Chapter XII: Of the Edwardian or Concentric Castles (12)

As the principal object was to command the regular approach from the eastward, the defences were prolonged in this direction. Outside, and on the counterscarp of the moat of the outer court, and 6 feet from the edge of the south precipice, there are traces of a _tower_, about 30 feet diameter, with what may have been a sort of buttress on its southern side, extending to the precipice. Opposite, on its northern side, and at its junction with a lower curtain, is what appears to have been a well-stair, or the foundation of a distinct turret. There is no moat to the east of the tower, but the ground falls in a natural scarp.

This _Lower Curtain_, indicated, like the towers, by a mound of earth only, sweeps round, so as to cover the counterscarp of the outer moat, and ends in the _roadway tower_, about 40 feet diameter, the foundations of which are very distinct, and which must have completely commanded the approach, at a point much in advance of, and below, the outer causeway and the eastern tower. The regular approach, it is clear, lay from the east, and between the precipitous height crowned by the old Cymric camp and the level platform of the castle, and, approaching it by the side least strongly defended by nature, would, at 150 yards from the body of the place, be flanked by the fire of the lower tower, then of the lower curtain, and then of the roadway tower. Supposing these silenced, and the outer causeway reached, the besieger came directly below the east tower, and a part of its adjacent curtains; and as he crossed the outer court, and reached the second causeway, he would be opposed by a fire from the east and south towers, their curtain, and the gateway tower.

Even if the place were surprised and entered, each of the three towers, and the platform of the hall, admitted of being defended for a few hours, until aid had been signalled for, and sent from Cardiff. No doubt, before brave men, all defences fail; and the Welsh, who certainly were not wanting in courage, did, according to tradition, more than once take this castle, probably by surprise and escalade; nevertheless, it was a very strong fortress, both by nature and art, and must have been a sore thorn in the side of the mountaineers of Glamorgan.

The present condition of each part of the castle has already been described. It may be added, generally, that the whole is very thickly grown over with brushwood and weeds, so much so that it is difficult to make out the details of the plan of the building. Although no ornaments remain, yet it is clear from the general plan, and from the doorways, that no part of the castle is in the Norman style. It is, probably, Early English, and may very well be of the reign of Henry III., and probably a little earlier than Caerphilly.

Here and there, especially in the outer court, are some handsome Scotch firs, and a number of venerable beeches, the peculiar green of whose foliage marks, from a great distance, the line of the old approach. These, of course, with the wood clothing the hill side, and the ivy upon the walls and towers, should be left untouched; but it is much to be wished that the castle itself, and the works of the Cymric camp above, were cleared of timber and underwood, and a little care taken to encourage fair greensward in their stead.

This castle has descended with the rest of the De Clare estates, and is now the property of the Marquis of Bute.

There are various traditions concerning it, but a great deficiency of recorded information. Being the key of the upper country, it must have witnessed many an inburst of the native Welsh, from the Norman Conquest to the days of Owen Glendower, who is supposed to have descended by this pass when he burned the episcopal palace of Llandaff, and ravaged Cardiff.

Since this account was written the castle has been cleared of rubbish, and completely restored, so as to be again habitable. A well has been discovered in one of the towers, and cleared out, as has also been a very strong dungeon. The restoration is very complete indeed, in excellent taste, and in strict accordance with what has been ascertained of the original structure.

CASTLE RISING, NORFOLK.

Castle Rising, probably so called from its position on ground that is high or rising compared with the low levels of the district, stands about two miles from the estuary of the Wash upon its eastern or Norfolk shore. Half a mile north of the village a large tract of low land is traversed by the Babingley river, and it is evident that before this part of the country was drained and reclaimed by tillage, the approaches to the village upon at least three sides, the north, west and east, must have been almost impracticable. These considerations probably governed those who chose Rising as a residence. The soil is light and sandy, like that of the Dunes of Holland, but contains just enough of vegetable mould to support a growth of turf. The trees are chiefly ash and willow of very large size, and upon the slopes of the castle are some noble and very ancient thorns. The richness of the vegetation in and about the village is in favourable contrast with the dreary and barren heath land by which it is surrounded.

The earthworks are on a large scale, and probably the remains of a great English residence, the centre of a large estate; circumstances which no doubt led to the adaptation of this position for the Norman fortress whence the village has derived the prefix to its more ancient name.

The central and principal division of the fortress is composed of an irregular oval area about 67 yards east and west by 80 yards north and south, contained within a broad and lofty bank, which, in its turn, is surrounded by a very formidable ditch. Outside this ditch, covering the east face, is a subsidiary work, also within a bank and ditch. It is in form nearly a parallelogram, but its sides are somewhat irregularly convex, and its angles rounded. Its north end is about 60 yards and its south 70 yards broad, and its length of front 90 yards; but the ends are inclined, so that where it abuts upon the main ditch it is about 80 yards.

This is balanced by a corresponding earthwork on the west point of the central work. This earthwork is about 100 yards north and south by 30 yards broad, and is also contained within a bank and ditch. The ditches of these earthworks do not actually run into the main ditch. A narrow causeway of earth is left between them. The whole exterior girth of the ditch is reported to be 10,803 yards. The central earthwork is about 30 feet high from the inclosed area, and outside is about 60 feet above the bottom of the ditch. It is about 15 feet wide at the top, and, being composed of light soil, has a considerable slope. The banks of the outworks are not so high, being about 20 feet inside and 40 feet outside. Those to the east are, however, higher, and at the points nearly as high as those of the centre. The westward work is altogether of a lighter character, though still of great strength. The works cover about 13 acres. They are wholly artificial.

The main entrance was from the north, along the edge of the counterscarp of the main ditch, and it thus entered the eastern outwork. Near its centre the road crossed the ditch by a bridge, and entered the central ward by a notch in its eastern bank. The western outwork seems to have been entered from the central ward by steps up and down the bank, connected probably with a light bridge over the ditch. It may be that it was only used for cattle.

It has been thought that these earthworks are of somewhat different dates, and that the central is the oldest. The circle, or irregular oval, with a bank and ditch, with or without a mound, is a not uncommon form of earthwork in England, and is probably the work of the English in the seventh and eighth centuries. That is to say, where the work is on a low site, and the form not governed, as in British works, by the outline of the ground. These English enclosures rarely stand alone. Usually there were one or more appendages outside, and abutting upon the main ditch, as at Laughton and Kilpeck, probably additions, but not much later than the main work. They were usually also at no great distance from the parish church. From the tendency of the outworks at Castle Rising to the rectangular form, they have been supposed, by good authority, to be Roman, and the Romans had no doubt a settlement at Brancaster, about fifteen miles to the north. But Roman works seldom are composed of earthworks of this magnitude, the Roman custom, where great security was needed, having been to build a wall. Also, if the outworks only be Roman, the central work must be British, which is scarcely consistent with what is known of the defences of that people. Most probably the central is an English work, and the outworks either of the same date, or early additions by the same people. But, be the principal origin what it may, it is clear that here, as at Norwich, Clare, Hedingham, and Castle Acre, the Norman invader, having grasped the estate of the English lord, proceeded, as in Normandy, to combine the new fashion of castle-building with the old defences.

The keep, the chapel, and the gatehouse, the only parts in early masonry of which anything now remains, were probably among the works earliest executed. The _Keep_ is a very noble example of the rectangular Norman type. Not that its area, still less its height, would place it in the first rank, but to considerable dimensions it adds a degree of ornament rarely bestowed upon military buildings, and though a ruin, its parts are unusually well preserved, and excellent both in materials and workmanship. Like Hedingham, it stands within, but not in the centre of, the inner ward. It almost touches the slope of the western bank, and is about thirty yards from the gatehouse and the eastern bank. Between the north and south banks it is nearly midway. It is in plan rectangular, measuring at the base 75 feet east and west, by 64 feet north and south, and, to the rampart walk, 50 feet high. Each face is flanked by two pilasters, 7 feet broad by 6 inches projection. These meet at, but do not cover, the angle, and the nook so formed is occupied by a shaft, not quite detached, and similar shafts take the place of the other angles of each flanking pilaster. Intermediate, on the north and south faces, are three pilasters of 3 feet breadth, and there is one on the east face, all dying into the parapets. The west face is of a complex character. Upon it are two large recesses, 9 feet broad and 2 feet deep, of which one is arched over the near parapet level. There are, besides, four recesses, each of 4 feet opening, by 2 feet 6 inches deep, arched over a little below the first-floor level. All these five recesses have their soffits pierced by the vents of garderobes. The wall has only one slight set-off near its summit. The flanking pilasters have none, the others mostly two, but very high up. There was a square turret at each angle, now nearly gone. At the base of these turrets, the nook-shafts ceased, and the turret angle was solid. The parapet is gone. Considerably below its base were round holes, apparently to take off the water. The walls at the base are, the north and east sides, 7 feet, the south 6 feet 6 inches, and the west 6 feet thick, and this thickness is preserved to the top, or very nearly so. The east face is covered by the forebuilding, here very perfect. This prolongs the north front by 20 feet, and the south by 9 feet. The keep has a basement at the ground level, and a first floor. At two points, however, the upper floor is subdivided so as to give a partial second floor. Part of the forebuilding also, as at Rochester, has a second floor. The entrance is in the south end of the building, in which a straight stair rises to the main door of the keep, which is at the first-floor level. There are well-staircases, 7 feet diameter, in the north-east and south-west angles of the keep, ascending by seventy-six steps from the base to the summit, and communicating with the first floor. It is, however, to be observed that the base of the well-stair is about 4 feet above the ground-level, so that it is entered by a stair of five steps, projecting into the rooms. This seems to have been the case at Dover, before the floor was raised. It is difficult to discover the reason for it.

The keep is divided into a north and south chamber by a cross-wall, 6 feet thick, which ascends to the roof. The two chambers are 58 feet long; the north 25 feet, and the south 16 feet broad. The _north chamber_ was again divided, equally, longways, by an arcade of four lofty arches, of 11 feet span, springing from corbels in the wall, and from three square piers, 3 feet broad by 4 feet. The spandrel walls of this arcade supported the joists of the floor above. The three eastern arches and their two piers are gone. The western pier gives off two lateral arches north and south, dividing the end bay into two square spaces, which are vaulted and groined and carry upper chambers, shortening by so much the upper great room or hall. This lower room is aired rather than lighted by three loops in the north and two in the west wall, placed high up and in splayed recesses, round-headed. There is also in the north wall a small lobby at the foot of the well-stair, from which there seems to have been a passage rising 3 feet into a mural chamber 8 feet above the ground. In the west end of the great chamber an interior door at the ground-level has been broken. It has a pointed head, and is an insertion. Probably it represents a loop. A round-headed doorway of 4 feet aperture opens in a segmental recess in the cross-wall into the south chamber. The door opened towards the north, and was barred on that side. The recess is groined. The well is in the floor of the north chamber, between two of the piers, under the second arch from the east. It is 4 feet diameter, with a pipe of ashlar rising about 3 feet above the ground-level.

The _south chamber_ was crossed by three plain broad arches, springing from corbels high up in the wall, and carrying the joists of the floor above. The eastern bay, however, is vaulted and groined, and supports the chapel. The other two arches are broken away. This chamber has four loops to the south and one to the west. Its well-stair also has a small lobby in the wall, 5 feet above the floor. In the east end of the south wall is a door ascending four steps, which opens into the staircase of the forebuilding. Although this door, in its present state, appears not to be original, it may be really so. There is one in a somewhat similar position at Dover.

The first floor is also divided into two main chambers by the cross-wall, and each is shortened by the rooms cut off, from one at the east, and from the other at the west, end. The great chambers are, the north, 47 feet by 23 feet, and the south, 42 feet by 15 feet. The north room was the _hall_. It was entered from the vestibule of the forebuilding by a handsome main door, of 6 feet opening, near the north end of the east wall. Close to it, in the same wall, is a second round-headed door, which descends by ten steps upon the staircase of the forebuilding. This door is evidently an insertion in the place of a loop. A third and small door, segmental, opens into a narrow mural passage leading over the middle gate of the fore-building, and by a branch into the chapel. In the cross-wall, a door opens into the south chamber, and near it is a deep round-headed recess, 5 feet from the floor, perhaps a cupboard, and again a recess, 8 feet broad and 5 feet deep, at the floor-level, possibly for a brazier of charcoal, but without a flue. Near the east end of this same wall is a small window, a Decorated insertion, and near it a segmental door, both opening into the ante-chapel. The north wall is pierced by a gallery, 3 feet 6 inches broad, of five bays, between each of which is a plain arch, reducing the way to 2 feet 9 inches. Two of these bays have coupled exterior windows, one pair square-headed, the other round-headed and trefoiled, and on each cusp a disc, as in the recess at Coningsburgh, producing a heavy effect. The fifth bay has a loop. Four of these bays open by large arches, at the floor-level, into the great chamber, of which this gallery thus formed a part. The eastern bay communicates with the well-stair. It is groined, and its side towards the chamber seems to have been partially closed, and there are three small shafts which seem to have opened into the mural chamber below. They cannot be for garderobes, and their use is obscure. This bay has a very handsome window, of two lights, coupled, and the shaft common to the two is worked in a rather remarkable fret or knot. These windows had shutters. There is no trace of glass. The gallery, which is 62 feet long, has a loop at its west end, and a rude opening, probably once a window, of three small lights, near that end in the north wall. The north-west aisle is occupied by a cylindrical shaft, 5 feet 6 inches diameter, which commences with the floor-level, and is open like a fireplace. At the roof-level it is gathered in with brick, and ascends as a chimney-shaft. In its sides are four loops, in two tiers, besides six small round-headed niches higher up, probably for the escape of smoke and steam. At this end the gallery opens into a lofty vaulted chamber, in the east wall of which an opening has been broken into the hall, and in the south wall is a curious low segmental recess, of 10 feet span and 3 feet rise, partly walled up, and in the upfilling some small niches. The great height of this chamber, the vaulted roof, the shaft and steam-holes at one corner, the niches round it, and its position next to the hall, point it out as the kitchen.

In the west end of the hall a door leads into a room corresponding with the kitchen, to the south of it. This is 8 feet by 12 feet, and has three niches in its west and two in its east wall. In its north and south walls are arches of relief, like that of the flat recess in the kitchen. The reason for these three arches, turned in three parallel walls, is not apparent. Two of these might serve to direct the weight of the wall above from the vault below upon the piers, but the third is in the cross-wall, which is solid. The south room had a timber roof, and was probably a sort of still-room, for light cooking or pastry. Between these two rooms a door from the hall opens into an =∟=-shaped vaulted passage, ending in a mural vault, 10 feet by 5 feet, in the west wall of which are two loops and two double garderobes.

The roof of the hall was of timber, resting on six pairs of principals, of which the corbels that carried the hammer-beams remain. Some are carved as male or female heads, and one represents an animal. The pitch of the gable is marked upon the east wall, across which, at the level of the corbels, is a bold band of chevron work, and upon this rests a window of 2 feet 6 inches opening, which gave light from an upper mural gallery into the roof. In this gable a second opening, 7 feet wide, has been made into the same gallery. This larger window cuts the chevron band, descending somewhat below it. It was evidently an insertion to give more light to the hall, and is opened on one side instead of in the place of the small window, in order that it may be clear of the forebuilding.

The _south chamber_ was entered from the hall by a doorway 5 feet broad, placed in a large recess 5 feet deep. In the south wall are two round-headed windows, trefoiled, with discs on the cusps, and between them a fireplace and chimney-shaft have been inserted, probably during the Tudor period. There is also a sort of cupboard in this wall, and a door opening into a lobby 7 feet by 3 feet 4 inches, which opens upon the south-west well-stair. In the east wall is a small door, a Decorated insertion, opening into the chapel. In the north wall, besides the door from the hall, are a cupboard and a small segmental door, opening into a mural garderobe in the west wall. In the west end are two small doors opening into mural chambers, each containing a garderobe lighted by a loop. It will thus be seen that all the garderobes are upon the west front, and there seem to have been others in the battlements above them. The south chamber had a lofty open roof like that of the hall, but high up in its west gable a window has been opened as though to suit an added interior gallery or balcony at the level of the room above the chapel at the opposite end. This window, however, is the only indication of such an insertion, nor are there any other windows or any traces of floor-joists, only below the window are some joist-holes. This window is of two lights, lancet-shaped and trefoiled. In the central spandrel is a peculiar ornament composed of four loops, which outside are replaced by a small circle. This window stands in a full-centred recess which may be original, but the window itself is an insertion.

Walled off at the east end of the chamber is the _ante-chapel_, 9 feet by 13 feet, and vaulted. It is placed partly in the cross-wall and partly in the south chamber. It has a door and window into the hall, of which the latter seems an insertion. Also are seen a door and two loops, of hour-glass section, in the opposite or south wall opening into the chapel. In the east wall is a door, whence a narrow passage leads upon the roof of the forebuilding over the middle gate.

The _chapel_, which could be entered from the hall either through the ante-chapel or round it by a mural passage, has but one original door, which is in its north wall. A second door has been opened, in the early English period, in the west wall. The chapel is 13 feet east and west by 14 feet, and has a flat timber ceiling. The southern side has a deep recess, let into the wall of the keep, and in it are the remains of a triple window, probably formed of three loops. In the two jambs of this arch are side recesses. High up in the north wall are the two hour-glass loops from the ante-chapel. The chapel has been much injured; but there are remains of a handsome arcade with detached shafts upon the lower half of the west and north walls, and in the south is what seems to have been a coupled window. In the east wall is a handsome arch of 7 feet 6 inches span, with shafts in front of the piers with carved caps. This opens into a sort of chancel, 5 feet deep by 9 feet wide, with nook-shafts. It is vaulted, groined, and ribbed. There is no boss, but about the intersection of the ribs is some rude carving, from which a lamp seems to have been suspended. There is a window to the east, now broken down, but which was probably composed of three coupled lights, and in the south wall is a recess with a loop. An attempt has been made, apparently in the Tudor period, to insert a fireplace in the north wall.

From the first floor the south-west well-stair leads to the roof only; but the north-east stair, in its way to the roof, has two side openings, of which the first, 2 feet 4 inches wide, leads by a narrow passage up fourteen steps towards the ramparts of the vestibule tower. This is now blocked by the inserted vault, with which that building is covered in. Eight steps above this lower opening a second leads into a gallery in the east wall. Above this opening, seventeen more steps lead to the ramparts of the keep, which are 22 feet above the level of the first floor. The eastern gallery is vaulted, and 32 feet long. From one side of it a door enters the second floor of the forebuilding tower, and beyond it, also in the east or outer side, is a loop. In the west side are two openings, already described, which open into the gable end of the hall roof. At its south end this gallery makes a turn at right angles, and ends in a small bedchamber, 18 feet by 14 feet, which is over the chapel, and has a window to the south. As the parapets are gone, and the ramparts not accessible, the roof above the kitchen cannot be examined; but there does not appear to have been any second floor in that quarter.

The _forebuilding_ is a very perfect and a very good example of this peculiar appendage to a Norman keep. It is composed of three parts,—a lower staircase, an upper staircase, and a vestibule tower. At its south end is the outer gateway, at the ground-level, in line with the southern face of the keep. The portal is full-centred, and flanked by two columns beneath a plain abacus, from which springs the arch with a bold roll-moulding. There is no portcullis. The door opened inwards, and was strongly barred. The wall is 6 feet thick, and the vaulted passage through it, inside the doorway, is segmental and groined. Within, the passage is 8 feet wide, and contains the lower staircase of fifteen steps. In the inner face of the wall, over the doorway, is a large, deep recess, probably to lighten the weight on the entrance arch. On the right or outer wall, high up, is a loop, and on the left, at the fourth step, a large door, already mentioned, opens into the southern chamber. It seems to be of late Decorated date, and probably represents an original loop, or it may be a doorway. At the head of this first staircase is the middle or second doorway, of 5 feet opening, also full-centred, with flanking columns. The head, also, has a bold roll-moulding. The wall in which it is placed is 4 feet thick, and the landing 5 feet deep. The portal is recessed, and in the soffit in front of it is an opening, 2 feet broad by 6 inches deep, a shaft or _meurtrière_ from the top of the wall, where is a walk. This seems to have had high parapets, and a loop looking down the staircase. The opening was for the defence of the portal. This door also was barred. Within it rises the second staircase, in the same line, of nineteen steps, 8 feet wide, and ascending to the upper and inner doorway, the door of the vestibule. On the right is a second loop, on the left a clumsy doorway ascending to the hall, already mentioned, and evidently an insertion. The staircase is solid, containing no vault or chamber below. It was roofed with timber, at two levels, of a low pitch, divided by the wall of the middle gate, and leaning against the keep wall.

The doorway at the stairhead much resembles those below. It is set in a deep recess, has flanking shafts, and a roll-moulding round the head. There is no portcullis. The doorway opens into a chamber 14 feet by 15 feet, which is the vestibule to the main entrance of the keep, and at the level of its first floor. It has two windows to the north, two to the east, and to the south the staircase door and a window, which rakes the exterior of the outer wall of the staircase. These windows seem to have been of 12-inch opening, but have been enlarged. They are placed in deep recesses, as in an arcade. In the west wall is the great entrance—a noble archway—deeply recessed, and flanked with four shafts on either side. The exterior arch is 10 feet span, the doorway itself 6 feet. The plinths are unusually high, being 3 feet. The caps are fluted and cushioned. The outer arch is full-centred, the actual doorway segmental. The arch bands are worked in chevron and other mouldings. Close north of the great entrance a plain narrow door opens into the adjacent well-stair, but this is clearly an enlarged loop, which was intended to light the staircase. The original covering of this room, like its present floor, was of timber, but this has been replaced by an ill-executed vault of the early Decorated period. It is arranged in two bays, the dividing rib springing from pilasters let into the north and south walls. Each bay is crossed diagonally by two ribs, springing from corbels of half-octagon figure. The vaulting obscures and spoils the old Norman details of this very handsome chamber.

Below the vestibule is the ground floor, probably a prison, a mere pit, 14 feet by 16 feet, and 21 feet high, aired by two loops very high up in the east wall, and possibly by a third in the south wall. In the west wall, the wall of the keep, is a lofty recess beneath the keep entrance, within which a hole has been broken. At present this chamber is entered by a door at the ground-level in the south wall, but this is certainly an insertion. The original entrance must have been by a trap and ladder from the vestibule floor.

The second floor of the vestibule tower was 16 feet square, and had four round-headed windows of 2 feet opening, now converted into shoulder-headed windows. There are two in the north, two in the east, and one in the south faces, each in a plain flat-sided recess, 3 feet broad. In the west wall, where is the entrance from the mural gallery, is a recess, 12 feet broad and 2 feet deep, above the grand entrance of the keep. Its angle is replaced by a nook-shaft, the particulars of which show that though the walls and the position of the windows are original, the floor-level has been raised, and a fireplace inserted in the south wall. Like the vestibule, this room has had its flat timber roof replaced by a high-pitched vault in two bays, groined and ribbed, and with a dividing rib. All the ribs spring from semi-octagonal piers inserted into the old walls. This vault appears outside in the form of a high-pitched roof. It is of the age of that below.

The material of this keep is, in substance, flint rubble, coursed, but it is faced largely with ashlar; and far more attention has been paid to ornamentation than is usual with military buildings. The forebuilding is faced wholly with ashlar, and richly ornamented. Over the outer portal are broad bands of hatched and chevron work, filling up an arcade of two arches, above which is a circle, with a centre carved as a head. The south-eastern angle is occupied by a nook-shaft. The east front, the wall of the staircase, is even more richly wrought. Here are two arcades at different levels, corresponding to the level of each staircase roof, and above is a line of circles, with centres carved as heads. There is a notion that the mural passage over the middle doorway ended in a postern high up in this wall, whence a ladder could be dropped; but there seems no ground for this improbable opinion. Had there been such a postern, the two loops on the stair would have been arranged for its defence; whereas they are too high up to be used, save for light and air. It is curious that the forebuilding should be so much more ornate outside than the keep; whereas at Dover and Rochester, where also it contained a chapel, its outside is remarkably plain. The subordinate staircases, that is, those at the two angles, are clumsily arranged, and there is no arrangement by means of a landing to suit the steps to the level of the floors supplied. No doubt the main stair was that chiefly in use. The keep bears a close resemblance to that of Norwich, especially in the position of its kitchen, north gallery, and chapel. The forebuilding also is on the same plan. The arches generally are full-centred, though a few of the doorways are segmental. Where the mural galleries are at all expanded in breadth, and in the door recesses of the cross-wall and of the outer entrance, the vaulting is lightly groined; and this, which occurs also in the Tower of London and at Rochester, produces a good effect, and takes off from the sameness of the barrel-vault. In the kitchen are piled up a heap of fragments of carved stones found in or about the castle. They are in all the styles—Norman, early English, Decorated, and a few Perpendicular. Probably some came from the chapel of St. Nicholas; many of them can scarcely have belonged to the keep. If Castle Rising was built by the architect of Norwich keep, it must be early Norman, for Norwich was besieged 1076, at the revolt of Earl Guader, and Harrod supposes the present keep to have been then standing; but the ornamentation of Castle Rising looks much later, and on the whole there is no reason to refuse assent to the tradition which attributes it to William d’Albini, who died 1176. As usual, there are no subterranean chambers. Though the three doorways of the forebuilding had not, as at Dover, each a tower, each had a distinct defence, the outer from the battlement over the portal, the middle also from a battlement pierced by a shaft, and communicating with the keep, and the inner as a part of the vestibule tower.

The _gatehouse_ stands near the centre of the east side of the keep ward, in the earth bank which has been cut away to allow it to be built. It is 325 yards from the north-east angle of the keep, and of the same age. It is of the usual Norman pattern, a rectangular tower pierced by a passage, with an arch of 12 feet opening at each end, set in the walls, of which the outer is 6 feet, and the inner 5 feet thick. The arches are quite plain, without rebate or chamfer. The passage between the two is also 12 feet wide and 13 feet long, and had a flat timber roof, the floor of the chamber above, now removed. The outer arch has a portcullis groove, 3½ inches broad by 4½ inches deep, and square. In the north wall are two shallow recesses, of 4 feet span by 1 foot 10 inches deep. In the south wall is one similar recess, and a door of 2 feet 6 inches opening, which seems to have led into a well-stair in the south-west angle of the building. In front of the outer gateway the approach, 15 feet wide, lies between two walls, of which the southern still projects 15 feet. They probably protected the drawbridge, and between them was the bridge-pit. Beyond these walls is the great ditch of the place, here about 80 feet broad and 30 feet deep, crossed by a bridge in masonry, of two arches, of which the inner one is walled up. The open arch seems of Tudor date, but the piers look original. The outer end of the bridge rests upon the counterscarp of the ditch, about the centre of the eastern ward.

The gatehouse stood on the ground level, and, therefore, lower than the curtain of the _enceinte_, which was built on the crest of the earth bank. The original curtain, if one there was, as is probable, is entirely gone, and has been replaced by a brick wall of the age of Henry VII., also nearly all gone. Of this wall there remain, on the south side of the gate, about 12 yards. It is 2 feet thick, but within was lined by an arcade 3 feet thick, which carried the rampart walk, as at Southampton. These arches are 8 feet span, and four-centred, with piers 3 feet broad, and within each arch or recess was a loop. There remain three arches and a half. Besides this there is a fragment of curtain south-west of the keep, and traces of foundations along the bank.

In the central ward, a few yards north of the keep, is a well, and further north are the remains of the great chapel. This was composed of a nave, choir or presbytery, and apse. The nave is about 12 feet broad and 25 feet long. The arch into the presbytery was 5 feet broad, and across it is the base of a stone screen with a door of 3 feet. There was a south door and a north window. The font stood in the centre, near the west end. The presbytery was 8 feet long by 9 feet broad, with a loop to the south, and an arch of 6 feet opening into the apse. The apse was rounded, and 8 feet broad by 9 feet long, and had loops splayed internally to the north and east, and probably to the south. It is said that the very early Norman font, now in the parish church, came from hence. The masonry of what remains of this building is of a rude character, and it is probably older than the keep. This is supposed to be the chapel of St. Nicholas mentioned in the records. At present its remains are niched into the bank, and it has the appearance of being the older of the two, though this can scarcely be the case. The sand of the bank is liable to be shifted by the wind, and as late as the commencement of the present century the central ward was much encumbered with it, and the keep more or less buried, so that this is probably the cause of the half-buried condition of the ruins of the chapel.

The keep, chapel, and gatehouse are the only remains of Norman masonry at present seen above ground. The inner ward must have contained domestic buildings on a large scale, fit for the reception of royalty, but the foundations which remain on the south of the keep seem very late, probably of the Tudor period. They are said to be those of the constable’s lodgings. There is no trace of masonry of any kind in the two outer wards.

The parish church, standing in the village of Castle Rising, is a fine example of the late Norman style. Its west front, especially, is very rich, and it has a good central tower. The chancel is rather later. The font is very massive. Its square bowl is covered with carvings of an early character, and it stands upon a plain cylinder, properly copied from the original support. The bowl is said to have come from the castle.

Rising, or rather Snettisham, in which manor it is contained, was a part of the estate of Edwyn, a Dane, and a follower of Canute. So says Dugdale. In Domesday it is entered as a “bervite” of the manor of Snettisham. “_Huic manerio jacet una bervita Risinga._” It had belonged to Archbishop Stigand, and, on his forfeiture, William gave it to Bishop Odo, then Earl of Kent. After Odo’s fall, Rufus granted it to William d’Albini, the royal “pincerna,” or butler, son of Roger, and whose younger brother Nigel was ancestor of the great house of Mowbray. The son of William was “William with the Strong Hand,” the celebrated Earl of Arundel, and Lord of Buckenham, in Norfolk, who married Adeliza of Louvaine, the Dowager Queen of Henry I., and is the reputed builder of the keep before 1176.

Their son, a third William, died 1190, leaving a fourth William, who died 1221, and whose eldest son, a fifth William, died childless in 1224, when Rising came to his brother Hugh, who left four sisters, co-heirs, of whom Cecily had Rising, and married Roger, Lord Montalt. Their eldest son, John Montalt, died childless, and was followed by his brother Robert, who died 3 Edward I., leaving Roger, who died childless 25 Edward I., and Robert, who succeeded. This Robert de Montalt was a very considerable person, both as a warrior and a statesman. He is locally celebrated for the winning of a very important law-suit against the corporation of Lynn for the tolls of that port and market in the reign of Edward II. Having no issue, he, in 1 Edward III., sold the reversion of Castle Rising to the Crown, for the benefit of Queen Isabella, the “She-Wolf of France,” with remainder to John of Eltham, the king’s brother. In 1331 Isabella came into possession, and here lived in retirement to within a year of her death, which occurred at Hertford in 1358. Edward, with his queen, here visited his mother, in the fourteenth year of his reign.

John of Eltham having died childless, the castle came to the Black Prince, and became part of the duchy of Cornwall, and so descended to Richard II., who exchanged it with John, Duke of Bretagne, who held it in 1397, and occasionally resided there. It was afterwards recovered by the Crown, and granted to Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, from whom it passed to Edward IV., who again annexed it to the duchy, but the castle was probably then in a ruinous state. In the time of Henry VII. it seems to have been repaired. The roof of the keep was then covered with tiles, with great gutters of lead. In the reign of Henry VIII. it was again in decay, and the keep and gatehouse were roofless, and it would seem that the constable’s lodging was the only habitable part. Finally, the king exchanged the castle manor and chase of Rising with Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, and in 1693 it came to another Thomas Howard, ancestor of the Earls of Suffolk and Berks, one of whose descendants still holds it. As late as the 31st of Elizabeth there was a curtain-wall upon the bank which was in danger from the burrowing of the conies, and there was also a gatehouse and a bridge 90 yards long and 7 yards broad. Under the castle, by the tenure of castle-guard, were held the manors of Hunstanton, Reydon, and the Wottons.

CHÂTEAU-GAILLARD, ON THE SEINE.

Château-Gaillard, though a French castle, is here introduced as being the work of an English king, and a very remarkable example of the military architecture of the close of the twelfth century.

Château-Gaillard, the “Saucy Castle” of Cœur-de-Lion, the work of one year of his brief reign, and the enduring monument of his skill as a military engineer, is in its position and details one of the most remarkable, and in its history one of the most interesting of the castles of Normandy. Although a ruin, enough remains to enable the antiquary to recover all its leading particulars. These particulars, both in plan and elevation, are so peculiar that experience derived from other buildings throws but an uncertain light upon their age; but of this guide, usually so important, they are independent, from the somewhat uncommon fact that the fortress is wholly of one date, and that date is on record. Moreover, within a few years of its construction, whilst its defences were new and perfect, with a numerous garrison and a castellan, one of the best soldiers of the Anglo-Norman baronage, it was besieged by the whole disposable force of the most powerful monarch of his day; and the particulars of the siege have been recorded by a contemporary historian with a minuteness which leaves little for the imagination to supply, and which, by the help of the place and works, but little changed, enables us to obtain a very clear comprehension of the manner in which great fortresses were attacked and defended at the commencement of the thirteenth century.

Château-Gaillard crowns the almost precipitous head of a bold and narrow promontory of chalk, which, isolated on either hand by a deep valley, stands out from the broad table-land of Le Vexin, at a height of 300 feet above the deep and rapid Seine, which washes and has for ages threatened to undermine its base.

The course of the Seine through Normandy, from below the conflux of the Epte to the sea, is one rapid succession of bold and graceful curves, the concavities of which, bluff and precipitous, are attacked by the advancing stream, in strong contrast to the opposite banks, which, deposited and encircled by it, are low and fertile, and studded with ancient villages, churches, and manor-houses, rising through a mantle of rich, smiling verdure.

At the bottom of one of the grandest of these reaches, on the margin of a vast amphitheatre, stands the saucy boast of Cœur-de-Lion. Right and left are the bold bluffs of the chalk range, masked with turf, green as that of Sussex or Kent, varied by the occasional protrusion of a cliff of chalk, and relieved by a band of vegetation covering up the foot of the steep, and intervening between the high ground and the river. In front, beyond the innumerable islands of the Seine, is the tongue of rich low land known as the peninsula of Bernieres, a village, which, with Toeni and Venables—names familiar in Anglo-Norman history—is seen in the foreground. The valley on the right, or east, and immediately below the castle, is that of the Gambon, upon which are the towns of Great and Little Andelys; the former the birthplace—or within a mile of the birthplace—of Nicholas Poussin and Brunel; the latter half-a-mile lower down, upon the junction of the stream with the Seine, and under the immediate command of the castle, and contemporary with its foundation.

Château-Gaillard is composed of two principal parts, the castle proper and the outwork: the one covering the whole head of the promontory, the other occupying the only level ground, being the root of the ridge, from which the fortress could be attacked on equal terms.

The castle proper is composed of a keep; an inner ward, of the _enceinte_ of which the keep forms a part, and which has its own ditch; and an outer ward, within which the inner ward is placed, the two uniting, or nearly so, at the north end. This division of the fortress is therefore concentric. The outwork, in advance of the ditch of the outer ward, has a ditch of its own, and presents its salient or strongest part towards the south.

The keep is a tower of which one half, in plan, is round, and the other projects into the ward as a right angle, or spur—a form of tower well known in French castles. It is 48 feet in diameter, or 55 feet taken at the spur. The walls are 11 feet thick, at the spur 18 feet, and the circular interior is 26 feet. At this time it is composed of a basement and a first floor; nor does there appear to have been a second below the ramparts. In the basement is one window towards the west, or exterior, and a rough aperture towards the east, or the inner ward. There are marks as though this had been a door of 4 feet 6 inches opening; but if so, it was doubtless not original. This keep is not likely to have had an entrance on the ground floor.

The first floor has two windows towards the west, and a door to the north. The windows being on the cliff side, and inaccessible, are moderately large. They are of two lights, flat-headed, beneath an equilateral arch. Their internal recesses are slightly pointed. The doorway, also flat-headed, occupies the space of a window-light. In the other space is a loop, commanding the approach. Both are beneath a round-headed arch, the tympanum being closed.

There are neither mural chambers nor a staircase within the keep. The floors and stairs were of wood. There is no fireplace, nor visible garderobe, and no well. The spur is solid.

The exterior is very peculiar. The lower two-thirds batters considerably all round, so as to add strength to the base, and cause a missile dropped from above to be projected outwards upon an assailant. About half-way up this slope there commences from corbels a series of buttresses, which expand laterally as they rise, but have vertical faces. They are, in fact, machicolations, but commencing low down; and, like ordinary machicolations, are connected by a series of arches, carrying the parapet, behind which was a passage for projectiles, as, for example, at Avignon. These exaggerated machicolations give a considerable increase of space to the top of the keep, but they are confined to its inner two-thirds, the outer side being sufficiently secure without them. As the upper part of the keep has been removed, the arches are gone, and only the buttresses remain. One of these defences overhung the entrance.

From a curious representation of the castle in stone in the church of Great Andelys, there is evidence that the keep was surmounted by a second and smaller tower within the rampart walk, and this again by another within that, rising like the tubes of a telescope. These probably were of timber.

A narrow flight of steps, commencing at the ward level, and carried up the outside of the keep, ascended, with two turns, to the entrance. Part of this narrow and dangerous staircase remains. There are also traces of a lean-to building on the east side of the keep, probably an addition.

The material of the keep is flint rubble, grouted in a copious bath of mortar, and faced inside and out with ashlar. The stones are about 1 foot 6 inches long by 6 inches high, and are a hard and durable variety of chalk, with occasional flints. The material is probably local. The workmanship, though plain and without ornament, is good. The joints are moderately open, enough to admit an ordinary lead-pencil.

The inner ward is something of the shape of the human ear, the keep standing in the west or hollow side, and the lobe being to the north or north-east. This ward measures about 200 feet north and south by 100 feet east and west. Its _enceinte_ wall is one of the curiosities of the castle. It is in girth about 500 feet. Of this the keep, a round tower, and an intermediate building, occupy about one-third on the north-west quarter, and the remaining two-thirds includes some plain wall, a gateway, and seventeen segmental buttresses of 9 feet in the chord, placed upon the curtain 3 feet apart. The wall, about 8 feet thick, is plain within. By means of this arrangement great strength was given to the wall, and a series of flanking defences provided on the only face on which the ground admitted of any attack being directed. This part of the wall was probably about 30 feet high, and stood upon a vertical scarp of about 20 feet more. The battlements are gone, so that it does not appear how the wall was crested. A wall similarly buttressed, and of rather earlier date, existed at the Castle of Cherbourg, and there is something a little like it at Caerphilly.

The keep has already been described. It stands in the line of this _enceinte_, on the west side, which it protects. Annexed to the keep, on the north side, and also a part of the _enceinte_, is a rectangular building, probably the lodging of the castellan. It is about 30 feet wide, and 40 feet long, having a basement excavated in the chalk rock. It is of two floors, with fireplaces and segmental arches, and has an appendage on the north, perhaps for offices. It has windows in the curtain looking over the cliff towards the river. Stairs from hence descend to the postern, and the keep stair lies between this building and the keep.