mary’s, which includes the castle; Trinity; and on the west bank of the river, St. Nicholas.

The recorded history of Guildford has no ignoble beginning. It was the property of Alfred, and is first mentioned in his will, between 872 and 885. “To Ethelwald, my brother’s son,” says the great king, “I bequeath the manor at Godalming and at Gyldeford, and at Steyning.” On the death of Ethelwald, childless, Guildford reverted to the West Saxon crown. In the following century, in 1036, Guildford was the scene of the capture of Alfred, the elder brother of the Confessor, and of the massacre of his Norman attendants. As to the particulars of the event, and as to the parts played in it by Godwin, Queen Emma, and Harold Harefoot, testimonies differ, but all agree in the mention of Guildford as the place to which the Atheling was conveyed.

When the Conqueror marched northward from Canterbury, he went by the Watling Street, through Rochester, to Southwark, and thence ascending to Wallingford, turned the position of Guildford, and placed himself between it and the Thames. Its name even does not occur till late in the reign, and then only in the General Survey. From that survey, it appears that it had remained Crown property. No castle is there mentioned, but that it contained a residence is more than probable, both because it had been so long a royal demesne and from what is stated as to the Atheling’s reception there.

In Domesday Book, as now, Guildford was in the Hundred of Woking. The chief of the royal tenants was Ranulf Flambard, afterwards so celebrated both for his rapacity and his magnificence. He was rector of Godalming, and as such held lands in Guildford, which were afterwards appended to his canonry at Salisbury, to be eventually resumed by Henry II., and attached, with the castle, to the Crown. In 2 Henry II. the king gave Godalming hundred and manor to the church of Sarum, in exchange for the castle of Devizes and Rueles, or Erlestoke, then held by the bishop of that see.

The Conqueror granted a large plot of ground, upon which much of the modern town north of the castle and south of High-street now stands, to a family of the name of Testard, who held it for several generations by a singular tenure recorded in Blount, and are reputed to have built the two churches of St. Mary and Trinity for the use of their tenants—a fact which would go to show that the town was already standing within convenient reach of these churches, of which one is still mainly Norman, and of large area; and, further, makes it improbable that the castle enceinte ever extended far to the north, as the Conqueror was not likely to have granted away any part of the older area. The historians of Surrey estimate the population of Guildford recorded in Domesday at 700 persons.

The internal evidence of the buildings of the castle makes it most probable that the whole of it, keep, hall, and domestic buildings, with its enceinte wall enclosing above five acres, was constructed by Henry II. very early in the reign; but the castle is not mentioned in his reign, nor in that of Richard I. In the Pipe Rolls, the town appears from time to time as contributing to tallage and other imposts, and in 1 Richard I. the park is named in connexion with the canons of Sarum. It also appears from the Rot. Curiæ Regis, 6 Richard I., that an assize was held there. Henry II., probably when he built the castle, seems to have formed a royal park on the opposite side of the river, north of the Hog’s Back, the site of which is still indicated by such names as Guildford Park, Wilderness, Stag Hill, and the Manor Farm, the latter being probably the site of the royal lodge.

Captain James, who conducted the Ordnance Survey of the district and paid great attention to the ancient boundaries, and to whose researches much that concerns the castle is due, is of opinion that the area of the park was on the north, west, and east, conterminous with the parish of St. Nicholas, and that on the south it was bounded by the crest of the Hog’s Back. This tract is said anciently to have contained four manors, but at this time it is composed of three very ancient farms, all within one manor.

King John, whose suspicious nature and feverish activity led him to be always in motion, was at Guildford nineteen times in eleven different years. In 1200 he kept Christmas here and equipped his household in new liveries, which, to the king’s great but dissembled disgust, the Archbishop of Canterbury proceeded to surpass in splendour. In 1202 he was not here; but there is a charge for £6. 5s. 8d. for work done upon the king’s houses, and £1. 6s. 6d. for the transport of wine, and 4s. for the repair of the gaol in the castle. This is the first mention of the castle, and it is curious that it is connected with its use as a prison.

In 1204, John was here 9th October and 7th, 8th, 9th November; and in this year £10 was paid for the repair of the king’s houses, and £40 for the expenses of his chamber. John Fitz-Hugh, sheriff of Surrey and Sussex, 1208, 1210–11–12–13 and 1214, was then made keeper of the park. In 1205, the king was here 9th, 10th, 11th of April; 1st August; and 30th, 31st of October. On the 7th February, two tuns of wine, the king’s prisage, were sent here, and 15th May, two hundred porkers went from hence to Southampton, a supply of flesh to London, and a net to Southwark.

King John was here 28th, 29th, 30th December, 1206, and in 1207, 27th, 28th December. In this year, 28th August, the sheriff of Hants was to take certain prisoners from Sarum Castle and deliver them to the constable of Guildford Castle. This is the second mention of the fortress, and also as a gaol. In 1208, John was here 25th, 26th, 27th January; and 5th, 6th, 7th April; and in 1210, on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd January; and 8th March. Also in 1212, on the 12th, 13th, and 14th May.

In 1213, on the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th December, King John was here. 3rd January the custody of the county of Surrey, with the castle of Guildford, was committed to Reginald, son of Reginald de Cornhill, to be held during pleasure, and John Fitz-Hugh was ordered to give it up to him. The Cornhills were a family of farmers-general of the revenues of the counties south of London, and between 1164 and 1215 Gervase, Henry, Ralph, and Reginald de Cornhill appear as sheriffs of Surrey and Sussex then combined.

In this year, 1213, also one hundred deer, “damos et damas,” were given from Guildford to the Archbishop of Canterbury to replenish his park. In 1214, 24th August, 53s. was allowed for the entertainment of the Papal legate, then on his way to revoke the Interdict. Rochester and Guildford Castles are mentioned together in this year as undergoing some repairs.

In 1215, King John was here for a whole week from the 15th to the 21st of January. His forces had been beaten at Bovines in the preceding July, and he had come to Guildford from London, after receiving the demands of the confederate barons agreed and sworn to at Bury. He was probably at that time actively employed in obtaining support from the clergy, in the hope of evading the great charter, which, nevertheless, he was forced to agree to in the following June. On the 18th November, John Fitz-Hugh, who again was sheriff, was ordered to give up the castle to whomsoever Peter Bishop of Winchester should name to receive it. It was probably made over to Reginald de Cornhill.

In 1216, John paid his last visit to Guildford, and remained there during the 20th, 21st, and 22nd of April. In the June following, the Dauphin Louis was here on his way from Sandwich. With Guildford, he held Reigate, then a castle of the Warrens, and Farnham.

Guildford, both castle and park, are mentioned not unfrequently in the reign of Henry III. In 1222, 19th November, £200 was paid for the royal expenses going thither from London. In 1223, 19th January, King Henry was at Guildford. 18th April, allowance was made for building a house of alms in the king’s court there. This was probably an office for the receipt of deodands, fines, forfeitures, escheats of felons’ goods, and other moneys accruing from incidents of feudal tenures, and, it has been supposed, appropriated to charitable uses. 14th May, works were in progress on the king’s houses, and 27th May, Richard Dale had ten marcs for repairs in the park; and again, in October, money was paid for fencing it. In 1224, repairs were done to the king’s houses, and half a marc paid for making a door. The fencing of the park was proceeded with. In 10 Henry III., William de Coniers was governor for the king, as were in 30 and 53 Henry III., Elias Mansel and William d’Aguillon.

In 24 Henry III., 4th April, the sheriff of Surrey was ordered to repair the glass windows of the king’s houses and chapel at Guildford, broken by the storm, and the houses unroofed thereby were to be restored. In 29 Henry III., the vill of Guildford is mentioned as vested in the king; the sheriff was to enclose the area by the kitchen which the king had purchased, with a wall conveniently answering to the other wall by which the said court is enclosed; and he is to repair the two piers of the king’s hall, which need repair because they are out of the perpendicular. In 30 Henry III., 3rd February, the sheriff of Surrey and Sussex is to make “a certain chamber at Guildford, for the use of Edward, the king’s son, with proper windows well barred, which is to be 50 feet long and 26 feet wide ... with a privy chamber ... so that the chamber of the same Edward be above, and the chamber of the king’s noble valets underneath, with fitting windows, and a privy chamber, and a chimney in each chamber. And he is to make under the wall towards the east, opposite the east part of the king’s hall, a certain pent-house, which, although narrow, shall be competently long, with a chimney and private chamber, for the queen’s wardrobe; and to make in the queen’s chamber a certain window equal in width to the two windows which are now there, and as much wider as may be, between the two walls, and as high as becomingly may be, with two marble pillars; and to wainscote that window above, and close it with glass windows between the pillars, with panels which may be opened and shut, and large wooden shutters internally to close over the glass windows; and to cause the upper window in the king’s hall towards the west, nigh the dais, to be fitted up with white glass lights, so that in one half of that glass window there be made a certain king sitting on a throne, and in the other half a certain queen likewise sitting on a throne.”

In 40 Henry III., these decorations and alterations were still continued, for on the 3rd January, the king being at Guildford, orders the sheriff of Sussex to deliver £100 to the wardens of the king’s works at Guildford, “to pay off certain arrears due for the same works, and for wainscoting the king’s chapel, the queen’s chapel, the king’s chamber, and the other chambers newly built there; and for making the great windows in the king’s chapel; for barring the windows of the king’s new chamber with iron; making the porch to the hall, of stone; for painting in the hall there, opposite the king’s seat, the story of Dives and Lazarus; making a certain figure with beasts on the same seat; and lengthening the chamber of the king’s chaplain there.”

Also on the 5th May following, the sheriff of Surrey and Sussex is ordered to whitewash the king’s hall at Guildford within and without. On the 17th June, 45 Henry III., 1261, the king visited Guildford, and doubtless examined and took pleasure in the various improvements and decorations he had ordered. All this luxury was probably confined to the hall and royal apartments in the middle ward, for an entry on the Hundred rolls at the commencement of the reign shows that the Sussex county prisoners were kept at Guildford, and no doubt in the keep.

In 50 Henry III., Prince Edward was at Guildford engaged in putting down Sir Adam Gordon, a soldier who, having been outlawed after Evesham fight, had turned freebooter, and made the Surrey woodlands very insecure. Edward came up with and attacked him between Farnham and Alton, took him prisoner in single combat, got him a pardon, and presented him to the queen then at Guildford. At the end of Henry’s reign, 52 Henry III., the “King’s Mills” were removed farther down the stream, probably to the site now occupied by their modern successors.

Edward I. became possessed, in due course, of Guildford, and in 27 Edward I., 1299, the park, castle, and farm of the town were assigned as part of the dower of Margaret, the king’s second wife, and on her death, 10 Edward II., they reverted to the Crown. Edward was here, 20th January, 31 Edward I., 1303, resting on his way from Odiham to Windsor.

In 35 Edward I., 1306, Henry de Say, keeper of the prisoners indicted at the Sussex Assizes, and lodged in Guildford Castle, petitioned that an officer might be sent to receive their fines and chattels, according to their offences, and that a stronger prison may be provided, the castle being insecure for so many prisoners. The answer, recorded on the rolls of Parliament, is terse:—“Si carcer sit nimis debilis, faciat, Custos, emendari; si nimis strictus, faciat elargari; quia Rex non est avisatus mutare locum prisonarum suarum: vel saltem teneat eos in vinculis fortioribus.” “Double iron the prisoners” was at one time a usual, and certainly an economical, way of securing their safety. It is probable that it was under these circumstances of great pressure that the mural oratory in the keep was employed as a prison.

In the king’s circular to the sheriff, 1 Edward II., 1307, 15th December, which was followed by the edict confiscating the goods of the Templars, the sheriff of Surrey and Sussex was ordered to repair to Guildford. In 15 Edward II., Oliver de Burdegala, governor, had a writ of privy seal directing the castle to be victualled and garrisoned.

Guildford, 2 Edward III., 1328, was the head-quarters of the sheriff of Surrey, who was ordered to go there to prevent tournaments from being held. On the 8th March, 1329, the king was at Guildford; also 28th February and 26th December, 1330; 18th–20th November, 1331; 2nd September, 1334; and 18th–24th April, 1336; so that the castle was in not infrequent use as a royal residence. In this last year the king granted the town in fee farm to the corporation, reserving only the park and castle. On the 23rd April, 1337, 11 Edward III., the king ordered that Robert d’Artoys should have a right to be hospitably received should he visit the royal castles of Guildford, Wallingford, or Somerton, and he might sport in the park at Guildford.

In the same year, 24th December, Edward was himself at Guildford, as he was in 1340, and again 27th–28th December, 1347, in which year the commonalty of Sussex petitioned that Chichester in place of Guildford might be the county gaol. The petition was set aside, and in 41 Edward III. the sheriff still held his official residence in the castle, which was the prison, as before, for the two counties. 42 Edward III., 1368, 28th July, the king was here. 43 Edward III., the custody of the castle and park was given to Helmyng Legatte for life. Edward was again here, 45 Edward III., 1371, on the 12th of May, probably for the last time.

In 1 Richard II. Sir Simon Burley was constable of the castle, and afterwards Sir Hugh Waterton, on whose death, 10 Henry IV., Sir John Stanley had the office also for life, and his appointment was confirmed by Henry V. By that time the custody of the park was evidently an office more coveted than that of the castle.

What occurred in the castle during the wars of York and Lancaster is not known, save that it was the scene of no event of importance, and it certainly continued still to play the ignoble part of a common prison, for in 3 Henry VII., 1487, the old complaint is revived, and the county of Sussex again petitions for a gaol of its own, and under its own sheriff, suggesting Lewes as a proper place. This time the prayer was granted, and probably the Surrey prisoners either then or soon afterwards were bestowed elsewhere, though the two counties continued long after this to be placed under one sheriff. As late as 1620 a Sussex gentleman, Nicholas Eversfield, was sheriff of the two counties, and the jurisdiction does not appear to have been finally divided till 1637.

Finally, in 1611–12, after having been attached to the Crown at least from the days of Alfred, or 700 years, the castle and its enceinte were granted by James I. to Francis Carter, of Guildford, who died in 1617, and whose son, John Carter, is described as dwelling in the castle in 1623. His eldest son Francis died in 1668, leaving a daughter only, and it is his brother, the second son, John Carter, whose initials, “J. C., 1699,” stand upon a tablet within and above the great gateway in Quarry Street. The castle has since remained in private hands, and is now the property of Lord Grantley.

The above extracts, mainly taken from those given by Mr. Parker in his valuable volumes on Domestic Architecture in the Middle Ages, will have shown that the fittings and adornments of the castle were chiefly due to Henry III. That prince, who was a great patron of the arts, and especially of architecture and painting, paid great attention to the royal residences. Unfortunately, his decorations were for the most part confined to the hall and principal domestic apartments, but few of which anywhere have survived. At Guildford, the destruction has been peculiarly sweeping, and the only remaining structure, the keep, does not seem to have participated in the royal care. The keeps of Norman castles, inhabited but rarely, and only during a siege, even by those who built them, seem very soon to have been altogether deserted for more convenient lodgings in the lower and more spacious wards. The keep was then used as a storehouse or barrack, or, as at Guildford, as a prison, and very little was spent upon its repairs, and nothing upon its decoration. It is, however, in consequence of this neglect, that the Norman keeps, where they have not been pulled down, remain pretty much as they were originally built, or with only such additions as may easily be detected, or such diminutions as may readily be supplied. This is particularly the case with the keep at Guildford, the additions to, or alterations in, which are of the rudest character, and may readily be detected, while of the masonry of the original structure little is wanting save the parapets and angle turrets and some details connected with the approach and entrance.

Guildford Castle occupied a natural platform of nearly six acres upon the slope of the chalk hill, far below its summit, and from 40 to 80 feet above the river. The platform, inclining gently towards the stream, terminates at about 80 yards from its bank in a low cliff of from 10 to 12 feet high, in parts replaced by, and in parts resting upon, a steep, natural slope or talus, which dies away 40 feet lower down into the meads traversed by the river. The crest of this cliff or talus is occupied by Quarry Street, and forms the west front of the castle. Towards the north, the river is more distant, and the slope of the platform far more gradual. On this side, the High Street and the present town of Guildford intervene between the castle and the river.

The keep stands on the eastern and highest part of the platform, and commands the rest of the castle, as the castle commands the town; and here are what appear to be the remains of the English residence. At the foot of the steep, a mound, wholly artificial, but resting upon an inclined natural base, has been thrown up, composed of chalk, in form conical, truncated, and with a level summit, no doubt originally circular, and still nearly so, and about 90 feet diameter. The base is about 200 feet. Between the mound and the adjacent steep hill-side is the main, and perhaps a trace of a second and outer, ditch. This inner ditch, about 60 feet broad and 12 to 20 feet deep, sweeps round the foot of the mound on the east, north, and south sides, the ends dying out on reaching the platform on the west below. The ditch, always dry, has long been cultivated as a garden, and was no doubt once considerably deeper. Its north limb is partially built upon by the houses in Castle Street, and is, in consequence, nearly obliterated. It is traversed at the north-east quarter by a narrow causeway of earth, which, no doubt, represents an older causeway of stone, provided with a drawbridge, and forming a direct entrance for foot passengers and perhaps horses, to the keep. Beyond this, the east and south-east, in the extra-parochial plot called the “Bowling Green,” are very slight traces of what may have been a second and outer ditch, a not unlikely security to have been provided by the inhabitants of the mound against an attack on this the weakest, because the commanded, side.

The mound on the eastern face, measured from the scarp of the ditch, is about 30 feet high, but on the western side, where it rises from a lower level, it is about 50 feet, or 92 feet above the river. The mound and the ditch evidently supported and protected the dwelling of the English lord, and it is probable that upon the platform below, where the Norman king afterwards placed his hall and offices, were lodged the serfs and dependents of the earlier household. Judging from the close analogy of Leicester, Tamworth, Tutbury, and other earthworks of known date, the earthworks of Guildford may, with great probability, be referred to the earlier part of the tenth century.

The keep, a rectangular structure, covers the eastern slope of the mound, but is placed a little to the south of its central line, so as to allow of a gateway (now gone) at its north-east angle, and a passage up the mound outside the north wall. The east or lower wall rests on the undisturbed ground, a little above the level of the scarp of the ditch, and the west or upper wall upon the edge of the level summit of the mound, nearly the whole of which thus extends undisturbed to the west and north-west of the building. The difference in level of the base of the two faces of the keep is about 15 feet. It is exceedingly rare to find a rectangular keep placed upon an artificial mound. Guildford, Christchurch, and Clun are the only recorded examples.

The keep stands nearly by the points of the compass, measuring 46 feet north and south, by 52 feet east and west. The wall is perfect to the base of the parapet, a height on the west front of about 63 feet. The masonry of the lower side contains more ashlar, and is of better quality than the rest, to prevent the structure from slipping. Of the depth of the foundations nothing is known, but the thickness of the wall—at least 11 feet at the visible base—would serve to distribute the load, and chalk, even when made ground, does not make a bad foundation. There was, no doubt, a risk in placing so heavy a building upon an artificial hill, even though a couple of centuries old, but the result has justified the means employed, for there is not a crack or mark of settlement in the whole edifice. Grose represents some half-buried arches on the south side, not now visible, but which, if they ever existed, which is more than doubtful, might indicate that parts of the building rested on piers, carried down to the solid ground. However, enough of the wall is bared to show that this is not the case. What Grose took for an arch was probably a low course of inclined or half-herring-bone masonry. Others have described an opening on this side supposed to lead to a sub-basement vault which there is no reason for supposing to exist. The machicolations cited in evidence as defending this fabulous doorway are the vents of a garderobe in the upper story.

The four faces of the keep are generally alike. Each is flanked by two pilasters of 4 feet 6 inches wide, by 9 feet projection, so placed as not to cap the angle, but to convert it into a hollow or re-entering one. This hollow was left open, not filled up, as at Scarborough and elsewhere, by a bold bead or engaged column. In the centre of each face is a third and similar pilaster, but 5 feet wide. Probably these rested below upon a plinth common to the whole building; but if so, this is gone. Each pilaster is of equal breadth and projection throughout, having no sets-off. The central pilasters run up to the base of the parapet, now gone. Those at the angles were continued to form the usual square turrets, of which some slight though clear remains still rise above the curtain.

The material employed for the exterior is chiefly Bargate stone, from the bed representing the chalk marl immediately beneath the chalk. This is worked up as rubble, interspersed irregularly with courses of the same stone laid herring-bone fashion, for which the larger and flatter stones have been selected. The work is very rough. The herring-bone courses are laid at all heights and distances; some broken, some mere single inclined stones, and here and there, especially near the top, are occasional courses of flints, some of which look like insertions. The angles, salient and re-entering, of the pilasters, are of the same stone, cut as ashlar and well jointed; but between these quoins the pilasters are usually of rubble, sometimes herring-boned. Above the parapets the angle turrets seem to have been of ashlar. There is no string-course, shelf, or set-off upon the face of the wall. The west-central pilaster, being pierced by the entrance, is mainly of ashlar, as are the pilaster and adjacent wall, about the north-east angle of the building, where the gate of the ward seems, from traces in the masonry, to have abutted. Here, too, the joints being very wide are made good with single or double rows of thin ordinary bright-red roofing tiles. The base of the east face was repaired about forty years ago, and now has a modern ashlar plinth of about 15 feet high. The ashlar within reach on the other faces has been pillaged, and the base of the wall generally is very hollow and ragged. The hearting of the walls throughout seems composed of chalk and Bargate stone, very roughly laid and grouted.

The walls are everywhere pierced with putlog holes, about 4 inches square, indications of the method of construction, and probably originally but loosely stopped to allow the work to dry and for the convenience of future repairs. There are no large holes above, and no signs of a bretasche having been employed. Four double windows on the upper floor and one on the east face of the middle floor, though original, have been fitted up with cut brick mullions and arches of perhaps two hundred years ago, the work, no doubt, of the first purchaser. All earlier alterations seem to have been effected in stone.

Having thus disposed of the general exterior of the keep, the next step is to describe its interior details. Allowing for the removed plinth or casing, three of the faces are about 11 feet thick and the fourth or east about 14, so that the interior dimensions are 24 feet north and south, by 27 feet east and west. The building is composed of a basement and two upper stories, and the floors and roof were of timber. There is no evidence of any subterranean chamber, and no reason for supposing one.

The basement on the level of the top of the mound is about 12 feet high. The walls are pierced in the centre of the north and south faces with a round-headed recess 5 feet wide and about the same height to the springing. The sides and roof converge to an exterior loop, and the base is stepped up to it. The work is good plain rubble. The east and west walls were originally solid, and the only entrance to this floor must have been by a ladder and trap from the floor above. It was of course a store or cellar, as usual.

At a later date, a doorway, 4 feet 6 inches broad and 8 feet to the springing, has been cut through the west wall near the north end. This has a slightly pointed arch. Its masonry is of small weak rubble without any dressings; and this, and the absence of bond with the older work, show it to be an insertion. In the north-east corner, the wall has been rudely cut away to some depth to form a fireplace and an oven. The bricks composing these have been removed, and a recent pier of masonry supports the wall above. The chimney shaft of this and a fireplace in the floor above have been formed by cutting away the inner face of the wall, which has been rudely restored. No doubt all this is the work of the purchaser, who seems to have lived in the keep and converted the basement into a kitchen. In the south-west corner is a small platform of stone, said to have carried a wooden stair communicating with the floor above, and of the date of the kitchen. This is probable enough. One of the stones is a late Norman capital, brought from some other part of the castle. The whole interior of this basement is rubble. It contained neither fireplace nor garderobe. The two loops, its only light, are about 18 inches high, and were probably 4 inches broad, though now increased by weather to 6 inches.

The first or state floor was about 30 feet high, fairly lighted, and contained various mural chambers. In the centre of the west side was the entrance from without, and in each of the other three sides a window. These were of two lights, or rather composed of two tall, narrow, round-headed windows, coupled under one round head outside and a similar recess inside. These recesses commenced about a foot above the floor level, and are 4 feet 4 inches wide and to the springing about 12 feet high. Their sides are parallel, not convergent, and each contained four steps ascending towards the window. There are no mouldings or decorations, but the quoins are ashlar. The window, arches, imposts, and jambs are plain and good. The central window piers or mullions are gone, but in two cases the small head arches remain. In the third case, that in the east face, the window has been removed and replaced by one in brick, but the recess is untouched.

The entrance is 3 feet 4 inches broad, 9 feet high, and about 14 feet from the ground. It is lined with good ashlar; but with a barrel-vault, round-headed, in rubble. The outer portal occupies the whole breadth of the central pilaster, being about 5 feet wide. It is very slightly, but decidedly, pointed. There is no portcullis groove, and but one, an outer, door, well strengthened by bar holes. Below the springing are two small holes, now stopped, for an iron bar, rather low for a centring, and possibly connected with a light drawbridge. The door is in the centre of the west face, as is the opposite window of the east face; but the north window is at the west end of its face, about 3 feet from the corner, and the south window is placed diagonal to it at a similar distance from the south-east corner. The three windows were all of one pattern.

Besides these openings, there are at the same level three mural chambers and a staircase. The principal chamber occupies the south-west angle, and is in plan a right angle with two limbs, like the capital letter L. That in the west wall is 5 feet 6 inches broad by 14 feet long; that in the south wall, 4 feet 10 inches broad by 23 feet long; but as each is measured over the breadth of the other, the total length of the chamber measured on the outer wall is 37 feet and measured along the inner wall only 26 feet 8 inches. The chamber is partly lined with chalk ashlar and partly with rubble, and the vault, barrel and round-headed, is of rubble. The vault springs from a plain Norman abacus. The height to the springing is about 7 feet. The outer wall of this chamber has been lined throughout with an arcade, originally of ten arches, of which six remain quite perfect, and of most of the others there are traces. The arcade is of late Norman work, the piers delicate, the caps very highly carved, the arches round-headed. The whole is recessed in the wall, reaches to the springing of the vault, and rests upon a low plinth or dado. There is a loop in the west wall near the north end of the chamber and another in its south end in the south wall. There is also a third and longer and lower loop at the other end of the south limb, close to, and on the right of, the priest as he stood before the altar, the place of which at the east end is marked by a bench or step in the wall. One original door was in the west limb, close to the main entrance. In King’s time it was perfect, and was round-headed, 2 feet 4 inches wide and 7 feet 7 inches high, but it has since been broken away. There is a larger, rude opening in the south limb, which may represent the place of another door. That this singular and highly-ornate chamber was originally an oratory is evident, both from the care bestowed upon it, from the traces of an altar in the east wall, and from the window next the altar.

In Tudor times, the south wall was breached, and a clumsy, flat-topped window of three lights inserted, for which much of the arcade has been cut away; and a rude wall with a door in it has been built across the south limb, probably to convert the oratory into two sleeping places. Upon the chalk ashlar of this chamber have been carved a considerable number of rude representations, apparently the work of one period. Some are simply incised, others carved in relief. There is one very evident Crucifixion, with a soldier piercing our Lord’s side, the disciples attending, and something like a veiled female figure about to faint. There is also a St. Christopher; a bishop recumbent beneath a crown; and other figures, both ecclesiastic and military. They are evidently the work of persons confined in this apartment, and as they are rude, illiterate, and without any trace of heraldic emblems, they are probably the work of common gaol prisoners, and are likely enough to be of the beginning of the thirteenth century, when the prison was over-crowded and every available space sure to have been employed. There was, of course, a larger chapel in the lower ward, not to mention the parish church of St. Mary, hard by. These carvings have been engraved, but not with the necessary correctness. It speaks little for the public spirit of Guildford that they are not photographed.

On the other or north side of the main entrance, also in the west wall, is a second mural chamber, entered by a narrow, round-headed, original door, 2 feet 4 inches broad by 7 feet 7 inches high, quite plain, of ashlar. This chamber has a rude, round-headed barrel vault, and is 9 feet 2 inches long by 5 feet 1 inch broad. There is one loop in the west wall. The walls are rubble, but the internal jamb of the door, being of chalk ashlar, bears some carvings in the style of those described above.

The third chamber is in the north wall, at its east end. Its door and much of its inner wall and floor have been removed to allow of the insertion of a fireplace and chimney-shaft, but enough remains to show that the chamber was 14 feet long by 3 feet 2 inches broad, and had a loop in the north wall. The eastern third of this chamber is uninjured. A depression in the floor, quite at the east end, looks as though it had been a garderobe for the state floor, and this idea is strengthened by the quoining and ashlar-work about the angles at that end. Brayley prolongs this chamber at a right angle into the east wall. This is a pure fiction. The quoining of the end shows that there was nothing further, and the groove in the wall is only meant to support the ends of the boards upon which the vault was turned. The fireplace, close west of this chamber, of which the flue remains, is an insertion. The position of the mural chamber and of the window shows, however, that there may have been an original fireplace here.

There remains to be mentioned the well-stair, which occupies the north-west angle of the keep, commencing at the first-floor level and ascending to the roof. This stair does not communicate directly with the main chamber, but opens by a small, round-headed door in the jamb of the adjacent north window, where three steps in a short, narrow passage lead up into the base of the well-stair. The stairs are gone, but the cylinder of the well-stair, 8 feet diameter, remains. As high as the second floor it is lined with excellent chalk ashlar, and lighted by two loops on the west side. A door and passage, similar to that below, ascends by four steps into a recess, not a window, in the north wall of the upper floor. This side door is pointed, but this seems the effect of modern cobbling. It should further be mentioned that the four hollow angles of the first or state floor are quoined with chalk ashlar. The floor rested on no set-off, the walls being of the thickness of the basement.

The second, or upper floor was about 15 feet high. There is a set-off at the floor level, reducing the east and west walls by about 2 feet. In this floor are four windows in broad recesses. Those on the west and east and south faces are central. The fourth window is towards the east end of the north wall, the centre of that side being occupied by a fireplace much modernised, but which the displacement of the window shows to be original. In the south wall, close to the south-east angle, a door leads into a small mural garderobe, with two vents corbelled out over the exterior wall and a loop above them. With this exception, there are no mural chambers on this floor, which is singular, seeing that the wall is quite thick enough to carry them. There is, however, in the west wall, near its north end, one jamb of a walled-up door, which may have been meant to communicate with the stair or with a mural chamber. It seems never to have been completed. The four angles of this room are quoined in chalk ashlar, as in the room below, and the window recesses had, and one still has, round-headed arches. This floor is very inaccessible, but was reached by a ladder when these remarks upon it were recorded. The walls are evidently, in the main, original, though much pulled about by the Carter family when they lived here. The recesses also are original, but the windows themselves are cut-brick insertions of two lights, arched.

It will be observed that the eastern wall, though very thick, is pierced by no galleries, and, with the exception of two windows, is absolutely solid from base to summit. Probably the object was, by placing this mass of firm masonry on the solid ground, to give support to the other three sides, and thus prevent them from sliding down the slope of the mound, as was the case with some much lighter and later buildings in a similar position at Cardiff.

It has been stated that the keep stands upon the south-eastern slope of the mound, consequently there is to the west, and in front of its entrance, nearly the whole table summit. This was enclosed by a circular wall, like a shell-keep, about 25 feet high, which, springing from the south-eastern angle of the keep, seems to have been carried round the mound, commencing at about half its height, until it reached the north-east angle of the keep, at which junction there seems to have been a gateway. Of this circular wall about one-half, either actual or in foundations, remains. The fragment of wall, about 5 feet thick and 20 feet high, is evidently of the date of the keep, the same thin red tiles being used in its chalk masonry. Also in this wall is an original garderobe, apparently of three stages: one at the ward level, one half-way up, and one on the battlements; the three seem to have united in a common shaft, the vent of which is seen outside the base of the wall.

The space thus enclosed by the keep and the circular curtain was the inner ward. How the main door of the keep was reached does not appear. There was not the usual fore-building, as at Norwich or Rochester; the circumscribing wall and the lofty position of the keep rendered this unnecessary. A row of small holes at the door level may have belonged to a sort of timber landing, to be reached by a flight of steps of the same material. There is said to have been a well in this ward, about 6 feet from the west wall of the keep, south of the door.

There remain two wards to be described. The line of the enceinte of the castle seems to have been much as follows: Commencing at the angle of Castle Street and Quarry Street, where the site of the present “King’s Head” inn was probably marked by a tower, the west front took the line of Quarry Street, past the great gateway, to the tower containing a postern, which still marks the south-west angle of the enclosure. Thence the wall passed east till it reached the boundary of the extra-parochial ground, whence, in the line of that boundary, it probably took the curve of the counterscarp of the main ditch, in the direction of the Bowling Green Cottages. There, on the platform at the end of the causeway, was no doubt a barbican covering the direct approach to the keep. Thence the wall seems to have been continued along the line of the ditch, shown by the curve of Castle Street, until it again reached Quarry Street, thus enclosing what corresponds tolerably well to the area of the castle at the sale of 1612, which is described as 5 acres, 3 roods, 10 perches; or nearly six acres. Of this area, the part north of the great gateway was shut off by a curtain, parts of which remain, and which seems to have run up the mound to the enceinte of the inner ward. In this, the middle ward, stood the hall and principal buildings, as is clear from the considerable, though fragmentary, Norman walls still to be seen, two of which, forming two sides of a large chamber, are very perfect, and one is pierced by a very perfect Norman window recess and loop.

GUILDFORD CASTLE.

What stood in the area south of the gateway, into which the postern led, is not known. It long contained the gardens of the governor of the gaol, when the castle was employed for that ignoble use, and in it is the celebrated well connected with the caverns.

The great gate in Quarry Street, though large, is at present a mere opening, perhaps of the age of Henry III., in an older, and probably Norman, curtain. Whether it was connected with the gatehouse is uncertain, but there is, as already stated, an indication in the masonry that such was the case. Also the portcullis groove is large, and so heavy a grate could not have been worked without a chamber above carrying a winch. Outside the gate are two buttresses, which have a late Norman aspect. One is nearly perfect, the other has been replaced in brick, but probably upon the old base. The south-west angle of the Quarry Street front is marked by the not inconsiderable remains of the postern tower, adjacent wall, and a large buttress, all pretty clearly late Norman. Towards the north and east the walls are entirely removed, but in these quarters the line of the ditch affords a clue to the original boundary. The enceinte thus laid down measures about 535 yards; its greatest north and south diameter, 170 yards; and east and west, 140 yards. The Quarry Street front is straight and 138 yards long, with the gate nearly in the middle. From the postern tower to the end of the keep causeway is 213 yards, and thence to the “King’s Head” angle, 184 yards.

Captain James has detected traces of a line of wall parallel to, and about 30 yards south of, the High Street, which may not improbably have been the boundary of an enclosed area appended to the castle, as may the extra-parochial lands on the east and south-east, but the actually defended area of the castle seems to have been as above described.

It may further be observed that Quarry Street, which runs along the foot of the west wall of the castle and lay between it and the river, seems to have been defended on that side by the low cliff and talus already mentioned, supported probably by the retaining wall, of which traces and the jamb of a gate remain; while there is a tradition of a gate crossing the street near the postern of the castle, which probably guarded the approach to the town from the south, the only quarter from which a hostile approach would be apprehended.

Not only are the remains of the domestic buildings of a late Norman character, but among the repairs of the hall, in the reign of Henry III., two of the piers are mentioned as out of the perpendicular, a tolerably conclusive evidence that the hall resembled Oakham and Leicester and was of Norman date. Altogether, it is sufficiently evident that the whole area of the castle was enclosed by its original founder, and is not later than the middle of the twelfth century, the detached fragments of walls and buildings being in substance of the same date with the keep. The castle is in St. Mary’s parish, bordered on the north-east by Trinity and on the east by the extra-parochial plot, the origin of which is not known. Probably the enceinte took in the whole of the residence of the royal Saxon owners.

Those who have supposed that the enceinte of the castle extended to the present High Street have regarded the two well-known crypts remaining there as proofs of this extent. One of these, on the south side, the writer has not been able to visit; but the other, exactly opposite the former, and about 160 yards from the keep, he has examined, and it is said that the two are of the same age and dimensions and very nearly alike.

The north crypt, beneath the Angel Hotel, is a rectangular chamber, 31 feet north and south, by 19 feet east and west, and divided into two aisles and six bays by two central piers. The piers are plain cylinders, 18 inches diameter and 5 feet 6 inches high. The bases are now concealed; the piers are without caps and quite plain. The roof is vaulted, and 10 feet 3 inches from the floor to the cornice, groined and ribbed. The arches are drop and pointed, the ribs chamfered and springing from carved corbels in the wall. At the south end of each aisle is a window recess, converging and rising to a loop at the street level. The entrance is by a narrow drop-arched door, opening from a rising passage, vaulted, with hanging ribs. This opens into a small chamber, north of, and 4 or 5 feet above, the vault, whence another narrow door probably led up to the ground level. The date of the crypt seems to be of the thirteenth century, and it is quite clear that it never was prolonged southwards towards the other crypt, and was always and only lighted, as now, from the street level. In all probability this was the cellar of some considerable hostel, situate, as now, in the High Street, which, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as now, was probably the main thoroughfare of the town.

In the immediate neighbourhood of the castle, and, indeed, running under the southern edge of its enceinte, are the celebrated caverns which have recently been explored, and for the first time correctly planned by Capt. James, whose excellent account of them is well known. These caverns are excavated in the chalk, which forms a cliff south of the town, and from the base of which they are entered. The chalk here dips northerly, at about ten degrees, and the hardest bed and the most suitable for building purposes lies at the base of the cliff and is about 6 or 7 feet thick. This bed has been largely quarried by open “patching” in the broken ground south of the cliff, which, indeed, is apparently artificial, and produced by these excavations, and it was only when the bed became too deep for that mode of working that the quarrymen had recourse to mining operations. These later works are, in general plan, composed of a gallery parallel to, and a few feet within, the face of the cliff, from which, at a right angle, eight parallel stalls are carried north-eastwards. The extreme points of the excavation are a little over 55 yards north-west and south-east, by 32 yards north-east and south-west; but the area actually excavated is only about 1,150 yards, and the cubical contents about 2,330 yards. The plan alone would show that they were opened for quarries. But, besides this, although much solid chalk has been removed, the excavation is nearly choked up with the immense quantity of “small” produced by unskilful working, and through which narrow paths are left to get at the face of the work. It is evident that this is not débris brought in, nor caused by the fall of the roof, which is remarkably sound. It is simply broken chalk which has been thrown back as the miners proceeded, and remains undisturbed. The character and presence of this rubbish not only shows that the excavation was a quarry, but that it never was used for anything else, neither as a granary, nor a cellar, nor for human habitation, for nowhere has it been cleared away so as to set any part of the cavities free for such purposes.

Nearly in the deepest part of the working, about 60 feet below the surface, the caverns have been pierced by a well, sunk, it is said, in the garden of the governor of the old gaol. This well has been carried through the caverns, if to water, probably to a depth of another hundred feet, but it has subsequently been covered over with plank, at the level of the cavern floor, and so now remains. The pipe of the well above is very rugged, as though sunk by unskilled workmen—perhaps convicts,—and is stained, as though used as a cesspool. Also, for many yards around, the rubbish, elsewhere of pure white, is dark and foul, as though, failing to reach water, or afterwards disused for that purpose, the well had been employed as a receptacle for all the filth of the prison.

As to the age of these quarries, it is not easy to form a sound opinion. They have been supposed to be British, and various uses have been found for them, quite at variance with the appearances they present. The only argument for such an origin has been overlooked. The town is in Woking hundred, and Woking, like Wokey in Mendip, may be a corruption of the British “Ogof” (fovea), a cave. But Woking was never the name of the town, and the material evidence of the caverns does not favour this theory. They are certainly not British: the plan of the workings excludes this view. No doubt they might be Roman, but there are no traces of Roman buildings in the neighbourhood, and chalk, even hard chalk, is too plentiful all along the ridge to be carried hence to any great distance. The most probable supposition seems to me to be that they were opened by the builders of the Norman castle, who used chalk largely for their inner, and, indeed, for much of their more exposed, work. The quarries have no communication with any part of the castle. Where they infringe upon its borders, they are far too deep to have been employed against it during a mediæval siege.

HARLECH CASTLE, MERIONETH.

DESCRIPTION.

THE Castle of Harlech occupies a bold and rugged headland of rock which juts forward upon the coast-line of Merioneth over the broad alluvial plain known as Morfa Harlech, near to its southern and narrower extremity. Six centuries back, when the Traeth was an estuary, and the waves may have washed the foot of the rock, Harlech, as now Criccaieth, was probably accessible by water,—a circumstance likely to have governed its founder in his selection of the site. Although scarcely 200 feet above the sea level, and connected with a much higher background, the rock of Harlech is nevertheless a very striking object, and by the extreme boldness of its outline and its almost isolated position does justice to its very significant appellation. It commands one of the most remarkable prospects in Britain. Before it is the Bay of Caernarvon with its vast sweep of sandy shore, contained on the right by Snowdon and its subordinate peaks; whence the high land, after rising into the elevations of Carn Madryn, Carn Bodfuan, and Yr Eifl, gradually subsides into the Bay of Aberdaron and the Sound and Isle of Bardsey. Caernarvon and Conway are fortresses more ornate in character and of larger area; but they are not equal to Harlech in natural strength and in grandeur of position; nor is, in these respects, Beaumaris itself, though placed in the very eye of the Snowdon group, by any means its superior.

Harlech is a concentric castle of the Edwardian type, and of that type a simple and excellent example. It is composed of a central four-sided ward contained within four lofty curtains, and capped at each angle by a drum-tower of three-quarter projection. In the centre of the landward or eastern side is the great gatehouse; opposite to which, built against the curtain, are the remains of the hall and domestic buildings; and contiguous to them, against the north side, is the chapel.

The main or Inner Ward, thus composed and occupied, stands within the second or middle ward, which resembles it generally in plan, save that the four corners are not symmetrical, one being merely rounded, two others capped by more or less of three-quarter bastions, and the fourth rounded on one face and fashioned as a bastion on the other. In the centre of the south side is a half-round smaller bastion, corbelled out from the retaining wall below; and in the centre of the north side are two others, also small, between which is the postern of this middle ward. In the east face, opposite the great gatehouse, are two “tourelles,” or round bartizan turrets, corbelled out from the wall; and parts of a small low gatehouse, which contained the outer gate.

HARLECH CASTLE, MERIONETHSHIRE (in part restored).

HARLECH CASTLE.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.

This middle ward is narrow and of unequal breadth, varying from 8 feet to 30 feet. It is rather below the level of the inner ward, and the ground outside it is from 10 feet to 15 feet lower still; and its walls are revetments crested with a parapet which seems to have ranged from 6 feet to 12 feet in height; in the latter case having a rampart-walk reached by open steps. The several bastions seem to have risen a little higher than the parapet, and to have contained each a low chamber, probably with a flat roof. This ward is protected on the east and south sides by a broad and deep dry ditch, quarried in the rock, and running out until it ends on the cliff. The other two sides are covered by an outer ward of considerable breadth, but composed for the most part of steep slopes and abrupt ledges of rock. A part of this ward towards the west or sea front contains a long passage which ascends by a lower traverse from a water-gate at the foot of the rock, resting partly upon a shelf of rock, and which by a second and upper traverse reaches the postern of the middle ward.

Passing into details, the court of the inner ward is about 164 feet north and south, by 132 feet east and west. The opposite sides are not quite equal, nor are its angles right angles, though nearly so. The curtains are about 40 feet high; that to the west is 10 feet thick, the others are 11 feet. The parapet was 3 feet thick, and the rear wall 2 feet, leaving 5 feet to 6 feet for the walk. The two western towers are circular, and 34 feet diameter, having three-fourths of their circumference exposed outside. Within, the gorge wall fills up the angle of meeting of the curtains and contains the entrance-door. The basement chamber is below the inner ward level and circular. The first floor, at the ward level, is polygonal, as are the two upper floors. None are vaulted, and the basement has neither loops nor stairs of access. Each of these two towers has a well-stair at its junction with the western curtain, lighted by five loops placed one over the other in the hollow angle between the tower and the curtain, outside. The stairs ascend 20 feet above the tower, in a round turret, battlemented on small corbels. Each turret has a door upon the tower roof. The staircases commence at the first floor, on or level with the inner ward, and open on each floor, but not upon the ramparts of the curtain. The upper floor has fireplaces with hoods.

Outside, these towers rise from the ground without slope or cordon; two string-courses, however, mark the level of the two upper floors. The stairs are broken away, and the upper rooms inaccessible; but certain exterior loops show the existence of two tiers of small chambers (no doubt garderobes) in the north and south curtains, where they join the towers. Moreover, on the outside of each of these curtains, next to the tower, is a broad, flat buttress, thrown out to give space and support to these chambers and to contain the sewer-shaft from them. On the north wall, the buttress is of good ashlar of the age of the tower. On the south wall, it is of rude, inferior work, as though an addition. It may have been rebuilt. In the north curtain there seems to be a third chamber at a lower level. The drain here is not seen; on the south face it is open. Where these towers meet the rampart-walk they block it up; a sort of gallery is, therefore, thrown out on corbels, across the angle, and thus, as at Conway, the rampart-walk is carried on.

The two eastern towers resemble the others in general features and dimensions, but differ in details. Their basements have one loop towards the middle ward, and their first floor, at the inner ward level, is an irregular pentagon in plan, one angle being square. The doors are in the gorge wall, but do not lead direct into the tower, only into the staircase. In the south-east tower, a stair ascends in the northern wall, curving with it, and forks, the right branch leading to the second floor of the tower, from which alone, by a trap and descending ladder, the first floor and basement were accessible. This floor, like all the rest, was of timber, and from it, on the west side, a second stair commences, and curving with the wall, and having a small garderobe by the way, ascends to the ramparts of the south curtain. Reverting to the lower stair, the branch to the left opens upon the inner face of the east curtain, and ascends by a narrow, open stair, supported on corbels, across the gorge wall of the tower, and up the inner face of the south curtain to its ramparts. The roof and ramparts of the tower are reached by an exterior stair from the rampart of the east curtain. A loop in the hollow between the junction of this tower with the south curtain marks the place of the garderobe already mentioned. Above it was a second upon the battlements of the tower, and at the base of the wall is a large flat-topped sewer descending from the two. The south-east tower bears the name of Mortimer, the south-west that of Bronwen, the fair-bosomed, sister of Brân the Blessed.

The north-east, the debtors’ or armourers’, tower has a door in the gorge opening on the left upon a well-stair, 8 feet diameter, which ascends to the second floor only, from which the first floor and basement were reached by a trap and ladder. The second floor is seven-sided, those below cylindrical. As in the south-east tower, an independent stair led from the second floor to the ramparts of the curtain, and upon this curved stair is a garderobe, the loop of which is seen at the junction of the tower with the north curtain, and the mouth or vent at the ground level. The roof of this tower, like the other, is reached from the walls by an external stair. These two towers, having no well-stairs to the roof, have no subordinate turrets. That all these four towers had flat roofs is pretty clear from the position of two corbels in each, evidently intended to carry hammer beams or struts to the one main beam which crossed the aperture, and was thus rendered capable of carrying great weight.

The great gatehouse is 80 feet broad and 54 feet deep, besides which it has two half-round projections in the front and two three-quarter projecting stair-turrets 24 feet diameter at the outer angles of the rear, the former flanking the entrance, the latter communicating with each floor and the ramparts. The entrance passage, 54 feet long by 8 feet broad, is much mutilated, but seems to have had an exterior drawbridge, two grates, folding doors, and a grate at the inner front. The entrance portal has within it a “machecoule,” or meurtrière,—that is, an opening from the chamber above—and behind this a portcullis. Then follows a passage 11 feet long, crossed by two ribs, a second portcullis, and a portal arch, upon which rests the west wall of the chapel. Then follows another passage, 20 feet long, entered by gates opening towards the inner ward, and crossed by five broad ribs, with four open spaces. At the end of this is a third portcullis, the groove for which is now closed above at a level too low to allow the grate to be lifted to the height of a cart, while in the arch above is a square cavity or “machecoule.” It would seem that while the wall was rising it was decided not to use these grooves, and that the hole was intended to take the place of the grate as a defence. Beyond this is the inner portal, which, like the outer, has no rebate for a door. In the front division of this long entrance, between the two outer grates, are two loops from the side lodges, which are entered by two doors placed near to the inner end. This passage was covered over with boards, the flooring of the rooms above, and which rested upon the stone ribs. Here, as is often the case, the portcullis groove stops from 1 foot to 18 inches above the door sill, showing that the spikes at the lower end of the grate were of this length. This long entrance passage is further lengthened by the addition of two unequal piers to its internal face. They are blocks of masonry 10 feet thick. That on the south or left had a door whence a narrow staircase of two flights ascended to the front floor. The pier on the right is of less breadth, and was only an abutment to support the arch which connected the two and contained and continued the entrance passage, and on which was the landing at the stair-head.

The basement of the gatehouse is at the ground level. On each side of the passage are two chambers, those in front occupying the half-round projection and looped to the field. They are entered from the chambers in the rear, which are rectangular, having shoulder-headed doors from the passage and into the well-stairs. The northern chamber has a fireplace in the south-east angle. The two southern chambers communicate through a large arch, the northern through a doorway only. There are also two upper floors, divided as these below, and reached by the two large well-stairs. There are spacious and handsome rooms, two on each floor, with large windows of two lights in the western or larger rooms, and in all are fireplaces with stone hoods. The eastern rooms below are half circles in plan; and above, are polygonal. Between the lateral rooms and over the entrance passage are two narrow chambers unequally divided by a cross wall. The eastern is an oratory, with a small, pointed east window over the entrance gate of the castle, and near it, in the south wall, is a piscina, which is in the cill of a small window opening into a small mural chamber, a vestry. There is a similar chamber, but without the window, in the north wall. Both rooms are entered from the oratory. As at York, Chepstow, and elsewhere, this oratory served also as a portcullis chamber, and the floor was of wood, with traps to allow the passage of the grates when lifted. The grates were suspended from the vault above, as is still seen. The other and larger chamber, placed over the western part of the passage, had also a wooden floor. It had a west window of two lights over the inner portal, and north of this a round-headed doorway. The portcullis, if lifted, would have blocked this entrance, and therefore when the door was opened it was stopped. The machecoule is seen in the window seat. The upper chambers are not accessible, but they seem similar to those below, and there is a second oratory above the first, with a smaller east window—a very unusual arrangement. This floor communicates laterally with the ramparts of the curtain, and at the junction on each side is a mural garderobe. On the south side a mural stair descends to two chambers at different levels, both in the curtain wall. On the north side the arrangement is rather different. There, the mural garderobes are supported in part by a projection at the first-floor level, corbelled out in the angle between the gatehouse and the curtain, outside, and the vent was probably between the corbels. Above, at the rampart level, half the thickness of the wall is occupied by a garderobe chamber, of which the side is broken down. Several of the chimney shafts are collected in a central group, each shaft having a bold capital with a plain roll moulding.

The domestic buildings were placed against the curtain on the west side of the inner ward. The kitchen is thought to have been at the north end, including within its limits the basement of the north-west tower. It is, however, more probable that this was the withdrawing room, placed between the hall and the chapel. A gloomy corner, no doubt, but the state rooms were evidently in the gatehouse. The kitchen would scarcely have been designed originally between the hall and the chapel. The cross wall, still standing, but which looks either modern or rebuilt, formed the north end of the hall, and the recesses in the west wall of the curtain carried the hammer beams of its open roof. In this wall are the remains of a large fireplace, of which the hood is gone, and the lower part has recently been rebuilt. On either side are the broken apertures for two windows, and in the wall, near its south end, a segmental-headed door, now walled up, but evidently a postern. There are also near this two small windows, one of which seems to have lighted the gallery and the other the space below it. Of the position of the gallery there can be no doubt, but the wall behind it, forming the south end of the hall, and now removed, had no bond either into the curtain or into the east wall. Most of this east wall, the inner wall of the hall, is gone. The hall was 30 feet broad. The roof seems to have been lofty, and part of the weather moulding of its gutter remains along the west wall. On the floor, in the north-west corner of the hall, has been built a large oven of stone, the lining of which is much burnt. It probably was inserted when the castle was used as a prison.

South of the hall is a considerable space extending to the gorge wall of Bronwen Tower, and in the east wall of this space are remains of a door and two windows. It is probable that the kitchen was here, in the rear of the gallery, and that a row of corbels outside the east wall carried a lean-to building attached to it and near this; against the south wall is a rectangular pit, the underground storey of some building now removed. If the kitchen was at this end, the hall fireplace was a little below the dais, a very probable position.

The chapel, a later building, was placed against the north wall. Its east wall and pointed window remain. The south wall is gone. In the centre of the north curtain is a segmental-arched doorway, evidently a postern, and nearly opposite to that of the middle ward. It is much mutilated, and does not seem to have had a portcullis. The wall east of it is pierced by three loops, 4 feet above the ground level. There was at least one loop westward of the postern. The well was in the north-east angle of the court. It has recently been opened a few feet down.

The Middle Ward contains little of interest. On the north side it is 15 feet broad, and hence, between its two roundels, 10 feet apart, opened the postern, 8 feet wide, now walled up. On the west front, the ward is 27 feet broad and forms a noble terrace overlooking the sea and commanding the approach from the water-gate. The hall had windows looking this way, and upon it opened the hall postern. Towards the south end a few steps descended about 10 feet into the south-west bastion. Probably there was a cross wall here with a doorway. Turning the south-west corner, the ground again rises to a door in a wall which crosses the south terrace near its west end. This side of the wall has a central half-round bastion, the broken parapet of which shows traces of a loop and of a garderobe. On the remaining or eastern side is the great entrance. Here the gateway, which crowns a low salient, is flanked by two roundels. The portal is broken down, and it does not now appear how this was connected with the inner gatehouse. Probably the short distance between the two was arched over and had lateral doorways into the middle ward. From the inner gate, twenty steps descended to the bridge, so that no horse or carriage could have entered this way.

The defences beyond the middle ward are the ditch, the outer ward, and the water-gates and passage. The ditch covers only the east and south, the two landward sides. It is quarried in the rock, and is about 60 feet broad and was 20 feet deep, with vertical sides. Its scarp is the revetment wall of the middle ward, and the counterscarp, where the rock was broken, is also lined with masonry. The ditch runs out at either end upon the shelving face of the rock. Across it, to the main entrance, led a bridge upon which it is said there were two openings with drawbridges. The whole is now a solid causeway.

Although the castle stands upon a promontory of rock, there is a broken shelving space between its wall and an actual cliff in which the rock terminates below, and it is this space, which lies to the west and north, which has been enclosed as the outer ward, the containing wall of which crowns the cliff and where necessary is supported by a revetment. This outer wall begins below the north-east bastion of the middle ward, whence a door with steps seems to have led down about 10 feet to its ramparts. It is at that point a very stout wall, about 14 feet high, with a parapet on the western face, thus defending the ditch and main bridge from an enemy who might be in possession of the outer ward and be disposed to turn the eastern flank. It is probable, however, that the wall had a double parapet, for lower down, where the wall faces the north, the parapet is on that face. Near the bastion there seems to have been a door in this wall, giving a passage from the outer ward to the ditch. Lower down, where the wall stands on the cliff, it is thinner, and in parts much broken away. Still lower it is more perfect and much stronger, and where it turns the north-west corner of the rock, opposite the railway station, it is of great thickness, and has a rampart wall and parapet towards the sea, above the level of which it is about 30 feet; near this point is the lower water-gate, a regular postern, in a small rectangular shoulder in the wall. A roadway of about 5 yards or 6 yards long, cut in the rock, rises from the marsh 10 feet or 12 feet, and upon it, in front of the portal, was a drawbridge with a pit 12 feet deep, and within the portal a short shoulder-headed passage closed apparently by a door, but without any portcullis. Beyond this a flight of open stairs niched in the curtain ascended to an embattled platform over the gate. From the lower gate, the road leads up a rather steep passage formed partly by taking advantage of a shelf and partly by quarrying the rock, the outer side being protected by a wall 8 to 10 feet high and from 2 to 3 feet thick, and looped at about every 20 feet. As the inner side of the roadway is the irregular face of the cliff, it varies much in breadth, from 6 to 12 feet or more. This road, continually ascending, thus covers the whole seaward face of the castle rock, and at about 70 feet or 80 feet in height it terminates in the middle gate, which is about 20 feet below the base of the south-western bastion of the middle ward. Here, a shoulder in the rock is occupied by a second gatehouse, fortified as the first, with a drawbridge and a deep pit, which below has two arches, one for the discharge of water from the pit and the other, which may be merely to support the side wall of the gatehouse, but which may also be a sewer from the castle. Outside this gate is a platform which rakes the face of the wall of the passage below, while above and within the gate is a broad bastion, whence commences the second traverse. At this point, the end of the main ditch lies just below the bastion wall, and was reached from it by a small door and some steps, now gone.

The road now makes a complete turn, and commences a new traverse which rises much more gently than that below. When abreast of the mid-front of the castle it is supported by a retaining wall and two small square buttresses or buttress turrets, traces of which are seen upon a ledge of rock. Passing these, where the road comes opposite to the north-west bastion of the middle ward, it was crossed by a wall and doorway, of which traces remain, which divided the outer ward into two parts. Above this, the way turned eastward and ascended to the centre of the north front, where it reached the postern of the middle ward and there ended.

These are the whole of the works proper to the castle, but a few yards to the north of the rock a steep road has been cut by which men and horses could be led up from the castle landing-place to the village without entering the enceinte, though commanded from it.

No one acquainted with Caerphilly can visit Harlech without observing the close resemblance between the two castles, so far as regards the plan of the interior and middle wards. The court, rectangular, or nearly so, the absence of a keep, the drum-towers capping the four angles, the general character of the gatehouse and its position in the centre of one side, and the domestic buildings placed against the wall of the inner court, are peculiarities common to both. In each also the gatehouse is the grand feature of the building. Further, there is to be observed in both the excessive narrowness of the middle ward, its revetment rendering more than a parapet unnecessary, its slender and subordinate gatehouse, and its lateral postern opening direct through both wards. As Harlech did not need the outworks and exterior gate of Caerphilly, nor Caerphilly the water-gate of Harlech, here the resemblance ceases, but it is such as to justify the conclusion that Henry of Elfreton, who was the architect of Harlech, had studied Caerphilly, if indeed he was not also its architect.

The defences of Harlech seem calculated for protection against a surprise by the Welsh, who were probably as active as they were fearless. Hence the very lofty curtains, the long entrance bridge, the ascending steps to the main entrance, and the dimensions of the middle ward, too narrow to allow any considerable body of men to effect a lodgment there for an attack upon the inner ward, and the water-gates and covered way, in the construction of which the natural strength of the rock was enhanced by the occupation of its various points of vantage. Whether in the reign of Edward I. Morfa Harlech was more than a marsh is a question for a geologist to solve; but either by the shallow sea or by a canal cut across the low ground, it seems certain that in planning the castle Edward counted upon the means of reaching it by a quarter quite independent of the Welsh.

Although the general plan of Harlech is evidently the work of one mind and its execution generally of one date, there are some appearances in the work which show that alterations and additions were introduced affecting, not the general plan, but certain of its parts. It is evident that parts of the curtain have been thickened about 2 feet,—the north and south walls by additions inside; the west, on the outside. Also this thickening seems to have been decided upon when the walls were 30 feet high, as above that level they are of one mass and date. The exterior stair on the inner face of the great gatehouse was also an afterthought, and the doorway at its head clearly was not originally introduced. Besides this, the six windows on that front of the gatehouse, in the two upper floors, have been reduced in height by the insertion of a segmental arch between 2 feet and 3 feet below the original head; but the pattern is the same, and the masonry filling up the space seems of the date of the window, or very nearly so. These windows are of a peculiar pattern. Their two lights are trefoiled; and in the spandrels are also trefoils pierced. The mouldings are concave; and one is a small hollow, as in the early Perpendicular style. They must, however, be original.

The inference from these alterations seems to be, that Edward visited the castle when the works were far advanced, and the hall, gatehouse, and the lower part of the north, south, and west curtains built. The gatehouse curtain was probably always intended to be of its present height, as at Caerphilly. He ordered the other three curtains to be thickened and raised to the full height of the gatehouse curtain; to obey which order, the thickening was applied where possible on the inside, but where the hall prevented this, on the outside. The upper part of the walls so raised would, of course, be of one date, and solid. At the same time it was decided to make the rooms of the upper floors of the gatehouse those of state; and as the ways up the well-staircases were not thought suitable, a new and more direct staircase was built and a new door opened in the wall. The chapel in the inner ward seems a still later addition.

The character of the masonry throughout is exceedingly rough, as though hastily executed. It is rubble, and some of it very poor rubble indeed. The towers are of far better work than the curtains. The stones are larger, and their interstices filled in with more care. The ashlar is very good, but is sparingly used, and confined to the dressings, window-cases, chimney-hoods and heads, and a few of the more important doorways. The ordinary doors are mere openings to the walls, without rebates or chamfer, with shouldered heads of a rude character; and the sewer-openings, seen under the garderobes, have merely long stones for lintels. The masonry of the covered way and water-gates is also very inferior, and much of the side wall has, in consequence, slipped away from the rock.

The turret-heads of the gatehouse and two western towers have parapets projecting upon a corbel-table about 6 inches. There are no traces of holes for brattices; but upon the exterior of these two towers the putlog-holes are arranged in a spiral ascending form, east to north. In the north-west tower, on its east face, at the height of the old curtain, is a row of round holes about a foot apart, and from this level the spiral commences. It is pretty clear that having built the curtain, the masons here threw out a platform, and that the spiral round, by which the materials were raised for the upper part of the tower, began here. The tower of Coucy was scaffolded in the same way. There is throughout the building a remarkable absence of vaulting. It was confined to the oratory and to parts of the entrance passage.

The bird’s-eye view here given is taken from the east or landward side, and shows the entrance, with its great gatehouse, here, as at Caerphilly, seen to cross and close the narrow outer ward. The northern postern is also shown.

The castle seems to have escaped the usual dismantling that followed upon the civil wars, and no part has been blown up. It has, however, been freely used as a quarry by the people around; and, with its iron and timber, much of its ashlar has been rudely detached and stolen. There is but little evidence of any material addition to, or alteration in, the work of Edward I., which is singular, seeing that the place was long the seat of an assize, and the judges lodged here. It was then also a prison, and the windows were heavily barred, the bars forming shallow cages in front of the windows, as in some of the Italian palaces. Any later work introduced for the judicial or prison arrangements has either fallen down or been removed. The quarry whence the castle was built is pointed out on the hill-side, a short distance to the south-east. Although the present castle certainly is not older than the reign of Edward I., probably about 1280, the Welsh claim to have been the founders of an older fortress on the same spot, called by them Caer Gollwyn, from Collwyn ab Tangno, a Welsh chief who lived A.D. 877. Possibly a spot so inviting might have been occupied by a camp; but all that is now seen, whether of earthwork or masonry, is evidently not older than the thirteenth century. In 1404 the castle is said to have been taken by Owen Glyndwr; and Margaret of Anjou was sheltered here in 1460, in memory of which event the south-east tower for some time bore her name. There does not seem to be any detailed account of the siege of 1468, when the governor was Dafydd ab Ievan ab Einion, the same who had received Queen Margaret, and whose boast it was, that as he had held a castle in France till all the old women in Wales had heard of it, so he would hold his Welsh trust till it had become equally well known in France. He seems to have redeemed his pledge by standing a long siege, and yielding at last, on honourable terms, to Sir Richard Herbert, the commander for Edward IV. Harlech was held for Charles I., and surrendered on articles to General Mytton in 1647. The borough seal represents a castle triple towered, but the design is evidently conventional. The first constable was Hugh de Wonkeslow, appointed about 1283 by Edward I.; the last was the late W. W. E. Wynne, Esq., of Peniarth, as good a man as he was an eminent antiquary.

HASTINGS CASTLE, SUSSEX.

THE Rape of Hastings is the most eastern of the six divisions of the county of Sussex which are supposed to derive their somewhat peculiar name from the early occupation of the district by emigrants from Jutland. The Rape of Hastings, probably, is so called from its principal town, which was also the seat of its lords both before and after the Norman Conquest. Like the other rapes, it had its river and its forest, its castle and its castelry, often designated as an Honour. The river, the Rother, is the common boundary of Kent and Sussex, and joins the sea at Rye. The forest, long since disafforested and enclosed, is represented by frequent patches of woodland, scattered over the least fertile parts of the district, and by the numerous and well-timbered parks by which it is characterised. The town once possessed a small port, now silted up. It was situate at the mouth of a stream, which still brings down its inconsiderable tribute, flowing at the foot and to the west of the castle hill.

The origin and etymology of the name of Hastings are lost in obscurity. It is so uncommon, that it has been supposed to come from Haesten, the celebrated pirate and Danish Viking, who infested the southern coasts of England and the valley of the Seine in the ninth century,—a period when warriors of Northern descent gave their names to their possessions, instead of, like their descendants of two centuries later, reversing the practice. Mr. Lower, familiar with Sussex topography, has suggested that the small stream of the Asten, a few miles west of Hastings, may play some part in its etymology, and that Hasting, or the Haesten-Ceaster of the English, may have stood upon its margin. It has also been regarded as the seat of the Hastinges, a tribe said to have been warred upon by Offa of Mercia in 792. Another not less interesting point connected with the place is the fact that it gave name to the ancient family who long ago bore the title of Pembroke, and still bear that of Huntingdon.

The castle occupies the narrow, acute, and very steep extremity of a ridge of the Wealden formation, which here terminates abruptly to the seaward at a height of about 180 feet above the seashore, and seems intended by nature for a defensive position. The ridge is a spur from a range of larger and more elevated character which extends from the high ground of Battle, by Ore, south-eastwards to the sea, and has to its west and south a large tract of broken and highly-fertile picturesque land known as the hop garden of Sussex, and within which are the well-known seats of Hurstmonceaux, Ashburnham, Battle, and Crowhurst,—a tract which presents to the sea an open frontier of about twenty-two miles from Hastings to the marsh of Pevensey, defended anciently by the two castles of those names, and more recently by twenty or thirty martello towers, in which our fathers, three quarters of a century ago, placed an expensive confidence.

Hastings.

  1. CASTLE HILL
  2. Sᵀ MARY’S CHAPEL COLLEGIATE
  3. TOWER
  4. POSTERN
  5. NORTH GATE
  6. SALLYPORT
  7. FOSSE AND STEEP SLOPE
  8. FOSSE

The ridge and promontory of Hastings remain unencumbered by modern buildings, and are occupied only by the castle and its outworks. The older part of the town, with its two parish churches of St. Clement and All Saints, occupies a deep valley to the east of the castle, while round the nose of the rock the remains of the old port have been superseded by the new town, a fashionable watering-place. Much of this town stands within the parish of St. Mary de Castro, the parish church having been the chapel of the castle, and collegiate. The town seems to have been partially walled, and certainly had four gates. Hastings, though now affording no accommodation for shipping, is still a cinque port, and its ancient consideration is attested by the fact that in 1229, Seaford, Pevensey, Bulverhythe, Hidney, Iham, Beaksbourne, Greenhythe, and Northeye, were its subordinate members, and tamquam membra were Rye and Winchelsea.

The castle is composed of two wards, separated by a formidable ditch cut through the sandstone rock about 400 feet, across the ridge, with a breadth of 60 feet, and to a depth of 30 to 40 feet. The inner ward lies to the west of this ditch, between it and the point of the promontory. The outer ward lies to the east, and is again protected by an outer and considerable, though less clearly-defined, ditch of greater length than the former, and also crossing the ridge. There was also another ditch cut as a sort of step in the steep northern slope, and covering that side of the place, and chiefly intended for the defences of the inner ward. Between the east end of this ditch and the north end of the great cross ditch was the original entrance to the inner ward, the approach to which wound up the steep north-western slope of the rock.

The Inner Ward is in figure nearly a right-angled triangle, containing about 1½ acres, the north side 154 yards, and the east side 87 yards in length, while the hypothenuse curves inwards, reducing the breadth of the ward at one point to 16 yards. The cliff which forms the boundary has been either scarped or has fallen away, so that it is at present precipitous, and its face has been patched with modern masonry and brickwork. It is said that this side was once straight, and has been cut away to make room for the gasworks and a crescent of houses below, so as to diminish the castle area. This may be so, but the encroachment cannot have been considerable. A wall for defence on this front could never have been needed: probably it was only a low parapet.

Along the north front the ground, though very steep, is not absolutely precipitous, and along the crest of the slope are the remains of the curtain wall, about 6 feet to 9 feet thick, and in parts 20 to 30 feet high. Upon this wall is a rectangular tower, about 12 feet by 20 feet, having a ground and upper floors in which are parts of three windows of Norman date. Connected with this tower are said to be traces of a small postern, and there is certainly a mural passage, 18 feet long, ending in a garderobe. East of this tower is a turret, square at the base, but which above seems to have been cylindrical. It contains a well-stair connected with the chapel. The wall is continued round the east front across to the cliff. At the angle it is still 20 feet to 25 feet high, but further on it has been reduced to 10 feet. In this front, overlooking the ditch, are the bases of three half-round buttress towers, 20 feet diameter. Their ground floors have been vaulted; all above is removed. Between the two most northern of these are still to be seen the jambs of an Edwardian gateway, of 9 feet opening, with a square portcullis groove, and rebates for a door immediately behind it. In this part of the curtain are the remains of some mural cells. The gateway must have communicated with the outer ward by a bridge across the ditch, probably of timber, since there is no trace of masonry in the rock. This entrance is now disused, and the entrance in use is in the north side between the chapel tower and the north-east angle, protected by a late tower, about 20 feet square with very slight walls and a flanking wall, also slight, and projecting about 20 feet. This is thought to have been the original gateway of the ward, and may have been so, though the other entrance between the two flanking half-round towers has at present more the aspect of a main entrance.

The eastern, naturally the weakest side of the inner ward is further defended by a broad, artificial bank or ramp of earth from 20 feet to 30 feet broad and 8 feet to 10 feet high, piled up against the back of the wall, which, in fact, is a revetment. At the north-east angle of the ward this bank is expanded into a mound about 20 feet high above the inner area. The curtain traverses this mound, of which about two-thirds is within its circuit.

No doubt this mound was the keep of the English fortress, and the bank and ditch its main landward defences, but, save the curtain, there is no trace of any masonry upon it, nor does the Norman castle appear to have been provided with any regular keep, either shell or rectangular. Probably, as at Exeter, the whole inner ward was the keep.

There are at present no traces of a hall, kitchen, or regular lodgings within the castle, but placed against the north wall are the remains of the chapel, or rather of the free collegiate church, composed of a nave and chancel. The nave was 30 feet by 64 feet, the curtain forming the north wall. There seem to have been a west door and one, or perhaps two, south doors. At its east end a handsome highly-pointed arch opened into the chancel, and still remains very perfect. The jambs are square, the angles replaced by delicate shafts, a quarter engaged, with caps and bases of Norman type. The abacus is part of a moulded string, and the arch, though the section is square, as in the Norman style, is richly moulded. The central member of the arch is a bold rib, springing from two brackets or corbels carved in foliage. The general character of the whole is very late Norman, passing into early English. In the north wall, at its east end, are the remains of the arches of three sedilia, and near the middle of the wall, in a sort of buttress, is a piscina, probably a perpendicular insertion. Near the north-west angle is the cylindrical base of the font. In the east wall, on each side of the chancel arch, is a flat-topped doorway of rude workmanship, as though intended to be concealed by hangings. The northern door opens into the well-stair of the turret, the southern into a vestry.

The chancel was about 18 feet broad by 28 feet long. Of its walls only a few traces remain. It communicated on the north side with a small chamber, perhaps a garderobe, and on the south side with the vestry. The vestry, called also the chapter-house, is a small, nearly square chamber, 12 feet by 15 feet, with a plain Norman recess in its east wall, and the jambs of a door, evidently Norman, opening into what seems to have been a sort of lean-to cloister resting on the south wall of the nave. The cloister itself is gone; but in the nave wall are traces of an arcade. Here are three graves inclosed in pieces of stone placed edgeways, and a much worn dos-d’âne coffin-lid. The breadth of the nave is wide for a single span, but if there were aisles, there must have been two, the arches being central, and in that case very narrow ones, even for a Norman church. The floor of the chancel is three steps above that of the nave.

The curtain wall along the north front and over the mound is apparently of Norman date, as is most of the east wall; but its buttress-towers and the gateway are probably insertions of the reign of Henry III. or Edward. The chapel may be later than the north wall, probably of the reign of Henry II. or John.

The old part of the masonry is coursed rubble, with occasional pebble-stones, faced with bold, open-jointed ashlar, the blocks being rudely dressed. In one part, near the church, is a little herring-bone work, though probably not older than, if so old as, the rest. The quoins and window-dressings, where preserved, are good ashlar. Various fragments of cut stone are collected and heaped up; of these, a few are late Norman, some good early English, some Perpendicular. A late Norman crypt has been discovered in the town.

It may be doubted whether William or his feudatories, the Earl of Eu or de Tiliol, added defences in masonry to the works already existing. At least, there is no evidence that they did so, and the oldest masonry now seen is certainly not very early Norman, though too early to have allowed time for the decay of any previous masonry of the same architectural period.

The chapel was probably founded in the reign of Henry I., and though the castle was erected, and for some time held, under the Crown, by the powerful Earls of Eu, it was never a great baronial residence, being in that respect far inferior to Arundel or Lewes, but was probably maintained only as a strong, though small, post to cover embarkations for, or disembarkations from, Normandy.

The Outer Ward is contained between the inner and outer lines of ditch; within the latter is a considerable bank of earth, which rises at the north-east angle and is continued across the northern end, that being naturally the weakest part of the inclosure. It does not appear where was the entrance of this ward, but possibly near the south-east angle. There are no traces of masonry here, so that the defences of the outer ward may have been a stockade only.

From the position of this fortress, it is most probable that, like Dover, it may originally have been a British work, the entrenchments, including the promontory and the south ditches, being the defences landward. The mound, however, placed at an angle of the inner ward, upon the bank, and covering the approach, is almost certainly a later, and no doubt an English, work.

Whatever may be the origin of Hastings as a defensive work, its known history commences towards the end of the sixth and the beginning of the eighth centuries in the times of Offa and Athelstane, when it was a place of some consequence, and contained a mint. Coins, indeed, were minted here as late as the reign of Henry I.

The termination “ceaster,” which it then bore, shows it to have been fortified. Towards the middle of the eleventh century it was plundered by the Danes, and towards the middle of that century it was the men of Hastings who, after the murder of Beorn by Swegen, captured his ships and slew his accomplices in the murder, though Swegen himself escaped. Hastings also played a part in the Norman Conquest, though not that popularly assigned to it as the scene of the battle. William landed at Pevensey, and thence moved rapidly to Hastings in search of food. There Odo of Bayeux, as one of his lieutenants, ordered a fortress to be thrown up, “ut foderetur castellum,” and thence, according to the same authority, the Bayeux tapestry, William marched against Harold. William, we are told, on reaching the port, selected a proper site, and fortified it rapidly with a castle in timber, “ligneum castellum.” This, we must suppose to be a replacing or restoration of whatever there was standing on the old site. It can scarcely have been a palisade on the low ground below the castle rock. He then placed Humphrey de Tilliol, brother-in-law of Hugh de Grantmaisnil, to execute his orders, “qui Hastinges a prima die constructionis ad custodiendum susceperat.” Wace’s description applies more to Hastings than to Pevensey, which was already walled in:—

“Un chastel ì ont fermé

De bretesches è de fossé.”

De Tilliol’s occupation was confined to the construction or restoration of the defences: the castle and castelry, manor, and superiority of the whole Rape were granted by William to Robert, Earl of Eu, one of the most powerful of his Norman adherents. This grant of the castelry is recorded in Domesday, and a castelry involves the existence of a castle. The Earls of Eu held possession for five generations in the male line. No doubt either Earl William, who succeeded in 1090, or Earl Henry, who died in 1139, executed some works in masonry at the castle,—probably the wall of the enceinte, much of which still remains. Either the first or second earls founded within the castle a free chapel and college, with a dean and secular canons, and to this Henry, the third earl, added a considerable endowment by charter in the reign of Henry I. The college survived the castle, and flourished when the latter became a ruin. Thomas à Becket held the deanery, and William of Wykeham one of the prebends. The college endured to the 38 Henry VIII., when it was dissolved and the property alienated to Sir Anthony Brown. After the extinction of the Eu earldom, the patronage vested in the Crown. The charter of Earl Henry is recited in a confirmation, 22 Edward I.

In 1088 the castle probably had been made strong, for it was the boast of William of St. Calais, Bishop of Durham, that he secured Hastings for William Rufus. It was the place of muster for the powerful military force with which that king proposed to invade Normandy. At that time Anselm and many bishops and barons were present in and about the castle and were detained there from Candlemas, in 1094, for six weeks by contrary winds, during which time the king was present at the completion and consecration of his father’s Abbey of Battle. Immediately afterwards, Robert Bloet was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln within the chapel of the castle, and here also Bishop Herbert of Thetford was deprived of his see. It was in the castle of Hastings also, on this occasion, that Rufus once more refused attention to the reasonable remonstrances of Anselm, who left him unblessed to depart on his Norman expedition. The Earls of Eu, by no means always faithful vassals of the Crown of England, seem latterly to have neglected the castle, which was inferior to Pevensey as a muster-place for troops and had become of but moderate value. Henry, the fifth earl, who died in the reign of Richard I., left an only daughter, Alice, who married Ralph de Essoudun, who in her right became Earl of Eu, and so died in 1211. Their son, William, elected to become a subject of France, and, 29 Henry III., his possessions in England escheated to the Crown, and were granted to Prince Edward. As early as 1227 King Henry allowed to Robert de Aubeville 10 marcs, half his salary, as keeper of the castle. The college was retained by Henry in his own hands. In 5 Edward III., the dean and canons petitioned to have the castle wall restored, it having been injured by the sea. In 1372, the castle was granted to John of Gaunt, and in the reign of Richard II. it was a ruin and probably so remained. The early English work, especially connected with the chapel, was probably executed by Henry III. on his acquisition of the barony.

By Henry IV. the castle was granted to Rafe Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, with reversion to Sir John Pelham, who again transferred it, in 1412, to Sir Thomas Hoo, created Baron Hoo and Hastings in 1447. He died without issue male about 1453. The feoffees of Sir Thomas sold the castle and other property, in 1461, to Sir William Hastings, who in that year was summoned to Parliament as Lord Hastings of Hastings. By his descendant, Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, the castle and its appendages were sold, in 1591, to Sir Thomas Pelham, in whose descendant, now Earl of Chichester, they remain vested. Those who wish to understand thoroughly the position of Hastings as regards the landing, first movements, and subsequent advance of Duke William upon English soil, will do well to consult the very lucid and quite original account of the battle of Senlac, given in Mr. Freeman’s “History of the Conquest.”

HAWARDEN CASTLE, FLINTSHIRE.

THE Hundred of Atiscross, in which Hawarden is an important parish, is, in Domesday, included in the county of Chester; and in that Hundred, as in very many parts of the Welsh border, the Saxons, as is well known from history and still evident from the prevailing names of places, early and in strength established themselves. But although the power of the Earls of Chester and the perfectly Saxonised condition of the peninsula of West Chester gave the invaders a secure hold over the open country on the west bank of the Dee, their sway was contested on the higher and more rugged ground, and though such names as Hope, Northop, Holywell, Whitford, Newmarket, Soughton, and Ryden show that they had settlements in the central and northern parts of Flintshire, the presence of a still larger number of Welsh names shows that their occupation was actively contested and the very reverse of secure.

The length and severity of the struggle is also made evident by the number and magnitude of the various military earthworks which still attract attention. Such of these as are situated on the summits of hills, are of irregular form and bear Welsh names, may safely be attributed to the Welsh; while those of English origin, usually on more accessible ground, have a tendency to a circular form, and in some very marked instances are characterised by a mound or motte.

Hawarden, the Haordine of Domesday, and in Welsh called “Penard Halawg,” said to mean “the steep head of the marsh,” is, as its name declares, a Saxon settlement, and its fortress, so long preserved, presents in a remarkable degree the features of a well-known class of earthworks found both in England and in Normandy. The parish, containing about 16,000 acres, occupies the eastern or English end of the first high ground that rises west of the Dee. It includes the commencement of a wooded ridge, which runs for some way parallel to the estuary, and then trends inland to be lost in the higher country around Northop.

The castle stands at the south-west end of a considerable area of level sward, upon which is built the later house of Hawarden, and which, with a ravine bounding it on the south and west, is included in the park.

The ground occupied by the castle and its earthworks covers an irregular circle of about 150 yards diameter. It rises steeply about 50 feet from the level area, and almost abruptly 150 feet to 200 feet from the ravine that protects it on the south, south-east, and west.

At the central and highest point of this ground, composed in part of rock and in part of the red sandy soil of the district, has been formed, by scarping down with perhaps some little addition in height, a conical mound, the flat top of which is about 70 feet diameter, having steep slopes all around. On the north-east side, or that towards the house, the descent is about 30 feet, at which level is a platform occupied by the main ward of the fortress, and beyond it, near the foot of a further but gentle slope, a broad and deep ditch, dry and wholly artificial, which sweeps round this the weakest side and cuts it off from the area already mentioned.

About the other two thirds of its circumference, towards the south and west, the mound descends rapidly to the ravine, but on its way the slope is broken by concentric banks, ditches, and shelves, of somewhat irregular height, depth, and configuration, owing, no doubt, to their having been originally natural, but converted and strengthened by art.

This kind of fortification by mound, bank, and ditch, is well known both in England and Normandy, and was in use in the ninth and tenth, and even in the eleventh centuries, before masonry was general. The mound was crowned with a strong circular house of timber, probably constructed like the walls of Greenstead chancel, and such as in the Bayeux tapestry the soldiers are attempting to set on fire. The court below and the banks beyond the ditches were fenced with palisades and defences of that character.

The Normans in Normandy, towards the middle of the eleventh century, and in England a little later, and onwards into the reign of Henry II., commonly replaced these defences by more substantial walls of masonry, which, being of great thickness and solidity, have often remained to the present day, though more frequently they were removed in the reigns of the earlier Edwards, to be replaced by structures of more scientific though less solid design, affording more accommodation within the enceinte. At Hawarden, the course of action seems to have been different. Here are no traces of Norman work or of the Norman style, and though the keep is unusually substantial, it bears evidence of being the work of one period, and that the close of the reign of Henry III. or early in that of Edward, his Welsh-compelling son. If this be so, it must be concluded that the Norman barons, who were known to have held Hawarden in the twelfth century, were content to allow its defences to be formed of timber, as any masonry constructed by them would scarcely so soon have needed to be removed.

The Keep (A in the plan) very nearly covers the top of the mound. It is circular, 61 feet across at the base, and originally about 40 feet high. The base gathers inwards to a height of 5 feet, where the cylinder is 59 feet across, and from hence to the summit it further diminishes to 57 feet. The interior is vertical, and 31 feet diameter throughout; hence the wall, which is 15 feet thick at the base, and 14 feet a little above it, is 13 feet at the level of the rampart walk; dimensions of unusual solidity even at the Norman period and very rare in England under Henry III. or the Edwards.

The exterior is very plain, having neither cordon, string-course, nor window labels. A little above the ground is a double course of large ashlar blocks of a light yellow sandstone, tying the work firmly together, and higher up are other bonding courses of a less substantial character. The ordinary material is a bluish stone laid as rubble work, with the spaces and joints neatly filled up with spawls and fragments. The battlements have been replaced by a modern wall, but the junction, at the rampart walk, may be readily detected.

The entrance is at the ground level on the north-east side, from the main ward. It is marked by a broad, flat buttress, rather Norman in character, which rises vertically from the common base so as to stand out about 18 inches, where it dies into the wall about 5 feet below the battlements. In its centre is the gateway, and above it the window of the portcullis chamber. It is extended laterally in two wings, rising about half its height, and also dying into the wall above. These are intended to strengthen the wall, weakened by a well-stair and a lodge. As this buttress covers a considerable segment of the circle and is flat, it is broken into three planes by two vertical angles. The modern brick and stone wall replacing the battlement is rugged and broken, but in parts about 12 feet high, and intended to give elevation to the keep. The building thus made extensively visible has become a sort of parish cynosure, and, however irregular its appearance, it would scarcely be in good taste to remove the addition.

The keep has two floors. The lower is cylindrical, 31 feet in diameter, with walls 14 feet to 15 feet thick. It was about 14 feet high, with a ceiling of logs, which rested upon some forty plain corbels, of which about seventeen remain. At two opposite points, about half way up the wall, are two larger corbels, which evidently supported the struts destined to give stiffness to the central and longest beam.

This chamber, no doubt a store-room, save when in time of siege it might accommodate soldiers, was entered directly from the gateway, and rather ventilated than lighted by three equidistant openings, about 4 feet from the floor, 4 feet broad, and 5 feet high, having shouldered heads and covering. The sides converge, and the floor rises to a small square-headed loop of 4-inch opening. There is neither fireplace, seat, nor recess. The floor has been removed. There is no subterranean chamber.

The upper chamber within is an octagon, inscribed about the cylinder below it, with walls from 13 feet to 14 feet thick, and from side to side 31 feet. It is about 15 feet high to the corbels that carried its flat roof, and a row of larger corbels along one of the remaining faces seems to have supported struts necessary to make the roof a safe platform for military engines and stone ammunition. This, which was a state-room, was lighted by three recesses at irregular distances. They are 6 feet 6 inches wide, and rise from the floor 8 feet, being covered by slightly-pointed drop arches. Each has a vaulted roof and parallel sides, which afterwards converge upon a square-headed window, 2 feet wide and 5 feet 6 inches high, having a plain chamfer outside. In each side of the recesses is a plain shouldered doorway, 3 feet 9 inches broad by 10 feet high, opening into the mural gallery.

This floor has its main entrance through the portcullis chamber, and next north-west of this entrance is the chapel. This is a mural chamber, 14 feet by 7 feet, but not quite rectangular. It is flat vaulted, and its axis points south-east to the altar, which is a restoration. The doorway next the west end is only 2 feet broad by 7 feet high, with a cinquefoiled head and a plain moulding of Decorated character. The door opened inwards, and could be barred within the chapel. On the same side, but near the altar, is a small cinquefoiled recess for a piscina, with a projecting bracket and a fluted foot. In the opposite wall, in vaulted recesses, are two windows, that next the altar square-headed, the other lancet-headed. Against the west wall is a stone bench, and above it a rude squint through which any person in the adjacent window recess could see the altar.

The entrance to the keep is by a gateway 5 feet wide and 6 feet 6 inches high, having a drop arch rising about 3 feet more. The jambs have a single and the arch a double chamfer. Two feet within is the portcullis groove, 4 inches square, and next is the rebate for the door, with its bar holes. Beyond is the vaulted passage, 6 feet broad, leading to the ground floor, with a door opening so as to be barred against that chamber; within, however, is a narrow rebate, as though for a lighter door opening inwards. The portcullis grooves are stopped 3 feet above the floor, so that either the cill must have been obstructively high or the grate have terminated in a range of long spikes. On each side of the entrance passage is a shouldered doorway. That on the right, 2 feet 9 inches broad, opens into a mural chamber, vaulted, 6 feet by 9 feet, with a lancet loop to the field. On the left, the door is 3 feet 3 inches broad, and opens on a well-stair, which, lighted from the field by loops, ascends to the upper floor and the battlements.

Twenty-one steps lead to the portcullis chamber, which is also the antechamber to the state-room. It is vaulted, 6 feet broad by 10 feet long, with a square-headed window of 2 feet opening to the field, and within it the chase for the passage of the portcullis. At the other end a large doorway with a plain moulding of a Decorated type and an arch very nearly, if not quite, round-headed, open in a recess similarly arched, and this into the state-room. The door was barred inside so as to be held against the stairs.

HAWARDEN CASTLE, FLINTSHIRE, 1870.

  1. The Keep.
  2. The Main Ward.
  3. Site of the Hall.
  4. Offices.
  5. Entrance; below which is its section.
  6. Place of the Barbican.

Ground Plan, from a Survey made by Mr. James Harrison, of Chester, in 1857.

Returning to the well-stair, the upper part of which is broken away, at twenty-nine steps from the base is a small lancet-headed door. It opens into a mural passage, 2 feet 6 inches broad, and 7 feet high, which makes two turns at right angles. At one, on the left, is a recess, 3 feet deep by 1 foot 9 inches broad, a garderobe, the back part of which, probably bratticed off, carried a shaft from a similar recess on the ramparts. At its second turn the passage descends seven steps to the nearest window recess in the main chamber, crossing which an opposite doorway leads into the mural gallery. The ascent and descent in the narrow passage is rendered necessary by the level of the steps of the well-stair.

The mural gallery, at the main chamber level, is continued within the substance of the wall, to the recess next the chapel. It is in plan a polygon parallel with the inner faces of the wall. It is 10 feet high and 3 feet 9 inches wide, having a flagged roof resting on a double tier of corbels, and in it are three large recesses, each opening to the field by a long loop, swallow-tailed at each end. These recesses and loops are not seen from the main chamber. The doors and window frames, where original, are executed in straw-coloured sandstone. The chapel doorway and piscina and the side doors of the window recesses seem of later Decorated work than the rest, and may be insertions, though this does not look probable.

The keep, as at Tamworth, Durham, Berkhampstead, Warwick, and Cardiff, stands in the enceinte line of the main ward, and forms part of it, about two thirds of its circumference being outside, and one third, including the doorway, inside the curtain. This curtain was about 460 feet in length, and encircles the main ward, abutting against the keep at two points: one 24 feet south and one 18 feet north of the entrance. On each side it is carried down the slope, and, meeting below, thus encloses a somewhat fan-shaped area, about 170 feet north-east and south-west by 142 feet north-west and south-east, within which were the principal buildings of the fortress. The southern part of this curtain can be traced, but in its foundation only; that to the north is tolerably perfect. It is 7 feet thick, and has been about 25 feet high. It does not, as at Tamworth, so ascend the mound that its ramparts terminate at the level of the base of the keep, but it abuts against the keep at a height of 12 feet or 14 feet, and is so continued down the slope. Up the mound, the rampart of the curtain, as at Windsor, was a flight of steps, but as the ramparts only abutted against, and had no doorway into, the keep, the steps were merely to enable the defenders to man that part of the wall. On the north side, besides these steps, there was a second flight, laid on the surface of the mound, behind and at the foot of the curtain, and probably covered over, as traces remain of a second wall. These led to the entrance to the keep, and were the communication between it and the main ward.

At the junction of this curtain with the keep is a postern, a small, shouldered doorway with a door barred within, where an enemy who had reached the foot of the keep could be attacked. About 90 feet lower down are traces of a similar doorway, whence the base of the mound could be reached. Of the south curtain a fragment remains attached to the keep; it had no postern, and probably no steps behind it.

The Main Ward (B in the plan) is divided into two parts: the one a level platform, in which stood the hall and other buildings, round a court about 125 feet by 92 feet, and into which was the main entrance; and the other, and much smaller part is the steep slope of the mound, about 50 feet broad, and which was probably left rugged and waste as we now see it. At the foot of this slope are the remains of four rooms, about 18 feet deep from the face, probably for stores, each with a doorway to the court; in the wall of one is a sort of rude drain as from a sink or trough. This range was evidently continued along the south end of the court, being built against the curtain and carried on to the hall. Of these extensions only the excavated ground-floor, some low walls, and the base of a well-stair remain. From the character of the stair, it looks as though it had been of some consequence, and it shows that there was an upper floor, probably of rooms communicating with the hall, and perhaps connecting it with the keep.

At the opposite, or north end of the store-room range is the doorway at the foot of the stairs leading to the keep, and beyond this, in the curtain wall, a door which seems to have led into a well-stair which gave access to the stepped rampart. Again, a few feet beyond this, at an angle of the enclosure, are the fragments of the great gateway, beyond which, for about 100 feet round the north angle of the court, the curtain is of full height and very perfect, having angle-quoins of the same yellow ashlar used in the keep.

The Hall (C) was placed on the east face of the ward, at its south end, and occupied above one half of that face. The curtain formed its outer wall, and was pierced by its windows, and strengthened at its south-east angle by a solid, half-round buttress, 22 feet diameter, probably an addition. The hall was on the first floor, the low basement being probably a cellar, and entered by a vaulted passage at its south end. The hall was about 30 feet high from its timber floor to its wall plate. Two lofty windows remain, and traces of a third, and between them are the plain chamfered corbels whence sprung the open roof. The window recesses have a low-pointed arch and a bold bead moulding. The windows are of one light, trefoiled, with the cusp lights worked. There is no label. Within the recess are lateral seats.

North of, and connected with the hall is a rectangular projection (D), 36 feet deep by 60 feet in front, the lower floors of which are laid on the scarp of the ditch, considerably below the level of the ward. These were doubtless offices, but as nothing but the lower walls remain little can be discovered of their detail. There remains, however, in the curtain the jamb of a large doorway, whence descends a flight of steps about 20 feet, probably to a postern, of which, however, there are no traces, on the edge of the ditch. These steps led into one of two apartments, at one end of each of which is what was probably a fireplace, though they more resemble the vent of a garderobe shaft, which, however, they cannot well be, since the chambers were certainly not cesspools. The walls of this projection are substantial, and certainly carried an upper storey, probably occupied by withdrawing-rooms and private apartments attached to the hall. No well has been discovered, nor oven, nor any signs of a garrison chapel, all which were probably placed in this ward.

The great gateway opened in the north-west face of the curtain, and from the fragment of a jamb that remains with a bold rebate seems to have been about 8 feet high and broad in proportion. A projection inwards from the curtain shows that there was some kind of small gatehouse.

This gateway opened into a spur work formed by two curtains, 32 feet apart, projecting from the main curtain down the scarp of the ditch so as to form a parallelogram 40 feet wide by 68 feet long. The curtains were 4 feet thick and about 24 feet high. The western is destroyed, but the eastern is tolerably perfect, and at its junction with the main curtain is a shouldered postern door, 2 feet 9 inches broad, which opened on the scarp of the ditch.

At the further and lower end of the spur-work the walls turn inward (E in the plan), and again proceed parallel for 14 feet at 27 feet apart, and there contain the gates and pit of the drawbridge, beyond which a second narrowing reduces the distance to 21 feet, at which they proceed for 14 feet more, when the walls abut upon the counterscarp of the ditch, at that point revetted with ashlar. Thus the whole length of the spur-work, from the main curtain to the counterscarp, is 96 feet, and its breadths, over all, 40 feet, 25 feet, and 21 feet.

About 34 feet in advance of the great gateway was a cross wall, probably containing a second gate, and beyond it is a flight of fifteen steps, 6 feet broad, leading down into a rectangular chamber, which has had a flat timber roof, and in the opposite wall of which is a shouldered doorway, with no rebate for a door, 2 feet 9 inches broad, and 7 feet high. This opens into a low, narrow, flat-topped passage, 3 feet broad and 10 feet long, but expanded at the centre to 3 feet 6 inches, so that two persons could pass by squeezing; and at this point, in the roof, is a hole 8 inches square, evidently for the purpose of attacking them if necessary. The passage ends in a second small doorway, barred from the inside, which opens upon a bridge-pit, about 27 feet long right and left, 12 feet deep, and 10 feet broad, to a similar doorway opposite. The pit is lined with rubble below the door cills and with ashlar above, and at its west end is a hole, probably for cleaning it out, and communicating with the main ditch, of which the pit is an isolated part.

Crossing over a narrow plank bridge, the further door leads through a short, narrow passage into a chamber 13 feet square, entirely of ashlar, and having, right and left, a small door, 2 feet 9 inches broad, opening upon the counterscarp of the ditch. The doorway from the bridge had no door but those of the lateral sally-ports opened inwards. In the further, or north, wall is another doorway, also shouldered, 3 feet broad and 8 feet high, the door of which also opened inwards and disclosed a very steep flight of eleven steps, rising about 8 feet in a dovetail-shaped chamber, commencing at a breadth of 3 feet and expanding to 8 feet. It is 14 feet long. The steps land on a floor, but the walls, of which the lower 6 feet 6 inches, of ashlar, are quite perfect, have so far no openings. This singular chamber is niched into the counterscarp of the ditch, and is actually within the barbican.

The remains of the Barbican (F) are a considerable knoll of earth, having a ditch of its own, and on its rugged surface showing traces of old buildings. This covers the head of the bridge, and appears to have been approached by a winding road and entered on the west side.

This work has been the subject of much speculation. That it was the main entrance is sufficiently certain. This could only have been at one end of the main ward, and the remaining jamb is too large for a postern, and the ground at the opposite end far too steep for an approach.

The spur-work, with its lateral curtains, completely enclosed the entrance. The steps to the bridge are modern, but must represent others somewhat similar. The doors and passage were calculated for single files only, with a special arrangement for commanding the only point at which two armed men could pass. In the chamber beyond the bridge 80 or 100 men could assemble previous to a sally by the lateral doorways.

On their return, if pursued, and the enemy should enter with them, the narrow passages would make almost impossible a surprise or any sudden rush into either the body of the place or the barbican.

Further, looking to the lateral space between the walls and the great length of the bridge-pit, it is pretty clear that above the foot passage was a roadway for wheel carriages, with at least one drawbridge. Most of the passages below seem to have been flagged with stone. One drawbridge was clearly over the remaining pit; another may have covered the chamber at this time occupied by the modern flight of stairs. The thickness (4 feet) and solidity of the existing walls show that they must have been much higher, so that they would have formed lateral parapets, concealing the passage of the bridge. For this, about 15 feet might be added to the existing wall.

The fan-shaped chamber was probably an outlet for those who, having used the foot-bridge, did not wish to go out by the sally-ports but to ascend into the barbican. The steps are no doubt inconvenient, but the whole passage was certainly only meant for occasional use, and is in no part particularly commodious. Probably the means of egress from the stair-head into the barbican were stairs of timber. The whole arrangement is very peculiar, and it may be doubted whether the safety proposed was worth the considerable expense bestowed upon it. As the whole of this bridge arrangement is clearly an addition, it is probable that though the original entrance was at this point, it was by an ordinary drawbridge, of which the lateral curtains of the spur-work, which are old, would be the protection.

Of the exterior earthworks there is little to be said. On the south-east side of the fortress the outer bank is cut through, as though for an entrance. If so, this must have been carried laterally along the ditches of the place until it reached the barbican.

Hawarden seems to present traces of at least three periods of construction, the oldest being that of the earthworks, which, like some similar ones in England, may be as early as the tenth century.

The keep, the curtain of the main ward, the hall, and perhaps the curtains of the spur seem to be of one date, the material employed being substantially the same, and the workmanship not unlike.

Spur-work enclosing the main entrance.
Hawarden Castle. North-east side.

The range of storehouses in the main ward, the offices projecting from it towards the north-east, and the whole of the buildings of the foot entrance are of later date, and of different design, material, and workmanship. The material is a greenish sandstone, and the workmanship ashlar of the most expensive kind, dressed on every face, and laid in thin joints, with but little mortar. This excellence has proved fatal to the structure; for, as the stones needed only to be lifted from their beds and laid, without any adaptation, into any new work, the temptation has proved too strong, and most of this later work has been carefully removed by hand, and not, like the older work, overthrown by gunpowder. In fact, the lower walls that remain have much more the appearance of an unfinished than of a partially-destroyed building.

There is a paper by the late Mr. Hartshorne in the fifteenth volume of the Archæological Journal, which, though it touches but lightly upon the topography of the castle, enters at some length upon the history of the Barons of Montalt, long its owners. From thence, and from other sources, it appears that Hawarden belonged, from a very early period, to the Earls of Chester, some of whom probably constructed it, but no doubt occupied it before the completion of the structure. In their line it remained till the death of Ranulph de Blundeville, the last earl, in 1231, when, with Castle Rising and the “Earl’s Half,” in Coventry, it came to his second sister and co-heir, Mabel, who married William d’Albini, third Earl of Arundel. Their second son, Hugh, who inherited, died in 1243, when the estates passed to his second sister and co-heir, Cecilia, who married Robert de Montalt.

The Barons de Monte-Alto, sometimes styled de Moaldis or Mouhaut (Mold, where the mound of the castle remains), were hereditary seneschals of Chester and lords of Mold. Roger de Montalt, grandson of Robert and Cecilia, inherited Hawarden, Coventry, and Castle Rising. He married Julian, daughter of Roger de Clifford, justice of North Wales, but dying childless, in 1297, his lands passed to his brother, Robert, the seventh and last lord, who died childless, 1329, when the barony became extinct. Robert de Montalt signed the celebrated letter to the Pope in 1300, as Dominus de Hawardyn. [P. Writs, I. 743.] He bequeathed his estates to Isabella, the queen of Edward II.

The entries concerning Hawarden in the public records are few. In 1265, 49 Henry III., the king granted to Llewelyn-ap-Griffith, Prince of Wales, the Castle of Hawardin, to him and the heirs of his body, Hereford, 22nd June [N. Fœd. I. 457], but in 1267, 51 Henry III., by a letter by the legate Ottoboni, Prince Llewelyn is at once to restore to Robert de Otto Monte the lands of Ha Wordin, but Robert is not to build a castle there for thirty years. Montgomery 3 Kal. Oct. [Ibid. p. 474.]

In the Inquisitions and Escheats are also some entries. From an inquisition, 3 Edward I., Robert de Monte Alto is seized of the manor of Hawardine, co. Cest. His possessions were extensive. They occupy ninety-one entries in thirteen counties. [Inq. p.m. I. 55.] In the next year, 4 Edward I., is an inquisition, whence it appears that the manor was never settled in dower. Neither Leuca, wife of Robert de Montalt the Black, nor Matilda, wife of Ralph de Montalt, nor Nicholaa, wife of Roger de Montalt the elder, nor Cecilia, wife of Roger the younger—all ladies of the Honour of Hawirdyn—were ever so endowed. [Ib. 60, Cal. Geneal. I. 247.] 10 Edward I., 25 March, is an entry on the Welsh roll concerning the pursuing and taking certain Welsh malefactors, who took captive Roger de Clifford in the king’s castles of Hawardin and Flint [Ayloffe, p. 76], and from the king’s writ itself of that date, addressed to Roger de Mortimer, and given at length by Mr. Hartshorne, it appears that the Welsh attacked Hawarden by night, killed some of De Clifford’s household, and burnt the castle houses, and did much the same at Flint. This outrage was repeated in the next year, when (6 November, 1282) the justice’s elder son, also Roger Clifford, was slain. [Foss’s “Judges,” III. 76.] The next entry in the inquisition is one of 25 Edward I. on Roger de Montalt, whence it appears that at that time, though he held Castle Rising, &c., the manor of Hauwerthyn was vested in Thomas de Offeleye. This might, however, be as feoffee in trust. [Inq. p.m. I. 134.]

From all this it may be inferred that there was a castle here which Prince Llewelyn destroyed, and which Robert de Montalt undertook not to rebuild. Such promises went for as little then as between nations at the present day, and the castle that the Welsh took 10 Edward II., 1282, was of course built or restored during that period. If Llewelyn had found a keep of anything at all approaching in substance to the present he could scarcely have destroyed it; nor does it seem probable, from the internal evidence of the building, that the keep now standing was the work taken by the Welsh, 10 Edward I. Its mouldings and the plan of its upper floor point to a rather later date; and probably it was the work of the last Baron de Montalt, between 1297 and 1329. Cylindrical keep towers, of a pattern not unlike that of Hawarden, though usually, as at Coucy, on a much larger scale, were in use in France in the earlier part of the thirteenth century; and although the unusual thickness of the walls in the present example might be thought more in keeping with the Norman period, the general details, the polygonal mural gallery and interior, and the entrance, evidently parts of the original work, are very decidedly Edwardian.

Hawarden was finally dismantled by order of Parliament, in the time of the Commonwealth, and the keep much shattered by a mine, sprung probably under the doorway. It so remained until very recently, when it was restored by Sir Stephen Glynne, the late owner, under the advice of Mr. Shaw, of Chester. The task was one of exceeding delicacy, but was executed with marvellous skill and complete success, so far as the work proceeded. Enough remained of each part to give a clue for its reproduction, and thus the gateway, portcullis chamber, much of the well-staircase, most of the chapel, and part of the great mural gallery have been restored just as they must have been left by the original builder. At the same time the stone employed and the mode of dressing it, will always indicate to the skilled observer which parts of the work have been replaced.

The present access to the rampart is an addition in brick of the last century, and might well be restored in stone. The view thence is extensive, having in the foreground the park, which, for wildness and sylvan beauty may well compare with any ground even on the Welsh border; and beyond is the broad and fertile plain of Cheshire and Shropshire, including the city of Chester, the rock and ridge of Beeston, and, in clear weather, the Wrekin. In the opposite direction are views, less extensive, of the estuary of the Dee and the peninsula of West Chester. The Welsh view is inconsiderable, being cut off by the higher ground.

HELMSLEY CASTLE, YORKSHIRE.

HELMSLEY, the Elmeslae of Domesday and the Hamlake of genealogists, is the name of an extensive tract of wild moorland which lies on the southern slope of the Cleveland Hills, in the north-east corner of the North Riding of Yorkshire. The hills rise to 1,400 feet above the sea, but Helmsley Moor hardly reaches 1,100 feet, and the town of Helmsley, placed where the uplands pass into the plain, scarcely stands at 200 feet.

The real river of Helmsley, descending from the moors, is the Seph; but after its union with the Rye, the stream and the dale bear the name of the latter water, made famous by the Abbey of Rievaulx, about four miles below which, sweeping round the well-wooded promontory of Duncombe, the stream, returning somewhat upon its former course, forms the southern boundary of the castle and the town.

The castle is barely included in Duncombe Park, part of its eastern outwork being traversed by the border. Its position, if not specially striking, is yet strong, and favourable to the works which rendered it in former days almost impregnable. The low platform upon which it stands is mainly of rock, and the labour employed has been rather that of removing than of making ground, the ditches being wholly artificial.

Besides the Rye, which, where it flows about a furlong south of the castle, has low and swampy banks, the Etton beck, close upon the east, between the town and the castle, descends on its way to the Rye, at a level which allowed of its waters being employed to flood the ditches of the fortress.

The plan of the castle is rectangular, and its earthworks are upon a scale not usual with castles of pure Norman origin, and which, notwithstanding their form, raises a surmise that they may be of much earlier date.

The main ward of the castle is about 200 feet square, level, and contained within a deep and broad ditch, completely surrounding it. A moderate bank of earth crowns the edge of the slope, partly, no doubt, original, but in part composed of the ruins of the curtain.

Beyond the ditch, and forming its counterscarp, is a ridge or bank of earth a few feet lower than the level of the ward, and therefore commanded by it. This ridge, interrupted at the southern angle, so as to communicate with the excavations beyond, is expanded upon the north-west front and again still more considerably upon the opposite or south-east front, so as to form a lesser and a greater barbican, covering the two entrances to the place.

Again, beyond the ridge is a second ditch, also encircling the whole place, and passing, therefore, in front of the barbicans. This, in its turn, is succeeded by a second or outer bank, also interrupted, and in three places, at the north, south, and east angles. This also is of variable breadth: somewhere, a mere ridge; in other places, as before the two fronts, expanded into broad platforms, covering the entrances and the approaches to them. Supposing these ditches to contain either water or mud, the interruption in the banks would very much increase the difficulties of those besieging the place, by breaking the communications, and preventing them from attacking the barbicans by the flanks. There are traces, outside this second bank, of a third ditch, which, however, seems to have been confined to such points as were supposed especially to need further protection.

It is evident that an earthwork such as that described, covering above ten acres of ground, and with ditches 60 feet to 70 feet broad, and deep in proportion, would, in resolute hands, and properly palisaded, be a most formidable stronghold. That such was the nature of the defences contemplated seems certain, since the banks would not support masonry; and although the edge of the inner ditch was of firm ground, the bank or crest thrown up upon it was not, and had masonry been contemplated, would have been superfluous.

When the Norman engineer undertook to fortify the place, he seems to have confined himself to the construction of a curtain of 10 feet thick round the inner area, placing it on the firm ground, and employing the earth-bank as a ramp against the wall; to this he added a gatehouse at each end, and a work of some strength as a barbican beyond the inner ditch; then a second gatehouse, placed upon the barbican; and finally a second or outer bridge. On the west side of the inner area, where the rock was firm, a low cliff of 20 feet to 25 feet was substituted for the slope of the ditch.

Besides the enceinte or curtain-wall, the four drawbridges, and probably four gatehouses, there seem to have been four drum-towers—one capping each angle of the place. It is true that these are no longer to be seen; but a circular heap of rubbish at each angle seems to represent such towers which, indeed, were the usual and necessary constituents of such a work, though whether these towers were of the Norman period may be doubted: probably they were later.

In addition to these works, and reared up high above them all, was the rectangular keep, placed near the centre of the east or town side, and upon and forming a part of the enceinte. Opposite to the keep, and also forming a part of the enceinte, but on the west side, and built therefore upon the edge of the cliff, were the domestic buildings, some parts of which remain mixed up with later works. It may be also seen that a cross curtain between the keep and the domestic buildings divided the ward into a northern and a southern court, and it would seem that a fragment now standing, and which has much the air of having been part of a chapel, was connected, as at Knaresborough, with this wall.

The keep appears to have been a square of 53 feet, and although about 9 feet of it are buried in earth and rubbish, it still rises to about 90 feet. Rather more than the outer or eastern half has been blown up, and has fallen into the ditch, and what remains has suffered much from alterations and additions. It is built in rubble of a very ordinary description, but with quoins and dressings of ashlar. The plinth, if one there be, is of course concealed. The walls are plain, 9 feet thick, having neither string nor set-off, and but one low pilaster buttress, which rises to the first floor only, and is placed upon the west end of the north wall, to give strength to an interior stair. At the two remaining angles are nooks, but not intended to carry shafts or beading.

The original tower was composed of a basement and first floor, about 70 feet high, or, as now seen, 60 feet. There remains within, against the west wall, a not very high-pitched weather-table, which shows, as at Porchester and Richmond, where the roof abutted against the wall as a gable. The wall was carried all round, high enough to conceal the roof. The west angle contains a well-staircase, which rose from the basement to the first floor. The door into the basement is buried, but the line of the steps in the wall points downwards. A breach has been effected in the west wall exposing the staircase, and seems to occupy the place of a loop.

In the west wall of the basement are two acutely-pointed recesses, terminating in square-headed loops; and in the south wall is a doorway, of 5 feet 6 inches opening, also under an acute arch. It is possible that this basement was vaulted, though it is more probable that the covering was of timber.

The first floor was originally lighted by three windows, in early pointed recesses, of different sizes and heights, and above the central recess, which was placed lower, to give place for it, are a round-headed recess and a window, placed in the angle of the gable. The three lower windows have been replaced by three lancets, and the recesses reduced in height and proportion to suit. The later arch is handsomely ribbed. It is uncertain how the first and main floor was covered over. In the north wall are seen the springing-stones of three ribs, evidently part of a vault; but near them is a short table, with four corbels, possibly connected in some way with the stair-entrance. Also there are fragments of two ribs in the west wall, so that the arrangements of the vaulting are obscure. The ribs mentioned are plainly chamfered, and may be early English, or later. An addition of about 30 feet has been made to the original keep, giving it an upper or second floor. In the west wall of this addition is a pointed window in a segmental recess, resting on the old masonry. In the north wall is another pointed window and a fireplace. There is a loop towards the south; but this part of the wall, both inside and out, is obscured by ivy. In the wall of this floor, cutting the line of the windows, is a corbel-table, the corbels cut somewhat into the shape of heater shields. This must have supported the roof, but have interfered seriously with the windows. How this story was reached does not appear; probably by a well-stair in the wall, now destroyed, a point which could, no doubt, be ascertained by uncovering the fragments in the ditch. The upper wall seems as thick as that below; and it is curious that there are no traces visible of mural galleries or chambers.

The battlements remain perfect, so far, at least, as are the walls they crown. The embrasures are of moderate size, and the merlons broad, and the running moulding is carried round the whole. At each angle is a square turret, rising about 10 feet above the curtains. These turrets rest upon a light bracket outside, and each of the outer faces is flanked by two light, slender buttresses, in tabernacle work, resting below upon brackets, and, no doubt, once ending above in delicate finials. In each face is a single embrasure. Of course, all these are additions.

The question of the entrance to this keep is obscure. There remain three doors, any one of which would serve. That on the ground floor to the south; a small round-headed door at the first floor level to the north; and a third door, in the same wall, a little lower down, leading into the well-stair. There are, however, indications that none of these was the real entrance. Against the south wall are traces of attached masonry, probably of a forebuilding, containing and covering the entrance, which in that case would have been in the south wall near the east end, a part now destroyed. The staircase seems to have commenced against the south-west end of this wall, and to have passed over the present door, which probably, as at Rochester, opened into a cell below the staircase of the forebuilding. This conclusion is strengthened by the presence of seven holes in the keep-wall at the rampart level, evidently to carry a brattice commanding the staircase below. Also, high up in the same wall, there projects a mass of ashlar, which may very well have been part of a machicolation, overhanging the door at the stair-head: arrangements similar to these are not uncommon in keeps of this pattern. Of the other doors the small round-headed one may very well have opened upon the ramparts as at Clitheroe; and that which is let into the well-stair, now closed and converted into a loop, looks rather of a Decorated character, and may be an insertion, and may have led into some annexed building now destroyed. At the period when this tower was built there was no longer that extreme caution in allowing no more than one entrance to the keep.

It would seem that the original keep was late Transition or pointed Norman, and therefore might well have been built, as supposed, by Robert de Ros, surnamed Fursan, who held the lordship from 1184 to 1226, and probably completed the work before 1200. Then came the alteration in the first floor in a most decided early English style, and therefore probably by Robert de Ros, Fursan’s grandson, who married the heiress of Belvoir, and flourished between 1257 and 1285. Then followed the addition of the upper story, and of the battlements and turrets, all rather late Decorated. This might well be the work of William de Ros, who held Helmsley from 1317 to 1342, to whom, in 1337, was granted the tower built by Edward II. in London, near Baynard’s Castle, and which seems to have stood on the bank of Fleet-ditch, where some ancient foundations were recently laid open in the formation of the new street. This he was to hold as appendant to his Castle of Helmsley.

The domestic buildings standing opposite to the keep are composed of two blocks. One a square mass of great height, and with walls of considerable thickness, has traces of transition Norman or early English work, but has undergone alteration in the Decorated period, and finally in that of the sixteenth century. The other or northern building may be on early foundations, and probably is so, but its fittings are of the sixteenth century, and probably the work of the Earl of Rutland, whose armorial bearings are embossed in plaster on a deep cornice and on the panelled ceiling, all now in the last stage of decay.

The northern gatehouse, and any structure that may have stood upon the smaller barbican, have disappeared utterly from sight, though probably their foundations could be laid open. To the south there is more to be seen. The inner gatehouse indeed is ruined, and nothing is visible above the rubbish save the outline of the western jamb, which shows a portcullis groove and rebate for folding-gates.

The outer gatehouse and its barbican form a very remarkable work. This barbican is, as has been stated, an expansion of the bank which surrounds the inner ditch. It is here above 80 feet broad, and long enough to cover completely the southern front of the place. The gatehouse, like that behind it, is much nearer to the east than to the west end of the work. It is composed of two small round turrets, and two large drum-towers flanking the portal. On either side of these extend the curtains, which terminate in a pair of large drum-towers, which flank and close the outwork.

The gatehouse is tolerably perfect on the ground floor. The upper story is in ruins. The portal, about 32 feet deep, is vaulted throughout at different heights and with arches of different curves. It was defended by a portcullis and a pair of gates. The outer portal is handsome and peculiar. It is of about 10 feet opening, and shoulder-headed, the shoulders being worked brackets. Above is a pointed arch of relief, and the tympanum between the two is composed of stones joggled together with great neatness. Above is a good flat-topped Decorated window of two lights trefoiled. Traces of the chain-holes for the bridge are seen in the spandrels of the portal. The gatehouse is evidently of two periods. All behind the portcullis groove is original, either late Norman or early English. The groove with all before it is late Decorated, probably of the age of the upper story of the keep.

Much as the buildings of this castle have suffered, it is curious that the piers, counter-piers, and bridge-pits of the four bridges should remain quite perfect, and all of excellent ashlar. The inner, or pier from which the bridge dropped, is from 9 feet to 12 feet long, and the pit across which it dropped of 12 feet opening. The counter-pier, upon which the bridge dropped, is much longer, from 40 to 45 feet, and as this long and exposed causeway was but 12 feet broad, any body of enemies approaching by it would be placed at a great disadvantage.

It is difficult to form an opinion upon the age of the earthworks of this castle. Either the Romans or the Normans might have laid out an earthwork on a rectangular plan, but when either people desired to construct a place of excessive strength, they employed masonry rather than earthworks. The Saxons and early English, on the other hand, though much given to employ defences of earth, and often upon an immense scale, are not known ever to have made them rectangular. What was the practice of the Romanised Britons, who, inheriting something of Roman arts and military rules, might also well have derived from their Celtic forefathers a taste for works in earth, is not known. Such a fortification as the present may possibly be in part their work. Of course, it is possible that the whole may have been the work of Robert Fursan, especially as, remarkable as it is, it is not named in Domesday nor any early record.

Helmsley appears, as has been stated, in Domesday as “Elmeslae, in the wapentake of Langeberg.” It is now in that of Ryedale; but that this is the place meant seems certain, from its entry in company with Sprostune, now Sproxton, one of its townships, and Harun, now Harome, a chapelry in the parish. The entries are of a very ordinary description. The tenants are—“In Sprostune Turloge Normand et Sortcolf; in Elmeslae, tres Taini; in Harum Sortcol.” When these holders were swept away and who succeeded to them, is not known; but, according to Dugdale, Helmsley was held in the reign of Henry I. by Walter L’Espec, a very famous baron. He appears as connected with Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, and Carlisle, in the Pipe-roll of 31 Henry I., 1130–1; and having lost his only son by a fall from his horse, he founded the abbeys of Kirkham and Rievaulx in Yorkshire, and Wardon in Bedfordshire. L’Espec was a Norman, and held estates in Normandy, but when or how he came over is not recorded. A certain William Spech is recorded in Domesday as a great tenant in Bedfordshire, and he may be the father of Walter, who had lands there. He died in 1153, and in 1157–8 Walter de Bussei is found moving against Robert de Ros for the partition of this estate. Who this Robert de Ros was is uncertain. Adelina, Walter’s daughter and co-heir, married Peter de Ros, who in her right was of Helmsley, or, as it was always called, Hamlake.

Peter de Ros, whose name was derived from his lordship of Ros, in Holderness, was, by Adelina, father of Everard de Ros, who appears in the Liber Niger as the tenant in capite of several Yorkshire fees, which no doubt included Helmsley, as many of the tenants’ names are local, as Hairun, Spouston, and Stainesgrave. Everard, being under age, was then in the wardship of Ranulph de Glanvill. He died before 1186, and was succeeded by his son Robert, third Lord of Hamlake, surnamed Fursan, one of the Magna Charta barons, and the reputed builder of Helmsley Castle. He died as a Templar, and his effigy is still pointed out in their church in London.

Robert de Ros, his grandson, who probably executed the earliest additions to the work of his grandfather, married Isabel d’Albini, heiress of Belvoir.

From them came William de Ros, seventh lord of Hamlake, who died 1342–3, and probably completed the keep and the outer gatehouse and barbican at Helmsley. With his descendant, Edmund, fifteenth lord, the male line failed, and Helmsley passed with his sister and co-heiress Eleanor, to Sir Robert Manners, or rather to their son, George Manners.

His descendant, Francis Manners, sixth Earl of Rutland, became Lord Ros of Hamlake by patent, which, however, died with him, as he left a daughter only, Katherine, who married George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, whose son dissipated the estate, which, at his death, was sold to the ancestor of the present owner. The barony of Ros, or Roos, of Hamlake, was called out of abeyance, but exists quite separated from the castle or estate.

HEREFORD CASTLE.

THE borderers of England, whether on the north or on the west, were bold, hardy, and aggressive races of men, having for their patrimony the moor and the morass, the wild bleak upland which occurs on the Scottish frontier, or the steep crags and rugged defiles which gave strength and, in ordinary cases, impunity to the Welsh. The Scots, indeed, came of the same stock with the English, and had recently formed a part of the same kingdom, under the same lords; nor was the land immediately south of the Tyne or the Tweed materially richer than that to its immediate north. But the Welsh had other more potent and better causes for their continual and ferocious transgressions. They were the earlier possessors of the whole country, a possession still attested by the names of hills and rivers, and, indeed, of many of the chief cities of England. They were of an entirely different blood and language from either Saxon or Norman: by the one they had been gradually driven into the western and less fertile tracts of the island, and the other held them cooped up and at bay within their mountain fastnesses, and responded to their continual partisan warfare by occasional invasions on a large, and, for the time, irresistible scale.

Full in view of the Welsh mountains were spread out some of the most fertile lands in Britain—cultivated, inhabited, and fortified by the invaders, who, not content with the slopes of the Cotteswold and the velvet meads on the left bank of the Severn, had pushed their conquests far beyond the right bank, holding the stately ridge of Malvern and the rich pastures of the Teme, the Lug, the Frome, the Worm, and the Wye, even up to the Dyke of Offa. That dyke, still to be traced along much of its length, between the estuaries of the Severn and the Dee, was felt to be a perpetual mark of inferiority, an abiding affront to the patriotic feelings of every Welshman. No marvel, then, that the Welsh were ever insurgent, ever breaking forth with fire and sword into the English territory, and especially into the most rich and, by nature, least-protected tract of it, the fair county of Hereford.

Herefordshire was first subjugated by the Romans. Three miles north of the city are the remains of a camp, probably British, covering about thirty acres of ground, and now known as Sutton Walls, a little south of which runs the line of the road which led to the Roman town of Magna Castra, four miles to the west, and was continued onward in the same direction.

At what precise period Herefordshire passed under the Saxon yoke, and became annexed to Mercia, is unknown—probably under Creoda, early in the seventh century. The see was founded in 680, when a synod was held here under Putta, the first bishop. Sutton, or Southton, so called from its position close south of the Roman camp to which it has given its name, was at a very early period a residence of the Mercian kings. Here, in the middle of the eighth century, resided the celebrated Offa, probably during the construction of his dyke, which passes about six miles to the west; and here in 794 was committed the murder of Ethelbert, his intended son-in-law, a deed which led to the aggrandisement of the cathedral church, to which Offa’s penitential donations were largely paid. A charter of King Cœnulf, A.D. 799, mentions Hereford, as do others by Deneberht, in 802 and 803, the last recording certain “monasteria quæ olim in antiquis dictis ad Herefordensem ecclesiam præstita fuerunt.” Sutton continued a Mercian palace until the union of the seven kingdoms, under Egbert of Wessex, in 827.

Edward the Elder, a great constructor of strong places, who repaired the citadel and walls of Chester in 909, is said by Grafton also to have fortified Hereford, erecting a strong castle there. His sister Ethelfleda, a still greater castle-builder than he, and to whom are due the mounds of Tutbury, Tamworth, Leicester, and some others, was the widow of Ethelred, Duke of Mercia, in 915, when the Danes had advanced by the Wye, and taken captive the Bishop of Archenfield. She attacked and defeated them before Hereford, no doubt making use of the new defences. She died shortly afterwards.

Early in the eleventh century, the Saxon sway had been so far extended as to have left the Dyke behind, and Wales was regarded as a part of England, and an attempt made to force it to contribute to the common tax for the defence of the island against the Danes. For this purpose Edwin, the Ealderman of the Mercians, led an army as far as St. David’s, punishing the people for their refusal. At that period, and during the reign of the Confessor, the Welsh were led by Griffith-ap-Llewelyn, the ablest of their princes, and, indeed, the only one who ever held the Welsh together, or gave the English cause for anything like serious apprehension. Aided sometimes by the Danes from Ireland, sometimes by traitorous Saxon chiefs, and sometimes even by the discontented Normans, he is found during the first half of the eleventh century waging on the whole a successful war against Herefordshire. It is certain, from the number, magnitude, and character of the existing earthworks, that Irchen or Archenfield, called from its beech-trees “Trefawrth” by the Welsh, and sometimes by the English “Fernley,” had from a very early period been inhabited by the English; but either distrusting these, or because he wished to quarter afar off the visitors whom he attracted, but of whom he was afraid, the Confessor made large grants of land along this district to his Norman courtiers, with whom, therefore, Griffith had not unfrequently to deal.

The earliest of these grants seems to have been made to Richard Fitz-Scrob, whose fortress, built after a fashion till then unknown in England, gave great and general offence. His original castle has been replaced by later structures, now also in ruin, but the earthworks are probably original; and the name of Richard’s Castle shows how deeply the fear of its builders was impressed upon the people; and it is, moreover, a very rare example of a parish bearing a purely Norman name.

These grants were opposed by Earl Godwin and his sons, and it was to enforce his remonstrances against them that the English Thane led a force from Beverstone, and challenged the Confessor to give up his stranger favourites—a struggle which finally ended in the temporary banishment of that truly English noble.

In 1052, during Godwin’s exile, Griffith invaded Herefordshire, and advanced as far as Leominster before Fitz-Scrob and his Normans were in the field to meet him. They were beaten in a pitched battle, and upon open ground.

In 1055, the earldom of Hereford was in the hands of Ralph, surnamed “the Timid.” Griffith, uniting with Ælfgar, the Saxon lord of the East Angles, who was accompanied by an Irish force, burst into Archenfield, and again laid waste the border. Two miles from Hereford, Griffith and Ælfgar were met by Earl Ralph, who seems, with the Norman contempt for infantry, to have placed undue weight upon his cavalry, the result of which was a complete defeat. Griffith entered Hereford, which was undefended, sacked and burnt the city, treated the cathedral and the clergy with excessive severity, and destroyed what the “Brut” calls the gaer, that is, the castrum or fort. The account seems to imply that the city was not then fortified. Mr. Freeman thinks the gaer was a work of masonry. However that may be, there is little doubt but that it was a work on the site of the later castle, for by the riverside, for defence, it would certainly be placed; and as the position of the cathedral has doubtless always been the same, there would scarcely be room for a fortress between its precincts and the western marsh. The position of the bridge, too, is probably ancient, and this would lead into the city, not into the gaer. The appearances of the earthworks, as they existed before the removal of the mound and the filling up of its proper ditch, much resembled those of Tamworth, and other works attributed to Edward and Ethelfleda, and the gaer may well have been of that date, so far as the earthworks were concerned. This inroad of the Welsh in 1055 was the most severe and the most lasting in its effects of any on record. All Archenfield suffered, and traces of the spoiler are recorded long afterwards in Domesday.

Although Godwin’s return from banishment in 1052 had been followed by the putting forth of most of the Norman intruders, Richard Fitz-Scrob, one of the most offensive, seems to have remained, and long afterwards to have put down Edric the Wild; and his son Osborn, after a short exile in Scotland, came back to Herefordshire, and held office and dignities both before and after the Conquest.

In 1055 Godwin was dead, and to Harold, as Earl of the West Saxons, it belonged to redeem the disgrace incurred by Ralph the Timid. He lost no time in preparation. In the course of the same year he mustered his forces at Gloucester, and by his mere presence cleared Hereford of the Welsh and Ælfgar. He at once fortified Hereford. Whether he restored the castle is unknown, but he surrounded the city with a wall, no doubt along the line of the later structure. Mr. Freeman supposes Harold’s work to have been a mere “dyke of earth and loose stones,” Florence of Worcester describes it as “Vallum latum et altum.” Domesday, however, records a “murus” at Hereford as having stood in the time of the Confessor, so that Harold, when Hereford came under his immediate government, may, as Mr. Freeman suggests, have replaced his vallum with a wall of masonry. Harold’s defences probably did not include the suburb, which even then must have existed, since we read in Domesday of burghers within and burghers without the walls; though the latter would derive a not incomplete protection from the broad belt of marsh which then surrounded the city.

Griffith had sought and received terms of peace. Nevertheless it did not suit him to allow Hereford to become a strong post. Early in 1056 he again crossed the border. He was opposed by Leofgar, the new bishop, who, however, was slain in the first combat. His successor, Ealdred—a man of equal determination with better fortune,—held the Welsh in check, and negotiated a peace, and the fortifications of Hereford were completed.

In 1062 Griffith again appears upon the scene. Probably he traversed Herefordshire, for he crossed the Severn in the diocese of Worcester. On this occasion Harold—appearing, not as the defender of this or that province, but of the whole kingdom—executed a counter movement, and invaded North Wales. This was followed in 1063 by Harold’s great invasion, in which Griffith was murdered by his own countrymen, and Wales submitted, having deprived herself of her greatest son. It was at the conclusion of this war that Harold employed himself in constructing a sort of hunting-lodge for his sovereign in the low lands of Gwent, at Port-skewet, where earthworks are still seen. The lodge was attacked and destroyed while in progress by Caradoc-ap-Griffith-ap-Rhydderch, of South Wales.

Hereford played no part in the Conquest; but the city and shire occupy a respectable place in the Domesday Survey, where the customs are related in great detail. The king had six moneyers there, and the bishop one. Of the city burgesses 103 held of the king, and twenty-seven had held of Earl Harold. All the tenants of the burgh were liable to military service against the Welsh.

The customs called of the Welsh in King Edward’s land in Arcenefeld, or Irchenfield, also there recorded, are curious, and show not only the early existence of a local militia to resist the Welsh, but that the people were mostly of Welsh blood, and were employed against their countrymen. The king held three churches there, and the priests of them were to be the king’s legates or ambassadors in Wales, and when the army marched against an enemy, to the men of Archenfield was committed the post of trust and danger. During the advance they were to form the “Auantwarde,” and in retreat the “Redrewarde.”

Such, then, having been the antecedents of Herefordshire, it is not to be wondered at that it bristled with strong places, nearly all of which show indications of early dates, and in many may be traced the mount or motte, which in England there is strong reason to regard as in favour in the tenth century. Domesday, usually so silent as to fortresses, and enumerating only forty-nine in all England, mentions in this county eight, and two strong houses. There were, however, many more, and at this day there remain traces more or less considerable of twenty-eight, of which many preserve the mount, and others earthworks of an early character. Similar works are found at Brecon and Builth, places known to have been held by the English at an early period. No doubt these strongholds, originally strengthened with timber, were burned again and again by the insurgent Welsh; but the positions of most of them were well chosen, and each had its surrounding estate, so that when, after the Conquest, the great Norman barons marched into Wales, they constructed upon these sites castles of masonry after their fashion, of which a few remain, though many, having been destroyed, have been rebuilt in the reign of Henry III., or later.

William’s arrival no doubt confirmed and extended any local power that may have been allowed to Richard Fitz-Scrob and his son, under Harold. Osborn, as sheriff, held Hereford, and either he or the first Norman earl probably rebuilt the castle in the Norman manner.

William FitzOsborn, the great Norman chief, “Magister militum bellicosus,” Earl of Hereford from 1067 to 1071, was a fearful scourge of the Welsh, whom he drove back and vanquished on the banks of the distant Rhymny. To him are attributed the castles of Strigwil, Clifford, Wigmore, and Ewias—that is, the Norman part of them, for some at least preserve older earthworks.

Roger de Bretuil, William’s third son, succeeded him in the earldom. He plays no part in the history of shire or castle. Failing in rebellion in the eastern counties, he ended his days in prison.

When Bretuil died is unknown, but in 1138 Hereford, commanded by William Talbot, held out successfully against Stephen during a long siege. The defence was much aided by Milo, the Constable of England, who received the earldom of Hereford from Maud, in 1140, and it remained in his family till the end of the century. Milo’s patent gave him the moat, probably the “motte,” and all the castle. As earl, however, he was unfortunate. Stephen returned and took the castle, and wore his crown in state in the cathedral.

Roger, son of Milo, was in opposition to Henry II., but escaped by the wise counsels of Foliot, the bishop. In the reign of John, a less discreet or bolder prelate—Giles, Baron de Braose—united with Llewelyn; but failing to bring over the men of Hereford to support him, died in exile. The castle seems then to have fallen into the possession of the Crown, and so to have remained. Prince John gave the custody of it to Roger Bigod, and in the sixth of his reign as king, and in the seventh of Henry III., William, brother to Thomas, Lord Cantelupe, and sheriff, was also governor. The turbulent reign of Henry III. gave value to the castle of Hereford. 15 Henry III., John Fitz-Terrick and William de Stowe, surveyors of works at Hereford Castle, were allowed £20 for repairing the walls. 16 Henry III., Terrick and Roger Carlton were surveyors of mangonels and petards within the castle. 26 Henry III., John and Roger le Werrur were surveyors, and had spent £7. 8s. 6½d. on artillery, and £12. 1s. 4d. in making a trebuchet called “Blythe,” and £40. 14s. 4d. in building a tower in the castle. 42 Henry III., the castle was in the hands of the sheriff, Henry de Pembridge, until the barons forced the king to appoint John de Grey.

44 Henry III., Roger Mortimer was governor, and penetrated into Wales as far as Builth. He was, however, in turn attacked, and held the castle, though for a few weeks only, against Simon de Montford and Prince Llewelyn. Bishop Acqua Blanca was taken and imprisoned at Eardesley. Peter de Montford, the Earl’s son, had charge of the county, and employed its issues in the repairs of the castle. After the battle of Lewes, Prince Edward was a prisoner here.

Edward’s escape hence has often been related. Widemarsh, whence he galloped off, still bears that name, and lies about a mile north of the city.

During the whole of this time, from 1199, the title of Earl of Hereford had been borne by Henry de Bohun, whose mother was a co-heir of a previous earl, but neither he nor his celebrated descendants, Earls of Hereford and Essex, although they held Huntington Castle and the lordship of Brecknock, and built the Castle of Caldecot, ever seem to have been seized of that of Hereford, which remained in the Crown.

Soon after the time of Edward’s flight, John le Werrur and William Valet were surveyors of works for the king, at Hereford, and charged £45. 6s. 10½d. for repairs of the walls and of the king’s houses. William Capon also held lands at Marden, by the serjeantry of keeping the door of the castle, and this, under Henry III., was commuted into military service in the field.

Possibly the castle was employed as a local treasury; for, 1 Edward I., Henry Pigot held 46 acres in capite by the tenure of transporting the king’s treasure from Hereford Castle to London. In the same year Richard Porter and Richard le Panner, surveyors, charged £21. 1s. 6d. for expenses and repairs of the king’s house in the castle, and in the next year they had fifteen oaks from the king’s forest of Haywood, a mile south-west of the city, allowed for repairs.

2 Edward I., Giles Berkeley, sheriff, had spent £4. 15s. in repairs, and in 7–8 Edward I., Roger Burghull, his successor, had spent £2. 5s. 4d. Hugh Turberville, one of a very unruly race, had, it appeared, when sheriff, burnt and destroyed in the castle the king’s house, and certain engines of war and military stores, to the value of £100. For this he had a pardon, November 5, 48 Henry III.; but the debt remained, and, 9 Edward I., the sheriff was ordered to distrain upon his goods.

12 Edward I., a new chapel was erected in the castle, and the barons of the exchequer, by the king’s precept, allowed Roger de Burghull £10. 6s. 8d. on that account. 15 Edward I., Henry de Solers, a Herefordshire man, had charge of the castle, with arms and stores. 32 Edward I., Miles Pychard charged 40 marks for repairs, which were disallowed because not certified by the surveyor. John de Acton was governor, 33 Edward I.

1 Edward II., Alan Plukenet, keeper of the king’s forest of Haywood, was to allow twelve oaks and stone for the repairs of the castle walls and towers. Ralph Freeman held lands in capite, in Fromyngton, by the service of carrying the cord round the castle walls when they were measured. 5 Edward II., he paid half a mark for his relief, and commuted future payments for 7s. 7d. per week. 10 Edward II., Hugh de Hacluyt charged £5 for repairs.

13 Edward II., Sheriff Richard Walwyn charged £6. 13s. 6d. for repairs. At the close of the reign the queen held a great council at Hereford, and Hugh le Despenser, the younger, was hanged upon a tall gibbet, outside Friar’s Gate. During the reign of Edward II., Wales was loyal, and Hereford, therefore, neglected. John of Gaunt was its governor, 1 Richard II., but even his great love of building was not exercised here. As late as 8 Henry VI., the city had a grant of timber to replace the wall where wanting.

The castle lay unnoticed, and more or less of a ruin for some centuries, until it became the scene of one of the struggles between Charles and his people. It was first seized by Sir William Waller for the Parliament in 1643, with the city, then also walled, and the position of which is naturally strong. He retired from it before Prince Maurice, but shortly afterwards, without stroke of sword, recovered possession, again to retire, so that in 1644 it was still held by the king. In 1645, however, its troubles began in good earnest. Leslie and the Scots laid regular siege to it, and from the south of the Wye opened a destructive fire upon the castle, cathedral, and bishop’s palace. Sir Barnabas Scudamore, with eleven guns, held out stoutly, beat off an attempt at a storm, and forced the enemy to be content with a blockade. As the mills without the walls were destroyed, others were extemporised within them. The Scots then encamped on Burtonshaw Meads, close under the castle, between it and the river. Scudamore, whose defences were out of repair, and his garrison weak, sent out for country folks to assist as workmen. The enemy found this out, and, entering under the guise of workmen, succeeded in taking the place. Much injury was then done to the public buildings, and the castle, as belonging to the Crown, and a ruin, was sold about 1652, for the value of the materials.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DEFENCES.

The castle of Hereford was one of the strongest, most advanced, and most important fortresses upon the Welsh March, and one which, being posted in a very fertile and open district, was peculiarly offensive to, and very liable to the attacks of, the Welsh people. The present remains are not inconsiderable, but, as is often the case with fortresses of pre-Norman date, they are confined chiefly to earthworks, and include but slight traces of the later defences of masonry.

The castle was placed upon the left or northern bank of the Wye, east of and below the city bridge, the cathedral, and in some measure the city, of which it occupied the south-eastern corner. Though excluded from the city liberties, it is, in common with the city, covered at some distance by a steep slope, at the foot of which lies the Yazor brook, which, rising far off to the west beyond Kentchester, and the remains of Magna Castra, supplied the broad tract of lowland still known as Forster’s Moor, Moorfield, Canon’s Moor, Prior’s Moor, Eastern Moor, Moor Barn, and Widemarsh, to the north-west of the city, and which, after skirting its north front below Baron Court, turns Monkmoor and Scult Mills, and finally falls into the Wye, at Eigne Mill, some traces of which remain about half a mile in advance of, and below the castle. The ground thus included is to the north-east, a broad and dry platform of gravel, very fertile, and probably employed as a safe pasture in wild times. The lower tract to the north-west, now drained, and either cultivated or built upon, must, in former days, have been an almost impracticable morass.

The city of Hereford, within its walls, was, in plan, about three-fourths of an irregular circle, placed upon the Wye, which forms its concave chord. Its dimensions were, north and south, 600 yards; east and west, 770 yards; and along the river bank, about 600 yards; including the cathedral and the castle. The total girth was about 2,350 yards. The walls—no doubt Norman—upon the older lines, were confined to the landward sides, excepting about 50 yards above the city bridge, and were in length about a mile and a quarter. They were pierced by six gates—Wye Bridge, removed in 1782; Friar’s Gate and Eigne, on the west, removed in 1787; Widemarsh Gate and Bye or Bishop’s Gate, towards the north, removed in 1798; and St. Andrew’s or St. Owen’s Gate, on the east, removed in 1786.

The walls were reinforced by fifteen hollow mural towers, placed from 75 yards to 125 yards apart, or at a “flyte shoot,”—explained to be within 400 yards, and here much less. They were rather more than half round—that is to say, their side walls were a little prolonged or stilted in plan, and they were 34 feet high, having a cruciform loop in front, and probably two others laterally. Of these, two at least remain and are accessible, though their upper half has been removed. The intervening curtain was 16 feet high on the interior, but it was built against the old English bank, which thus covered the lower 6 feet of the interior face, and served as a ramp. Besides the two towers already mentioned, which stood on the north-west face, the wall may be traced along the western side from Bishop’s Gate—now “the Commercial Road”—to the river bank. Where it has been pulled down the step remains, and the difference between the level within and without is brought to view. Of this wall the part from the Friar’s Gate to the river is open to view from the exterior paddock. The ditch has been partly filled up, but the wall remains about 12 feet high, unaltered, save by the removal of its upper 4 feet or 6 feet. At regular intervals along it of about 50 feet are broad pilaster buttresses, of slight projection, and without sets-off. These die into the wall below its present top. There do not appear to have been any mural towers on this part of the wall. Some kind of manufactory conceals the termination of this wall upon the river, where there was probably a tower; and from this point to the bridge a line of modern houses effectually conceals any foundations that may have escaped. The tracing out the town wall, or what remains of it, though aided by parallel streets, representing the rampart within and the ditch without, is a delicate operation; for the lowest houses of the city are here found, and the inhabitants seem to drive the trade of those who, at Jericho, dwelt in a similar locality. That part of the wall showing the pilasters is, no doubt, the original Norman wall. The part beyond, or, at least, the towers upon it, is probably of the time of Henry III. The wide modern street, called Commercial Road, which takes the place of the old Bishop’s Gate, has, of course, caused the removal of all traces of the wall near the site of the gate; but the line may still be traced round the eastern quarter of the city as far as the angle of the castle. Here, as before, are two roads—one inside and one outside the line of the wall—the actual place of which is shown, sometimes by a few stones built into the walls of later houses, and sometimes by a dip of nearly 6 feet in level. Beyond St. Owen’s Gate the actual wall remains for some yards, and may be seen from the exterior road. It extends to the counterscarp of the castle ditch, where it ends abruptly, having been in part pulled down.

The city bridge crosses the Wye by six arches, round headed, and all apparently old. One is stiffened with three plain square ribs, and another shows traces of a similar addition. The bridge has bold piers, and advantage has been taken of this to widen it by turning a subsidiary arch, about 5 feet wide, on each face, so that the old work is partially concealed. It does not appear where the fortified gateway was placed; probably upon the last narrow arch on the city side. This does not, indeed, show any trace of having been perforated for a drawbridge, and tradition places the gate at the outer end.

Next to and a little below the bridge, near the river bank, and a little south of the centre of the city, stands the cathedral, and below and next to it the castle.

Besides the cathedral and its appendage of St. John’s, there stood within the walls four churches—St. Nicholas’s, All Saints’, St. Peter’s, and St. Owen’s. There was also St. Martin’s, beyond the Wye, destroyed during the civil wars. The disposition of the streets is irregular, and in no way cruciform or indicative of any Roman arrangement. Thus situated and defended, Hereford was a very strong place, as it had need to be, for it was exposed to the fierce and repeated attacks of the Welsh, who especially resented, as was natural, the conquest of their most fertile provinces by the invaders.

The castle, as has been said, occupied the south-eastern quarter of the city. It lay in the parish of St. John. Leland describes it as one of the fairest, largest, and strongest castles in England.

It was composed of two wards placed side by side along the bank of the Wye, not actually on the stream, which, when the defences were of earth, might have undermined them; but about 7 yards distant from and on the edge of a steep sloping bank, about 8 feet above the water.

In general plan the eastern ward was an oblong, the sides being nearly straight, and the east end narrower than the west. The eastern end runs at right angles to the river, and measures along the old line of its wall 100 yards. The south or river front measured 175 yards, as did the north front. The west front, connecting the two, measured 196 yards. This inclosure formed the eastern or lower ward, and contained about 26,000 square yards.

The upper or western ward was applied to the end of the eastern, and like it rested on the river. In form it was rounded, or rather irregularly polygonal, and composed of a large conical mound, wholly artificial, with a circular circumscribing ditch. Within the ditch it measured, on the east and south sides, each 100 yards, and, on the three remaining sides, 60 yards each. It was, therefore, in girth about 380 yards, and in area about 14,000 yards. Thus the area of the whole castle, ditches included, might be about 8¼ acres. The eastern ward is stated to have contained about 5½ acres.

The earthworks of the lower ward are tolerably perfect. They are composed of a steep bank along the north and east sides, from 15 feet to 30 feet high, the highest and broadest part being at the north-east angle, where there was probably a tower. This bank has evidently been thrown up out of a broad and deep ditch, which remains perfect and full of water, on the north front; but has recently been filled up along the east as far as the river; nor do there remain any traces of the castle mill, which stood at its junction with the river. The ground is raised along the river front about 4 feet, and may have been higher. Along the west or side towards the upper ward, the bank has been thrown into the ditch, and there is only a trace of either. Leland says there was “a great bridge of stone arches, and a drawbridge in the middle of it to enter into the castle;” but even in Leland’s time this was gone.

The entrance to this ward was evidently at its north-west angle, where the moat is crossed by a causeway, and the public now enter. There was a gatehouse in Speed’s time, which he places, probably by an error of drawing, near the middle of this face. But the bank is there far too high, and the ditch far too deep and broad, to allow of the entrance being placed there.

The modern museum, built on the river at the south-west angle of the ward, or rather between the two wards, and over the line of the ditch, contains some parts of an older building, and a doorway of the time of Henry III. or Edward I. This building probably guarded the opening of the middle ditch into the river, and was also the gatehouse between the two wards. Speed shows a sort of water-gate here, which is probable enough. The surface of the lower ward is level. In it stood the chapel of St. Cuthbert, with a semicircular apse, and in Speed’s time also two small dwelling-houses. Leland says, “There is a fayre and plentifull spring of water in the castell, and that, and the piece of the brook coming out of the ditch, did drive a mill within the castle.” This was in addition to the mill outside and north of the castle, and probably was a part of the present museum-house.

The earthworks of the upper ward have unfortunately been destroyed, the mound and banks thrown into the ditches, and all made level and much built over. The site of the mound is occupied by an enclosed three-cornered kitchen garden. The well or spring spoken of as St. Ethelred’s remains. It opens behind the museum building about 50 feet from the river, and 6 feet or 8 feet above it. As it is described as being further north, it is probable that when the ditch was filled up a pipe was laid to bring the water out at its original level. This ward contained the mound known as the Castle Hill, and which seems to have been removed early in the present century. It was girded at the base by a polygonal curtain wall, outside of which was the ditch. It is difficult clearly to understand how the mound was occupied. Leland says “there was one great tower in the inner warde.” Sir Henry Slingsby, in his diary, in 1645, describes Hereford city as not much unlike York, “for it hath a round tower mounted upon a hill, like to Clifford’s Tower, and the mills near it, with some little works about, having the river Wye running close by; but the walls, though they be high, yet are not mounted upon a ramp, as York walls are.” This is intelligible enough, the walls spoken of having been at the base of the hill; but Leland speaks also of a donjon or keep, of what plan is unknown; but upon its wall ten half-round towers, and within, what appears to have been a square tower of considerable height, in the base of which was a dungeon. We may safely conclude from Sir Henry Slingsby’s very clear account that the mound carried, like Cardiff and Kilpeck, a shell keep; but this could scarcely have been furnished with ten half-round towers. These probably belonged to the enceinte wall below. The keep was entered, it seems, from the south-east side by a flight of steep steps up the mound. In the mound was a well, lined with stone, as at York.

The castle ditches were wide, deep, and filled with water, not from the river, or but partially so, but from a brook, which seems to have fed the city ditch on this side, and on reaching the castle at the north-east angle to have divided, a part running direct along the east front of the lower ward, to the river, and the other part supplying the north ditch, and the ditch which divided the upper from the lower ward, and the ditch which passed round the east side of the ward, and divided it from the cathedral precinct. This latter ditch also received some little contribution from St. Ethelred’s Well, a spring on the north side of the upper ward, already mentioned. The castle mill stood at the junction of the eastern ditch with the Wye. The water in the castle ditches was, of course, penned back for the use of the mill, and to strengthen the defences, and it seems to have flowed back upon the city ditch as far as St. Owen’s Gate, thus strengthening and connecting the city and the castle.

We have, then, to recapitulate, as the constituent parts of Hereford Castle, an oblong space, with the river on one side, and high banks and ditches on the other three. One end was cut off from the rest, and had its proper ditch, more or less circular, and within it a conical mound, with a table summit, and upon it a shell keep, with some kind of central tower, probably an addition. At the base of the mound, within its ditch, was a second wall, many sided in plan.

The lower ward, no doubt, had its walls along the summit of the earthworks, and these probably were low, by reason of the height of the bank and the depth of the ditch beyond. There was a gatehouse at the land entrance at the north-west angle, and a water-gate at the south-western, where also was the passage between the two wards. Very likely there was a postern at the south-eastern angle, where is now a footway.

There is a general resemblance, as regards the mound and bank, between these arrangements and those at Wallingford, Wareham, and Tamworth, and with what is related of the castle of Worcester.

HERTFORD CASTLE.

THE Castle of Hertford not only is of high antiquity, but the date of its foundation is on record. The Saxon Chronicle relates that in the year 913, Edward the Elder, son of Alfred, threw up two Burhs at Hertford, one at Martinmas, on the north bank of the river, and, later on, one on the south bank, between three of the rivers which here unite. The former of these works has long been laid low, and no trace of it is visible, but the latter has been preserved by its incorporation into the later castle. The mound, standing on the edge of the river Lea, is indeed shorn of its original dimensions, but it remains, and attached to it is the base court with its exterior ditch, once of great breadth and depth, the invariable accompaniment of the mound, and with it constituting the Burh.

Hertford

Edward’s Burhs may have been preceded by an earlier earthwork, for Hertford is reputed to stand on the site of a chief town of the Trinobantes, the British occupants of the district north of this part of the Thames. The Britons, however, if they here established a stronghold, are more likely to have placed it upon one of the adjacent heights, where are several excellent positions for an entrenchment. Probably the existence of a British settlement in a neighbourhood so well protected by its watercourses attracted the invading settlers, for here the East Saxon kings are said to have had a residence, and to this place Archbishop Theodore, consecrated in 668, convened a synod of the national Church in 673.

The Danes overran this part of England more than once, and the camp at Danesbury was probably their work. Also, they are thought to have had a camp upon Port Hill, of which, however, it is said that no traces are now to be seen. It was upon the river Lea, between Hertford and Waltham, that Alfred rendered the Danish fleet useless by blocking up the river, and so preventing their return. It is on record that this was effected, not by actually throwing a dam across the stream, but by the far more scientific process of cutting a number of channels for its waters, each too shallow to allow the vessels to float down. By this means the retreat of the Danes to the Thames was cut off, and they were fain to march inland to the Severn at Bridgenorth.

In 913 the protection afforded by the Hertford Burhs seems to have attracted inhabitants, who occupied both banks of the river Lea, and the town thus situate was raised by Edward into a royal Burgh, held of the Crown by burgage tenure. Hertford was so held of the Confessor, and so accepted by the Conqueror, and entered in Domesday, which, however, as was not uncommon, makes no mention of the castle, nor, indeed, of the churches. William is said to have strengthened the castle, and he gave it in charge to Peter de Valoignes, one of his followers, who transmitted it to his son Roger, and he to his two sons in succession, Peter and Robert. The male line closed with Robert, whose daughter and heiress, Gunnora de Valoignes, married Robert Fitz-Walter. The charge of the castle does not seem to have descended, but to have been resumed, possibly as a male fief, by the Crown.

King John, that most erratic of monarchs, held the castle, and visited it in 1212, 1213, and 1216. In this latter year, however, it was attacked by Lewis of France, who laid siege to it from St. Martin’s (November 11) to St. Nicholas’s Day (December 6), and finally took it. Robert Fitz-Walter, an adherent of Lewis, took the opportunity to revive his wife’s claim, but without success. It was finally recovered by John, and transmitted to his son Henry III., who placed Richard de Argentin in charge of it, and expended £20, and probably other sums, in its repairs. In 1226 it was held by Hubert de Burgh, on whose fall Henry granted it to be held in capite by William de Valence, after whom it was held by his son, Aymer, Earl of Pembroke.

Edward III. resumed possession in 1327, and granted the castle to John of Gaunt, his son, from whom it finally passed into the Duchy of Lancaster, to which it is nominally attached. Henry IV. kept his Easter here in 1429, and Henry VII. continued to appoint a constable and a porter. It is described as “castrum non immensum sed pulcherrimum.” Hertford fared better than most royal castles, possibly from its convenient position as regarded London, for in the reign of Henry VIII. it contained lodgings suitable for the king, and Edward VI. and the Princess Elizabeth were both here. By the latter, when queen, it was alienated to Sir William Harrington, who built a large brick house on the site of the inner gatehouse, which still remains. In the time of James I. the castle is described as covering 7¾ acres. The ditch then extended to the roads or streets now known as the Mill Bridge, the Wash, and Castle Street. The mill was upon the Lea just below the castle mounds. The Church of St. Andrew stands about 150 yards from the remaining mound, beyond the river. There was a second mill, probably that on the river above the castle. The castle was finally leased to Mr. Secretary Cecil, in whose descendant, the Marquis of Salisbury, it remains. It is remarkable that Hertford Castle at no time belonged to the earls who bore the title of Hertford. They were, of course, earls of the county, though this is not specified in the peerages. Their principal eastern seat was at Clare in Suffolk, round which they possessed considerable property.

The strength of Hertford as a military position was very great, and depended upon the low marshy ground by which it was almost surrounded, and which was liable to be flooded by the waters of three, or rather four, considerable streams, “flumina non profunda sed clarissima.” Of these, the Lea, flowing from the west, received, a few yards above the castle, the Mimram from the north-west, while a little below the castle the combined stream is swollen by the waters of the Beane from the north, and the Rib from the north-east, the combined volume flowing forward under the name of the Lea. Below, or south-west of the castle, along the course of the Lea, is a wide breadth of lowland, which even now is occasionally flooded, and which in former days must have been an impracticable morass. In the other direction the ground, though built upon and forming a part of the town, is for some distance around but little higher than the meadow, though here and there, elevated 4 feet or 5 feet, appear small deposits of gravel. The castle stands upon the right bank, south-east of the river, and its extreme limit, within the counterscarp or outer edge of its main ditch, included a space something in the figure of an ear, the river forming the shorter side or concavity. In length, north-east and south-west, this space measures 234 yards; its breadth varies from 100 yards to 200 yards, with a mean of 140 yards. The ditch, now almost filled up and in part built over, was about 30 yards broad, and no doubt filled from the river with which it communicated at each end. Within the ditch, taking the line of the old bank, or of the present wall, the area is about three and a half or four acres. The mound is placed on the edge of the river, at the north angle of the enclosure. The bank does not include it, but points to its centre, so that the mound, as was not unusual, formed a part of the enclosing defence. The proper ditch of the mound has been filled up.

Of the mediæval castle there remains only a considerable part of the wall of the enceinte, and, it may be, some ancient masonry built up into Sir William Harrington’s house, which is still inhabited. This is said to have been the gatehouse; if so, it was that of the northern ward, and was upon the line of the wall dividing the one ward from the other. The curtain wall is about 7 feet thick, and 25 feet to 30 feet high, and composed of flint rubble. The battlement is gone or nearly so, and there remains but a part of one mural tower, circular in plan, which capped the south-east angle of the wall of the northern ward. The wall covers the northern and most of the eastern sides of the area. There is no trace of it along the western or river side. No doubt it was less substantial on that side, upon which the natural defence was strong. The south or smaller ward does not appear to have been walled in. It was covered on the three sides by the river and the marsh, and may have been palisaded only. The wall evidently crossed the ditch of the mound, and abutted upon it, or possibly upon the shell keep, all vestiges of which are gone.

The present entrance to the castle is at the eastern angle of the ditch, which is traversed by a road leading to a small and apparently modern doorway in the wall. There is no trace of a main entrance in this direction, but it must be confessed that if the main entrance lay to the south of the gatehouse, it must have been difficult to approach, save by water.

HOPTON CASTLE, SHROPSHIRE.

ABOUT five miles south-east of Clun, upon a tributary of the Teme, is placed the parish and castle of Hopton, the Opetune of Domesday, when it was, like Clun, held by Picot as the successor of Edric. It was a fief of Clun. In 1165 it was held by Walter de Opton as two knights’ fees under Geoffrey de Vere, one of the three husbands of Isabel de Say; and Peter de Opton held it in 1201. William de Hopton may have followed, but Mr. Eyton is not clear whether he may not have been of Monk-Hopton in the same county.

However this may be, Walter de Hopton held the fief in 1223, as did another Walter, 1255–72, and was bound to provide for the defence of Clun Castle one soldier all the year round, and a second for forty days in time of war. In 1304–5, upon the death of Walter de Hopton, he was seized of the Vill of Hopton with its hamlets, and a considerable property about it, chiefly held under Clun, as continued to be the original two fees, by Sir John de Hopton, in the 21 Richard II. The family seems to have remained at Hopton till the reign of Elizabeth, but the castle was still standing and of sufficient strength to be held for King Charles in the seventeenth century. It was taken after a gallant resistance, and dismantled.

HOPTON CASTLE.—Ground Plan.
Scale—¹⁄₂₀ inch = 1 foot.

Hopton Castle or Tower stands about half a mile south of the parish church. It occupies a knoll or patch of gravel, which rises out of a marshy bottom, caused by the waters of the brooks which here fall into the main stream. There is a central mound, low but well defined, which is surrounded by a circular ditch, and beyond this ditch are the traces of two or three platforms, but slightly elevated, and which have been fortified by ditches fed with water by a streamlet from the west. No doubt the place was occupied by some tenant of Edric, for its earthworks are certainly pre-Norman, and perhaps of the tenth century. It is probable that its Norman tenant and his descendants, who derive their names from the place, were for some centuries content with such defences as they found ready to their hands, for there is no trace of masonry, either of the eleventh or twelfth centuries.

The castle consists of a single tower, quadrangular, 48 feet by 50 feet, with walls 10 feet thick. It stands upon the mound, which is not above 6 feet high, and through which the foundations are no doubt carried. It has a basement at the ground level, a first or main floor, and an attic in the roof. The exterior is plain, having a double-scroll stringcourse from 4 feet to 6 feet from the ground. Each angle is capped by a pair of broad pilasters of slight projection, which ascend to the summit, and probably carried four square turrets. The doorway is on the north side, not far from its west end, and nearly at the ground-floor level, ascended from the exterior by three or four steps. The south front has a square projection at its west end, in which is a garderobe. The doorway, the only entrance, is 6 feet wide, and has an equilateral arched head. Its mouldings are two convex quarter circles divided by a step. Their character is plain but excellent Decorated. Over the doorway was a triangular hood, now broken away. There is no portcullis, only a strong door.

Entering, a vaulted passage leading to the basement has a small door on the right, which leads into a well-stair, 6 feet in diameter, occupying the north-west angle of the building, and ascending to the roof. At the first floor is a lobby, with a small window above the outer door. This is the only staircase. The basement chamber is 29 feet by 21 feet. In the north wall is a deep recess, 7 feet wide, containing a small square-headed loop. Opposite, in the south wall, is a similar recess and window, but in the jambs are two doors, which by short passages lead into two chambers in the two southern angles. That in the south-east angle is 7 feet by 6 feet, with two loops. The other is a garderobe, with one loop. Both are covered in with overhanging slabs. In the west side is another window, in a recess, similar to those above described, and a fireplace with a vertical tunnel. In the east wall are two recesses, one blank and one pierced with a loop. From the jamb of this latter a door opens into a small chamber in the north-east angle.

The first floor is lofty. The joists and boards are gone, and the walls and window recesses are so thick with brambles and so inaccessible that the details are not to be seen. This floor seems to resemble the basement, save that it is higher, and the windows are larger.

The remains of two gables in the north and south fronts show that there was a ridge roof, with a small window at each end. Altogether this is a very peculiar building, much more like a Scottish than an English castle. It is all of one date, probably the work of Walter de Hopton, who died in 1304–5, and seems to have been a man of considerable wealth and power.

HUNTINGDON CASTLE.

IT has generally been supposed that the town of Godmanchester, upon the right bank of the Ouse, represents the Roman station of Durolipons. It is traversed by the Ermine Street, which here receives the Via Devana from Cambridge, and another Roman road from the station at Salenæ, or Sandy. The Roman town, however, seems, as was often the case, to have been destroyed in the centuries of war that followed on the departure of the Roman armies, and its memory is chiefly preserved in the termination of “Chester” suffixed to its later name. The northern invaders did not much care to build upon or employ Roman foundations, and in this case they passed over from the low and watery side of the old station and established themselves on the higher position of the Hunters, or Hunting-down, on the opposite, or left and northern, bank of the river. By whom, or precisely when, the capital of the future county was founded is not known. The first mention of it, or rather of Huntingdon Port, in history, is in A.D. 657, when it occurs in the foundation limits of Medehampstede (Peterborough). As a military post it is named in A.D. 918, when, according to the Saxon Chronicle, the Danish army from Huntingdon and East Anglia threw up a work at Tempsford, and for it deserted another at Huntingdon. That work must necessarily be the earthworks now remaining, which may either have been thrown up by the Danes or by earlier Saxons. Later in the year, King Eadweard with his West Saxons brought the Danes of Northampton and Welland to obedience, “reduced the burgh at Huntingdon, and repaired and renovated it, where it was before in a state of ruin.... And all the folk that were left there of the peasantry submitted to King Eadweard, and sought his peace and his protection.”

Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, who wrote towards the close of the eleventh century, mentions the three burhs (tria castra) of Buckingham, Bedford, and Huntingdon. The castle is mentioned several times in Domesday. It was within the borough of Huntingdon. The Bishop of Lincoln had a residence (mansio) in the place of the castle (in loco castri). In the place of the castle were twenty residences (mansiones). “Besides these were and are LX. ‘mansiones’ waste ... and on account of these are VIII. ‘mansiones’ waste.” William the Conqueror was at Huntingdon 1068, when he ordered a castle to be built, evidently on the site of the old fortress restored by Edward the Elder in 918. The names in Domesday show how complete had been the removal of the larger English landowners. The new castle was probably built by, and in the hands of, Eustace, one of the most rapacious of the Norman sheriffs; but the earldom was given to Judith, the king’s niece, and descended to and through Maud, her daughter, by Earl Waltheof. Maud married, first, Simon de St. Liz, in her right Earl of Huntingdon. The earldom, on his death, was held by David, afterwards King of Scots, Maud’s second husband, and, with the castle, was long a subject of contention between the two families, until David, the third son of Henry, son of Maud and David, laid siege to and took the castle, on which Simon de St. Liz, the son of Maud, retook it. The result was that Henry II. had the castle demolished, nor does it appear ever to have been rebuilt. The town occurs from time to time in the public records, and the honour remained attached to the earldom. The king also had a prison there; but there is never any allusion to a castle. In 1205 King John granted to Robert Rufus the demesne and mill at Huntingdon, and in 1218 and 1219 the sheriff had order to give seizin, under certain limitations, to Alexander, King of Scotland, as custos of the honour. The junior branch of the house of Hastings took the title of Huntingdon, to commemorate the descent of the elder line from the Scottish earls.

It is difficult to suppose that Henry would, within a century of its construction, demolish a first-class castle, commanding a shire town, and posted upon the edge of a very strong and inaccessible tract of country. The usual course with an important structure was to attach it to the Crown. And yet, whatever stood there was certainly then demolished, and Huntingdon Castle is not again heard of. Was there really a castle built there, or was it, as was often the case, a mere strengthened form of the older English work in timber? It is difficult, after this lapse of time, to say, though an excavation judiciously conducted would no doubt set the question at rest.

There does not appear to be any plan of Huntingdon Castle, that is, of the earthworks known as Castle Hill, which still are seen; and as they are extensive and partly included within a private garden, a mere handsketch is scarcely practicable. The position is a fine one. The Ouse, here deep, broad, and sluggish, in its way from Bedford and Eaton to the Fens, recedes from the higher land to the northward, and makes, between Huntingdon and Godmanchester, a bold curve to the south; thus enclosing a grand circle of meadow about half a mile in diameter, and now used as the racecourse. Along the northern edge of this breadth of sward flows the Alconbury brook, a considerable watercourse, which skirts the foot of the high land, and joins the Ouse opposite the Castle Hill, and just above the bridge by which the Ermine Street is carried across the river. Here, upon the edge of the high land, and protected from the south by the river and the brook, and the low and formerly impassable levels beyond them, are the ancient earthworks, which, though partially levelled, and reduced both in height and depth, and traversed by a road and a railway, are still very considerable, and form a remarkable feature in the view of the town from the south. In general outline the work is rather a circle than a square, and about 180 yards in clear diameter. The outer ditch, which is included in this measurement, encircles two-thirds of the whole, communicating at each end with the brook, which thus completes the investment. Upon the western margin of the area thus enclosed, and projecting boldly into it, is a large mound, the flat top of which, now crowned by a neglected mill, is 100 feet diameter, and about 30 feet high above the inner platform, and 40 feet or more above the country outside. This mound, which was the citadel of the work, had its proper surrounding ditch, which at the outer face was identified with the main ditch, but elsewhere cut off the mound from the general area of the fortress. This remainder, which, by the indentation of the mound and ditch cutting out a huge cantle, was converted into a sort of crescent, was defended along its outer edge by broad and high banks of earth, perhaps 20 feet above the contained area, and 30 feet or 40 feet above the circumscribing ditch. The railway passes east and west, close south of the mound, and cuts off a part of the work; the road passes north of the mound; and north of this a close fence shuts off from the visitors a part of the earthwork.

The entrance was on the east, or town side. Towards the west, outside the ditch, is a natural elevated platform, which, at 100 yards distance, terminates in a steep slope, and which may have been a part of the defences, or perhaps a safe penfold for cattle. There was a mill mentioned in Domesday, upon the river below the castle. There is now no trace of masonry above ground, but the earthworks look as though they had been built upon.

The two town churches are handsome. One seems, except perhaps the tower, wholly Perpendicular; the other contains some Norman or early English work, with much of Decorated work, and some of Tudor date. Near the George Hotel are two large round-headed arches springing from three fine Norman piers. The building to which they belong has been rebuilt, or nearly so, in brick. There is said to have been a hospital here.

Although the evidence is, on the whole, in favour of the English origin of these earthworks, and of those at Eaton-Socon, the mound at Eaton does not form so important a feature as usual in the burhs of the tenth century, although it is nevertheless present. But both these works present a feature which is, independently of the mound, very common in works of their class, and very uncommon in those of admitted British or Roman origin. Not only is there a mound, but the level of the area contained within the inner ditches is generally higher than the land immediately around. This is remarkably so at Builth and Kilpeck, among many other places, and was apparently intended to give the domestic buildings greater safety and an advantage when actually attacked. This distinction does not seem to have been pointed out, and it is possible that upon it may turn the identification of many of the earthworks, the date of which is now unknown.

HUNTINGTON CASTLE, HEREFORDSHIRE.

THIS is one of the moated mounds with appended courts of which there are so many in the counties of Hereford and Salop, and here as usual the earthworks were employed to support and defend the masonry of a Norman castle. There remains but little of these additions; but the earthworks are remarkably perfect and show in great completeness the mound, the inner ward, and its proper ditch, and the outer ward, also with its ditch. The annexed plan is taken from the pages of the “Archæologia Cambrensis,” where also there is a valuable paper upon the castle.

THE CASTLE OF KENILWORTH, WARWICKSHIRE.

THE three midland counties of England, happily for those who dwelt in them, were not rich in castles, and such as remain are rarely of a very striking character. The position of Belvoir, indeed, is very noble, and Warwick stands without a rival; but these are brilliant exceptions, and the early castle-builders of the shires of Leicester, Warwick, and Northampton, in the absence of those wilder features of nature to which many of the Welsh and Scottish fortresses owe much of their celebrity, had to be content with defences often wholly artificial, and, where natural, seldom of a bold character, though sometimes of formidable strength.

The Castle of Kenilworth is an excellent example of a midland fortress. To an ordinary observer, its site presents much of quiet sylvan beauty, but nothing of obtrusive military strength; and yet, in the hands of skilful engineers, it became, in point of size, strength, and accommodation, one of the most important military posts in England. It had walls capable of great passive resistance, a capacity for containing a numerous garrison and immense stores of provision, and a front protected by a large sheet of water, which again was covered by a formidable outwork. Moreover the midland districts were, from an early period, traversed by main and cross roads, favourable to the concentration of troops and the transfer of stores, seldom sought in vain in so fertile a country. For all these qualities, strength, capacity, a central position, and facilities for collecting and feeding a garrison, there was, in the days of its pride, no fortress in England superior, probably none equal, to Kenilworth; and now, when its grassy lawns and ivy-covered walls are redolent of peace and prosperity, and of English rural life, the thoughtful visitor cannot but feel that the place was a fitting one for the conclusion of that celebrated contest between monarchical power and civil liberty, in which, though the honour and nominal victory were with the Crown, the real and permanent gain remained with the English people.

Half-way between Warwick and Coventry, where the action of water upon the soft rock of the new red sandstone has wrought the surface of the country into an immense network of low, round-topped hills and broad and gentle valleys, the Inchford brook, one of the many tributaries of the river Sow, receives, on its left or northern bank, a smaller and nameless streamlet. At the point where the waters and their respective valleys unite, a knoll, partly of rock and partly of gravel, juts out from the north-east as a sort of low headland between the two, and is somewhat farther isolated by an expansion of the valley lower down, the general effect of which is to invest the high ground with a marshy frontier upon its west, south, and south-eastern slopes, leaving it toward the north and north-east connected with larger tracts of equally raised land.

Such was the spot selected in remote times, probably by some wealthy English franklin, for a residence, and adopted by his Norman successors. By one or other, or possibly by both, a deep trench was dug across the neck of the high ground, on the north and north-east, and the slopes were made steeper on the other sides. The central plot, thus isolated, was raised artificially about 15 feet, probably from the surrounding excavations, and works were thus formed which may still be traced amidst the additions and alterations due to many generations of inhabitants. As usual with these concentric earthworks, the inner and higher part, which carried the residence of the lord, was placed out of centre with the outer and lower area. This was intended not only as an outer defence to the citadel, but as a place of security for the dependents, and in times of danger for the herds and flocks. It was important that all these should be placed near together, hence one or two sides of the base court were of large area, while the remainder was narrow and used for defence only. Such is the arrangement at Berkhampstead, Caerleon, Wigmore, Richard’s Castle, Tonbridge, Ewias-Harold, Kilpeck, Shrewsbury, and in many other fortresses where the Norman engineer has built upon the earlier lines, and such is the case at Kenilworth, where the eastern and north-eastern sides of the outer ward are by much the most spacious.

The mound, so common in English strong places, and found at the adjacent fortress of Warwick, is not here distinctly visible; the question being, whether its site is occupied by the Norman keep or encroached upon by John of Gaunt’s Hall, both of which are connected with ancient earth-banks. A part of one of these banks is seen on the west front of the inner ward, and, though mutilated, may well represent the original burgh. The Norman keep is also connected with made ground. It includes within its walls a very decidedly artificial mound, from 10 to 15 feet high, against which its walls are built. Kenilworth, as it now stands, is a castle of several periods, but its general plan is original and concentric, the principal additions having been the lake and the outwork beyond it. It is composed of a keep, an inner and outer ward, a lake now drained, a large outwork beyond the lake, and a dam which supported the lake, and across which lay the main approach to the castle.

The Inner Ward measures about 80 yards north and south, by 84 yards east and west. Its north-eastern angle is a right one, and its eastern and much of its northern sides are straight lines, but the southern and western sides are irregular. The keep forms and fills up the north-eastern angle. West of it, on the north front, are the kitchens, and at the north-west angle the strong tower. The west front is occupied by the hall, and other domestic and state buildings stand along the south side. Leicester’s buildings form the south-east angle, and Henry VIII.’s lodgings and the curtain, now gone, covered the remainder of the east side. In the centre was an open court, about 40 yards north and south, by 50 yards east and west.

The Keep, known as “Cæsar’s,” and with more justice as “Clinton’s Tower,” is, in magnitude, general proportions, and excellence of material and workmanship, a fine example of a first-class late Norman keep of the rectangular type. It forms the north-east angle of the inner ward, and is built mainly on the rock, here near the surface. The ground is lowest on the east and south faces, so that on these the base is composed of a bold battering wall from 8 to 12 feet high, divided into eight or ten steps, and of 6 to 8 feet projection at the ground line. At the top of this base, which corresponds to the level of the ground floor, the keep measures, from curtain to curtain, 58 feet north and south, by 87 feet east and west, and is from the level about 80 feet high. Its west face is covered by the forebuilding, which projects 38 feet more, and is as long as the keep is broad, or 73 feet from the front face of the turrets. The angles of the keep are capped by four turrets, projecting 7 feet 6 inches, and the faces of which are 26 feet and 22 feet, the latter to the east and west. Between these there are on the south face four, and on the east face three, pilasters, 5 to 7 feet broad, and 1 foot projection. These rise from the common plinth and ascend to the summit of the present wall, which is broken, but which includes 5 or 6 feet of parapet. It is remarkable that this parapet has no exterior projection, not even a stringcourse to mark the level of its base.

The turrets are broken down nearly to the level of the curtains, but parts of their chambers remain. The west face is modified by the forebuilding. There are upon it two pilasters, but they stop at the level of the first floor. The turrets have an offset of 6 inches at two-thirds of their height, and the curtains one at a rather lower level. These are the only exterior reductions in the thickness of the wall, which is vertical. The walls, at the floor level, are 13 to 14 feet thick, and there were two floors only—a basement and an upper or main floor. The basement chamber is 60 feet by 30 feet, and 20 feet high; the upper floor about 4 feet larger, the wall being reduced by 2 feet, upon which shelf the floor rested. This main chamber was about 40 feet high. The basement has lately been probed and opened. It is filled with made ground, varying from 6 to 15 feet deep. The walls evidently go through the made ground, and rest either upon the rock or on the original black vegetable soil. The sacrifice of so much space in so costly a structure is curious. It is evidently intentional, for the character of the masonry shows it was not meant to be seen.

The north-east turret contained a well-stair 10 feet diameter, which ascended from the basement to the battlements, communicating with the first floor. It was lighted by six round-headed loops, of which three to the south-east remain, and open upon a chamfer which fills up the hollow angle between the turret and the east curtain. The stair seems to have opened below by a short bent passage in the north wall, though in the restoration it has been made to open into the chamber in the east wall. The whole north curtain is gone, from the plinth upwards, and has been removed with some care, its junction with the north-west turret being cut smooth. At the other end its removal has necessarily carried away half the staircase, the base of which has been entirely restored. This basement chamber is surrounded by a low, narrow plinth or step, 2 feet high and 1 foot broad. The floor was paved. In the south wall are three grand window recesses, round-headed, and each placed in a reveal about 1 foot broad and deep and square-headed. The arches spring from a plain abacus. They are 8 feet wide and 12 feet high to the springing. At present these recesses are parallel-sided, and open throughout. It is evident they once were deeply splayed, and contained small lights or loops, but the splays were cut away, and the loops replaced by large heavily-mullioned windows of the Tudor period, which windows have again been removed. In the east wall is a similar recess, 6 feet broad, and unaltered. Here the splay from outside and inside contracts in an hour-glass fashion to a loop in the centre of the wall, with a slight shoulder to intercept an arrow. As the parallel sides of the loop are 2 feet thick, and it is 6 feet from the face of the wall, it is clear that no arrow could be discharged hence save nearly straight forwards. As usual, these loops were for air and light, not for defence. Between this loop and the south angle is a square-headed door, of 3 feet opening, under a curious round-headed arch, of which the tympanum is partly formed by the arch stones. This leads to the well, which is in the centre of the wall. It is 4 feet diameter, and much choked up. It ascends to the upper floor. At the north end of this side the wall has been broken away and a small mural chamber laid open, 5 feet wide by 8 feet long, having a plain barrel vault. A door opened into it from the great chamber, and it was lighted by a loop, now converted into a sort of window. The inner wall about the doorway has been strengthened by a pilaster of 1 foot projection, which stops at the first floor. In the recent restoration, this chamber has been made the lobby at the foot of the staircase.

In the west wall is a plain, round-headed doorway, of 6 feet opening, and with ashlar ring-stones 2 feet deep. This is the opening of a straight passage through the wall, here 12 feet 9 inches thick. There are in the passage rebates for two doors, opening towards each other. At Rochester, a small door in this position led only into a sort of prison in the base of the forebuilding, and this may have been the case here; but the size of the door, as at Corfe, makes it at least possible that it was a regular entrance, approached through the forebuilding from the common exterior door. In small keeps the basement was often entered from the first floor only, as at Clitheroe, by a trap, or, in the larger keeps, by a well-stair, as at Middleham. Unfortunately, as the forebuilding is almost always more or less injured, it is impossible in most cases where there is a large basement door to say positively whether it was an independent entrance. There is also the further doubt, as at the Tower of London, Guildford, and Malling, whether the doorway in the basement be not a later introduction. The cill of this doorway is about 10 feet above the outer or main entrance of the forebuilding, the floor of which rises to it. Close north of the large doorway is a small one, of 2 feet 6 inches opening, which leads into a garderobe, the seat of which is corbelled out into the interior of the north-west turret. This interior, 10 feet 6 inches square, seems to have been a vast cesspit, receiving the contents of garderobes from each floor and from the battlements. There is no drain below, and the lower part of the pit contained sand, which has recently been removed. There is a somewhat similar pit in the keep at Ludlow, and one at Sherborne which resembles them. Large as this pit is for such a purpose, it is much smaller than the turret, the wall of which to the west, if solid, must be 11 feet thick. Can there be a second and smaller shaft in that part of the turret, not now accessible? There was no way from this floor to either of the southern turrets, both of which, at this level, were filled with earth.

The main or upper floor is 34 feet by 64 feet, and was about 40 feet high. As the span is long for single joists, it is possible that these rested upon a central beam, and this upon posts; or, as no bases have been found, it may be that they were stiffened by struts from the side walls. Some traces in the ashlar of the broken staircase at the north-east corner seem to point to an entrance from the stair through the north wall, similar to that supposed below. In the south wall are three window recesses corresponding to those below, but of 6 feet opening, with segmental heads. They rest on the floor and are 12 feet high. Above one of these openings, on the outside, may be traced the head of one of the original Norman windows, which shows that it was of small size—probably of 2 feet opening. These have been replaced, with small regard for congruity, by late Tudor windows of three lights, divided in the centre by a transom. In the east wall are two similar windows, and over the well-pipe is the well-chamber, 7 feet square, rudely vaulted and groined. Its floor has been relaid, but it is evident that the pipe ascended into this chamber, and that a pulley hung from the centre of the vault for the working of the bucket. In the south-east corner is a locker for a spare rope or tools. The entrance to this chamber was through the jamb of the adjacent window, but a second doorway has been broken direct from the great chamber. Close to this breach a door and bent passage lead into the south-east turret, where is a chamber 12 feet 6 inches by 15 feet. The floor is of earth, with which the turret is filled to this level. Above are traces of an upper chamber, entered probably by a ladder and a trap-door. There is no fireplace, but a loop high up in the south wall has been converted into a window, and a second loop remains in the east wall.

The west wall of the great chamber contains two windows similar to the other side—save that they do not descend to the floor, but begin about 8 feet up, so as not to interfere with the forebuilding outside. North of these windows, in the part of the north-west turret which abutted on the north curtain, is a door of 3 feet opening, and 8 feet or 10 feet high. This is the cross section of a mural passage leading from the great chamber. Close south of it, in the west wall, and above the similar door on the ground floor, a small round-headed door leads into the garderobe turret. The other opening in the west wall is at its south end, and is the main entrance to the keep. It is a plain doorway of 6 feet opening, with a flat, segmental head beneath a full-centred arch of relief. The passage has a segmental barrel vault. It goes direct through the curtain, here 12 feet thick. It has no portcullis. In the south wall of the passage a side door opens into the south-west turret. This also had an original upper chamber, but below the entrance or first-floor level it was filled with earth; this has been removed, and the lower part fitted up, and windows opened in the south wall, and a rude door at the base, but the rough character of the masonry shows that the turret was originally filled up to the first-floor level. Dudley’s alterations converted the interior of this turret into five tier of rooms, the windows of which are seen in the south wall. It is said also to have been fitted up as a staircase.

The great chamber had an open roof, the holes for the joists of which are seen in the southern wall. The pitch was low, almost flat, as is shown by the original weather-moulding in the east and west walls, which has been masqued by a thin interior facing, carrying a moulding for a roof of a rather higher pitch, all which, however, has disappeared under the recent repairs. This is different from Porchester, Rochester, and Bridgenorth, where the original pitch was steep. On the outside, above the windows, but much below the base of the parapet, is seen a row of loops, square-headed, with a plain chamfer, expanded below into a broad fantail. There are three of these in the south wall and two in the east and west, and each turret has besides one on each of its two outer faces. The turret loops are at a higher level, and this shows that the turrets themselves stood clear above the curtains. These apertures are curious. The loop ascended in the wall and opened in the base of the parapet beneath a flat, three-centred arch. The loops are probably original, but the parapet seems to have been rebuilt, either when the pitch of the roof was altered or in Dudley’s time. The walls are covered with ivy and in a dangerous condition, so that even with the aid of long ladders their upper part is not very accessible. There are traces of doorways opening from the rampart walk into the upper parts of the turrets, the floors of which were of timber.

The forebuilding covering the entrance forms almost as remarkable a feature here as at Rochester or Middleham, though it has suffered much from alterations. It was a rectangular tower built against the west wall of the keep, and projecting 38 feet. Its walls are 6 feet thick, bonded into and of the date of the keep. The west wall has been in part removed down to the plinth, but the two other walls are tolerably perfect. It was of two stages and about 40 feet high. The door was in the south wall, opening from the inner ward. It may be traced, but has been in part replaced by an entrance of Perpendicular date, now also broken away. Above the old door, 12 feet from the ground, is a plain Norman string. From the door a straight stair, reversed with a second flight, must have risen 25 feet to reach the first floor. At that level, over the entrance, was a chamber, of which part of the Norman wall remains, but which was rebuilt by Dudley, and has been nearly all destroyed. Here was possibly a chapel, as at Middleham. The entrance to the first floor of the keep opens from this level, in the curtain, close to the south-west turret. The doorway, like that within, is quite plain, and has a flat, segmental head under an arch of relief, also segmental, but less flat. It looks as though the lower arch had been inserted to carry the joists of the roof, but it is really original. The pitch of the roof of the forebuilding has been thrice altered, as is shown by the grooves cut in the wall of the turret. The flattest is the latest. The roofs seem to have been of the lean-to character. Whether there was a chamber below the stair, or whether there was a way at the base of the stair into the lower floor of the keep, as has been already pointed out, cannot now be ascertained.

It would seem that in the Perpendicular period this forebuilding was much altered, its entrance a little shifted, and in it were placed several piers, 3 feet square, supporting full-centred arches, of 9 feet span, on which the timbers of the floor above were laid. A plain doorway of 6 feet opening was cut in the curtain forming the north end, and in the exterior of the wall an alcove was formed of 13 feet span by 6 feet deep, having a segmental arch, and supported by three plain ribs with a hollow chamfer. This alcove opened upon a terrace, which overlooked the northern part of the outer ward, and formed a sort of landing and staircase, giving a descent of four or five steps from the door to the terrace. The object seems to have been to form a handsome way from the inner ward to the garden north of the keep. The piers and arches might be of the date of Elizabeth or James, but their mouldings and parts of the adjacent walls are clearly earlier, and no doubt the work of the Lancastrian owners, who in that case must have indulged in a garden. Dudley made further alterations, and a part of the south front of the forebuilding still bears the date of 1575, and has Italian ornaments.

There is to be remarked in this keep, the absence of a cross wall, the basement filled up with earth, the unusual projection of the four turrets, the probably distinct entrances from the forebuilding to the ground and first floor, and the well-stair, nearly as large as that of the Tower of London. Also, there is no portcullis, and there are but few mural chambers or galleries. This is the more remarkable as the walls are unusually thick and the material excellent. Further, there are no fireplaces in the three remaining walls, and there is no ornamentation of any kind, inside or outside. The keep is the only distinctly Norman building remaining in the inner ward, although much of the curtain is Norman, and more rests upon the Norman lines.

It has been stated that the keep forms the north-eastern angle of the inner ward. The curtain abutting upon it on either face is of its own date. At the north-west corner the curtain forms the north wall of the forebuilding, and for some yards is original. At the south-east corner of the keep are the remains of the entrance into the inner ward. This, as at Bridgenorth, was a doorway in the east curtain, close to the keep, and, as at Bridgenorth, although the curtain has been removed, a part of the doorway remains. The curtain was here 11 feet thick and 21 feet high to the rampart wall, above which were a parapet and rear wall of about 5 feet more. One whole jamb and the springing-stones of the portal remain. There was no gatehouse, only an opening in the wall, as at Ogmore, and probably at Ludlow. The defences were:—First, a portal 3 feet deep, and in it a square portcullis groove; then a rebate for a door opening inwards; and, finally, an arched passage 3 feet higher than the portal and 6 feet deep. The entrance appears to have been a foot-gate only, so that carriages could not enter the inner ward.

What are called Lancaster’s buildings occupy most of the inner ward. They commence at the forebuilding, and extend along the rest of the north side, the whole of the west, and much of the south side. They evidently replaced similar buildings of the Norman period, and were built towards the end of the fourteenth century. Next west of the forebuilding are the remains of the kitchen and buttery, now a mass of ruin, much of which is covered up with earth. An immense fireplace has been inserted into the wall of the forebuilding, having two very perfect ovens lined with thin bricks; another fireplace is formed in the adjoining curtain; the fire-backs are also of thin brick, set herring-bone fashion. Further on, a curious triangular buttress outside the curtain contains a garderobe shaft, the drain from which is a squared-headed opening in the rock below, about 6 feet high and 4 feet broad. There is a second drain, which traversed the kitchen, and the mouth of which, fitted with a groove for a sluice, is seen in the inner ward, near the hall door. Probably if the rubbish was removed, the plan of these buildings would be visible. Beyond them, the north-western angle of the ward is capped by the strong tower, quadrangular, 50 feet by 40 feet, with octagonal turrets at the two western angles, and between them a rather remarkable triangular buttress. The tower is of three stages, all vaulted and groined, each vault of four bays springing from a central pier. It is of the date of the hall and kitchens, from the foundations. This tower probably derived its name of the “Strong Tower” from its use as a prison, though evidently for persons of consequence. The windows are plain, flat-topped openings. In the sides of one of the splayed recesses, looking towards the west, are some coats-of-arms scratched in the stone. Those that have been made out are four.

1. Six cross-croslets flory, on a bend three pheons bend-wise, points depressed to the sinister.

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.

The broad space to the north, called in Dudley’s time the garden, and now a large kitchen garden, has probably been partially raised by the ruins of the keep and of the north curtain. How it was originally occupied is not known; possibly there was a ditch here. If the Lancastrian lords made the passage through the forebuilding and the alcove in the curtain, they must have laid out the space within the ditch as a garden. Of the many detached buildings that at various times must have stood in the outer ward, and especially in the eastern section of it, the site of but one, the chapel, is known. This was an oblong nave, without aisles, having an east end of three sides of a hexagon, and across which is the foundation of a wall. The interior breadth was 33 feet; the length has not yet been excavated. Probably there was always a chapel here, for a capital has been found in it of Norman work much earlier than the keep, but the building, of which the foundations remain, is of Decorated or early Perpendicular date, as is evident from the plan, and from parts of the sedilia which have been dug up.

KENILWORTH CASTLE.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.

MORTIMER’S TOWER.

  1. Garderobe and Sewer.
  2. The Dam.
  3. The Lake
  4. Water below the Dam.
  5. Outer Ward.

KENILWORTH KEEP.

  1. Fore Building.
  2. Garderobe Tower.
  3. Well.
  4. Garden Door and Alcove.

The enceinte of this outer ward, about 750 yards in length, and including rather above nine acres, is mainly composed of a curtain wall, upon which are six rather important buildings. These are Mortimer’s and Swan Towers, Leicester’s Gatehouse, Lunn’s Tower, the Stables, and the Water Tower. Mortimer’s Tower derives its name either from Lord Mortimer of Wigmore, who led in a tournament here in the reign of Edward III., or from a Sir John Mortimer imprisoned here by Henry V. It is a gatehouse, and stands upon the inner end of the dam, and occupies a salient of the curtain to the south-east. It is in plan 60 feet deep, by 55 feet broad; in the rear, flush with the curtain and projecting from it, 54 feet. The entrance passage is in the centre of its length, and the outer portal opened between two half-round towers of 18 and 20 feet diameter. Within the arch was a portcullis in a square groove of dimensions for a wooden grate, and behind this a rebate for folding doors. The passage then widens a little with a curved splay, and on each side a door 2 feet wide opens into a lodge looped to the front and to the outside. In the rear of the east lodge is a solid wall 7 feet thick; but to the west lodge has been added a garderobe, and beyond it is the shaft of a second garderobe from the upper floor, and below them a sewer which opened into the lake. The loops are all cruciform. There was a second portcullis, the groove for which is stopped up, and at the inner face a rebate for a second pair of doors. The upper floor of this gatehouse has been removed. It is evident that it has been much altered. Originally it was composed of a mere pair of parallel walls, as at Berkhampstead and Coningsborough, 7 feet thick and 12 feet apart, and these form the back part of the present building. Of the upper floor a fragment remains outside the west wall, carrying on corbels the overhanging vent of a garderobe. To the plain rectangular tower the front drums and lateral chamber were added. The mouldings of the original structure are early, and of the later, more perfect Decorated; but the work is of an inferior character. The whole structure seems to have been originally built and added to in haste.

On its east side, this gatehouse was joined by the ward curtain, here 6 feet thick, of which a few yards have been removed. On the west, the curtain passes back straight and then turns westward at a right angle, forming a shoulder, by which means the long southern face is flanked. Near the angle is a postern door descending by steps to the lake. In the rear of the gatehouse is a shaft upon a culvert, which seems to have brought water from the lake into the lower floor of the Water Tower. There may have been a mill thus fed within the outer ward. In front, the eastern drum of the gatehouse is connected with a long curtain wall, which crested the edge of the dam to the east, and abutted upon the gatehouse, closing one of its loops. In this curtain, near that end, a small Decorated doorway gave access to the lower lake.

Passing westwards from Mortimer’s Tower, the curtain is seen to rest upon ground a few feet above the level of the lake and a few yards distant from its margin. It is of all dates from Norman to Perpendicular, and is from 20 to 30 feet high outside, and inside less by 6 or 8 feet. Opposite Leicester’s buildings, where the wall is 5 feet 6 inches thick, are three loops, of 1 foot opening, placed in full-centred recesses splayed to 5 feet. They have lighted some original Norman building now destroyed. Of the buttresses outside the curtain, some are original pilaster strips, others are from 6 feet to 14 feet broad, and of a projection from 2 feet to 4 feet, with many sets-off, and of a character decidedly Decorated. On the south face there are altogether fourteen buttresses. At the two south-west angles the wall is capped by two broad, flat buttresses, 10 feet broad and 2 feet projection. They may be late Norman. In the space of 30 yards between these is a shoulder-headed window, of 2 feet opening, and a late Decorated postern, which corresponds with the postern below the great hall. Beyond this a depression in the ground causes the wall to be 40 feet high. This western part is about 112 yards long, and terminates in the Swan Tower. In it is a large archway of Perpendicular date and 18 feet opening, corresponding to the “Plaisance” of Henry VIII., and perhaps intended for the purpose of allowing a boat to be thence launched upon the lake.

The Swan Tower caps the north-western angle of the ward. It is an octagon, but rests upon a base 12 feet high and 40 feet square. The upper part has been removed. The base is solid and the inner floor about 10 feet above the ground outside. The door to the remaining floor is in the gorge. The base of this tower may be either Perpendicular or Decorated. It is said to have been remodelled by Dudley. From the Swan Tower the north wall ran nearly straight 150 yards to Leicester’s Gatehouse, and upon it were two towers, one rectangular and one polygonal. These are gone, as is the wall, excepting one very thick fragment, which seems to have closed the cross ditch at its north end, and probably is provided with a sluice. A little probing and clearing here might bring this into evidence, and settle the breadth of the cross ditch. In front of this wall is the great northern outer ditch of the castle by which this front is protected from Clinton Green.

Leicester’s Gatehouse, built about 1570, is a rectangular building 56 feet by 28 feet, with bold octagon turrets at the angles, which rise slightly above the roof. The basement contained the entrance passage and gateway, and above it are two storeys. The windows are square-headed, of two lights and a transom; and, on the whole, the building is a fair example of its period. The passage has been closed and converted into two rooms, entered by a curious lateral porch, of Italian design, which has been added on. Outside are carved the arms of Beauchamp, and the ragged staff is employed as though it was a Dudley cognisance. The panelling of the interiors and a fireplace are curious, and were brought from the castle. A few yards east of this gatehouse are the remains of a buttressed causeway crossing the ditch, here nearly filled up. This looks old, and is probably part of the original entrance. Beyond this, the ditch deepens and reaches Lunn’s Tower, which caps the east angle of the ward.

Lunn’s Tower is cylindrical, 36 feet diameter, and about 40 feet high, and stands three-quarters outside the curtain. On the outer face are four pilaster strips, 5 feet broad by 6 inches projection, which probably rose to the base of the parapet, now gone. They rest on a plinth, and the tower has two sets-off, of which they partake. Appended to the rear of the tower has been added a sort of half-octagonal turret carrying a well-stair—an early addition. The basement is at the ward level, and there are two upper floors containing fireplaces under segmental heads. The floors were of timber. The only openings are loops: those of the two lower floors are square-headed, placed outside in square-headed recesses, ending below in broad fantails like those of the keep. Within, they are placed in splayed recesses with segmental arches. The basement has a door from the ward, but the upper floors are reached by the well-stair, which also opens on the contiguous curtain. This curtain on either side for some yards has been removed; but fragments remain, and show that a small, round-headed arch sprung on each side from the tower to the curtain and supported a garderobe at the rampart level over the hollow angle. Close in the rear of this tower is a well, lined with ashlar, 4 feet diameter. The curtain south of Lunn’s Tower has been breached for about 50 feet, and beyond this it is old and supports a range of stabling and farm buildings 170 feet long by 25 feet broad with square buttresses, in the centre of which is a large porch with diagonal buttresses and a wide entrance as for a barn, with a round-headed arch. The lower stage is of stone, and above is a stage of brick and timber. It is said to have been built by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, in the reign of Edward II.; but much of it is certainly of far later date—in the late Perpendicular style. The curtain against which it is built is early English or Decorated, and the superstructure of the barn seems to be an addition, placed there when it was decided to have an upper storey. The arches are round-headed and look Decorated, but there are two late Tudor windows. The chapel was a few yards from this building.

Close south of the barn is the Water Tower, a very curious and complete building, early in the Decorated style. It is a mural tower, with no internal projection, having a base 50 feet broad by 30 feet deep, from which it rises as half an octagon, the angles being taken off by two diagonal buttresses, between which, in a projection, is a loop which lights a garderobe. It has a basement and upper floor, and the culvert from the lake discharged under it and washed out its garderobe sewer. In the ground floor is a large fireplace, above which is a handsome chimney-shaft. This seems to have been a kitchen. There is also a mural garderobe. A well-stair, having a spire over its head, leads to the upper storey, the floor of which was of timber, and to the battlements of the tower and of the curtain. The upper floor has a small room appended on the west, with a loop towards the field. The windows are of two lights, trefoil-headed. The roof sloped with a moderate pitch. It was contained within the battlements. Beyond this is a warder’s chamber, chiefly in the wall, but with a slight exterior projection. It contains a large fireplace and a garderobe, and seems of early English or early Decorated date. From hence the curtain was 6 feet thick, and what remains is supported by three Decorated buttresses. Beyond these, a breach of 30 yards extends to Mortimer’s Tower.

The walls of this ward, though much repaired and restored, seem to occupy the original Norman lines, and are probably in many places of the date of the keep. The defences outside the wall are formidable. On the north is the ditch cut in the rock, of great depth and breadth, a very necessary defence, for beyond it the ground is at least as high as the base of the keep. This is Clinton End or Clinton Green, upon which are some banks of earth, traces it may be of the great siege by Henry III., who probably encamped on this side. It is curious that no attempt should have been made to fill up the ditch, without which no engine could have been brought to play with effect upon the keep. Probably the strength of the garrison and the frequent sallies they are known to have made prevented this, or faggots may have been used. From Lunn’s Tower to the Water Tower, the ditch is still filled with water, and from thence to Mortimer’s Tower no ditch was needed, the ground being low and wet and at times under water. Then follows the dam, above which the lake covered the south front, as an arm of it did the west front, as far as the Swan Tower. The north was the weak side, the ground there being high; but opposed to this was the keep and the very formidable ditch. It is said that this ditch could be filled from the lake, and the castle thus encircled with water. If so, there must have been a small dam, probably at the bridge in front of the old entrance west of Lunn’s Tower.

The defences on the south require special notice. From Mortimer’s Tower a bank of earth is thrown straight across the valley. It is 80 yards long, 15 yards broad, and about 20 feet high on the upper or western side. The lower side is strengthened by a ramp in the slope. About a third of the way across, a deep and broad cut, now bridged, lets off the water and has drained the lake; but whether this was the position of the sluice is doubtful. Mortimer’s Tower closed the inner end of this dam, and a curtain wall 4 feet thick defended its eastern face. At its further end are the remains of the floodgate or gallery tower, an outer gatehouse, beyond which is a deep ditch across the dam, which was evidently intended to take the overflow of the lake, and perhaps to drain it if necessary. It was crossed by a drawbridge, the piers of which still remain. This gatehouse is attributed to Lord Leicester, who probably recast it. In substance it is certainly much older. A grand block of stone, worked with Decorated mouldings, has been used in its repairs, and is probably part of the older building, though also thought to have been brought from the chapel. A flight of steps from this gatehouse descended to the lake, and is superseded by a modern farm road.

KENILWORTH CASTLE.
GENERAL PLAN.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.

It was by this gateway, between the Brayz and the tilt-yard, that Queen Elizabeth made her celebrated entry. Dugdale’s drawing of 1620 seems to show a wall on the upper side of the dam, but of this there is now no visible trace. The broad and level surface of the dam was well suited for a tilt-yard and seems always to have been so employed, as was also, no doubt, the Brayz. Such exercises, being attended by numbers of armed men, were usually held at the barriers, or outside the main gate of the castle, as a precaution against a surprise. The effect of the dam was to form a sheet of water 90 yards to 100 yards across, half a mile long, 10 feet to 12 feet deep, and covering about 111 acres. Below the dam, where the valley is rather broader and the ground naturally low and marshy, a second, lower and smaller lake has been formed, the dam of which, of a slight character, may be seen along the upper side of the road from the station to the castle. This lower lake must always have been shallow, but it served to protect the great dam, to cover the south-east angle of the castle, and to guard the rear and eastern flank of the great outwork. At Ledes there was a “Stagnum Regis” below the dam of the lake, and at Caerphilly the waste water from the lake was made to cover the principal front of the castle.

There remains, finally, to be noticed the great outwork which completed the defence of the castle on the south side, and formed a noble tête-de-pont beyond the lake. It bore the name of the Brayz, possibly from “Brayda,” a suburban field or broad place.

South of the lake, a tongue of high land intervenes between it and a more or less parallel brook, which descends from Wedgnock Park, by a valley which falls into the Inchford a little below the castle. It was the point of this tongue, lying between the two valleys, that was taken advantage of for an advanced defence. The ground was scarped into a sort of large, flattened half moon, with a front of 300 yards, and covering about eight acres. Along its front is a bank about 20 feet high, and as broad at the top, and upon this are four mounds such as in later times were called “cavaliers,” and of which that at the south-west end was 40 feet diameter at the top. In front of this bank was excavated a ditch, in some parts 40 feet deep and 100 feet broad, and in parts double, and in the rear, where the work rested on the lake it was steeply scarped and guarded by a ditch about 20 feet deep, beyond which, on the edge of the lower lake, was a bank 10 to 12 feet high, so as to make it very difficult to turn the flank of the outwork and to enter it from the rear. Near the middle of this outwork was the entrance to the castle from the south. Its position is marked by two bold drum bastions in ashlar, 25 feet diameter, and 40 feet apart. They rise out of the ditch from a plain plinth to the height of 14 feet, and so high are solid. Their superstructure is gone. There was, no doubt, a drawbridge here, and the road may be traced across the outwork to the Floodgate Tower. Here stood the southern of the four gatehouses mentioned at Elizabeth’s visit, and by this she made her entrance. A little west of the Brayz is a quarry, which probably supplied some of the materials for the castle.

In advance of the Brayz, between it and the Wedgnock brook, are traces of a light bank and ditch, or perhaps two ditches, with flanking bastions of earth, intended to check the advance of an enemy from that side. The lines cross the road, and are protected by the brook, which flows below and in their front. This road—the main approach from Warwick and the south—leads direct up to the Brayz entrance, whence it makes a sharp turn to the right and skirts the counterscarp of the ditch, so as to be completely commanded from the ramparts.

It would add much to the appearance of the castle, and bring some of its most remarkable features prominently into view, if the owner would make an entrance for visitors at the Brayz gate, and allow them to approach the castle along the dam through Mortimer’s Tower.

The history of the construction of Kenilworth is written with tolerable clearness in its earthworks and walls. The English founder probably placed his residence upon what became the inner ward; he there fenced himself in, as was the manner of his nation, with banks and ditches, and walls either of dry stone or timber, taking the highest ground, and quartering his herds and herdsmen lower down, nearer to the meadows and the marshes in what is now the outer ward. Whether he found it necessary to cut the northern ditch to its full depth is uncertain; probably not, for its faces are sharp for so remote a period. Some ditch, however, there must have been, as without it the other works would be of little use. It may be also that there was then dug an inner ditch upon the north and east faces, as these were necessary to complete the security of the inner ward, and of one at least of them there are traces.

There is no mention of Kenilworth as a lordship until it was granted by Henry I. to Geoffrey de Clinton, who is the reputed founder of Clinton’s Tower or the keep; but this is more probably the work of his son, another Geoffrey, between 1170 and 1180, soon after which the estate fell to the Crown. Lunn’s Tower was probably the work of King John, about 1200; and the original curtain of the two wards seems to have ranged between the two dates. If the northern ditch of the outer work was not previously dug, it must have been dug, or at any rate deepened, at this period; and this applies also to the northern and eastern ditches, which seem to have covered the corresponding faces of the inner ward.

The character of the ground makes it probable that the Norman fortress had but one entrance. This could not have been on the east, west, or south fronts, as the ground was low and marshy; nor on the north, where the ditch is wide and deep, and on which side the inner ward had no corresponding gateway. The obvious position would be where is now Leicester’s Gatehouse, between the high ground of Clinton Green and the marsh land, and the way from which towards the gateway of the inner ward would be commanded by the keep.

Henry III. spent large sums here, and the Water Tower and adjacent Warder’s Tower and the stair of Lunn’s Tower are probably his work, together with large repairs to the south and east curtain. It is also pretty certain that to him must be attributed the great dam, and therefore the older parts of Mortimer’s and the Gallery Towers. Of parallel cases, the lake at Caerphilly belongs to the end of that reign; as, or to the commencement of that of Edward I., does the completion of that at Ledes in Kent. The Brayz, being a necessary adjunct to the dam, must have been contemplated while that was made, and therefore is probably of the same date. The light earthworks crossing the Warwick road are probably the work of Simon de Montfort the younger, thrown up in haste to check the approach of the royal troops from Warwick. Save the Gallery Tower, bridge, and the outer gatehouse, there does not appear to have been any masonry beyond the lake.

The castle contains but little pure Decorated work. The kitchens, hall, and rooms to the south-east, called Lancaster’s buildings, are probably the work of John of Gaunt, late in the fourteenth century. They no doubt replaced other less magnificent domestic buildings of Norman date. The chapel seems rather earlier than the hall, the barn later, and its upper floor later still.

The later Plantagenet and earlier Tudor sovereigns did little more than keep up the place; and thus it remained, until it was granted by Elizabeth to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who spent a large sum of money upon it in buildings and gardens, most of which have disappeared. He gutted the keep and forebuilding, and fitted them up in the Tudor style; and raised the lofty, but flimsy, pile known as Leicester’s buildings. He also embellished the entrance by the Brayz and Gallery Tower, and built the gatehouse still standing to the north-east, a very fine example of a declining period in English architecture. He probably filled up the east ditch and the inner north ditch, if such there was. The castle does not seem to have been inhabited after Leicester’s death. Prince Henry and his brother used it more for its chase than as a residence, and their successors, until recently, allowed it to be used as a quarry. During the Parliamentary wars, the north side of the keep was taken down, and the gorge of Lunn’s Tower blown up. Probably the lake was drained afterwards, when land became valuable.

Kenilworth is evidently the worth or dwelling of Kenelm; though who Kenelm was, or when he lived, are matters unrecorded. He was certainly a considerable person, both because he gave name to his estate and because his dwelling-place was evidently extensive and strong. It appears from Domesday that Kenilworth was a member of the royal manor of Stanlei or Stoneleigh, held as ancient demesne, the tenant doing suit and service upon the mote known as Motstow Hill. This mote, one of the most interesting English remains in the midland counties, stands, as it did at Domesday, and probably for several preceding centuries, upon a ridge of rock which forms the left bank of the Sow, opposite to the curious old Norman church of Stoneleigh. Some excavations upon its flanks have somewhat injured its integrity; but it is still a very marked feature in the valley, and one of the very few mote hills in the midland counties. A steep hollow way leads up to it from the river. The register of Stoneleigh Abbey mentions a castle in the manor, which was destroyed by the Danes in the wars between King Edmund and Canute, and which stood at a place called Holm Hill, on the Avon, in the woods opposite to the site of the late Abbey of Stoneleigh. As the destruction probably relates only to the timber superstructure, it is not unlikely that the mound or burh remains. Unfortunately, Holm Hill, as the ground thereabouts is still called, is in one of the Stoneleigh preserves, and therefore, not unreasonably, closed against strangers. Kenilworth at Domesday was in two parts: Opton or Upton, containing three hides, held direct of the king by Albertus Clericus, in pure alms; and Chineworde, held by Ricardus Forestarius. Opton is upper-town or high-town, the rising ground to the north of the present church; Chineworth is Kenilworth proper. Dugdale mentions a Richard Chineu as the same with Ricardus Forestarius, and cites the “Testa de Nevill”; but the name does not appear in the index to the printed volume of that record. Chineworth may be an accidental coincidence, or it may be a corruption of Kenilworth.

The two members continued in the Crown until Henry I. granted them to Geoffrey of Clinton, or Glinton, in Oxfordshire, one of his chamberlains and his treasurer, and possibly afterwards justiciary of England. Dugdale says he built the castle, and one of his grants shows that he had an important residence there, though it may be doubted whether any of the masonry now standing is his work. The date of Henry’s grant is not known, but no doubt it was before 1122, about which year Geoffrey de Clinton founded the priory of Kenilworth, from the local endowment of which he reserved his castle and park. Speed places the building of the church as early as 1112, but Robert, Bishop of Chester, who was consecrated in 1121, is one of the witnesses to the foundation charter. The Abbey of Stoneleigh was not established at that place till 1154, when Henry II. translated it from Radmore in Staffordshire. To Geoffrey de Clinton, who was living as late as 1129, succeeded Geoffrey his son, a chamberlain to Henry II., who acquired ten knights’ fees in the county by marriage with Agnes, daughter of Roger de Bellomont, Earl of Warwick. These he held, 12 Henry II. He was a large benefactor to the monks of Kenilworth, but he alienated the castle to the king, who held it, 12 Henry II., for some years. It was then recovered by Geoffrey, who, in a charter to the priory, says, “Postquam castellum meum et Honorem meum recuperavi.” It remained in his hands for about seven years, when it was again obtained by the king, who held it, 19 Henry II. and 27 Henry II., as did his successors. The date of Geoffrey’s death is unknown, but it was after 1165. The king evidently strengthened the place, for the entries in his reign relating to it are frequent and important. In 19 Henry II., it was victualled and garrisoned: the prices and quantities of the stores are set down in the Pipe Roll. In 27 Henry II., ward-silver and a commutation for castle-guard were paid to the sheriff, and rent, probably from persons living there for security. In 30 Henry II., the walls were repaired. In it there was then a prison, which was repaired, 31 Henry II. The castle was kept in order during Richard’s reign, and was much valued by King John, who, early in his reign, took a re-lease from Henry, son of the second Geoffrey de Clinton, with whom, or his son, another Henry, the name disappeared from Kenilworth.

King John paid five visits to Kenilworth between 1204 and 1215, and by his order large sums of money were spent upon the castle, and much wine was sent there. In 13 John, the sheriff is allowed sums of £361 and £102, and in the following year £224—all for buildings. In 17 John, £402 was thus spent. No doubt, King John may have built the keep in those years; it is, however, more probable that it was of earlier date, the work of the second Geoffrey; but John may well have built Lunn’s Tower.

Henry III. was much at Kenilworth, and the sheriff’s accounts show large and frequent expenditure very early in his reign. In 3 Henry III., a chapel was built, probably in the outer ward, and £150 allowed to rebuild a tower that had fallen. In each year more or less is spent. In 5–7 Henry III., the wind was high, and blew down several trees in the park, and much damaged certain buildings in the castle. Wine was occasionally sent there from Southampton. In 13 Henry III., the bank of the pool was repaired, and two years later there were more repairs, and mention is made of a gaol delivery by the judges. King John had already used the castle as a prison. In 19 Henry III., £6 16s. 4d. was allowed for a fair and beautiful boat to lie near the door of the king’s great chamber. No doubt the king had by that time constructed the dam and formed the lake. In 22 Henry III., Archbishop Walter de Gray had temporary charge of the castle, to receive there Ottoboni, the papal legate, who was himself soon afterwards placed in charge of it. In 26 Henry III., more money was spent. The chapel was to be ceiled with wainscot and painted, and seats provided for the king and queen. The tower where the bells hung was to be repaired, a new wall built on the south side by the pool, and the queen’s chamber to be painted. No doubt the Water Tower and the early part of, and perhaps the additions to, Mortimer’s Tower were of this period, as well as the dam and the outworks beyond it. Henry seems to have completed the military works pretty much as they are now seen.

In 28 Henry III., Simon de Montfort appears as governor for the king; and, in 32 Henry III., Alianor, the king’s daughter, and Earl Simon’s wife, has the custody of the castle for life. In 34 Henry III., such was the state of the district that the constable of the castle was ordered to cut away the woods to a breadth of six acres between Coventry and Warwick. In 38 Henry III., the Earl of Leicester and his countess had a grant of the castle for their lives, a concession by which Henry made over to his most dangerous enemy the strongest and most central fortress in his dominions. The events by which the king and the earl became opposed in arms in the field, and the succession of great events which led to the death of the earl, and the celebrated siege of Kenilworth, belong to the history of England rather than to that of Kenilworth, and form one of its most interesting and most valuable chapters. The subject has fallen under the pen of Mr. Green, and has found a place in the pages of the Archæological Journal (vol. xxi. p. 277), where the course of the events is disentangled, and very clearly narrated, and their political significance and bearing upon the constitutional history of our country treated in a manner both brilliant and profound. Earl Simon had evidently prepared Kenilworth as the base of his operations in the impending struggle; and upon his fall and death at Evesham, his son at once completed the preparations, and made his arrangements for a protracted defence. It was under the walls of Kenilworth that the younger Simon was surprised and nearly captured by the superior activity of Prince Edward, and it was from Kenilworth that he was marching when intercepted by the superior generalship of the prince, on the eve of the battle of Evesham.

The death of the earl and the defeat of his party brought out into strong relief the immense military value of Kenilworth. Thither fled all who escaped from the field, and they were employed in scouring the country, and adding to the immense stores already accumulated there. Richard, Earl of Cornwall, the king’s brother, was a prisoner there, and the conduct of Sir Simon towards him bears testimony to the prudence and moderation of the captor. He set free Richard, his son, and his followers, and despatched them to the Parliament convoked in September at Winchester, in the hope, not altogether in vain, that moderate counsels would ultimately prevail.

The possession of Kenilworth was the first object of the royal party; but not only was the castle strong, and its resources abundant, but the popular cause was in the ascendant, and the garrison included some of the greatest nobles and bravest soldiers in England. Henry, forty years before, had learned by the experience of Bedford that the siege of a well-appointed fortress was no light matter, and his preparations were very considerable. On the 8th of December he summoned his nobles to a muster at Northampton to proceed against Kenilworth, and on 26th December he called out the “posse” of Warwick and Oxford, “ad gravandum et expugnandum illos qui se tenent in Castro de Kenelworth.” The garrison refused to surrender the castle to Sir Simon, then in the hands of their enemies, and pleaded that they held it in trust for the Countess of Leicester, and could give it over to none other. It was the 23rd June, 1265, before the siege was commenced in good earnest.

The royal head-quarters seem to have been on the north side of the castle, probably along the high ground between what is still called Camp Field and Clinton Green, and it is not improbable that the king’s pavilion was pitched at the former point so as to be out of reach of the sallies of the garrison. On the Sunday after St. Margaret’s day, 20th July, the sword of state, called “Curtana,” was brought to the camp, and, in the presence of the king, delivered to the keeper of the king’s pavilion. To the camp came also the legate, Ottoboni; and so intent was the king upon the siege that the Duke of Brunswick, who had come to Windsor to marry Henry’s niece, came on to the camp, where the marriage ceremony was performed. The garrison was, however, in no way daunted by these symptoms of the king’s determination to take the place. They constructed powerful engines, and threw great stones from the walls, some of which are probably the stone balls, 18 inches diameter, which have been found there, and are still preserved at the castle. Unfortunately, the political events were so important that the operations of the siege have escaped record.

As, however, the royal cause gained ground, it became evident that, however strong the castle might be, its fall was a question of time only, and the counsels of Prince Edward and Prince Richard and the legate were directed to hasten this event by moderate means. A royal council was summoned, and met at Coventry, to settle the terms to be offered to the “disinherited”; and on the calends of November (31st October) the celebrated “Dictum” or “Ban” was proclaimed in camp, and on the following day confirmed, and, finally, on the Sunday, read out from the pulpit of Warwick Church by the legate in the presence of the king. The terms were, however, rejected by the garrison; on which the king decided to attack the place by storm, and, 20th November, masons, labourers, pioneers, and sappers were ordered up from Northampton.

Probably the garrison had been improvident; for stores began to fall short, the water became bad, and disease broke out. Upon this, the garrison asked for time to seek and advise with Simon de Montfort, then supposed to be on the continent. This was granted, but as the sickness became pestilential, Hastings agreed to surrender on terms. Four days were allowed for the retreat of the garrison, with their horses, arms, and harness. The necessary safe-conducts bear date the 13th December, but the castle was surrendered on the 12th. The siege had lasted six months, at a prodigious expense to the royal exchequer, as Henry soon afterwards informed the sheriffs, and to the severe injury of the monks of Kenilworth and Stoneleigh, and of the people of the whole midland district, who had been harried by both besiegers and besieged. Henry left immediately afterwards for Oxford, placing Philip Marmion in charge as constable; but before leaving he, by grant dated Warwick, 16th December, made over the castle and lordship to his brother Edmund, Earl of Lancaster.

Edmund was created Earl of Leicester by his nephew, Edward I., in 1274; and four years afterwards, 7 Edward I., he held a grand tournament at the castle, at which Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, specially distinguished himself. Edmund’s son and successor, Earl Thomas, enlarged the park, 30 Edward I. On his execution and attainder, the castle escheated to Edward II., who was afterwards brought here a prisoner by Henry, Earl Thomas’s brother and heir, and here retained until he was sent to Berkeley. With the new reign the attainder was reversed, and Earl Henry held the castle till his death, 19 Edward III., as did his son Henry, created Duke of Lancaster, 25 Edward III. Ten years later, on his death, 35 Edward III., Kenilworth came to his second daughter and co-heir, Blanch, who married John of Gaunt, Edward’s fourth son, who became Duke of Lancaster, 36 Edward III.

On the death of Edward III., John of Gaunt, distrusting the new king, his nephew, took up his abode for a time at Kenilworth, and probably commenced his alterations there. The works were, no doubt, carried on for many years; and certainly were not ended 15 Richard II., 1391–2, when masons, quarrymen, carpenters, and labourers were employed at the castle, the result being the remodelling of the inner ward, and the construction of the magnificent range of kitchens, hall, and state apartments, of which the remains are still visible. When the son and successor of John of Gaunt became Henry IV., Kenilworth, with the other possessions of the Duchy of Lancaster, fell to the Crown, and so remained. The castle received certain small additions, not of a military character, and all now removed, from Henry VI. and Henry VIII. Elizabeth, in the fifth year of her reign, 1563, granted the domain to Lord Robert Dudley, creating him in the following year Earl of Leicester. Leicester’s works were considerable. He gutted the keep and forebuilding, fitting them up in the Tudor style; built the pile of masonry, now nodding to its fall, and which bears his name, at the south-east corner of the inner ward; he built or restored the Gallery Tower upon the outer end of the dam; probably added an upper storey to the great barn; and built the great gatehouse, a very fine specimen of its age.

Probably also, late in his life, he filled up the ditch of the inner ward. His masonry, though of ashlar, and not ill executed, was not substantial; and upon the removal of the floors and roofs, the walls became unsafe, and much has fallen and is about to fall. No doubt his works were executed with great rapidity, since his famous reception of Elizabeth here took place in 1575. Leicester’s conduct threw a doubt upon the legitimacy of his only son, of which King James availed himself to make an enforced purchase of Kenilworth for an inconsiderable sum for Prince Henry; after whom it was held by Prince Charles, probably more for the use of the chase than as a residence. At that time the lake covered 111 acres, and there were four gatehouses; the four being, no doubt, Leicester’s Gatehouse, Mortimer’s and the Gallery Towers, and the entrance gate of the Brayz.

Drawn by J. H. Le Keux, from a Sketch by H. Smyth.

J. H. Le Keux sc.

KIDWELLY CASTLE.
BIRDS EYE VIEW.

Charles granted Kenilworth, in 1621, on a lease on lives to Carey, Earl of Monmouth, which was converted into a freehold in 1626, and upon which the Careys founded a claim at the restoration in 1660; Colonel Hawkesworth and others having held it while Cromwell was in power. Finally it was granted by Charles II. to Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, from whom it has descended in the female line to its present owner, whose conduct shows a true appreciation of the value of the remains.

KIDWELLY CASTLE, CAERMARTHENSHIRE.

DESCRIPTION.

THE reader who places before him the two sheets, 37 and 41, of the Ordnance Survey, may observe, between the ranges of Penbrè and Mynydd-Sulen on the east, and Mynydd-Garreg and Llangyndeyrn on the west, a valley of about ten miles in length, and from one and a half to three in breadth. The head waters of its stream spring from the well-known elevation of Mynydd-mawr, and its mouth opens upon the Bristol Channel, between the estuaries of the Llwchwr and the Towy, in the bay of Caermarthen.

This is the valley of the Gwendraeth (white-strath)—

“Gwendra that with such grace delib’rately doth glide”—

one of the larger rivers of Caermarthen. West of this valley, between it and the Towy, but of much smaller dimensions than either, is a second valley and stream, tributary to the former, and bearing, like it, the name of Gwendraeth (“fach,” or “the less,” being its distinction). The rivers meet in a sort of estuary, chiefly formed by the “Gwendraeth-fawr.”

These valleys are traversed by the roads leading from the strait and tower of Llwchwr to the castles of Llanstephan and Caermarthen, as well as by the northern and originally Roman road from Llwchwr to Caermarthen, so that the district lies in the way between England and Pembroke and Cardigan, and was, in consequence, known at an early period to, and often crossed by, the Norman invaders of South Wales, who attached considerable importance to its possession.

The castle and town of Kidwelly are placed upon either bank of the Gwendraeth-fach, on the verge of the hill country, here divided from the sea by a marsh of a quarter of a mile in breadth.

The new town, parts of which are of high antiquity, with its church and some remains of a priory, stands upon the left bank, and is traversed by the old road from Llwchwr to Caermarthen. A mile east of the town, the road crosses the Gwendraeth-fawr by an ancient and narrow bridge. Close west of the town a similar bridge crosses the Gwendraeth-fach, just below the castle, with which it is connected by a suburb, said by Leland to be the original town, and, in his time, enclosed within a wall with three gates.

The castle stands from 80 feet to 100 feet above the river, on the right bank, here steep and rocky. It thus protects and overawes the town and priory, which are opposite to and below it. The eastern face is defended naturally by the steep and the river. On the other sides the defences are wholly artificial. The castle weir and a leat lead the water from the river, cutting off a bend, to the mill, which is placed between the castle and the town bridge.

Kidwelly is distant from the tower of Llwchwr, eleven miles; from the castles of Llanstephan and Caermarthen, five and nine miles; and from those of Dryslwyn and Dynevor, thirteen and eighteen miles.

The Gwendraeth seems to have derived a part of its name from the “traeth” or “strath” of meadow land found along its course, the fertility of which may have led to the establishment of the town and priory of Kidwelly.

Cydweli is the name of one of the three commots of Eginoc, one of the four cantrefs or hundreds of the ancient county of Caermarthen, which included Gower. The adjacent commot of Carnwyllion, north of Kidwelly, contained the strong pass of the same name, and is often mentioned in local records.

The lordship of Kidwelly extends from the Llwchwr to the Towy, and includes the parliamentary borough of Llanelly, and the municipality of Kidwelly. The franchise of the corporation is reputed to extend beyond the town, around the castle precinct. Of this franchise the mayor is the lord, holding his courts in the town. The courts for the lordship are held in the castle.

Kidwelly is a castle of the Edwardian or concentric type, slightly modified from the perfect examples of Beaumaris and Caerphilly. It is composed of the “castle proper,” containing the inner and outer ward, and the “outworks,” containing the southern and northern platforms.

H. Smyth del.

J. H. Le Keux sc.

KIDWELLY CASTLE.
GENERAL SURVEY
PLANS OF CHAPEL
MAIN BUILDING

H. Smyth del.

J. H. Le Keux sc.

KIDWELLY CASTLE.
GENERAL PLAN

The castle is in plan nearly a semicircle, the main ditch forming the curve, and the cliff and river the chord. The long axis lies north and south, and the gateways are at opposite ends. The whole work measures 440 yards, by from 90 yards to 130 yards, and covers about three acres.

The Inner Ward contains the drum towers, the curtains, the chapel tower, the hall, and the kitchen.

The drum towers are four:—The north-west or black tower; the south-west or Astragun Tower; the south-east or Margaret Dun Tower; and the north-east tower. All are of one date, and nearly of one pattern,—cylindrical, 30 feet diameter, with walls 9 feet thick. They are 44 feet high, with a battlement, and each has a well-stair at the gorge, terminating above in a square turret, the top of which is 53 feet high. Each contains a souterrain, and three stages of circular chambers, looped outwards, usually with three openings. There are also the usual chambers in the walls, and doors opening upon the ramparts of the curtains. There are also some points of difference. The chambers of the south-west tower are vaulted; the rest have timber floors. In this tower the souterrain is entered by a long gallery in the wall, common to the south curtain and the kitchen, opening from the porter’s lodge. This is the “porter’s prison,” and possibly the vaulting was to allow the whole tower to be used for this purpose. The north-west tower is cylindrical below, but above it passes into a sort of heart-shaped plan, presenting towards the gorge a double bow, with a flat recess between. These two towers cap the angle of their curtains, and are engaged in about one-fifth of their circumference.

The north-east and south-east towers are placed, not at the angles, but on the faces of the north and south curtains, close to their east ends, and on the edge of the river cliff. Besides their junction with the curtains of the inner ward, they are connected north and south with that part of the curtain of the outer ward which is built along the edge of the cliff. The south-east tower is closely connected with the chapel tower, and has also a door opening upon the curtain of the outer ward, leading to the great gatehouse.

The curtains are four in number. That to the east is irregular, low, and weak; the cliff has been considered its defence. The other three are 6 feet thick, and 18 feet high to the top of the parapet. Along each is a rampart walk, having a parapet pierced with loops and a rere wall. The curtains enclose a quadrangle 80 yards square.

The north curtain is pierced by a gateway, 6 feet wide, with a low drop arch, and the groove of a portcullis worked from the rampart; it is near the east end of the wall, and nearly opposite the northern gatehouse. This curtain is pierced by two loops, which seem to have been defended from the ground level. The west curtain has three loops, two of which opened from the kitchen.

The south curtain is pierced near its centre by a gateway, 10 feet wide, with a low drop arch and portcullis groove. The wall has been thickened to give depth to the gateway, and possibly to allow of the superstruction of a low tower above it. This is the principal entrance to the inner, and opens towards the great gatehouse of the outer, ward.

The chapel tower, forming part of the east curtain, deserves particular attention. It is an oblong building, springing from a rectangular base; but, as the two outer or eastern angles are formed by buttresses, each of which is a half pyramid, cut diagonally, the plan of the upper part is an oblong, with the two eastern angles removed so as to form an apse. As this tower projects some way down the steep, its outer face is 56 feet high and its inner only 20 feet. Its top is 24 feet lower than that of the contiguous south-east tower.

Against the south side of the chapel tower is a small square projection containing a vestry. This does not rise to the clerestory.

The chapel tower has three floors, all ceiled with timber. The interior is 26 feet from the altar to the west end, and 18 feet broad. The east wall is 6 feet thick; the west wall, 3 feet. In the south-east corner is a mural gallery, leading to a sewer chamber below the vestry. In the north-east corner is a well-stair. The ground floor is below the level of the inner ward, and is entered by a curved stair from the adjacent hall. The next, or first floor, is on the level of, and entered directly from, the hall. Above this, and on the rampart level, is the chapel. This includes two tiers of windows, the upper being a clerestory, and is entered by a west door. The east window is common to both tiers. It is a long, narrow, and acutely-trefoiled loop, set in a broad recess, which nearly occupies the whole east bay of the apse, and has a flat drop arch with a plain rib.

In the face next south of the altar-place is a small trefoiled piscina, and next to this a broad recess or sedile under a drop arch. On the south side, a small, acutely-pointed door leads to the vestry, and west of this is another recess, with a flat drop arch, and in it, close to its east side, a loop, long since blocked up, intended to defend the nook between the vestry and the south-east tower, and to rake the adjacent curtain. There is also a trefoiled loop in the north wall, and a door long closed up.

The clerestory is lighted by nine windows, three on each side, and three, including that to the east, in the apse. They are all alike—long, narrow, acutely-trefoiled openings, within broad recesses, plainly ribbed, and with flat drop arches. All rest inside upon a string, a filleted half round, which dips to pass under the east window. Between each pair of windows is a plain corbel block for the roof timbers. There is nothing, save the battlements, above the chapel. The walls have been stuccoed. The west wall has neither ashlar dressings nor string course, and is of different date and inferior work to the rest of the tower.

The hall, 60 feet by 25 feet, filled up, with the retiring-room, the whole east side of the inner ward. Its south end is formed by the south-east tower, the circular face of which has been patched and plastered to present a flat surface towards the hall, and this addition still shows the height and pitch of the hall roof. The west wall of the chapel forms part of the east wall of the hall; and in another part of this, which was also the outer wall towards the river, are traces of a window recess, like those of the chapel. Near this, also connected with the chapel, is a projecting space from the curtain, which may have been a sort of oriel or small chamber attached to the hall. In the west wall, at the south end, is an ashlar door or window jamb. The west wall is destroyed.

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].

The portals, both towards the field and towards the court, have plain chamfered ribs in ashlar; the portal vault is turned in rubble, with a portcullis groove at either end. The gates open inwards, so that the gatehouse could be defended on either side. There are also three chases in the vault, intended for the passage of gratings. The middle one appears to have been long closed up.

The drawbridge dropped across the moat, here reduced 16 feet, upon a pier connected with the barbican.

Entering by the great gate, on the right and left are dungeons and guard chambers, with loops commanding the approach. The doorways are small, with arches nearly half round, or very slightly pointed. One chamber on the right contains a large domed water-tank below the floor, two singular recesses in the wall, and a garderobe. A well-stair at the north-west angle leads to the first floor, which is also reached by an exterior and state staircase from the court, under which is a porter’s lodge. The subterranean chambers and those on the ground floor are vaulted.

The first or principal floor contains a state-room, 40 feet by 17 feet, with two large windows opening upon the court, and a fireplace between them. The windows appear to have been of two lights, trefoiled, and they are placed in large, flat, segmental recesses. The roof has been of timber, flat, and rather low. On the same floor are three smaller rooms and a portcullis chamber; and on the east side, over the tank-room, is a vaulted kitchen, with a large fireplace and oven. From the kitchen a small door leads to the east rampart, and along it to the south-east drum tower. Two well-staircases lead to the second floor, which contains also a large chamber, with windows of two lights, and trefoiled, opening upon the court, and a fireplace. Here also are several bedrooms, with doorways of carved ashlar. This floor seems intended for the accommodation of persons of condition. The well-stair at the north-west angle is continued upwards to the watch tower; and from near this stair a narrow door leads to the rampart of the curved curtain, and so to the mural towers of the outer ward.

The watch tower is considerably higher than any other part of the castle, and commands an extensive view over both sea and land.

H. Smyth delᵗ.

J. H. Le Keux sc.

KIDWELLY CASTLE.

The lesser or northern gatehouse is in great part destroyed, and appears to have been hastily built. It is on a small scale, and composed only of two half-round towers, the back or gorge walls of which, and part of the portal, have been destroyed. There appears to have been an upper story entered by a staircase in the adjacent western curtain. The portal arch is gone, but there are traces of a drawbridge which worked between two side walls, looped to rake the ditch. That on the east remains. The portal was 10 feet wide, and the bridge dropped with a span of about 18 feet upon a pier still remaining, and projecting from the counterscarp of the fosse. The bridge walls are later than the towers, and these probably than the curtain. This gateway is placed at the north extremity of the outer ward, only a few yards from the river bank. It appears to be an addition.

The curtain of the outer ward is in three parts: one, 330 feet long, and curved, encloses the ward on the west or landward side, and connects the gatehouses with the mural towers. This wall is 6 feet thick, and 20 feet high, and is defended by the main fosse. Besides openings from the gatehouses, there is a direct access to this rampart from the court by a mural staircase built against the wall. The rampart walk is protected by a parapet and a rere wall, both of which, to give breadth to the walk, are thrown out upon corbels or false machicolations.

The second part of the curtain is straight, or nearly so, and extends 50 feet in length along the river cliff, from the great gatehouse to the south-east drum tower. Its rampart is accessible from each end. This wall is 30 feet high and 7 feet thick.

The third portion of the curtain also runs along the river cliff, and extends 90 feet from the north-east drum tower to the north gatehouse, near which it makes a salient angle. Between this angle and the gate it is 5 feet thick; elsewhere, only 2 feet. Possibly there was a tower at the angle.

The mural towers are three in number, all placed in the western curtain. They are half round, 30 feet high, 22 feet in diameter, with an external projection of 8 feet, and a slight square projection within formed by the gorge wall. They have a ground floor, looped, a first floor with a fireplace, and a chamber on the level of the rampart walk and forming a part of it. The walls are 5 feet thick. The middle tower of the three has fallen into the fosse. The masonry of these towers is rude, and they are ill-bonded into the wall.

The offices in this ward are represented by the walls of a detached building, 65 feet by 30 feet, with high gables, placed west of the inner ward; another room, 60 feet by 35 feet, built against the river curtain, near the northern gatehouse; and some outbuildings, kitchens probably, and a bakehouse, built against the curved curtain, close west of the same gatehouse. These buildings were probably intended for the accommodation of the garrison.

The main ditch sweeps round the north, west, and south sides of the outer ward, opening upon the river cliff at, and rising towards each end. The opening at the south-east end, near the great gatehouse, is closed by a batardeau, which seems to have been embattled towards the river, and to have been approached from the barbican. There are some traces of a similar wall at the other end, next the north gatehouse. This ditch is high above the river, but is fed by land waters, and part of it is still wet. It is about 30 feet broad, and of considerable depth. Westward it gives off a branch which divides the north and south outworks, and communicates with the ditches of the former.

The barbican appears, from the traces of its foundations, to have been a small, circular tower. It occupied a rocky knoll on the counterscarp of the main ditch, opposite the great gateway, and on the edge of the steep bank of the river. It evidently was intended to cover the drawbridge, and to force those who arrived by this entrance to pass exposed to the fire of the adjacent western curtain. This work seems to have been cut off from the other outworks by a dry ditch, or covered way, leading from the river, south-west of the barbican towards the main ditch.

The outworks are divided into north and south platforms by the branch of the main ditch already mentioned.

The south platform is defended on the east by the mill leat. It was walled in, and seems to have been about 170 yards long by 130 yards broad. Part of the wall remains on the west side and on the north, along the edge of the branch ditch. At the south end, the approach still lies through the outer gatehouse, part only of which is destroyed. The portal, a drop arch with portcullis grooves, remains; above it are three windows with flat, segmental arches. From the sill of the central window a hole opens upon the outside of the portal, probably for the passage of missiles. The building has a ground and upper floor. There are no traces of ditch or drawbridge. The work is rubble. There does not appear to have been any ashlar. The style is Perpendicular—possibly of the date of the great gatehouse, probably later. Grose gives a drawing of this gatehouse in 1786, in which it appears much in its present condition.

The northern platform covers the north and west quarters of the castle. It measures about 130 yards long by 90 yards broad, and is enclosed within a wet ditch, a branch of which nearly cuts off its northern portion, leaving a narrow neck towards the river, across which lay the approach to the south entrance. Within the ditches of this work are high banks, and indications of a slight wall, and perhaps of a tower, near the entrance passage.

This castle has sustained less injury than might have been expected. It has been dismantled, and the ironwork and timber removed, but none of its towers or walls appear to have been blown up. The mural tower missing from the outer ward has probably slipped into the ditch from some defect in its foundation.

The castle is easy of access and examination, not being overgrown with ivy or brushwood.

H. Smyth del.

J. H. Le Keux. sc.

KIDWELLY CASTLE.
MAIN ENTRANCE.
GATEWAY.

The details of Kidwelly afford some general indications of the age of its several portions. There is nothing which can safely be pronounced to be Norman work, although no doubt the present was preceded by a structure partaking both of this and the early English style.

The general plan or arrangement of the castle seems, from its style, to be of one date—probably that of Henry III., or early in the reign of Edward I. The chapel is of this age. Its west wall, however, appears, from the peculiarities of its bond, to be of earlier date than the rest, and of the same date with the south-eastern drum tower, say 1260–80, which would be the date of all the towers and curtains of the inner ward, for all are in the same style.

The great hall seems a little later than the south-eastern tower, the face of which has been flattened to suit its gable.

The walls and mural towers of the outer ward may be a little later than the inner ward. That they are part of the original plan may be inferred from the want of strength in the inner gatehouses.

The great gatehouse is decided, but early, Perpendicular, perhaps of the reign of Richard II. or Henry IV., 1388–1400. Pigin tower is a later addition.

HISTORY.

The name of Kydwelly, or Cydwelhi, is Welsh. Leland, whose etymologies are not infallible, derives the name from “Cathwelli,” or “Cattalectus,” because Cattas used to make his bed in an oak there. Others explain “Cyd” to mean an “Aber,” or junction of waters. The Catgueli were a Celtic tribe. The town is no doubt of Welsh origin, and of high antiquity.

This does not apply to the castle, which, in its present form at least, is of later date, and the site of which, though naturally strong, was not that which a Celtic engineer would have selected.

The castle is supposed to have been founded by a certain William de Londres, one of the Norman knights who, in 1091, assisted Fitzhamon in the conquest of Glamorgan, and who is recorded afterwards to have pushed his arms into Caermarthen, no doubt when, in 1093, the Normans ravaged Gwyr, Kidwelly, and Ystrad Tywy, and then to have won from the Welsh the lordships of “Kidwelly and Carnwilthion.”—[Powel, 32.] In Glamorgan, this William is known as the founder of the castle of Ogmore, the Norman keep of which, though injured, is still standing. It is probable that his works at Kidwelly were of a less solid character, else all traces of them could scarcely have disappeared.

It is possible that the gain of De Londres was confined to the town and suburb of Kidwelly, for, in 1100, Henry I. wrested from Iorwerth ap Blethyn his lands, and gave to Howel ap Grono the districts of Strath-Tywy, Kidwelly, and Gower. Howel, however, was, in 1102, slain by the Normans, who had already taken from him the castle of Rydcors.—[Powel, 124.]

In 1113 Griffith ap Rhys, prince of South Wales, took Caermarthen, and retreated upon his stronghold in Strath-Tywy, whence he marched upon Gower. William de Londres deserted Kidwelly and fled. The Welsh ravaged the lands and burned the castle [Powel, 145], which then could hardly have been a regular Norman fortress. After this followed a period of tranquillity, and Maurice de Londres had a park at Kidwelly, and preserved his venison strictly. On one side of the park, next the sea, were large sheep pastures. His wife, wishing to have some of the deer destroyed, caused wool to be inserted into the bowels of some of the stags, and then showed it in proof that they destroyed the sheep; on which Maurice allowed the deer to be attacked with dogs.—[“Giraldus Cambrensis,” i. 168.] On the death of Henry I., 1135, while Griffith ap Rhys was absent in North Wales, Gwenllian his wife led an army into Kidwelly. She was defeated and put to death by Maurice de Londres, its lord, and by Geoffrey, constable to the bishop. Her eldest son, Morgan, was slain, and his brother, Maelgon, was taken.—[“Giraldus Cambrensis,” i. 168.] “The battle-field,” says the editor of “Giraldus,” “is still called ‘Maes Gwenlian,’ and a tower in the castle, ‘Twr Gwenlian.’” In 1145, there were already castles at Llanstephan and Dynevor, and, in 1150, at Llwchwr.

From the family of De Londres Kidwelly passed, by an heiress, to that of De Cadurcis, or Chaworth, whose heiress married Henry of Lancaster, grandson of Henry III. Henry, his son, and his grandson, held the castle until their line also ended in a daughter, who married John of Gaunt and was the mother of Henry IV., since which time the estates of the Duchy of Lancaster, including Kidwelly, have remained in the Crown. It is now in the hands of the Earl of Cawdor.

KILPECK CASTLE.

THE parish of Kilpeck, in the county of Hereford, occupies a tract of rolling broken ground which intervenes between the Mynde, Orcop, and Garway ridge of hills and the river Worm, a stream which receives the drainage of a considerable valley, and finally falls into the Monnow, near Kentchurch. The railway from Abergavenny towards Hereford passes up this valley, which affords an excellent example both of the fertility and the picturesque beauty of the old red sandstone country of Herefordshire.

The castle, church, and the site of the long-destroyed priory lie near together about the village of Kilpeck, two miles north of the ridge, and a short mile south of the church and railway station of St. Devereux.

The ground falls rapidly towards the north, and is traversed by deep dingles, each with its contained streamlet. The hedgerows and steeper banks are covered with wood, and the grassy knolls and ridges subside into broad level meadows of unrivalled verdure, amidst which the plough is but little known.

Kilpeck Castle, as now seen, is composed almost entirely of earthworks. It consists of a mound and circumscribing ditch, beyond which, on the north, is a triangular platform, on the south an enclosure of a horseshoe figure, and beyond this again a southern platform much more extensive, but also somewhat triangular in outline. On the very edge, and to the east of these enclosures, stand the ancient Norman church and a farmhouse, parts of which are of some antiquity; on the west, about 200 yards distant from the castle, the ground falls rapidly towards a deep dingle, across the lower part of which has been thrown a strong bank of earth, while remains of other banks are seen higher up. By these means it is evident that there was formed a chain of long and deep lakes, perhaps at two or even three levels, which must have rendered any approach from the west, or Welsh quarter, exceedingly difficult and hazardous.

The mound is wholly artificial. It is conical and truncated, and of oval plan. Its summit measures, north and south, about 25 yards, and east and west about 40 yards, and its height is from 20 feet to 40 feet, according to the depth of its ditch, which is greatest on the northern side. The slopes are steep, the red earth having little disposition to slip.

The summit was crowned by a shell keep placed about 3 feet within the edge of the slope, and therefore about 23 yards north and south, by 38 yards east and west. It was polygonal in plan, with faces from 14 feet to 15 feet long. Of this shell there remain but two fragments, one on the north and the other on the west side, about 20 yards apart. These show the wall to have been polygonal without, and circular, or nearly so, within, also within vertical, but on the outside battering from 7 feet thick at the base up to 4 feet at 6 feet high, above which it was continued at 4 feet. The north fragment is about 40 feet long, with a sine of about 2 feet, and about 18 feet high; probably it was, with the parapet, about 25 feet. It contains a round-backed fireplace, 3 feet broad by 2 feet deep, which gathers in above into a cylindrical shaft of 12 inches diameter. On each side is a water-drain, as from sinks, passing through the wall. The other, or western fragment, is 30 feet long and about 14 feet high. This also has a fireplace, similar to the last, but 5 feet wide and 3 feet deep; on the north side of it is a water-drain. From the south end of this there remains a fragment of a cross wall, 3 feet thick, which belonged to an interior building; it is of the age of the outer wall. This outer wall seems to have been blown outward a little by a mine sprung from within. The summit of the mound is slightly convex, from the accumulation of rubbish, which the fireplaces show to be about 4 feet deep. It is said that a deep well was discovered here, but no trace of it is now seen. These walls are the only remains of masonry visible in the whole castle. From their general aspect and that of the fireplaces they seem to be Early English. It is clear that the shell contained buildings against the wall, which, from the water-drains, may have been kitchens.

The mound is surrounded by a deep ditch, which on the north is succeeded by the north platform, on the north-east, east, and south, by the horseshoe platform or outer ward, and on the west by a narrow bank, from the base of which the natural slope falls rapidly.

The outer ward is a platform of a horseshoe or lunated shape, varying from 90 yards to 180 yards broad, and covering full half the mound. Its concave edge forms the counterscarp of the inner ditch. Its convexity is bounded by a ditch from 10 feet to 30 feet deep, which on the east borders the churchyard, and on the south is succeeded by the south platform, the general level of which is 10 feet to 12 feet below the summit of the mound. The outer edge of this area has been raised by a bank, which along the south side and at the west end rises 10 feet to 20 feet, having been no doubt thrown up from the exterior ditch. The surface is scarred as by the removal of foundations, but not a trace of actual masonry is visible, and even where the bank has been cut through no stones are seen.

There remains the south platform. This is nearly at the level of the outer ward, though below that of its elevated edge. The area is considerable, probably above four acres. It is divided from the outer ward by the ditch common to both, and about 30 feet broad. To the west and to the east it has a ditch, but to the south a scarp of about 12 feet, the ground beyond being flat and at a lower level. The present entrance to this platform, now under tillage, is by a hollow way to the east side near the north end, which may be old.

The main entrance to the castle, that is, to the outer ward, was by a gateway at the south point, marked by a deep hollow way cut in the bank, and flanked by earth heaps, which may conceal the foundation of small towers. This entrance is approached from the east by a road along the ditch below the outer ward and the south platform.

The way from the outer ward into the keep is not opposite the outer entrance, but more to the east; a slender causeway crosses the ditch, and a path ascends the mound. Probably this is all modern, and here was a sloping bridge, rendering the ascent of the mound less steep. At the south-west corner the ditch of the mound runs out at one point on the hill side, so that from hence a way may have lain along the ditch as far as the mound bridge.

The inference suggested by the present earthworks is something to the following effect:—Originally advantage was taken of a natural knoll, of an irregular figure, but about 300 yards north and south by 125 yards east and west, which was surrounded by a single ditch, or, where the ground allowed, by a scarp only. It may be that here, as partially at Malvern, and in other examples, this long enclosure was subdivided by two cross cuts into three parts, of which the central formed the citadel. This would probably be the work of the British.

Then it would seem that a later people, the English, took possession, and threw up a mound at one corner of the citadel, isolating it by its proper circular ditch, the principal dwelling being on the mound, and the horseshoe remainder below containing the base court for the dependents, while the north and southern portions would serve for protected enclosures for cattle.

When the Normans took possession they seem to have built a shell keep upon the mound, and to have employed the base court below as an outer ward, probably surrounding the whole with a stone wall, now removed, and replacing the English stockade. This would constitute the castle proper, to which the north and south platforms would be appendages, no doubt stockaded for cattle.

The history of Kilpeck commences with Domesday, which records, “Hæ villæ vel terræ subscriptæ sitæ sunt in fine Arcenefelde. Will’us filius Normanni tenet Chipcete. Cadiand tenuit tempore Regis Edwardi.”

The church is decidedly older than the masonry of the keep, and it may therefore be that the early Norman lords contented themselves with a residence and defences of timber, and did not build for a century or so after their occupation, when the shell keep was constructed. It is not probable that this was preceded by any earlier work in masonry, as Norman buildings were substantial and durable.

The church has been the subject of a “monograph.” The priory, of which not a trace remains, stood in a field south-east of the castle and village.

Chipcete in Irchenfield is the present Kilpeck, where William Fitz Norman sat in the seat of Cadiand, the dispossessed Englishman. The lands paid no geld or military service, which in that border district is remarkable. William was a large Herefordshire landowner. In 1134, 25 Henry I., Hugh, son of William Fitz Norman, gave to St. Peter’s, Gloucester, the church of St. David at Kilpeck, and the chapel of our Lady of or within the castle. Of the chapel no more is said, but the church is included in the confirmation charter by Stephen to Gloucester in 1138, and in many later confirmations and charters of Inspeximus.

According to Dugdale, a priory was founded at Kilpeck in 1134, and dedicated to St. David, by Henry de Kilpec. The founder more probably was Hugh Fitz Norman, who certainly endowed it. It was a cell of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter at Gloucester, and subsisted until its suppression in 1422–48, during the Episcopate of Thomas Spofford of Hereford. The priors were summoned to take part in the elections of the Gloucester abbots.

Hugh was succeeded by Henry, called “De Kilpec,” who had to pay a fine of 100 marks to King Stephen for a trespass on the royal forest of the Haywood. Henry is also mentioned in the Pipe roll of Richard I. as in arrear 13 marks in 1189 for dues to the king from the forest of Trivel.

John de Kilpec, son of Henry, purchased the barony of Purbeck or Pulverbach, Salop, of the Crown, in 1193 for £100. At the commencement of John’s reign he seems to have held in his bailiwick the forests of Herefordshire, probably as sheriff of that county, for which he rendered his accounts in the third of John. He also paid two marks scutage for his lands in Salop. He died 1204, and Julian, his widow, paid 60 marks to King John to marry whom she pleased. In the following year she had dower of Rokeslegh and La Teme, according to Madox.

By Julian John left Hugh de Kilpeck, who was a ward to William de Cantelupe, a great border baron. At this time the king visited Kilpeck occasionally, being there 1211, 11th March, in his way from Hereford to Abergavenny, no doubt at both places as Cantelupe’s guest. Also in 1213, 27th and 28th November, he was here between Hereford and St. Briavels, and finally 18th and 19th December, 1214, while going from Monmouth to Hereford.

Hugh de Kilpeck, when of age, inherited the keepership of the royal forests in Herefordshire, and in 1248 he held Little Taynton, in Gloucestershire, by the serjeantry of keeping Haywood forest, also an hereditary charge. The forests of Hay, Kilpeck, and Acornbury seem, from the patent rolls, to have been in his hands 3 Henry III. In 1231, 16 Henry III., Hugh de Kilpeck and William Fitz Warine were two of the eight lords employed to negotiate a truce with Llewelyn. This seems positive; but Dugdale says he died about 1207. There is an inquisition upon him 28 Henry III., 1243–4; but it appears from the fine rolls that he died before this. He married Egidia, who married afterwards, says Dugdale, William Fitz Warine. John was the third and last Baron Kilpeck. He left two daughters, co-heirs, Isabella and Joan. Joan, the younger, aged seventeen at her father’s death, was the first wife of Philip de Marmion. She held half the barony of Kilpeck, and left three daughters, co-heirs. Philip, who was champion of England and a great supporter of Henry III., left by a second wife a fourth daughter. Each had a quarter of the barony of Marmion, and the elder three had each a third of that of Kilpeck. The Frevilles of Tamworth sprang from Mazera, the second child, and the Ludlows and Dymokes, champions, from Joan, the fourth.

Isabella, the elder co-heir, seems to have held the castle of Kilpeck in her share. She married, 28 Henry III., William Waleran. Her seal, lately found at Ewshot, near Crondall, is engraved in the “Top. and Geneal.,” i., p. 28, where is an excellent account of her family. Isabella left Robert, William, and Alice.

Robert Waleran held Kilpeck. He was sheriff of Gloucestershire 30–35 Henry III. He fought for Henry at Evesham, and was governor of the castles of Cardigan and Caermarthen, and a Baron. In 1262 he composed a dispute between the Bishop and Chapter and the citizens of Hereford relating to the assize of bread. He died s.p. 1 Edward I., 1273, leaving apparently Matilda, his widow, no doubt his second wife, who had dower in Kilpeck manor.

William, brother of Hugh, died before him, leaving Robert, who succeeded to Kilpeck, but seems to have died 2 Edward II., either childless, or leaving a son who did not inherit Kilpeck in consequence of his great uncle’s entail; for it appears that by deed in 1269 Robert Waleran gave to Alan de Plunkenet, his sister’s son, the reversion of Kilpeck castle and of the park of Treville and Coytmore, the forestership of the Hay, and the manor of Hampton. Alan regranted to Robert for life, and on Robert’s death the lands reverted to Alan, who did homage. By what tenure Robert, the nephew and last baron, held Kilpeck, does not appear.

Alice Waleran, sister of the first Robert, married Auchew de la Bere. Their son Alan bore the name of Plukenet or Plugenet, and became lord of Kilpeck castle and manor, and was summoned to Parliament 23 Edward I. He died 27 Edward I., 1299. He was buried at Dore. He was a great agriculturist, and reclaimed the tract called from him “Alan’s Moor.” In his time, 13 Edward I., William Butler held a carucate of land in Kilpeck and the manor and court there; also, 20 Edward I., Philip de Marmion of Scrivelsby held a fee in Kilpeck. Several fiefs seem to have been held of the castle; 2 Edward III., Alexander de Freville so held one-sixth of a fee.

Alan Plugenet, son of Alan, succeeded. He was distinguished in the Scottish wars, and was also summoned to Parliament. He obtained a weekly market and annual fair for Kilpeck, and died s.p. about 1311, leaving his sister Joan his heir.

Joan Plugenet, called Joan de Bohun de Kilpeck, held the barony. She married Edward de Bohun, but died s.p. 20 Edward II., or 1 Edward III., 1327.

Her heir was Richard, son of Richard, and grandson of Sir Richard de la Bere. He died 19 Edward III., leaving Thomas, his son and heir, aged 30, 27 Edward III.; but Edward de Bohun, who survived his wife, and probably was tenant of Kilpeck by the courtesy, had licence from Edward III. to alienate Kilpeck, Treville, and the bailiwick of the Haywood to James Butler, first Earl of Ormond.

Meantime the elder family continued to hold their shares. Thomas de Useflete, 5 Edward III., probably a trustee, enfeoffed Richard de la Bere, of Munestoke, in Kilpeck, which, 2 Edward III., had been held by Nicholas de Useflete. 17 Edward III., Baldwin de Frevill held Kilpeck manor; and finally, 18 Richard II., Kinardus de la Bere held the manor and hundred of Kilpeck for the chantry of St. Mary of Madley.

The Butlers, however, seem to have been substantially the owners. 12 Edward III., James, first Earl of Ormond, held the manor and extent by the tenure of keeping the forest of Hay, and 13 Edward III. Eleanor, his widow, held the castle and manor.

As holders of the castle or manor, or both, appear—37 Edward III., Sir Thomas Moigne; 6 Richard II., James, Earl of Ormond, and, 13 Richard II., Elizabeth, his widow. 20 Richard II., Sir Richard Talbot and Ankareta his wife held the castle and manor as one fee of James, Earl of Ormond, within the land of Irchenfield. The Butlers, however, held the castle until the attainder of the fifth earl, a Lancastrian, who was beheaded after Towton in 1467.

In the fifteenth year of Edward IV., the King granted Kilpeck in tail special to the male heirs of Sir W. Herbert, Lord Herbert (Earl of Pembroke), for one knight’s fee, and, 6 Edward IV., this grant was extended in tail general, failing heirs male of the body. After the earl’s death, in 1469, Edward restored Kilpeck to the Butlers in the person of John, sixth Earl of Ormond, and it descended to his elder daughter and co-heir, whose son, Sir George St. Leger, held it in 1545.

After this it was sold, and came into the possession of the Pye family, of whom Sir Walter held the castle and park. He was a Royalist, and on the fall of Charles I. the Parliament first garrisoned the castle, and in 1645 dismantled it. The Pyes followed James II. into exile, and one of them bore the titular honour of Baron Kilpeck. Probably the materials of the castle were valuable, for their removal, with the trifling exceptions mentioned, has been complete, and yet the castle must have been a considerable place.

KNARESBOROUGH CASTLE, YORKSHIRE.

AMONG the various windings by which, still bearing its original British appellation, the river Nidd finds its way from its sources in Nidderdale and on the flanks of Whernside to its union with the Ouse a few miles above York, none are more remarkable than those by which it traverses the ancient forest of Knaresborough, where it lies within a deep ravine, celebrated, even in Yorkshire, for its happy combination of wood, and rock, and water.

Near the middle of this part of its course a bold promontory of rock projects as a rugged cliff towards the stream, rising on its eastern bank to a height of about 230 feet. Two tributary ravines, to the north and south of the rock, isolate it from the adjacent high ground, and become broader and deeper as they descend towards the river, so that the rock is strongly fortified by nature upon its northern, southern, and western fronts. To complete the strength of the position nothing was wanting but a ditch connecting the heads of the ravines and traversing the neck of the peninsula, and this was long since executed, and with it the upper parts of the ravines were also rendered deeper and broader, so that the position, before the use of gunpowder, must have been well-nigh impregnable.

By whom, or by what people, this formidable platform was first turned to account, is unknown, but no inhabitants of the district to whom security was an object could have overlooked its advantages. There is, however, no actual evidence of either British or Roman occupation, unless the rectangular area fortified by bank and ditch still to be traced through the streets of the later town can be accepted, as at Tamworth and Wallingford, as the work of semi-Romanised Britons; a people who, having acquired some knowledge of the principles of Roman castrametation, were yet unwilling or unable to include their strong places within walls of masonry.

The manor of Cnaresburg is mentioned in Domesday as the private demesne of the Conqueror, as it had been of the Confessor. Nothing is said of an “Aula” or a castle there; but, as eleven Berewicks depended upon it, it is clear that it was, during, and probably long before, the time of Edward, the centre of a considerable estate, and if, as was usual, its early lord had there a fortified residence, it would naturally be placed upon the rugged and knotty platform that bore the descriptive name of Cnaresburg.

William granted the manorial lands, returned in Domesday as “wasta,” to Serlo de Burg, Burg being probably the manor now called Boroughbridge. Burg was a territorial designation, not a regular surname, and does not appear to have been used by the family. The Pipe Roll, 31 Henry I., 1130, mentions Serlo as holding lands in Notts and Derby, and gives the names of Osbert, his son, and of another Osbert, his “nepos” or nephew, both of whom seem to have died before their respective fathers. The successor and heir of Serlo was John the One-eyed, whose son, Eustace Fitz-John, was a Yorkshire Justiciar. He appears in the same Pipe Roll as farming Burg and Chenardesburg, and to him was then allowed £11 for the king’s works, evidently upon the castle, at the latter place. Eustace married Beatrice, a De Vesci heiress, and their son William assumed that name. Richard FitzEustace, another son, married Albreda, the daughter and heir of Robert de Lisours, by Albreda, sister of Ilbert and Henry de Lacy, and aunt and heir of Robert de Lacy of Pontefract, who died childless, 1193. In consequence, Roger, Constable of Chester, the son of Richard FitzEustace and Albreda, took and transmitted the name of Lacy. Eustace had also a brother, Pain Fitz-John, a considerable Herefordshire landowner, and ancestor of the Barons FitzPain. With Eustace, who fell in the Welsh wars in 1159, the family occupation of the castle ceased, and it was from time to time granted by the Crown to various castellans. One of these, Hugh de Morville, took refuge here after the murder of Beckett. It was held also by the Estotevilles, and, in the reign of John, by Brian de Lisle, who is reputed to have excavated the castle ditch, and to have repaired or added to the buildings. Henry III. granted the castle to Hubert de Burgh in fee. Before that time the manor had been erected into an Honour, and the Honour, the Peculiar, and the forest of Knaresborough are from time to time the subject of royal grants. In 1257, Henry III. gave them to his brother Richard, who founded a priory on the river bank below the castle. Edward II. repeated the grant to Gaveston, about which time the Slingsbys appear as keepers of the forest. In 1327, the castle was taken for the Earl of Lancaster, but only to be resumed by Edward III., who, in 1371, granted it to John of Gaunt, and it has ever since formed a part of the Duchy of Lancaster. Richard II. was imprisoned here in 1399, and the keep has since borne the name of the king’s tower, it is said, in consequence. In 1642 the castle was held for the king, and was the head-quarters of an active and somewhat unscrupulous body of soldiery. It was, in consequence, besieged and taken by Fairfax in 1644, and in 1648 was, by the Council of State, ordered to be slighted, which seems to have been effected by removing the curtain wall, and blowing away one angle of the keep.

The castle occupied the whole area of the platform up to the edge of the ditch, the crest of the ravines, and the river cliff. In figure the plan is an irregular oval, in the proportion of about three parts east and west, to two parts north and south, and containing about 2½ acres. Close south of, and dependent upon, the castle, was the town. The area within the line of the town ditch measures about 500 yards north-east and south-west by 850 yards north-west and south-east, and includes all the older part of the town. About 170 yards of the ditch, where it divided the castle from the town, has been filled up since the dismantling of the castle. The castle was contained within a great curtain wall 7 feet to 8 feet thick, and of the unusual height in places of from 30 feet to 40 feet. The keep forms a part of the enceinte, being built upon the crest and slope of the northern ravine, not far from the centre of that front. The curtain abutted upon its two ends, so that the building was partly within and partly outside the area. Connected with its southern angle are some fragments of masonry showing that the area was divided by a cross wall into an eastern and western part, the one being the outer and the other the inner ward, and the keep is so placed that its south-eastern face looks upon the outer, and its south-western and north-western faces upon the inner ward.

Very nearly the whole both of the curtain and cross wall are gone, but the projection from the northern angle of the keep shows that the curtain, at that point at least, was about 40 feet high and at least 11 feet thick. It would seem that the curtain had originally no mural towers, for these, in the shape of half-round or segmental solid buttresses, have been added, built against the face of the curtain, the removal of which has laid bare the rough face of the applied work. Leland speaks of eleven or twelve of these buttress towers. There remain at present only six. They have all been faced with ashlar. Upon one is a good stringcourse of Perpendicular date, and on another is seen the shaft of a garderobe, the upper part of which must have been on the battlements. Two of the largest of the buttresses are placed opposite to the town, about 21 feet apart, forming a sort of solid gatehouse, and flanking the main entrance to the castle through the outer ward. The gateway was 18 feet wide and at least 18 feet high to the springing. The arch is gone. The square groove for the portcullis remains, and within is a rebate for the door. Outside in the northern jamb is a hole as for the heel of a drawbridge, but there is no corresponding hole on the other side, so that the indication is probably deceptive. A drawbridge there must have been, but it was possibly more advanced. Leland also mentions a subterranean passage opening upon the slope of the ditch, but this, of which nothing is now known, was probably a sewer. In the inner ward is the house in which are still held the courts for the Honour. This is a modern building, but it contains an original Decorated doorway, and a large fireplace, plain, but probably of the same date. There is said to have been a well near this, now lost, and local tradition describes a chapel as having stood near the courthouse.

A.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.

Fig. a.

PLAN OF DUNGEON.

Fig. b.

ELEVATION OF KEEP FROM INNER WARD.

The principal interest of the building centres upon the King’s Tower or keep, of which the remains are considerable. It may be described as rectangular in plan, 64 feet north-west and south-east by 52 feet north-east and south-west, or nearly square. Its symmetry is, however, broken by the cutting off of the north angle. Also the whole of the eastern angle is gone, and it is a question how far out this extended, and with much of the north-east side, the whole south-east end, and the angle between them are gone, but enough of the two other sides remains to show the general plan and details of the building. [[B. Fig. a.]]

The western angle is capped by a cylindrical turret of solid masonry, 6 feet diameter, and, at present, 52 feet high. It was probably, together with the main building, about 10 feet higher. This was the height from the level of the inner ward; the absolute height of the keep, measured from the dungeon floor, was about 16 feet more, or about 78 feet or 80 feet.

The principal or south-west is also the most perfect front, and that which looks into the inner ward. It is here seen that the keep was composed of a sub-basement below the court level; a basement at the level; a first or main floor; and an upper floor: the lines of floor being indicated by two stringcourses or mouldings.

The sub-basement consists only of the dungeon. [[A. Fig. a.]] The entrance is by a sunken doorway, approached by a descending flight of steps. It is placed 14 feet from the western turret, and the top of the doorway arch shows just above the ground level. The doorway opens into a vaulted passage, down which twelve steps lead to a second doorway, that of the dungeon. This may be described as a square of 23 feet, of which the two north-eastern angles are cut off, reducing one end to a sort of apse of three faces of 9 feet 6 inches each. In the centre is a plain cylindrical pier, 3 feet diameter, with a chamfered base, but no cap, from the head of which branch out twelve ribs, plain and substantial, with a slightly hollow chamfer. They are arranged in groups of three, separated by four rather wider openings, of which two, including the two right angles, are traversed by diagonal ribs, so that the plan of the vault is an octagon. There is an air-hole 3 feet square in the north wall, whence a passage, slightly zigzag, and 14 feet long, ended in a loop, now broken down. There seems also to have been a garderobe, as the mouth of a sewer is seen outside at the foot of the wall, 10 feet below the loop.

The basement floor contains three chambers, entered from the inner ward by three doors. [[A. Fig. b.]] Of these a narrow one of 2 feet opening placed close to the turret leads by a vaulted passage 3 feet long into the record-room. [[B. Fig. a.]] This is an L-shaped chamber, of which the arms are 6 feet 6 inches broad, and on the longer sides 12 feet, and on the shorter 5 feet 6 inches, one limb being a few inches the larger. In the north-west wall is a loop for air. Each limb is crossed by a plain chamfered rib, and the square space thus formed, common to the two limbs, is crossed diagonally by a single rib. This chamber was recently used as a debtor’s prison.

Next to the record-room, and nearer the centre of the front, is a large window, of which the ashlar casing and tracery have been removed, and the cill cut down to convert it into a door. At present the aperture is 6 feet broad and 13 feet to the crown of the arch. Close to, but beyond this, is the original doorway, now blocked up, but quite perfect. It was of 5 feet opening with a low drop arch, and over it a good Decorated drip stone or hood moulding. This door led into the kitchen. [[B. Fig. a.]]

The kitchen may be described as a square of 24 feet, having applied to its north-east side an apse of three faces of 8 feet each; or it may be called a rectangle of 24 feet by 30 feet, with two of its angles cut off so as to form an apse.

This chamber is also vaulted after a peculiar fashion. Twelve feet from the apsidal end is an octagonal pier, from the head of which spring eight ribs at equal angles. At 6 feet from the pier, that is, at the crown of the vault, each rib is met by two others, sixteen in number, which spring from eight half piers or responds in the angles of the wall. There are, however, actually only six of these wall piers, two being replaced by a different arrangement, rendered necessary by the oblong form of the chamber, which leaves a space 6 feet by 24 feet to be covered in. Of this space one third, being the western angle, is solid, and, in fact, contains one limb of the record-room. The remainder is divided into two square bays, vaulted diagonally. Between this compartment and the larger one stands a second pier, which receives the thrust of three ribs from the main pier, and has five ribs besides of its own. The general result is not unpleasing, but the vaulting is exceedingly complex, containing eight rhombs and eighteen triangles, great and small. The height to the crown of the vault is 12 feet. Besides the great window towards the inner ward is a small opening, probably a loop, though now enlarged, towards the ditch. The fireplace occupies one of the north-western bays. It is 7 feet broad, and the grate stood in a half-round recess of 3 feet 6 inches radius, with a vertical flue in the wall. From the kitchen open two smaller chambers and a well-stair. One of these, plainly vaulted, and 11 feet by 7 feet, is placed in the south-east wall. It is entered by a small door from the side of the kitchen, and near the door is a loop, also looking into the kitchen. This was probably the cook’s bedroom.

B.
KNARESBOROUGH KEEP.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.

Fig. a.

  1. Record Room.
  2. Kitchen.
  3. Garderobe Chamber.
  4. Cook’s Chamber.
  5. Staircase
  6. Lodge.
  7. Stairs to Dungeon.
  8. Entrance from Outer to Inner Ward.
  9. Foot of Outer Staircase.

PLAN OF BASEMENT FLOOR.

Fig. b.

  1. Outer Gate.
  2. Inner Gate.
  3. Trough Recess.
  4. Fireplace.
  5. Window Recess.
  6. Small Fireplace.
  7. Staircase.
  8. Exterior Lobby.
  9. Exterior Staircase.

PLAN OF MAIN FLOOR.

A second chamber, 8 feet by 9 feet, also vaulted, is placed in the north wall, and is entered by a small and much mutilated doorway and a short oblique passage. This chamber has a loop towards the ditch, and a garderobe, the outlet from which seems to join that from the dungeon.

The staircase is contained within the wall at the south angle of the chamber, and is lighted by two loops from the inner ward. It is entered from the kitchen by a small door opening into a straight passage, whence the well-staircase rises. This leads to both the first and second floor, and has a stone hand-rail carved in the wall. It is 2 feet 6 inches radius.

There remains only in the basement to be mentioned the Porter’s Lodge. [[B. Fig. a.]] It is composed of a couple of cells, at present occupied by the keeper of the castle. The outer cell is entered by a small door very near to the passage between the outer and inner ward. The hollow angle formed by the junction of the cross wall with the keep is crossed by a squint, or oblique arch, which supports a bartizan turret above, and affords a sort of hood over the door. The outer cell, vaulted, measures 12 feet by 9 feet. One angle is filled up. There is a small two-light window towards the inner ward. From this cell a door opens into an inner cell, 7 feet by 8 feet, also vaulted, and with a small window or sort of loop, now broken down, which is formed in the south-east wall, and seems to have opened beneath the first arch of the bridge which carried the ascending road from the outer ward to the level of the first floor of the keep.

The first or main floor of the keep presents its chief peculiarities. [[B. Fig. b.]] It is, or was, a rectangular chamber 24 feet 6 inches by 31 feet, and 19 feet high to the boarded floor of the room above. The north-west end, which is tolerably perfect, is wholly occupied by a segmental arched recess with a handsome moulding. It is 2 feet 9 inches deep, and contains a sort of table or shelf 2 feet high and of 1 foot projection, the upper part of which is hollowed into a narrow trough, as though for animals to drink from, had it been a little broader. It is much broken, so it does not appear whether it was provided with a feed-pipe and drain. What it was intended for it is difficult even to guess. The wall is broken, and within it is seen the flue from the kitchen fireplace below. Above, a weather-moulding in the wall shows that at some time there was a low-pitched roof.

Of the adjacent north-east side only about 12 feet remains. It is chiefly occupied by a large fireplace, 7 feet broad by 4 feet deep. It was flat-topped and quite plain. The wall has been broken down and the flue is disclosed. Next south of this is the jamb of a bold arched recess which runs through the wall, 14 feet deep, and must have contained a large window opening over the ditch.

With the eastern angle is also gone the south-eastern side. Much of this must have been occupied by a large doorway, of which the south-west jamb remains, and its external and internal mouldings, in the Decorated style and of a very elaborate character. The wall was 10 feet 6 inches thick, and in its centre, half-way between the two moulded arches, is a rectangular portcullis groove. It is evident that this was a regular gateway, fortified in the usual manner, and, as what remains of the arch shows, of a large size.

The south-west wall, which is tolerably perfect, contains at its north end a door of the same size as that just described, saving that there is no portcullis, which, this being the inner gate, was not needed. The wall is here 11 feet thick, giving a very deep recess 10 feet broad, in which the doorway was placed. It is panelled and 15 feet high to the arch crown; the recess narrows to 7 feet 6 inches width, which was that of the doorway. The doorway is richly moulded, and the mouldings are continued down to the cill, showing that it was a door, and not, as some suppose, a window. There was, however, tracery in the head, of which a fragment remains, but not enough to show the pattern. In the jambs are a set of stanchion-holes, too large for the rods by which window-glass was usually supported, and which are evidently the remains of the bars inserted when the keep was used as a prison. The outermost hollow of the mouldings contains a band of delicate ball-flowers. There is also a handsome drip supported by two heads as corbels.

Outside the doorway, in the wall on either hand, are two square grooves 7 inches broad and about 6 inches deep, and 11 feet apart. They commence at the stringcourse, which corresponds with the cill of the doorway, and are 6 feet high. Above this, 10 feet 6 inches from the stringcourse, and 12 feet apart, are two similar grooves, 7 feet 6 inches long, and which, therefore, reach a little above the level of the top of the doorway arch. It is evident that these two pair of grooves were connected with the drawbridge, the lower pair probably receiving the ends of the parapet rail, and the upper the struts supporting the beams of the bridge.

Next to this door recess, in the inside of the chamber, is a small plain fireplace, placed in a tall pointed recess, like a doorway, and beyond this again is a lower recess, but broader, and also pointed, in which is a plain, square-headed window, 4 feet high by 1 foot broad, looking towards the inner ward. In the jamb of the recess is a side door, leading by a short passage into the well staircase from the kitchen, which also, at this level, has a loop towards the inner ward.

The floor of this chamber at present rises about 2 feet, or 1 in 26, from the outer to the inner gate. This, however, may be a modern arrangement, intended to carry off the water from the asphalt with which the floor has been paved.

Outside the outer gate of this chamber, towards the south, is a small mural chamber, lighted by a very handsome window, 2 feet 6 inches broad, with tracery in the arched head and a handsome drip-stone above, looking towards the inner ward. This chamber opens upon a sort of lobby, now mostly destroyed, outside the great gate, and provided with a small doorway of its own, fitted with a portcullis, and from this descends a small staircase with a ribbed and vaulted roof, which communicated with the lodge connected with the entrance from the outer to the inner ward. This was evidently a postern for such foot-passengers as came after the great gates were closed, and who did not wish to enter the main or guard-chamber of the keep. From this lobby ascended a well-stair to the upper story, rather larger than the other one, which was close beside it in the wall. The position of the larger staircase is marked by a sort of bartizan or projecting round turret, which commenced at the first floor level, and was lighted from the inner ward. Most of this is broken away, and only traces of it remain.

Of the upper floor but little remains save the wall towards the inner ward. In this wall is an excellent trefoil-topped window of one light beneath a square head. This is placed in a recess of the wall, vaulted and ribbed.

Near it a small door opens upon the head of the staircase from the lower floor and the kitchen. The other staircase from the postern is destroyed.

It appears from what has been described that the main floor of the keep was in fact a passage by which the principal entrance led from the outer to the inner ward. As the level of the first floor is 17 feet above that of the inner ward, and something more above that of the outer, the approaches were upon arches leading up to the gateways. The outer bridge no doubt was built against and protected by the curtain of the outer ward. That the road rested upon arches is evident from a trace of a skewback or springing stone below the gateway, and from the position of the window of the inner cell of the porter’s lodge. There is similar evidence of another bridge from the inner gateway down to the level of the inner ward, and excavation there would probably show the pier bases. How there came to be two fireplaces in what must have been the guard-chamber, and what was the use of the trough, are questions as yet unanswered. So far as I know, this is the only example of a main entrance so raised and carried through the keep. This keep is, in fact, a gatehouse.

There remains to be noticed the fragment of a building attached to the southern angle of the keep, and from which evidently sprang the wall which ran between the outer and the inner ward. [[B. Fig. a.]] This seems to have been an oblong, divided into two compartments. One, of which much of two sides remains, was 11 feet square, vaulted and ribbed, the fans spreading from the four angles. This was entered on one side from a small Decorated door of 2 feet 3 inches opening, which led into a bent passage. The face towards the inner ward seems to have contained a second small door, by the side either of a window or a larger door. From this chamber a door probably led, through the second chamber, now removed, to the base of the winding steps already mentioned as ascending to the eastern entrance to the keep. The designs of the mouldings of this appended building are peculiarly delicate and graceful, and well executed.

This keep is probably the latest example of a rectangular keep as well as a singular one of a keep with its main floor employed as a gatehouse. Its ornaments and details generally are in the late Decorated style, and of the reign probably of Edward II., though it is by no means likely that the work was due to Gaveston. Ashlar masonry is freely employed outside and inside the building, and the details throughout are admirable. It is probable that the addition of the solid buttresses to the curtain was the work of the builder of the keep. The masonry and material correspond. The portcullis grooves are alike, and the solitary stringcourse on one of the bastions is nearly, if not quite, of the pattern of that employed on the keep. It is much to be desired that the inhabitants of Knaresborough would obtain the castle as a promenade, reopen the ditch, or part of it, restore the bridge leading to the outer gate, excavate the foundation of the north-east angle of the keep and of the bridge covering the way into the prison, and check the progress of weather and exposure in the upper portions of the keep. A moderate sum would execute all that is required, and the result would add to the comfort and augment the attractions of the town.

LEEDS, OR LEDES, CASTLE, KENT.

LEEDS Castle is a very peculiar structure. It stands upon three rocky knolls, of which two are islands in a lake of 15 acres, and the third occupies the central part of the artificial bank by which, as at Kenilworth and Caerphilly, and in some degree at Framlingham and Ragland, the waters are or were retained.

The central and larger island is girt by a revetment wall, having half-round bastions, and rising about 15 feet out of the water. This was the wall of the outer ward. About 40 feet within, and concentric with this, are indications of the wall of the inner ward, which was about 8 feet thick and 20 feet high. At each end, connecting the two walls, and occupying the space between them, were the gatehouses, of which that to the south remains, and is a very curious structure. It represents, probably, a late Norman work; but its oldest recognisable part is a doorway of the time of Henry III., surrounded, however, by masonry apparently of that of Edward, his son. A bretache is mentioned in a Survey of 1314, but the present corbels overhanging the gateway, and upon which the timber work rested, appear to be of the age of Richard II., and probably date from 1386. The Constable’s room, placed in the rear, and at the level of the portcullis chamber, is entered through a doorway, the valve of which is original and peculiar, being composed of planks of a taper section, the narrow edge of one fitting into a groove in the back or broad edge of the next.

The domestic buildings occupied the north end of the two wards, and are replaced by a modern house, excepting only a vaulted cellar, which may be late Norman, and is certainly the oldest known masonry in the place, and a bracket which supported the ancient oven, and is placed near what (17 Henry VI.) is described as “Una coquina juxta pedem pontis de la Gloriet,” which kitchen was not long since removed.

In this ward also, or rather partly in this and partly in the outer ward, near a building of the age of Henry VIII., is a very remarkable bath,—“balnea domini regis apud Ledes,” as it is designated, which was constructed for the use of Edward I. in 1291–2. This is now used as a boathouse. It communicates with the lake by a passage in which are still seen the grooves for the portcullis, and the recesses for the oblique gates by means of which the water was retained or excluded. Mr. Wykeham Martin’s investigations of the accounts relating to this bath are very curious. The hundred Reigate stones, 2 feet square, which are there specified, just tally with the area of the chamber.

Thus far the castle is, or has been, a concentric structure, after the plan much in use in the latter part of the reign of Henry III. and throughout that of Edward I. Its peculiarities are caused by the circumstances of its position, and remain to be described. Of these the chief is the keep, or Gloriette, a shell of wall rising from the deep water around it to a considerable height, and containing apartments round a central court, an arrangement usual in Norman shell keeps. This shell contains the chapel, no doubt the “major capella” of the records, the kitchen, and amidst much work of the date at least of Edward I., more that is of that of Henry VIII., and even of recent date. This island is thought to have been the original stronghold of those who first appropriated the spot, but the oldest work now seen dates from Edward I., and the style of the chapel points to about 1280. It contains, however, an excellent low side window, open 17 feet above the water, probably an insertion by Richard II. There is also a postern at the level of the water, part of which appears old, as does an adjacent garderobe. The basement, by which the ground-floor is raised about 12 feet above the water, is solid, and probably very old, for no occupant of these islands for the purpose of security could have neglected this site. Edward, no doubt, remodelled this work with the rest of the castle, and possibly rebuilt the whole of the outer wall. Sir Henry Guildford, custos here for Henry VIII., seems to have removed part of the earlier building, and to have built a spacious hall, a large fragment of which is the present kitchen. During the reign of Charles II. these additions were much injured by fire, so that most of the buildings next the court are modern. Still the general type and arrangement was evidently preserved; and there is little doubt but that this structure represents a late Norman shell, if not an earlier Saxon house of timber. A handsome clock-tower, to which the term Gloriette is sometimes confined, contains a very early clock, and is of the date of Henry VIII., guarding the covered bridge which connects the keep with the larger island. This bridge is of two openings, and has two stories, and was originally a drawbridge, the pit being contained between the side walls, and dropping into the water. It is called in the accounts “pons gloriettæ.”

The term “Gloriette” is not of frequent occurrence, and its meaning has not been precisely defined.[1] It was first brought under notice in the ancient miscellanea of the Exchequer relating to Corfe Castle, amongst which Mr. Bond cites a document dated 8 Edward I., that mentions “Camera que vocatur Gloriette.”[2] It was probably like “Butavant” and “Cocaygne,” one of the towers of the enceinte of the castle, and may have been of somewhat greater elevation. Scarcely any vestiges remain. The name seems sometimes to denote the whole of the buildings near the Queen’s Tower and Hall; in that part of the castle there existed a chapel called the chapel of the Gloriette. It appears that the Gloriette tower at Corfe was newly built by Richard II., about 1379.[3] Amongst the conventual buildings also of Christ Church, Canterbury, there was a “New Lodgyng, juxta antiquam Priorum mansionem vocatam Le Gloriet.” Professor Willis informs us that it was the upper chamber at the north end of the range of buildings, known as the “Privata Camera,” or “Prior’s Mansion.”[4] A building on an elevated spot in the palace grounds at Schönbrunn, commanding an extensive view of Vienna, is called “La Gloriette.”

The third great division of the castle, also very peculiar, is the barbican, or tête-de-pont, which is placed on the counterscarp of the lake, here reduced to 50 feet in width, and at the outer end of the bridge which carries the road of approach into the great island. It is composed of three parts, which were isolated by three wet ditches, of which one is the river Len, and having three entrances, one from each wing of the dam, and one, the main one, central, from the south. Each approach had its drawbridge, gateway, and portcullis, and the three met upon a small central plot, open towards the fortress, and whence sprung the bridge leading up to the great gateway. This is the bridge that was broken down by the great horses and heavy wagons of Aymer de Valence. It is of two arches, the inner of which was open between the parapets for the pit of the drawbridge. One division of the barbican contains the mill, a strongly-fortified building, in advance of which were the barriers which are known to have covered the southern approach, and to have been standing in 1385. They were no doubt mainly of timber, though there are traces of foundations in masonry. This triple composition of a barbican has not been elsewhere observed. The object of its lateral gates was the defence of the dam, which might otherwise have been mined and cut through. Also those who came either from the east or the west could only have reached the south gate by a wide detour, for the causeway along the dam was defended on the outside as well as the inside by water, the lake to the south-east being of large area, and known as the “stagnum exterius,” while, to the south-west, was a deep watercourse and marsh formed by the Len.

The late Mr. Wykeham Martin, whose investigations of his hereditary fortress were a labour of love, seems to have established firmly, on sound critical grounds, the date of its several parts. He shows the high probability of its occupation by at least a Saxon lord, and the changes it has undergone from the Crevecœurs, Leyburns, and the Plantagenet and Tudor monarchs, who, from Edward I. to Edward VI., held it in possession.

Like many Saxon strongholds, Leeds is thought to date from the ninth century. It was held, probably by a Norman arrangement, by castle-guard tenure under Dover. To Bishop Odo, who obtained it at the Conquest, is attributed some Norman work in the church, but the earliest masonry in the castle, probably represented by the curious vaulted cellar, is thought to be the work of Robert de Crevecœur, who founded Leeds Priory in 1119, and afterwards removed three canons into the chapel of his castle. A later Robert shared in the defeat of Lewes, and was in consequence obliged to yield up Leeds in exchange with Roger de Leyburn, a powerful Kentish baron, father of that William whose unscrupulous boldness is well described in the Roll of Caerlaverock, which designates him as “A valiant man, without ‘but’ or ‘if.’”

Out of the disputes between the dispossessed and the dispossessor Edward seems to have established a title by the strong hand. He gave to the fief the character of a royal manor, was a frequent visitor at the castle, and appears to have completely remodelled the fortress of the Crevecœurs, giving it the aspect which in many points it presents at this day. By Edward it was settled upon the queen, part of whose funeral charges were incurred here in 1291. Here also the king founded a chantry in the castle chapel for her soul’s health, and it was about this time that he caused the bath to be constructed.

Upon Edward’s second marriage Leeds was again settled upon his queen, and for several reigns this continued with some exceptions to be the practice. It was also much used for the reception of visitors of distinction who rested here on their way from Dover to London.

In 1321 the king’s defences were put upon their trial. The castle seems to have passed by an exchange to Bartholomew de Badlesmere, a great lord, who in 1321 was away in the North plotting with other barons the fall of Despenser, while his wife and children remained in the castle, the Constable being a certain Walter Colepeper.

One night in midsummer, Queen Isabella, with a large retinue, presented herself at the gates demanding hospitality. The Constable, dreading her designs, boldly refused it. “Nor queen, nor any other, should enter without his lord’s order.” The “She-wolf of France” ordered an instant attack, in which several of her people were killed, whose skeletons, bearing marks of violence, have recently been discovered before the barbican. The attack failed, and her Grace had to lodge as best she might outside. Of course, this event had its consequences. The king proclaimed a levy en masse through four counties and raised besides the “posse comitatus” of Kent. The muster place was Leeds Castle, the day the 23rd of October. Thither at the appointed time came the king and his brother and a large force, the command of which was given to Aymer de Valence, who pressed the siege vigorously. Badlesmere attempted a diversion, also by the display of a force, much inferior, however, in numbers, at Kingston, where he was on the 28th of October. All attempts at a negotiation between Badlesmere and the king failed. The castle held out till the 1st of November, when this, its only known siege, ended in a surrender, apparently to the king in person. The brave Constable and twelve others were hanged, and Lady Badlesmere and her family committed to the Tower. It was thought that the execution of Badlesmere himself, when taken afterwards at Boroughbridge, was partly in revenge for his having, in writing, sanctioned Colepeper’s resistance.

Edward, having thus recovered the castle, was frequently there, his last visit being on the 15th of June, 1326.

Edward III. settled the castle upon his queen, and it was placed with other royal buildings under the surveyorship of William of Wykeham, who in 1359 seems to have laid out £16. 6s. 8d. upon it, of which sum £5 went to replace glass windows blown in by a hurricane, 24s. to repair Aymer de Valence’s injuries to the bridge, and 70s. was spent upon the old chapel. In 1367 occurs a curious charge for habergeons, basnets, and other harness for a body of archers, for materials for making armour, and for the carriage of two beds from Leeds to Canterbury for the use of the Count of Flanders, and of six to Leeds from Sittingbourne. The castle cannot boast of any attentions from Edward III. in person.

Leeds formed a part of the settlement of Anne of Bohemia, the queen of Richard II., who was himself much here. A list of the military stores of the place in 1385 is preserved, and includes the following curious items relating to the defences of the great gate or barbican:—“Duas portas nudas vocatas portes colys, et viginti pikes cum viginti platis de ferro, quatuordecem platas de ferro longas, viij platas de ferro curtas, centum sexaginta et quinque clavos de ferro pro eisdem portis dictis portes colys novo ferrando, unum circulum ferreum pro barreris juxta molendinum, unum magnum crowe, unum parvum crowe de ferro, unum magnum slegge, unum parvum slegge, unam magnam cathenam, unam parvam cathenam, sex forcipes, unum vertinuel, sex vyles, unum cable, unum nayltol,” etc. The “nudæ portæ” were, of course, open timber gratings upon which the iron was to be plated. The barriers near the mill show them to have been in advance of the centre entrance, and the crows, sledge hammers, chains, and files would all be necessary for the setting up of portcullis or drawbridge.

Ten years later, 15th of July, 1395, Richard from hence despatched the proxies who were to plight his troth to the French king’s daughter, and at the same time received a visit from Froissart, who was a great favourite, and accompanied the king to Eltham, where he was to discuss the French match with the magnates of the realm.

It was also at Leeds, and at the same time, that Richard signed two mandates, one for the expulsion of the Lollards from Oxford, and the other directing the University to sit in judgment upon the “Trialogus” of Wycliffe. Leeds was also one of the places to which Richard was carried after his deposition.

Henry IV. was at Leeds in 1401, but he seems to have granted the castle to Archbishop Arundel, who thence followed up Richard’s edicts against the new heresy, by citing in 1413 Sir John Oldcastle to appear before him in “the greater chapel of Leeds Castle,” where also, on his non-appearance, he passed upon him for contumacy the sentence which led to his martyrdom in the following reign.

In that reign, 4 Henry V., 1416, Leeds gave hospitality to the Emperor Sigismund on his return from London to Dover, when its resources must have been taxed to house the very splendid retinue provided for him. Two years later a royal but enforced visitor here was Joan, mother of the Duke of Brittany and stepmother to the king. Her stay at this time as a prisoner was short, but she resided here after her liberation in the next reign.

On the accession of Henry VI., Katherine of Valois was put in possession of Leeds, but Henry was there in 1436–1438, and ordered certain repairs to the roof of the keep. In 1441, Duchess Eleanor of Gloucester was tried for sorcery in the chapel by Archbishop Chichele.

Under Edward IV. Leeds ceased to be assigned to the queen consort, and remained vested in the king, but the castle was no longer visited by royalty, and seems to have been allowed to fall into decay until the reign of Henry VIII., under whom Sir Henry Guildford resided here, and seems to have made considerable alterations, especially in the keep.

Edward VI. alienated Leeds from the Crown in favour of Sir Anthony St. Leger about 1550, whose descendants, after 1618, sold it to Richard Smith of the Strangford ancestry, whose heir, after 1631, resold it to Thomas Colepeper of the family of the former constable. The Smith occupation was marked by the construction of a handsome Elizabethan mansion at the north end of the larger island. The Colepepers, created barons in 1644, farmed the castle, in 1655, to the Government for the safe keeping of about 600 French and Dutch prisoners, under the general charge of John Evelyn, who records himself to have “flowed the dry moat, made a new drawbridge, and brought spring water into the court of the castle to an old fountain.” The prisoners, however, much damaged the building and set fire to part of the keep.

The Colepeper heiress carried the estate to her husband Thomas, fifth Lord Fairfax. Robert, the seventh lord, repaired the dwelling-house and laid out the park, and here, in 1778, entertained George III. and his queen, the latest of very many royal visits to the place.

Lord Fairfax left the castle to his sister’s son, Dr. Martin, known later as Dr. Fairfax, who died 1800, and was succeeded by his brother, General Martin, on whose death, in 1821, it descended to Fiennes Wykeham, representative of the younger branch of the Wykehams of Swalcliff, where they held lands as early as the Domesday Survey, and whose son, Charles Wykeham Martin, was the author of the history of the castle.

LEICESTER CASTLE.

THE town of Leicester stands upon moderately high ground, and on its western side is divided by a narrow valley from the opposite elevations of Glenfield and Braunstone. This valley gives passage to the Soar, the river of the county, which, flowing northwards, meanders through the meadows of the Abbey of St. Mary de Pratis, and thus, before agriculture had drained these lands, securely covered the western and northern, and, to a certain extent, the southern fronts of this very ancient and once well-fortified place.

Down the western valley, but outside the stream, and along the edge of the higher ground, was carried the Fossway, which thus, on its passage from Bennones or High Cross towards Lincoln, left the old Roman “Ratæ Coritanorum,” known to us as Leicester, about a furlong to its east.

Whether Ratæ be an original Roman, or a Latinised British name, is uncertain. Ratcliffe and Ratby occur in the district, and at the latter is a large camp of doubtful origin. Upon the language to which “Rat” belongs, depends the question of the British origin of the town.

Ratæ, if not founded, was occupied and fortified, by the Romans. The line of the wall, on the usual rectangular plan, has been traced upon the north, south, and east sides, the western defence being formed by the river, and both city and suburb are fruitful in pavements and other Roman remains. There is, however, some doubt as to whether the wall actually reached the water at the south-west angle. If, as is supposed, though upon very insufficient evidence, the fragment of Roman masonry known as the Jewry wall was really a part of the town wall, it follows that the wall was present on the west side, and there was a space between that defence and the river, and that the castle, which occupies the south-west angle, was outside the town.

Ratæ, under the name of Leicester, was also a town of great importance among the Saxons, and was nearly central in the kingdom of Mercia. It is mentioned in a Saxon charter of 819, and is said to have given the title of earl to Leofric, A.D. 716, to Algar in 838, and to other Algars and other Leofrics, and to Leofwin, the Saxon line ending with Earl Edwin, who was slain in 1071. The town, during the Danish interregnum, was one of the five burghs; and the castle, like those of Tamworth and Tutbury, is said to have been either founded or restored by Æthelflæd in 913–4, though for this solid evidence is wanting. Nevertheless, that Saxon Leicester was the seat of a very important earldom is very certain, and the residence of the lords was most probably the castle.

The town and castle were placed by the Conqueror in charge of Hugh de Grentmaisnil, lord of the neighbouring Honour and castle of Hinkley, where also is a fine mound; and whose son Yvo was vice-comes of the county under Henry I. The actual property of the Grentmaisnils, in Leicester, was one-fourth of the town; but it does not appear how this and much more of the other parts were acquired by Robert de Bellemont, Earl of Mellent, who became Earl of Leicester, and died 1118, in possession of the castle and Honour. “Juxta et infra castellum,” which may conveniently be rendered, “outside, but just beneath the castle wall,” was a collegiate church, of Saxon foundation, dedicated to St. Mary. This Robert was probably the builder, between 1106 and 1118, of the castle, including the hall, the chapel, and a tower upon the mound.

Robert Bossu, the second earl, took the part of Henry I. He strengthened and enlarged the castle. He was the founder of St. Mary de Pratis, outside the town; and, to endow this, he diminished the ecclesiastical staff, and diverted some of the lands from his father’s foundation by the castle. He died 1167.

Robert Blanchmains, his son, the third earl, married Petronilla, the heiress of the Grentmaisnils, his predecessor at Leicester, and with her obtained Hinkley, Groby (where also is a mound), and other possessions. He is reputed to have enlarged and strengthened the castle, and his constable, Anketel Mallory, held it against Henry II. until he surrendered it by the earl’s command. Also Mallory surrendered, on the same day, the castles of Groby and Mountsorrell. Both castle and town were taken, the town wall was demolished, and it is said that the part between the north and east gates was never rebuilt.

Robert Fitzparnell, the fourth earl, died childless in 1204, when Leicester Castle, and in 1206 the earldom, came to Simon de Montford, who had married Amicia, his sister and co-heir. Upon the death at Evesham of their son Simon in 1264, and his attainder, the earldom and castle were granted to Edmond, second son of Henry III., Earl of Leicester and Lancaster, and the castle has since descended with the Lancaster property, and is still a part of the duchy of that name.

Henry, Earl of Lancaster and Leicester, founded the Hospital of the Newark contiguous to the castle in 1322, and the works were completed by Henry, his son, Duke of Lancaster, in 1354. The hospital contained four acres. It reached the river, and covered the castle on the south side, and at this time one approach to the castle is across the Newark, through its handsome gatehouse.

The earls and dukes of Lancaster must have restored the castle, as they resided here very frequently, and with their usual display. When John of Gaunt granted certain privileges to the city in 1376, he reserved the castle and its mill, and the rents and services of the castle court, and its office of porter. In the castle he entertained Richard II. and his queen with great splendour in 1390.

In 1414, when Henry V. held a Parliament in the hall of the Grey Friars, he resided at the castle, and it was in the great hall of the castle that was held the Parliament of 1425–6, the Commons meeting in an apartment below it, which, however, could scarcely be the case literally, as the hall is on the ground level. It is just possible that the modern brick vaults and cells constructed under the floors of the hall for the purposes of police may replace an older substructure, into which opened the existing cellar.

Henry VI. was here in 1426, and in 1444 the castle and Honour were included in his marriage settlement. In 1450 a third Parliament was held at Leicester, but whether in the castle hall is not recorded. Edward IV. was here in 1463 and 1464, but from this period the castle seems to have been neglected, and to have fallen into great decay.

Leland, who visited Leicester about 1512, says,—“The castelle stonding nere the west bridge is at this tyme a thing of small estimation, and there is no apparaunce other [either] of high waulles or dykes. So that I think that the lodgings that now be there were made sins the tyme of the Barons’ war in Henry III. tyme, and great likelyhood there is that the castelle was much defaced in Henry II. tyme, when the waulles of Liercester were defacid.” (Itin., i., p. 16.)

Speed gives a rough perspective view of the castle and town, which, however, is very indistinct as regards the former. In 1633 Mr. Herrick, of Beaumanor, was directed by the king to remove the ruinous parts and sell their material; to repair the castle house, which contained the records of the Honour of Lancaster, and to preserve the vaults and stairs leading to it, for the use of the keep of the castle. Upon this an inquisition was taken in 1633–4, and the value recorded of the materials, “excepting the Sessions Hall and the vault under the old castle, and the stairs leading to it.” This inquisition gives several details, chiefly of parts now removed; and mentions as to be repaired “John of Groat’s kitchen, divers outhouses belonging to the Great Sessions Hall, and the ruinous pieces at the south end of the same hall; also the south gate, and the wall from this gate to the Soar, which divides the castle from the Newark; also a wall next the porch of the church.” By “keep” is no doubt meant the hall. The south gate and wall to the Soar remain, as does a wall next the (south) porch of the church.

In the civil wars, the castle was held for the king. It then fell to the Parliament; was retaken by the king in 1645, and finally yielded to the Parliament after Naseby. In the struggles the south gate was probably reduced to its present ruined condition.

In 1781, Mr. Rogers Ruding had a lease of the premises from the duchy, which specifies the south gate evidently that remaining towards the Newark, the castle house, several tenements, the mount, and the appendages to the castle, and stipulates for the holding of sessions in the great hall.

The castle stands at the south-western angle of the town, upon ground close to, and about 20 feet above, the right bank of the Soar, the three channels of which unite below the castle. The nearest of these streams is the artificial leat which supplied the castle mill, and does still supply its modern representative. From the line of the castle wall the ground slopes rapidly, and terminates in a strip of level land that forms the margin of the mill leat, therein closely resembling the river front of Taunton Castle on the Tone.

The castle seems to have been composed of a mound on its south-west quarter; a hall and other buildings on the west or river front; the church of St. Mary de Castro opposite to the hall; and on the east side a gatehouse between the church and the mound; another gatehouse close north of the church, and a wall which runs east of the church, and forms a part of the eastern boundary of its churchyard. There is also the mill which, though modern, covers the ancient site.

The area within which these remains are included is known as “The Castle View.” This evidently represents the precinct of the Norman, and probably of the Saxon castle, and has been preserved as a distinct and, in part, extra-parochial district, vested in the duchy of Lancaster. The Castle View is nearly square, and may include four or possibly five acres. In 1861 it was returned as “The Liberty of the Castle View,” and contained 29 houses and 131 persons. The boundaries are the line of the ancient circumscribing ditch, or nearly so. On the south they divide the castle from the Newark, just including the mound. On the east they take the line from the present south gatehouse, by the old wall, and thence by the edge of the road down to the mill, including the house and garden attached to the Sessions House. The ditch is everywhere filled up, but in the garden north of the Hall the line of the wall is marked by a step of from 8 to 10 feet.

This line includes St. Mary’s, which was once the collegiate church or chapel of the castle. If it be that the castle was enlarged by Robert Bossu, it is probable that the older defence just excluded the church, and took the line of the present upper gatehouse, cutting off the churchyard and church, and placing the latter “juxta et infra” the castle wall. St. Mary’s was made parochial in 1400, the rest of the View remaining extra parochial, and it is not impossible that this was a restoration to the church of its ecclesiastical position before it was included within the Norman military precinct.

The mound, though broad, is at present less lofty than is usual in the more important Saxon castles, having been lowered 40 years ago by 12 or 15 feet. It is now about 30 feet high and 100 feet diameter upon its circular top, which is quite flat, without a trace of old building upon it. It has now no ditch, and is connected with no ancient wall; but, though probably within the ancient enceinte, it may, as at Warwick and Tamworth, have actually formed a part of it. The original well still remains in the mound and is in use.

The present hall was a part of the castle proper. It is an oblong structure, like Oakham and Winchester, composed of a nave and two narrow aisles. The nave lies north and south, and is about 60 feet by 25 feet, having gables at either end, and an open high-pitched roof. Since 1633, and perhaps earlier, it has been used for judicial purposes, and divided into three parts,—a civil and criminal court, and between them an entrance lobby, and above it a grand-jury room. To enlarge the courts, the old oaken posts or piers, with carved Norman caps, have been removed, the east aisle rebuilt or cased, and the west aisle walled off for retiring-room and passages. Its older parts also are concealed by panelling and partition-walls. The original south wall of the nave remains. In it are two round-headed windows, resting upon a string-course, or set-off in the wall, with a plain chamfered moulding. The windows are small and plain, and the recesses have but little splay. These are flanked by two slender detached octagonal shafts, possibly replacing cylindrical ones, with Norman capitals, and the head of each recess is surrounded by a single bold band of chevron moulding. There is a third and small window above, near the apex of the gable, with a recess of about 2 feet opening, all quite plain. Below is a small Norman door, but apparently a very recent insertion. It may, however, represent a way into the kitchen, which was at this end.

The opposite or north end wall, forming the side of the civil court, appears also to be old, but is so plastered and pointed as to be inscrutable from the inside. It contains a large round-headed window, probably a modern insertion. From the outside the base of the wall seems original, and there is the jamb of a window in end of the east aisle.

The wall of the west aisle, towards the river, is original, and is flanked at each end by a buttress, probably of Decorated date. In drawings of the last century this building is shown as an aisle, but it has been raised, and now forms a judge’s retiring-room behind each court, and a staircase between them. In the basement are offices. This aisle contains one original window near the south end, flat pointed, with plain jambs, and a head adorned by a single chevron band. The jambs have been renewed in brick.

The hall-floor is on the ground level, but it has been largely excavated, and now contains a number of cells and vaulted passages to them beneath the court. These vaults show nothing ancient.

Until recently there were some small inferior buildings at the south end of the court. These are now replaced by a barristers’ room. The kitchen stood here till 1715, when it was removed. Beneath the site of the kitchen is a very fine vault, perhaps 40 feet long by 15 feet wide, the west wall of which is the original outer wall of the castle. The vault is of excellent ashlar, slightly four-centred and evidently Perpendicular work. At the north end is a door, now walled up, steps beyond which led up to the hall. At the other end is also a door. This was evidently a cellar and a fine one.

In the garden north of the hall, no doubt, stood the principal apartments of the old castle. Here was the Castle House of the seventeenth century. Norman rectangular keep there was certainly none.

The gatehouse towards the Newark opens from the castle, its front being outwards. It is small, having a portal passage, a lodge, and a turnpike stair, and on the upper floor, now a ruin, a portcullis chamber, and two other rooms. Its arches are four-centred. It has the broad hollow moulding of the Perpendicular period, and a square portcullis groove behind the outer entrance. Within was a door, opening inwards. The central part of the portal was boarded over. The structure is good, very early Perpendicular, the work, no doubt, of an Earl of Lancaster.

The upper or north gatehouse is framed of timber, and probably of Tudor date. It stands close north of the west end of the church, with which it was, until recently, connected by certain timber houses, used by the prebendaries. These have been pulled down.

Parts of the church are Norman, and the north aisle seems of the date of the hall of the castle, and, therefore, a part of the work of Robert de Bellomont. There is a small door in the west wall of the aisle, that may very well have opened from the base court of the castle.

In this court, in front of the hall, is a small knoll, in which were recently found two skeletons, headless, the head placed on the breast of each. This was, therefore, the place of execution in front of the hall of trial.

Should the Courts of the county of Leicester ever be lodged in a more central or more convenient building, it is to be hoped that the castle hall will be divested of its unseemly additions, and restored to its original dimension and pattern, when, probably, some correct information would be discovered as to the vaults and foundations of the buildings of the eleventh century.

Leicester Castle, mutilated as it is, is yet a very fine specimen of a Norman fortress on an earlier site. The latter represented by the mound, the former by the hall and chapel, form together a good example of the Norman practice of placing the castle proper on the level ground, and treating the mound as a part of the external defences.

Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon Mr. William Napier Reeve, the deputy constable of the castle, for his care of the hall intrusted to his charge. The bâton used on all solemn occasions by the Constable or by himself is part of one of the original Norman posts that supported the roof of the nave; and the post, from its great size, must certainly have been an old tree when the castle was built, and therefore have been in growth when the mound, the work of Æthelflæd, was thrown up.

LEYBOURNE CASTLE, KENT.

THIS castle, the lords of which played a considerable part in the earlier troubles of the thirteenth century, when two of the name were summoned as barons, stands by the road-side near its parish church of the same name, between Snodland and West Malling, in Kent, and at no great distance from the ancient Neville seat of Birling.

The building, judging from its present remains, is scarcely in keeping with the wealth of its late lords, nor does it appear ever to have been more extensive. Part of the walls may be of Norman date, but the general aspect is of the date of Henry III., and the gateway may be of Edward III.

The most perfect portion is the gateway, a pointed and ribbed arch, which opens between two bold drum towers, placed unusually close together. Above the portal is a slit or chase, about 3 feet wide and 6 inches deep, pointing downwards and outwards, and much resembling a large post-office opening. The narrow dimensions of this opening, its straight sides, and thickness of the wall, would prevent its being used for the casting down of projectiles, and even as a horizontal loop its range would be very limited. It may possibly have been intended for the pouring down of water, supposing the outer gate to have been assailed by fire.

A little in advance of this wall, on either side of the doorway, is a portcullis groove, rectangular instead of a half round as usual; and these grooves, instead of ascending as a chase or slit in the entrance vault, placing the grate when lifted nearly out of sight, ascend in front of the door to about double its height, so that the grating would always be entirely visible, whether down or up. The chains by which it hung, also visible, ascended through a machicolation at the rampart level, formed by throwing a flat segmental arch from tower to tower, parallel to and about 18 inches in advance of the gateway and wall above it. This arrangement, seen at Neath and elsewhere, enabled stones or heavy projectiles to be dropped with but little risk to those employing them.

In advance of the portcullis grooves, two lateral holes at the level of the door-cill show where the pivots of the drawbridge rested. Bridge pit and moat are now filled up. The rear parts of the gatehouse and entrance vault have been destroyed.

The irregular outline of the castle may be traced, and two detached groups of ruins, with a couple of drum towers, remain; but there is nothing of any special interest excepting the gateway and its defences.

LINCOLN CASTLE.

WHEN “the devil looked over Lincoln” he is said to have smiled at man’s costly devotion. But if the smile of the arch-enemy of mankind was, as must be supposed, in derision of man’s attempts at progress, the occasion of it was singularly ill-chosen, for in the whole of Britain it would be difficult to find a tract for the well-being of which man has exerted himself so much and so successfully. Two thousand years ago, that broad but not unbroken plain which extends from the Wash to the Humber, from the Trent and the uplands of Nottingham and Derby to the German Ocean was composed of arid heath and moorish fen, contributing little to the material support of man, and probably nothing to his moral culture. Beasts of chase, fish, and water-fowl shared the territory with savage hordes, but little removed from the animals upon which they preyed. By slow degrees, by many generations of men, labouring through many centuries, great things have been achieved. The fen has been banked and drained, and the heath brought under culture, so that the whole expanse is now covered by green pastures and rich root crops, and year after year the autumnal sun is reflected from broad fields waving with golden grain.

Nor has the moral been behind the material progress. From the castled hill of Belvoir, to the rocks of Newark and Nottingham, and the crowned promontory of Lincoln, the land bristles with the works of man. The constructive taste and skill of many generations, and their deep religious feeling, are represented by a rich variety of ecclesiastical architecture, from the rude and primitive tower of Barton to the lordly spires of Louth and Newark, and the glorious lanthorn of Boston; churches and schools, mansion-houses and granges, “tower and village, dome and farm,” are unmistakable evidences of peace, prosperity, and civilisation. There, too, are to be seen, not sparingly scattered, the sunken arch and ruined aisle, the ivy-covered remains and richly-carved fragments of many religious houses, making pleasant the study of hoar antiquity, and reminding us that there was a time when each was a centre of gospel truth, and of an early and beneficial civilisation, the abode of men who did good work in their day, and founded by those who—

“Loved the Church so well, and gave so largely to it,

They thought it should have canopied their bones

Till Domesday.”

Something of all this is visible to mere mortal ken, and far more to him who adds to the material prospect a knowledge of the past and the distant. It is true that the vision thus beheld from the guarded mount of Lincoln is not equal to that far wider and more noble outlook from a more exalted pinnacle, upon the description of which Milton has poured forth in one glittering roll the full stream of his learning, illuminated by the fire of his genius, but it is nevertheless one in which the student of the past may well take delight.

Lincoln itself is thickly strewed with the footsteps of the past. The Briton, the Roman, the Saxon, the Dane, the Englishman, and the Norman, have successively been lords of the soil, and each has left his mark, either in material traces or in a nomenclature still less liable to decay. A great historian, our chief authority also in matters of topography, has pronounced the earthworks to the north of the city to be of British origin. If this be so, they must be the work of those Romanised Britons who attempted, though in vain, to hold their country against the Picts and Scots, and the Scandinavian hordes from beyond the German Ocean, and who, while so striving, showed some considerable acquaintance with the Roman rules of castrametation, though unequal, it would seem, to the works in masonry for which that people were so celebrated. The conclusion that these earthworks are, if not Roman, early post-Roman British, rests upon the fact that their outline is rectangular, and that the enclosure is bisected, nearly equally, by the Roman way.

Of the earlier Britons, those dispossessed by the Romans, the traces are slight indeed, and probably confined to a few nearly effaced intrenchments, and to the roots of such proper names as “Durnomagus,” “Segelocum,” “Banovallum,” on the Bane river, and “Lindum,” names which probably, like “Eboracum” and “Londinum,” represent an earlier appellation. The mound at Riseholme, if sepulchral, may, of course, be of any age; but the district, possessing but few of those grand features which are usually the earliest to receive their names and the latest to lose them, has retained no very obvious traces of its primal inhabitants.

Of their successors, the remains are of a very different character. The imperial mistress of the world left everywhere traces of her sway not easily to be obliterated. Her measures of war were also calculated—“pacis imponere morem.” From the station at Lindum great roads radiated in several directions, and preserved that facility of communication which civilised conquerors usually seek to establish.

In the modern city of Lincoln, the Roman Lindum is well represented. The Roman walls, 10 feet to 12 feet thick, and 20 feet to 25 feet high, included a nearly rectangular area, within which was the high ground of the upper city. Of this enclosure, the northern or upper end was cut off by a cross wall, and formed the military quarter, 385 yards north and south, by an average of 517 yards east and west. Of the four gates of the station, that to the north, upon the Ermine Street, still bears a name which must have descended from the time when it was first erected, and when it probably superseded an earlier structure, and is called the New-port. Of the opposite, or south gate, only one jamb remains. Of the east gate, the place is known, and a few of its very peculiar stones are built into the adjacent enclosures. The west gate was laid open a few years ago, but, as the arch gave way under the process, it was removed. Of the walls which connected these gates, some fragments remain. One lies west and another east of the north gate, and there is a considerable mass south of the north-east angle, capping which, the foundations of a round tower, of 9 feet interior diameter, have been discovered. There is also a fragment of wall in the slope of what is called the observatory mound, a little west of the remains of the south gate. The exterior ditch, also more or less Roman, is in parts very perfect, broad and deep along the north front, and, though narrower, deep and well preserved about the north-east angle. There is also, within the area, the side wall and part of the front of a considerable building, known, probably from its mediæval use, as the Mint. The exterior Roman walls are laid upon the natural ground, although the earth is heaped up against their inner face as a ramp or terrace.