Chapter X: Part 10

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.

INTERIOR Of CHAPEL.

_Mʳˢ. Traherne delᵗ._ _J. H. Le Keux sc._]

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._]

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.

MAIN ENTRANCE.

GATEWAY.

_H. Smyth del._ _J. H. Le Keux. sc._]

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.

ELEVATION OF KEEP FROM INNER WARD.

Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.]

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.