Chapter XXXI: Part 31

The great barbican is a very remarkable work, not unlike a similar defence at Castle Rising, which there, however, is confined to an earthwork, whereas here the defences are both in earthwork and masonry. The work is irregular in its shape, concave where it rests upon the counterscarp of the main ditch,—on its other faces convex. In depth, or from north to south, it measures about 56 yards; in breadth, 74 yards. It is defended by a ditch of moderate dimensions, which communicates with the main ditch at each end, but is scarce a quarter of its depth. The curtain wall is very irregular in outline, the west side being made up of about four straight pans of masonry, meeting at various angles. The front is a long straight wall, and the east side, also straight, meets it at a right angle. The curtain of this outwork is about 5 feet thick, and from 15 feet to 18 feet high. Upon it are four mural towers; three, drum-shaped, are 10 feet in internal diameter, with entrances at the ground floor from the court. In height they rise a story above the curtain. They are looped to the field, have timber floors, and their staircases seem to have been of timber. One tower is angular, and has evidently been the kitchen, part of the oven and the outline of the large fireplace being still visible.

The outer gatehouse is placed at the south-eastern corner of the barbican, terminating its wall and resting upon the counterscarp of the main ditch. It is of rude construction, composed of two solid masses or cheeks of wall, 46 feet long and 9 feet thick, rounded at the outer end. Most of the northern wall is gone, and with it the roof or vault of the entrance passage, and the details of the gateway. This sort of entrance between the high and long walls is found at Conisborough and Berkhampstead. The other or inner end of the barbican wall, at the south-west corner, ends abruptly, and probably descended a little way down the counterscarp of the main ditch, so as to prevent an entrance. In the wall is a recess 6 feet 4 inches broad and 3 feet deep, which may have been a public garderobe, similar to that in the wall of the middle ward of Corfe Castle.

The lesser barbican covers the south entrance, the way to which does not, however, appear to have lain across it. It is of earth only,—that is, has no walls, but is of great strength; in shape, and, indeed, in function, it is a lunette. Its diameter, in the direction from the gate outwards, is 20 yards, and its breadth 100 yards. It rests upon the counterscarp of the main ditch, here about 20 yards broad. It has, also, on its front and sides, a ditch of its own about 20 yards broad, and communicating with the main ditch. In parts this work seems to have been revetted. It was connected with the main work or body of the castle by a narrow bridge, which sprang from its eastern angle, and of which traces remain. There does not appear to have been any outer gatehouse at this end; probably the approach was by a boat across the ditch, or by a plank bridge upon trestles.

Besides the above-described works there is another and much larger, though less strong, earthwork, which covers the whole east face of the castle, as well as the flanks of its barbicans. It is about 30 yards broad, and outside the main ditch, on which it rests, and upon the ditches of the barbicans. It had also, towards the field, a ditch of its own, now converted into a hollow road. The approach to either gate of the castle, from the east, lay across this outwork, which was probably stoutly palisaded, and intended to give a moderately safe refuge to the peasantry and their cattle, during invasions from the Welsh.

It is evident from the general design, position, and capacity of this castle, that it was not intended, like Caerphilly, for the accommodation of a great military baron, nor like Morlais or Castell Coch for a mere military port. Its central part is nothing but a fortified area, like Framlingham, at which place, however, there seems to have been, as at St. Briavels, a keep. Here certainly there was none. It is and always was a mere shell, composed of a strong and lofty curtain, mural towers, and a gatehouse. There do not appear to have been any of the usual buildings contained within a large castle. The accommodation within the walls seems to have consisted in timber-sheds, resting on stone foundations, and built against the walls. In this way a very large number of soldiers might have been accommodated.

Moreover, the capacity for lodging a large body of troops was not confined to the inner ward. The outworks are also spacious and strong, and could contain a small army, or the _élite_, or perhaps the cavalry, of a large one, besides affording accommodation for a considerable herd and flock of cattle and sheep. Such a place would be secure against any ordinary inroad of the Welsh, and supported, as it would be, by the equally strong, though less capacious, castles of Grosmount and Skenfrith, not to mention Chepstow and Caerleon, which were not always in friendly hands, not only would the entrance of a Welsh army into Gwent be difficult, but its retreat, once within the line, would be almost impossible.

As to the age of White Castle, it is difficult to speak positively. The earthworks are not at all of an English, still less of a Welsh, character. Nor, as a general rule, did the Normans ever throw up earthworks on so immense a scale. The masonry is probably of the age of John, or, perhaps, even of that of Henry III., contemporary with Skenfrith, or perhaps a trifle later, and the earthworks may be of the same date. They are certainly designed to suit a castle in masonry, not the mere palisaded residence of a Mercian Thane. They do not at all resemble the earthworks connected with Offa’s Dyke, or those known to be the work of Æthelflæd or Eadweard. On the whole, it seems more probable that, looking to the extreme importance of the position, the early Norman invaders exceeded the usual character of their earthworks, and designed and executed those which are still seen.

The name White Castle,—in Welsh, “Castell Gwyn,”—is said to be derived from Gwyn ap Gwaethvoed, a brother of the reputed founder of Skenfrith, and one of the Welsh lords of this district. If so, he must have held it during the troubles preceding and subsequent to the death of Harold, but any works that he may have found or thrown up were probably effaced by those of the present castle. The castle was held, with those of Grosmount and Skenfrith, sometimes by the De Breose family, sometimes by the Crown, and, finally, by the Dukes of Lancaster. No doubt it shared in the general neglect of the Border castles; that is, of such as were not the seat of any baronial family. In the time of James I. it was a ruin, and had been so beyond the memory of man.

WHITTINGTON, SHROPSHIRE.

Among the baronial families which rose upon the ruins of the house of Montgomery, and wielded the fragments of that power, which, united in the hands of Earl Roger and Robert de Belesme, had proved so formidable, the lords of Clun, Oswaldestre, and Whittington, De Say, Fitz-Alan, and Fitz-Warine occupied, in the northern parts of the great earldom, and upon the borders of Wales, by much the chief place. De Say indeed, speedily, by an heiress, became absorbed in Fitz-Alan, and probably in the same convenient way, “Felix Austria nube,” the broad lands of Peverel, merged in Fitz-Warine, so that the lords of Oswaldestre and Whittington held about co-equal rule in the Marches, and were alike exposed alternately to the encroachments of their sovereign on the one hand, and to the fiery assaults of the Welsh on the other—dangers which probably prevented them from turning their arms against one another, so that they remained vigorous and warlike for above two centuries, although the battlements of their castles were plainly visible, the one from the other, and scarce two miles apart.

The position of Oswaldestre has already been described. Whittington lay about two miles to the north-east, and about four and a half miles within or to the east of Offa’s Dyke, while Watt’s Dyke extended between them. The site of Whittington was probably selected as the centre of a fertile estate, rather than for any very striking military advantages, for the position is low and marshy—a feature of which, however, the ancient engineer largely and judiciously availed himself. By whom or when the original fortress was founded is utterly unknown. Certainly long before its occupation by those Norman invaders, who identified it with their fame. As, like Shrewsbury, Clun, and Oswaldestre, its keep was placed upon a moated mound, its origin, like theirs, may probably be attributed to the reign of Edward the Elder, or the earlier part of the tenth century, and to the fierce Mercian Saxons, who, as early as the middle of the seventh century, seem to have established themselves along the Welsh border.

The central mound, which is the main feature of these and many ninth and tenth century fortresses, is here wholly artificial, about 30 feet in height, and about 150 feet by 100 feet diameter upon its rounded and table summit. At the foot of the mound is a ditch, from 40 feet to 60 feet in breadth, and beyond this are three elevated platforms, as was not unusual. Of these, the first lies towards the north and east, and is also moated. Across it lay the principal entrance from the outer road, and to the keep. On the west side is a second platform, also moated, and in strength rivalling the keep mound itself. The third platform, far superior to these in area, and also moated, is placed beyond them, towards the north-west.

The cluster of four islands, thus protected from the exterior and from each other, is covered to the south and west by three banks and three ditches, arranged concentrically, and including within their sweep about one-third of a great circle of eight hundred yards radius, within which figure, roughly triangular, is contained the castle. The defence upon the north and east was formed, not by banks and ditches, but by a broad expanse of what is still marshy ground, and must formerly have been an impassable morass. This tract was flooded by a small but rapid brook, which descends from the north-west, skirts the ends of the ditches of the castle, and supplied them also with water. At present the brook skirts the south edge of the old morass, and, running in front of the outer entrance, turns off to the south-east, probably again communicating with the ditches of the castle at their other or eastern end. The earthworks thus described, palisaded or even planted with a stout thorn hedge along the outer banks, would possess great strength. The ditches, probably, all contained water, and with the marsh would be only the more impassable were the water drained off and its area replaced by mud. What the Norman baron who obtained the estate found or supplied in the way of defences cannot now be ascertained. Of the masonry now remaining there is nothing which can be regarded as earlier than the reign of Henry III. This could scarcely have been the first masonry employed in the defences; and yet if walls and towers were built in the reigns of Henry II. and John, they would assuredly have been of a substantial and marked character, and would scarcely have been removed either by time or the hand of man in the lapse of a century or a century and a half.

The central mound has been scarped vertically, probably in the time of Henry III., and is included within a revetment wall of great strength, and about 30 feet high. This seems to have been surmounted by a parapet, and to have been reinforced by a number of flanking towers, of which one and a part of two others remain. The most perfect is cylindrical, about 30 feet in diameter, with walls 10 feet thick. Its base is occupied by a circular pit, probably a dungeon; and, if so, a gloomy and damp one, not having a single loop or air-hole. The floor is a foot or two above the bottom level of the ditch, and the platform of timber covering it, the floor of the first story, was on a level with the top of the mound. This stage had two loops, cruciform, with the lower limb very long, and terminating in a dovetail. They are placed in large recesses, low-pointed. There was an upper floor, of which only fragments remain. The pit was probably reached by a ladder, for a door, seen in its base to the east, is an insertion. The first-floor door is represented by a breach on the south-west side. This tower flanked the inner gateway of the keep. Of the corresponding tower, to the west, a portion only remains. It was of the same size and shape, and between the two was a space of 12 feet, occupied by the gateway and drawbridge, of which the pit remains.

A fragment of the base of a similar tower is seen at the south-west angle of the mound, and there were two, or perhaps three more, to the south-east and north-east; but this part of the work is concealed by loose earth and thick vegetation. Altogether, it appears that the keep was a mound, scarped or faced by a strong revetment wall, in a polygonal form, and capping each angle was a lofty round tower, rising out of the ditch. There is said to be a well in the south-west corner, but it is not now visible. From the inner gatehouse a bridge crossed the inner ditch, and landed upon the opposite bank, a few yards in the rear, or west of the outer gatehouse. This was a rectangular structure, having at its eastern or outer end two three-quarter drum towers, corresponding in size and workmanship with those flanking the inner, as do these the outer gateway. They are looped with cruciform and dove-tailed loops, and between them is a depressed pointed arch of plain pattern, chamfered, and with an exterior roll moulding. There is said to be an escutcheon in the wall above the gateway; but if so, it is concealed by ivy. Above is a corbel table, pierced with machicolations. The half of this gatehouse, south of the entrance passage, is tolerably perfect. It contains a chamber in the south wall, in which is a window of three lights, acutely pointed, under an acutely pointed head. The heads of the lights are cinquefoiled, and the apertures in the head quatrefoiled, the whole being late Decorated. This window is said to have been removed from the old parish church when “restored.” The northern half of the gatehouse is nearly all destroyed. There remains part of a curtain wall, passing southwards from the gatehouse to the edge of the ditch. A similar wall on the north side passes backwards along the edge of the ditch, and upon it are the remains of two round towers, connected with the gatehouse. What masonry remains is composed of large square blocks of red sandstone. The whole of the older part seems of the reign of Henry III., and is, no doubt, Fitz-Warine work. There is little or no trace of masonry on the several platforms or banks, save that on one bank to the south-west is a mark of a revetment wall which may or may not be old. Probably the masonry was confined to the keep and barbican-like platform occupied by the outer gatehouse, which would include an area for a very sufficient garrison. The banks, like those at Berkhampstead, are narrow, and would scarcely have carried a wall. The ditches were all filled from the brook, with which they communicated at each end.

The castle seems to have been laid out as a fancy garden a century or so ago, as there are traces of pebble-laid walks, and here and there modern brickwork. The church has been rebuilt early in the present century, and is altogether what might be expected. Recently some arches have been inserted in better taste in the Norman style. Mr. Lloyd, of Aston, is the lord of the manor and owner of the castle.

Whittington occurs in Domesday as “Wititone,” when Earl Roger de Montgomery held it, with seven and a half berewicks. King Edward had held it, but in his time it was waste. Ethelred, Edward’s father, had held it as three manors, which seem to have been Maesbury, Whittington, and Chirbury. In Earl Roger’s time it yielded £15. 15s. The berewicks are the later townships, comprising those of Welsh Frankton, Berghill, Daywell, Fernhill, Hindford, Henlle, Ebnall, and half of Old Marton. From Earl Roger, Whittington descended to Robert de Belesme, and, on his forfeiture, passed to Henry I., who seems to have granted it to William Peverel of Dover, whose nephew, William Peverel, held it against Stephen in 1138. The second Peverel died childless. The last one of his co-heirs married Guarin de Metz, sheriff of Salop, in 1083, but the king seems to have resumed possession of the castle, and to have granted it, in 1164, to Geoffrey de Vere, who married Isabel de Say of Clun. Next year, 1165, Henry resumed it, and granted it to Roger de Powys, a Welshman, who held office in South Wales. He was also custos of the Fitz-Alan Castle of “Dernio,” which Mr. Eyton takes to be Edeyrneon Castle, in Merioneth. In 1173 Roger was allowed aid for its repairs. Meredith, son of Roger, succeeded, and was followed by Meyric, Meredith’s brother, who died about 1200. He was called Meyric de Powys of Wales, and paid fifty marcs to King John to have Whittington and Overton. The Powys tenure was that of “king’s messenger in Wales.”

The Fitz-Warines seem always to have kept alive their claim from their ancestor Guarin, though Wrenoc, son of Meyric, succeeded, and paid eighty marcs to John for the villages and castles of Whittington and Overton, but Fulk Fitz-Warine seems to have obtained the castle from the Prince of Wales, which John at first resented, but finally, in 1204, confirmed to Fulk, as his “right and heritage,” when he paid 200 marcs and two “destriers,” and gained a judicial decision in his favour. 5 Henry III. he had licence to fortify the castle. The Fitz-Warines continued to hold the castle and manor until the failure of their elder male line, by the death of Fulk, the eleventh lord, in 1420. The Hospitallers held a manor in Whittington by the service of finding a chaplain for the chapel of the castle.

A little before 7 Henry III., Prince Llewelyn laid siege to the castle, and it sustained a severe attack from the Welsh on the Friday preceding Midsummer, 6 Henry IV. It appeared, from an inquiry dated 1 Henry V., that Richard II. had granted the castle, pending the minority of Fulk Fitz-Warine, to Yvion Fitz-Warine, who sold the wardship to Elizabeth, Lady Botreaux, a daughter of Sir Ralph d’Aubigny, and she held it when attacked. Probably she expected the attack to be repeated, for, on the Sunday after Midsummer, Thomas, Earl of Arundel, with soldiers from Oswaldestre, took charge. Elizabeth resigned her wardship to William de Clinton and Anne, his wife, and her daughter.

It is much to be desired that some person resident in this most interesting district would take up the subject of its earthworks, of which there are many of all ages, and some not set down in the Ordnance map. Many of the earthworks are so placed, with regard to Offa’s and Watt’s Dykes, as to show whether they are of earlier date or subsequent to those lines.

Among the most curious of these earthworks is one within the domain of Porkington, and which bears its ancient name of Brogyntyn. It is a regular circle, 50 yards or so across, contained within a bank of earth, about 4 feet to 6 feet high, outside of which is a ditch. The central area has been levelled for a bowling-green, but was, no doubt, always flat, and although a drift has been driven across and below the circle, and the ditch is planted and contains a modern walk, there is no reason to suppose that the character of the work has been materially altered. In Ireland it would be called a rath; but in Ireland it would not crown a rather steep eminence, but be placed in the midst of land that might readily be cultivated, which this could not. It is pretty clear that its figure is intentionally and not incidentally a circle, by no means often the case with Welsh camps.

WIGMORE, HEREFORDSHIRE.

The Castle of Wigmore, the head of the Hundred and Honour of that name, the chief seat of the great House of Mortimer, and the centre of that territorial power which made its lords so formidable to their sovereigns, and at last brought about their fall, stands in the north-west corner of the border shire of Hereford, and about eight miles on the English side of Offa’s Dyke. It is one of a chain of strongholds of which Clun, Hopton, and Brampton Bryan, lay to its immediate north, and Lingen and Lyons Hall to its south; while in its rear were posted Croft and Richard’s Castle, assuring to its garrison a speedy communication with the great central fortresses of Ludlow and Shrewsbury.

Most of these castles are of ancient date, and their earthworks testify to the intensity and permanence of the struggle maintained by the Welsh against the encroachments of the colony planted by the English in the latter part of the eighth century, and protected by the mighty work which still bears the name of Offa. These traces of the footsteps of the invader from beyond the Severn may still be observed along the frontier marches of the Principality from Cardiff to Hawarden, posted wherever the valleys laid open the interior of the country; nor along the whole line is there a grander or stronger military work than that for which Wigmore was celebrated long before the Normans crossed the Channel.

But the military virtues, if not triumphs, of the Welsh, identified with this district, ascend to a period before even the common ancestors of Englishmen and Normans appeared in Britain, and were exercised, though equally in vain, against even a greater foe. The great British hill camps of Coxwall-Knoll, Caer Caradoc, Brandon, and Croft-Ambrey, are thought to be evidences of the fierce struggles of the Britons against the Roman legions, though with how little ultimate success against either Roman or Englishman, the parallel lines of Watling-street and the Dyke still give silent but overpowering testimony.

Wigmore, an English creation, bears an English name. It is first mentioned in A.D. 921, when the Saxon Chronicle relates that King Eadweard, in the Rogation days, that is about the 7th of May, “commanded the burh at Wisingamere to be built.” That this command was very rapidly as well as very completely obeyed, is clear from the fact, stated by the same authority, that, in the same year, probably at the commencement of autumn, the Danes with a great army laid siege to the new burh, “beset it round about, and fought against it far in the day, and took the cattle about it; and, nevertheless, the men defended the burh who were therein, and then they (the Danes) abandoned the burh and went away.” A strong place which was constructed in five months could not have been a work in masonry, and scarcely in dry walling; but with a proper force of men the earthworks of the mound and inner area might have been executed in that time. But earthworks alone would not have held an army of active Danes at bay. The slopes must have been strengthened with palisades, so as to protect the garrison and enable them to keep the enemy at a moderate distance. Fire was scarcely practicable, as the wood employed must have been green. Moreover, however hard Edward’s soldiers may have worked, it is scarcely probable that they could have done more than throw up the burh proper, or mound, and the banks containing the smaller area attached to it, or have prepared palisades for a larger front, even if formed. We are told that when Queen Æthelflæd’s warriors, in A.D. 916, took Brecenanmere, or Brecknock, by storm, they captured there the king’s wife, with thirty-four persons. The Burh of Brecknock, therefore, held probably but a small garrison: and its mound and inner circle, the parts, no doubt, then defended, are not, in point of size, greater than those of Wigmore, for which certainly one hundred and fifty to two hundred men would form, for a short time, a sufficient garrison. It was, then, to the passive strength of this position, and to its narrow front, that they owed their safety. The cattle taken probably pastured at the foot of the mound and upper area, within what is now the lower ward of the Castle, then, no doubt, but slightly protected.

Of the Lords of Wigmore during the century following the Danish attack, nothing is recorded, but the castle is named in Domesday, Ralph de Mortimer then held Wighemore. Edward had held it. There was half a hyde there, within which was the castle. Ralph held the castle. William the Earl (of Hereford) made it on the waste land called Merestun, which Gunnent held in the time of King Edward. There were two hydes geldable. Ralph had in demesne two plough-lands and four serfs. The burh there paid seven pounds. No doubt the earlier castle had been destroyed, that is, the destructible part of it, and William Fitz Osbern had restored it. That earl had been active in subduing the Welsh insurrection of 1068–9, and in reward for the services of Ralph de Mortimer on this occasion, and in putting down Edric the Forester, he had the grant recorded in Domesday. Dugdale says that he actually besieged Edric in the castle and took it, and thus laid the foundation of the greatness of his family as Lords of the March; but though Ralph de Mortimer put down Edric, there is no evidence that the latter ever owned or held out Wigmore.

The possession of so strong a country, and at the same time of so exposed a frontier, was the secret of the Marcher independence. It was a dangerous power, often selfishly exercised, inasmuch as the lords combined frequently with the public enemy to gain their private ends against the sovereign. At all times, also, it stood in the way of an equal administration of justice, and much retarded the consolidation of the empire.

Happily for the greatness of England, Edward I. not only saw this, but on coming to the crown made that consolidation his earliest care. He saw that so long as Wales remained an insurrectionary power, so long would the Marchers be independent, and not to be relied upon as subjects; and with that bold sagacity which marked his character, he proceeded, not merely to put down insurrection as it rose, but to cut off its root. This he attained in 1276–1282, by the destruction of Llewelyn and the erection of the castles of Flint, Denbigh, Ruthin, Conway, Beaumaris, Caernarvon, and Harlech, and the restoration or recovery of those of Hawarden, Rhuddlan, Eulo, Chirk, Bere, Dinas Brân, the tower of Dolbadarn, and some others.

Next, as occasion served, he reduced the Marcher prerogatives, of which a very memorable instance occurred about 1292, when he took advantage of a petty war between De Clare and De Bohun, on the borders of Morganwg, to confiscate the estates of both, which he then regranted, withholding their most objectionable privileges. At the same time, by engaging in the Scottish wars, he both drew from Wales her best men and employed them in the service of England and opened to the Marchers a safe field for their military prowess.

Ralph, the first English Mortimer, died seized of above one hundred and thirty manors, of which sixty-nine lay in Hereford and Salop. Hugh, his son, held also the castles of Cleobury and Bridgenorth, and was active in opposition to Henry II., who laid siege at once to his three castles and so brought him to terms. He died in penitence as a canon of Wigmore abbey in 1185, having confirmed and much augmented his father’s grants thereto. He was buried before the high altar. Lord Hugh is reputed to have built the castles of Caermarthen, Mapudrith, and Cymaron, whichever those latter may be, in South Wales, and therefore may well have been the author of the Norman work still to be traced around the outer ward of Wigmore.

Roger, his son, seems to have found full employment in keeping down the Welsh. He died 1215, and was succeeded by his son Hugh.

Hugh, the fourth lord, adhered to King John. In his time Llewelyn attended a conference at Wigmore. He held for the king the castles of Stratton-dale and Holgot in Salop. He died from wounds received in a tournament, 1227; and was succeeded by his brother.

Ralph, fifth lord, flourished in the first half of the reign of Henry III., very turbulent on the Marches. He built, in Melenydd, the castles of Keventles and Knoclas, and to them added a social strength, marrying dark Gwladys, Llewelyn’s daughter, widow of Reginald de Braose. He died 1246.

Roger, his son, sixth lord, took a lead in Welsh affairs, but with no great success. Llewelyn took four of his castles, Melenydd, Keventles, Radnor, and another. He adhered to Henry, fought at Northampton, and had to flee from Lewes. He aided in the flight of Prince Edward from Hereford, brought him to Wigmore, had a command at Evesham, and for his services received the forfeited estates of the earldom of Oxford, opposing on that account the wise restoration proposed by the Dictum de Kenilworth. It was he who at that celebrated castle held the famous tournament, in honour of which the great gatehouse, it is thought, gained its name of Mortimer Tower. It has been supposed that he rebuilt the castle of Wigmore, but most of the work now seen seems of a rather later date. He died in 1282–3, and, said his epitaph at Wigmore—

Hunc dum viverat, vi Wallia tota timebat.

Edmund, seventh lord, eldest surviving son, succeeded, and commenced his career by attacking the Welsh at Builth, and receiving and transmitting Llewelyn’s head to the king. As some suspicion attached to his loyalty owing to his Welsh blood, he was particularly active in quelling the disturbances that followed on the death of the prince, and it was in putting down one of them in 1303–4, also at Builth, that he received a wound of which he soon after died at Wigmore.

Roger, eighth lord, styled Lord Mortimer of Wigmore, created Earl of March in 1328; served both in Ireland and Scotland. He was governor of Builth Castle, took Cardiff from Hugh le Despenser, and had a grant of Clun. He joined the party of Thomas of Lancaster against Edward II., had a narrow escape for his life while in prison, and in gratitude built St. Peter’s Chapel in the outer ward of Ludlow Castle. In 1322, after the battle of Boroughbridge, he fled to France, and the king seized on Wigmore, causing an inventory to be drawn up of its contents by John de Cherleton, the keeper. There were springholds, the artillery of the age, cross-bows, English and Oriental armour and weapons, a chess-board and a board for talles and draughts, five peacocks in the courtyard, and grain and cattle in quantity. On the earl’s return, followed his intimacy with the “she-wolf of France,” his acquisition of a prodigious number of manors in England, Wales, and Ireland; his seizure at Nottingham Castle, his attainder, and his execution by hanging in 1330. It seems probable that this lord rebuilt the castle, superseding the Norman work by that, in the Decorated style, which still remains.

Edmund, his son, did not recover the earldom. He died young, a few months after his father, in 1331, leaving a son, a minor.

Roger, tenth lord, who succeeded, had livery of Wigmore Castle before he came of age. He obtained the reversal of the attainder and the restoration of the earldom of March in 1352. He served Edward III. in France, recovered much of the Welsh property, including Ludlow and other estates coming by his grandmother, the heiress of Genville; and finally died 1360, being then commander of the English forces in Burgundy.

Edmund, eleventh lord and third Earl of March, his son, succeeded. His abilities were early turned to account by Edward, who employed him while under age in negotiating a peace with France, and afterwards as Lieutenant of Ireland. He married Philippa, heiress of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, and thus maintained the ancient honours and influence of his name. He died at Cork 1381.

Roger, his eldest son, became fourth Earl of March. He was by Richard II. made Lieutenant of Ireland, and by descent from the Duke of Clarence declared heir of the Crown. His service was entirely in Ireland, where he was slain. He was followed by Edmund, his son.

Edmund, fifth and last Earl of March, was regarded with excessive jealousy by Henry IV., as heir to the throne, and was kept, during his reign, under surveillance. Henry V., however, employed him in Normandy, and in the next reign he, like his immediate forefathers, became Lieutenant of Ireland. He died 1425, aged twenty-four years, and with him ended the male line of Mortimer of Wigmore.

Among the castles returned as held by him, at his death, in the Marches, were Blaenlevenny, Builth, Clifford, Dinas by Talgarth, Dolveren, Denbigh, Knoclas, Kevenles, Ludlow, Montgomery, Norton, Nerberth, Raidrey, Radnor, Usk, and Wigmore.

Richard, Duke of York, as his sister’s son, was heir of the vast estates of the Mortimers, and transmitted them to his son, Edward IV., when all became merged in the Crown. It was from the Honour of Wigmore that Edward raised most of the power that enabled him to defeat Owen Tudor at no great distance from the castle, and still nearer to Mortimer’s Cross. The castle remained in the Crown till granted away by Elizabeth. In 1601 it was purchased by Thomas Harley, and in 1643 dismantled by the Parliamentary forces, since which it has been a gradually diminishing ruin.

THE CASTLE.

The tract of high and wooded land which lies towards the Radnorshire border, between the waters of the Teme and the Lugg, converges and descends towards the east until it forms a long spit or spur of rock which terminates in the knoll now occupied by the parish church of Wigmore. This ridge—straight, steep, and well defined—is bounded on the south by a narrow valley, down which descends a brook from the high ground of Wigmore Rolls, to fall, just below the church, into the Allcox brook. To the north the ridge is still more strongly protected by the broad expanse that probably gave its termination to the name of the place, and is still called, by reduplication, Wigmore moor and lake, and Leinthal lake; formerly, as their names import, watery tracts, and which are still alternately drained and flooded by the united channels of the Clun and the Teme on their way to Ludlow.

Low on the ridge, and astride upon and occupying its whole breadth, is what remains of the castle. Those who selected the spot were attracted by an immense depression, clear, sharp, and steep, as if cut by art, which here traverses the ridge, and cuts off its eastern portion from the higher and broader ground to the west. Upon the eastern verge of this ravine is piled up a mound of earth, in form conical and about 30 feet high, above its rocky base, though 100 feet or more above the bottom of the ravine. The mound is about 30 feet diameter at its flat top. It is probable that when this was formed the natural ravine was slightly deepened, and on the near side rendered steeper by art.

Close east of the mound, and above 40 feet below its top, is a roughly oval area, about 100 feet east and west by 50 feet north and south, encircled by a bank of earth, outside of which was a ditch, which included also the mound, and was probably the work thrown up by King Edward, and so gallantly held against the Danes. It is very strong, the ground falling away steeply on every side, and especially to the north and west. Upon the mound stood the Norman shell keep; the oval contained within a wall, most of which remains, was the inner ward. The mound and its appended oval stood within, and partly on the edge of a far larger area, which included the slopes, and extended nearly to the base of the hill towards the south and south-east, and on those sides protected the citadel. Towards the north and the west the steepness of the ground rendered a second line of defence unnecessary, and the mound and its oval formed there a part of the outer _enceinte_. This second area was also covered by a ditch which descended from the south side of the mound, and from the north-east part of the oval, and thus formed the outer ward of the castle, in which probably were pastured the cattle driven off by the Danes. The Normans enclosed this also within a wall. This ward was covered by a deep and wide ditch, wholly artificial; and this, again, at one point, by a second ditch across the ridge, towards the south. Within the outer ward, attached to the southern and south-eastern slope of the inner ward, was an enclosure of moderate area, taken, of course, out of the outer ward. The earthworks of this are slight, and it seems to be wholly of Norman origin, and intended as a middle ward.

Thus, then, the original work was composed of a mound with a deep ravine to its west, and placed on the edge of, and in part within, an oval area on its east, the whole encircled by a common ditch. Then, as the mound stood on the edge of the inner ward, so the mound and inner ward together stood on the edge of the outer ward, which covered them to the south and east, and included an area strong indeed, but which required a considerable garrison to defend it. The outermost and partial ditch, as well as the middle ward, were probably later works.

The Norman who first took possession of these formidable works evidently laid his additions upon the English lines, either he or his successor superseding the timber palisades by walls of masonry. Upon the summit of the mound he built, as the foundations still show, a circular or polygonal tower as a keep. From thence a curtain wall sprang from its opposite sides and encircled the small eastern area, forming the inner ward. The wall was so placed that it became a revetment to the old bank, which thus took a place as a sort of ramp within the area. The apex of the area, that is, the end opposite to the mound, was capped by what appears to have been a round tower, of which only a heap of ruin remains. North of this, the curtain, which was the outer wall, is still seen to be of considerable strength. What remains is about 6 feet thick and 30 feet high, and is strengthened outside by a square mural buttress, or bastion. To the south a large window-opening and some cross-walls indicate a domestic building. At the south-west angle, next to the mound, is a fragment of a lofty tower containing a well-stair. This marks the junction of one end of the outer curtain with the wall of the inner ward, as the ruined round tower does of its other end. Near this, in the south wall, much choked with rubbish, is an opening with a low, pointed arch, once the gateway between the inner and the outer ward, and which, combined with various indications to be observed in the remaining fragments of the curtain and its tower, shows that, whatever may have been the Norman defences of this ward, they were removed and replaced by what is now seen in the Decorated period.

The tower, of which a tall fragment remains on the south-western side of the inner ward, marks the point of junction between the wall of that ward, the keep, and the wall of the outer ward. This latter wall, descending the steep natural slope, protects the inner ward gate from the west, and shows what appears to have been a postern, and beyond it a rectangular mural tower of bold projection, and marked outside by a bold cordon above its base. This is evidently an original Norman tower. Beyond it, being the southern wall of the ward, the Norman work is distinctly seen. The wall was in process of being rebuilt, and its imperfect junction with the new work is apparent. Of this later date is a curious large rectangular building, on the wall, of bold projection, and divided by a cross-wall into an eastern and a western chamber. It was of two floors, and below them a basement which has been vaulted over and fitted with exterior steps and doorways in the Perpendicular period. The building itself is early and excellent Decorated, as shown especially by the form and detail of a pair of two-light windows. From this tower the curtain, of the same date, extends to the great gatehouse which is to the south-east. This is much broken. It is rectangular, with a portal-vault below and two chambers above; one for the working of the outer, and one for that of the inner portcullis. The rib of the central portal remains, with a drop-arch and a square portcullis groove. In the inner chamber is seen part of a large fireplace with a good Decorated hood. Only one portal-arch remains, but from its position it is pretty clear that there were three. The archway is much choked with rubbish. From the great gatehouse the curtain curves sharply towards the north, enclosing the east face of the ward. Upon it is a bold half-round tower, of which the lower part, well seen from the ditch, and probably solid, is very perfect. It rises only to the level of the ward. Thence the curtain turns the north-east corner of the ward to the remains of a polygonal tower, or more probably a square tower with the angles boldly chamfered; and from this it ascended the slope so as to join the inner ward at its north-east angle, where the traces have been mentioned of a large and probably round tower; and thus is completed the circuit of the outer ward.

The middle ward is less easily traced. It seems to have been concentric with the outer ward; like it, appended to the south-east face of the inner ward, but of much smaller area, and much of that area occupied by the steep hill-side.

The most considerable remains of its wall are towards the south-east, and it probably had, on this side, a ditch of its own. The hall and other of the domestic buildings seem to have stood here, on the level part, judging from the very rude outline of the foundations.

Besides these defences, along the east front of the works of the outer ward is a second ditch, carried across the ridge, here very low. Between the two ditches is a platform of no great breadth, the rear of which forms the counterscarp of the outer ward ditch, while the front is scarped into three solid half-round bastions of earth, the outline of which is followed by the counterscarp of the outer ditch. The figure of this earthwork and the freshness of the cutting show that the whole is a late addition, probably by the latter Mortimers, to cover the foot of the outer wall, and, no doubt, strongly palisaded. Again, in advance about a hundred yards on this front, and lower down the hill, a deep ditch has been cut across the ridge, and its contents thrown inwards as a high and steep bank. Again, in advance of this line of defence, the hill, for 60 yards or 70 yards, is scarred with other earthworks of an uncertain and subordinate character and purpose, but evidently old.

A good deal of masonry remains standing in various parts of the castle area, and, no doubt, the main foundations of the whole fortress could, with a little labour, be exposed. Although most of this masonry is of Decorated date, there is evidence that a good deal of it is built upon the Norman outlines; and probably, if search were made, a good deal of buried Norman work would be exposed; and it would be shown, as indeed it now is, to some extent, that the Norman castle covered pretty much the area of the present works.

With the exception of the Norman tower and wall above mentioned, the masonry above ground seems of Decorated date and of excellent character. Enough remains to show, that with the slight exceptions already mentioned, the whole castle was rebuilt in the Decorated period in the earlier part of the fourteenth century. The work is of a very substantial character, and the appearance of the castle when complete, with its large _enceinte_, deep ditches, and lofty inner ward and keep, must have been grand. The main approach lay from the east. The road branched off from the Watling-street and was carried along the south side of the ridge, between the high ground and the brook, on a sort of shelf commanded by the works along the ridge.

It is evident that the earliest fortress was confined to the mound and the small area immediately attached to it, but that the defences of the outer area were speedily added to provide space for flocks, herds, and herdsmen, and a sufficient garrison. The defences, in so thickly wooded a country, would probably be of timber.

Whether the earliest Norman lord erected works in masonry is doubtful; probably not. Probably these were added by his successor at the end of the eleventh or early in the twelfth century. So protected it must have been very nearly impregnable. The walls of the keep and inner ward were quite out of the reach of any catapult, ram, or temporary wooden tower, owing to the steepness of the ground outside. Probably also the wet character of the low ground to the north and south would effectually cover these fronts, as the ravine would the west front. To the east the ground was firm and the country around open, but here the artificer’s defences were multiplied.

The parish church was no doubt built by the Mortimers, though it contains no record of them either in tombs, arms, or inscriptions. It is of large size, and much of the north wall of the nave at its west end is of herring-bone masonry, and an unusually extensive example of it. The opposite or south wall, though faced inside and out with modern plaster, exhibits, high up, a Norman loop, and is evidently of the same, rather early Norman date. It is curious that a rural church of the Norman period should have been laid out with walls so high and a span so considerable. Possibly this was intended for the seat of the religious house which Ralph, the first Mortimer, founded before his death, and which was known as Wigmore Abbey.

THE DEFENCES OF YORK.

Diruta prospexit mœnia sæpe sua.—NECKHAM.
How oft hath Time these walls beheld destroyed!

No man of English race, at all acquainted with the history of his country, can enter the city of York without feeling something of that respect for a glorious past of which all men are more or less conscious, and which in the higher and nobler sort acts as an incentive to greatness both in thought and deed. It may, indeed, be that those who dwell within the city, or have been familiar with it from childhood, are less conscious of this feeling than those who visit it as strangers, and to whom the noble river, ancient walls, and venerable minster, stand out unassociated with the concerns of every-day life; but, on the other hand, the men of York cannot but feel for their birthplace something of the love of children for a parent, something of the pride of citizens of no mean city, something of that secret charm by which every man, worthy of the name, is attracted to his native land. Not London itself, the capital of the empire; not Canterbury, the seat of that other Metropolitan of our National Church, call up more varied or more brilliant recollections than are inseparably associated with the name and title of York; associated with the fortunes of that great branch of the House of Plantagenet, which, though without success, yet with so steady a persistence, contested the Crown of England.

Spells of such force no wizard grave
E’er framed in dark Thessalian cave;

for the name of the city evokes a long train of the best and noblest of the land, who, during the Wars of the Roses, staked life and fortune upon the House of York; nor, within the four seas of Britain, is there found a city which combines with so flourishing a present so many memorials of the past, so much still visible to the eye, so intimately connected with those centuries during which the English name and nation was being built up. No man can unfold a map of the Northumbrian territory, nor penetrate into its recesses, without observing how copious are the traces of our Scandinavian ancestors. Those names

That have their haunt in dale or piny mountain,
Or forest, or swift stream, or rocky cleft,

are still vocal in our ears, and intelligible to our understandings. They speak to us with no uncertain sound of those hardy mariners who crossed the German Ocean in search of prey, and whose long ships were known and dreaded in every creek and upon every river along the seaboard of Britain. Saxons and Danes, Jutes and Angles, each and all have left their traces over the broad plain of York, traces of those long and bloody struggles during which these not remote kinsmen were becoming fused and welded into the Englishman. No Englishman, and most of all no Yorkshireman, can forget that it is neither from the native Briton nor from the Roman colonist, but from these Teuton and Scandinavian sea-kings, fierce and lawless as they were, that we derive all those qualities that have made England a great nation. The history of York, indeed, and of the material defences by which it is still surrounded, is older by some centuries than the history of England and the English people; and long before we arrive at the times of the Scandinavian invaders, we have to deal with the remains of these masters of the world, under whom this city rose to be what its own historian has pronounced it, “a second Rome;” the mart and “emporium of the common produce both of sea and land.”