north and south, by 132 feet east and west. The opposite sides are not
quite equal, nor are its angles right angles, though nearly so. The
curtains are about 40 feet high; that to the west is 10 feet thick, the
others are 11 feet. The parapet was 3 feet thick, and the rear wall 2
feet, leaving 5 feet to 6 feet for the walk. The two western towers
are circular, and 34 feet diameter, having three-fourths of their
circumference exposed outside. Within, the gorge wall fills up the
angle of meeting of the curtains and contains the entrance-door. The
basement chamber is below the inner ward level and circular. The first
floor, at the ward level, is polygonal, as are the two upper floors.
None are vaulted, and the basement has neither loops nor stairs of
access. Each of these two towers has a well-stair at its junction with
the western curtain, lighted by five loops placed one over the other
in the hollow angle between the tower and the curtain, outside. The
stairs ascend 20 feet above the tower, in a round turret, battlemented
on small corbels. Each turret has a door upon the tower roof. The
staircases commence at the first floor, on or level with the inner
ward, and open on each floor, but not upon the ramparts of the curtain.
The upper floor has fireplaces with hoods.
Outside, these towers rise from the ground without slope or cordon; two
string-courses, however, mark the level of the two upper floors. The
stairs are broken away, and the upper rooms inaccessible; but certain
exterior loops show the existence of two tiers of small chambers (no
doubt garderobes) in the north and south curtains, where they join the
towers. Moreover, on the outside of each of these curtains, next to the
tower, is a broad, flat buttress, thrown out to give space and support
to these chambers and to contain the sewer-shaft from them. On the
north wall, the buttress is of good ashlar of the age of the tower. On
the south wall, it is of rude, inferior work, as though an addition. It
may have been rebuilt. In the north curtain there seems to be a third
chamber at a lower level. The drain here is not seen; on the south face
it is open. Where these towers meet the rampart-walk they block it up;
a sort of gallery is, therefore, thrown out on corbels, across the
angle, and thus, as at Conway, the rampart-walk is carried on.
The two eastern towers resemble the others in general features and
dimensions, but differ in details. Their basements have one loop
towards the middle ward, and their first floor, at the inner ward
level, is an irregular pentagon in plan, one angle being square. The
doors are in the gorge wall, but do not lead direct into the tower,
only into the staircase. In the south-east tower, a stair ascends
in the northern wall, curving with it, and forks, the right branch
leading to the second floor of the tower, from which alone, by a trap
and descending ladder, the first floor and basement were accessible.
This floor, like all the rest, was of timber, and from it, on the west
side, a second stair commences, and curving with the wall, and having
a small garderobe by the way, ascends to the ramparts of the south
curtain. Reverting to the lower stair, the branch to the left opens
upon the inner face of the east curtain, and ascends by a narrow, open
stair, supported on corbels, across the gorge wall of the tower, and
up the inner face of the south curtain to its ramparts. The roof and
ramparts of the tower are reached by an exterior stair from the rampart
of the east curtain. A loop in the hollow between the junction of this
tower with the south curtain marks the place of the garderobe already
mentioned. Above it was a second upon the battlements of the tower,
and at the base of the wall is a large flat-topped sewer descending
from the two. The south-east tower bears the name of Mortimer, the
south-west that of Bronwen, the fair-bosomed, sister of Brân the
Blessed.
The north-east, the debtors’ or armourers’, tower has a door in
the gorge opening on the left upon a well-stair, 8 feet diameter,
which ascends to the second floor only, from which the first floor
and basement were reached by a trap and ladder. The second floor is
seven-sided, those below cylindrical. As in the south-east tower, an
independent stair led from the second floor to the ramparts of the
curtain, and upon this curved stair is a garderobe, the loop of which
is seen at the junction of the tower with the north curtain, and the
mouth or vent at the ground level. The roof of this tower, like the
other, is reached from the walls by an external stair. These two
towers, having no well-stairs to the roof, have no subordinate turrets.
That all these four towers had flat roofs is pretty clear from the
position of two corbels in each, evidently intended to carry hammer
beams or struts to the one main beam which crossed the aperture, and
was thus rendered capable of carrying great weight.
The great gatehouse is 80 feet broad and 54 feet deep, besides which
it has two half-round projections in the front and two three-quarter
projecting stair-turrets 24 feet diameter at the outer angles of the
rear, the former flanking the entrance, the latter communicating
with each floor and the ramparts. The entrance passage, 54 feet long
by 8 feet broad, is much mutilated, but seems to have had an exterior
drawbridge, two grates, folding doors, and a grate at the inner front.
The entrance portal has within it a “machecoule,” or _meurtrière_,—that
is, an opening from the chamber above—and behind this a portcullis.
Then follows a passage 11 feet long, crossed by two ribs, a second
portcullis, and a portal arch, upon which rests the west wall of the
chapel. Then follows another passage, 20 feet long, entered by gates
opening towards the inner ward, and crossed by five broad ribs, with
four open spaces. At the end of this is a third portcullis, the groove
for which is now closed above at a level too low to allow the grate to
be lifted to the height of a cart, while in the arch above is a square
cavity or “machecoule.” It would seem that while the wall was rising it
was decided not to use these grooves, and that the hole was intended
to take the place of the grate as a defence. Beyond this is the inner
portal, which, like the outer, has no rebate for a door. In the front
division of this long entrance, between the two outer grates, are two
loops from the side lodges, which are entered by two doors placed
near to the inner end. This passage was covered over with boards, the
flooring of the rooms above, and which rested upon the stone ribs.
Here, as is often the case, the portcullis groove stops from 1 foot to
18 inches above the door sill, showing that the spikes at the lower end
of the grate were of this length. This long entrance passage is further
lengthened by the addition of two unequal piers to its internal face.
They are blocks of masonry 10 feet thick. That on the south or left
had a door whence a narrow staircase of two flights ascended to the
front floor. The pier on the right is of less breadth, and was only an
abutment to support the arch which connected the two and contained and
continued the entrance passage, and on which was the landing at the
stair-head.
The basement of the gatehouse is at the ground level. On each side of
the passage are two chambers, those in front occupying the half-round
projection and looped to the field. They are entered from the chambers
in the rear, which are rectangular, having shoulder-headed doors
from the passage and into the well-stairs. The northern chamber
has a fireplace in the south-east angle. The two southern chambers
communicate through a large arch, the northern through a doorway only.
There are also two upper floors, divided as these below, and reached
by the two large well-stairs. There are spacious and handsome rooms,
two on each floor, with large windows of two lights in the western or
larger rooms, and in all are fireplaces with stone hoods. The eastern
rooms below are half circles in plan; and above, are polygonal. Between
the lateral rooms and over the entrance passage are two narrow chambers
unequally divided by a cross wall. The eastern is an oratory, with a
small, pointed east window over the entrance gate of the castle, and
near it, in the south wall, is a piscina, which is in the cill of a
small window opening into a small mural chamber, a vestry. There is a
similar chamber, but without the window, in the north wall. Both rooms
are entered from the oratory. As at York, Chepstow, and elsewhere,
this oratory served also as a portcullis chamber, and the floor was
of wood, with traps to allow the passage of the grates when lifted.
The grates were suspended from the vault above, as is still seen. The
other and larger chamber, placed over the western part of the passage,
had also a wooden floor. It had a west window of two lights over the
inner portal, and north of this a round-headed doorway. The portcullis,
if lifted, would have blocked this entrance, and therefore when the
door was opened it was stopped. The machecoule is seen in the window
seat. The upper chambers are not accessible, but they seem similar to
those below, and there is a second oratory above the first, with a
smaller east window—a very unusual arrangement. This floor communicates
laterally with the ramparts of the curtain, and at the junction on each
side is a mural garderobe. On the south side a mural stair descends
to two chambers at different levels, both in the curtain wall. On
the north side the arrangement is rather different. There, the mural
garderobes are supported in part by a projection at the first-floor
level, corbelled out in the angle between the gatehouse and the
curtain, outside, and the vent was probably between the corbels. Above,
at the rampart level, half the thickness of the wall is occupied by a
garderobe chamber, of which the side is broken down. Several of the
chimney shafts are collected in a central group, each shaft having a
bold capital with a plain roll moulding.
The domestic buildings were placed against the curtain on the west
side of the inner ward. The kitchen is thought to have been at the
north end, including within its limits the basement of the north-west
tower. It is, however, more probable that this was the withdrawing
room, placed between the hall and the chapel. A gloomy corner, no
doubt, but the state rooms were evidently in the gatehouse. The kitchen
would scarcely have been designed originally between the hall and the
chapel. The cross wall, still standing, but which looks either modern
or rebuilt, formed the north end of the hall, and the recesses in the
west wall of the curtain carried the hammer beams of its open roof. In
this wall are the remains of a large fireplace, of which the hood is
gone, and the lower part has recently been rebuilt. On either side are
the broken apertures for two windows, and in the wall, near its south
end, a segmental-headed door, now walled up, but evidently a postern.
There are also near this two small windows, one of which seems to have
lighted the gallery and the other the space below it. Of the position
of the gallery there can be no doubt, but the wall behind it, forming
the south end of the hall, and now removed, had no bond either into
the curtain or into the east wall. Most of this east wall, the inner
wall of the hall, is gone. The hall was 30 feet broad. The roof seems
to have been lofty, and part of the weather moulding of its gutter
remains along the west wall. On the floor, in the north-west corner of
the hall, has been built a large oven of stone, the lining of which
is much burnt. It probably was inserted when the castle was used as a
prison.
South of the hall is a considerable space extending to the gorge wall
of Bronwen Tower, and in the east wall of this space are remains of
a door and two windows. It is probable that the kitchen was here,
in the rear of the gallery, and that a row of corbels outside the
east wall carried a lean-to building attached to it and near this;
against the south wall is a rectangular pit, the underground storey of
some building now removed. If the kitchen was at this end, the hall
fireplace was a little below the dais, a very probable position.
The chapel, a later building, was placed against the north wall. Its
east wall and pointed window remain. The south wall is gone. In the
centre of the north curtain is a segmental-arched doorway, evidently
a postern, and nearly opposite to that of the middle ward. It is much
mutilated, and does not seem to have had a portcullis. The wall east
of it is pierced by three loops, 4 feet above the ground level. There
was at least one loop westward of the postern. The well was in the
north-east angle of the court. It has recently been opened a few feet
down.
The _Middle Ward_ contains little of interest. On the north side it
is 15 feet broad, and hence, between its two roundels, 10 feet apart,
opened the postern, 8 feet wide, now walled up. On the west front, the
ward is 27 feet broad and forms a noble terrace overlooking the sea
and commanding the approach from the water-gate. The hall had windows
looking this way, and upon it opened the hall postern. Towards the
south end a few steps descended about 10 feet into the south-west
bastion. Probably there was a cross wall here with a doorway. Turning
the south-west corner, the ground again rises to a door in a wall which
crosses the south terrace near its west end. This side of the wall
has a central half-round bastion, the broken parapet of which shows
traces of a loop and of a garderobe. On the remaining or eastern side
is the great entrance. Here the gateway, which crowns a low salient, is
flanked by two roundels. The portal is broken down, and it does not now
appear how this was connected with the inner gatehouse. Probably the
short distance between the two was arched over and had lateral doorways
into the middle ward. From the inner gate, twenty steps descended to
the bridge, so that no horse or carriage could have entered this way.
The defences beyond the middle ward are the ditch, the outer ward, and
the water-gates and passage. The ditch covers only the east and south,
the two landward sides. It is quarried in the rock, and is about 60
feet broad and was 20 feet deep, with vertical sides. Its scarp is the
revetment wall of the middle ward, and the counterscarp, where the
rock was broken, is also lined with masonry. The ditch runs out at
either end upon the shelving face of the rock. Across it, to the main
entrance, led a bridge upon which it is said there were two openings
with drawbridges. The whole is now a solid causeway.
Although the castle stands upon a promontory of rock, there is a
broken shelving space between its wall and an actual cliff in which the
rock terminates below, and it is this space, which lies to the west
and north, which has been enclosed as the outer ward, the containing
wall of which crowns the cliff and where necessary is supported by a
revetment. This outer wall begins below the north-east bastion of the
middle ward, whence a door with steps seems to have led down about 10
feet to its ramparts. It is at that point a very stout wall, about
14 feet high, with a parapet on the western face, thus defending the
ditch and main bridge from an enemy who might be in possession of the
outer ward and be disposed to turn the eastern flank. It is probable,
however, that the wall had a double parapet, for lower down, where the
wall faces the north, the parapet is on that face. Near the bastion
there seems to have been a door in this wall, giving a passage from
the outer ward to the ditch. Lower down, where the wall stands on the
cliff, it is thinner, and in parts much broken away. Still lower it
is more perfect and much stronger, and where it turns the north-west
corner of the rock, opposite the railway station, it is of great
thickness, and has a rampart wall and parapet towards the sea, above
the level of which it is about 30 feet; near this point is the lower
water-gate, a regular postern, in a small rectangular shoulder in the
wall. A roadway of about 5 yards or 6 yards long, cut in the rock,
rises from the marsh 10 feet or 12 feet, and upon it, in front of
the portal, was a drawbridge with a pit 12 feet deep, and within the
portal a short shoulder-headed passage closed apparently by a door,
but without any portcullis. Beyond this a flight of open stairs niched
in the curtain ascended to an embattled platform over the gate. From
the lower gate, the road leads up a rather steep passage formed partly
by taking advantage of a shelf and partly by quarrying the rock, the
outer side being protected by a wall 8 to 10 feet high and from 2 to
3 feet thick, and looped at about every 20 feet. As the inner side
of the roadway is the irregular face of the cliff, it varies much in
breadth, from 6 to 12 feet or more. This road, continually ascending,
thus covers the whole seaward face of the castle rock, and at about 70
feet or 80 feet in height it terminates in the middle gate, which is
about 20 feet below the base of the south-western bastion of the middle
ward. Here, a shoulder in the rock is occupied by a second gatehouse,
fortified as the first, with a drawbridge and a deep pit, which below
has two arches, one for the discharge of water from the pit and the
other, which may be merely to support the side wall of the gatehouse,
but which may also be a sewer from the castle. Outside this gate is a
platform which rakes the face of the wall of the passage below, while
above and within the gate is a broad bastion, whence commences the
second traverse. At this point, the end of the main ditch lies just
below the bastion wall, and was reached from it by a small door and
some steps, now gone.
The road now makes a complete turn, and commences a new traverse which
rises much more gently than that below. When abreast of the mid-front
of the castle it is supported by a retaining wall and two small square
buttresses or buttress turrets, traces of which are seen upon a ledge
of rock. Passing these, where the road comes opposite to the north-west
bastion of the middle ward, it was crossed by a wall and doorway, of
which traces remain, which divided the outer ward into two parts. Above
this, the way turned eastward and ascended to the centre of the north
front, where it reached the postern of the middle ward and there ended.
These are the whole of the works proper to the castle, but a few yards
to the north of the rock a steep road has been cut by which men and
horses could be led up from the castle landing-place to the village
without entering the _enceinte_, though commanded from it.
No one acquainted with Caerphilly can visit Harlech without observing
the close resemblance between the two castles, so far as regards the
plan of the interior and middle wards. The court, rectangular, or
nearly so, the absence of a keep, the drum-towers capping the four
angles, the general character of the gatehouse and its position in the
centre of one side, and the domestic buildings placed against the wall
of the inner court, are peculiarities common to both. In each also
the gatehouse is the grand feature of the building. Further, there is
to be observed in both the excessive narrowness of the middle ward,
its revetment rendering more than a parapet unnecessary, its slender
and subordinate gatehouse, and its lateral postern opening direct
through both wards. As Harlech did not need the outworks and exterior
gate of Caerphilly, nor Caerphilly the water-gate of Harlech, here
the resemblance ceases, but it is such as to justify the conclusion
that Henry of Elfreton, who was the architect of Harlech, had studied
Caerphilly, if indeed he was not also its architect.
The defences of Harlech seem calculated for protection against a
surprise by the Welsh, who were probably as active as they were
fearless. Hence the very lofty curtains, the long entrance bridge, the
ascending steps to the main entrance, and the dimensions of the middle
ward, too narrow to allow any considerable body of men to effect a
lodgment there for an attack upon the inner ward, and the water-gates
and covered way, in the construction of which the natural strength
of the rock was enhanced by the occupation of its various points of
vantage. Whether in the reign of Edward I. Morfa Harlech was more than
a marsh is a question for a geologist to solve; but either by the
shallow sea or by a canal cut across the low ground, it seems certain
that in planning the castle Edward counted upon the means of reaching
it by a quarter quite independent of the Welsh.
Although the general plan of Harlech is evidently the work of one mind
and its execution generally of one date, there are some appearances
in the work which show that alterations and additions were introduced
affecting, not the general plan, but certain of its parts. It is
evident that parts of the curtain have been thickened about 2 feet,—the
north and south walls by additions inside; the west, on the outside.
Also this thickening seems to have been decided upon when the walls
were 30 feet high, as above that level they are of one mass and date.
The exterior stair on the inner face of the great gatehouse was
also an afterthought, and the doorway at its head clearly was not
originally introduced. Besides this, the six windows on that front of
the gatehouse, in the two upper floors, have been reduced in height by
the insertion of a segmental arch between 2 feet and 3 feet below the
original head; but the pattern is the same, and the masonry filling up
the space seems of the date of the window, or very nearly so. These
windows are of a peculiar pattern. Their two lights are trefoiled; and
in the spandrels are also trefoils pierced. The mouldings are concave;
and one is a small hollow, as in the early Perpendicular style. They
must, however, be original.
The inference from these alterations seems to be, that Edward visited
the castle when the works were far advanced, and the hall, gatehouse,
and the lower part of the north, south, and west curtains built. The
gatehouse curtain was probably always intended to be of its present
height, as at Caerphilly. He ordered the other three curtains to be
thickened and raised to the full height of the gatehouse curtain;
to obey which order, the thickening was applied where possible on
the inside, but where the hall prevented this, on the outside. The
upper part of the walls so raised would, of course, be of one date,
and solid. At the same time it was decided to make the rooms of the
upper floors of the gatehouse those of state; and as the ways up the
well-staircases were not thought suitable, a new and more direct
staircase was built and a new door opened in the wall. The chapel in
the inner ward seems a still later addition.
The character of the masonry throughout is exceedingly rough, as though
hastily executed. It is rubble, and some of it very poor rubble indeed.
The towers are of far better work than the curtains. The stones are
larger, and their interstices filled in with more care. The ashlar
is very good, but is sparingly used, and confined to the dressings,
window-cases, chimney-hoods and heads, and a few of the more important
doorways. The ordinary doors are mere openings to the walls, without
rebates or chamfer, with shouldered heads of a rude character; and the
sewer-openings, seen under the garderobes, have merely long stones for
lintels. The masonry of the covered way and water-gates is also very
inferior, and much of the side wall has, in consequence, slipped away
from the rock.
The turret-heads of the gatehouse and two western towers have parapets
projecting upon a corbel-table about 6 inches. There are no traces of
holes for brattices; but upon the exterior of these two towers the
putlog-holes are arranged in a spiral ascending form, east to north.
In the north-west tower, on its east face, at the height of the old
curtain, is a row of round holes about a foot apart, and from this
level the spiral commences. It is pretty clear that having built the
curtain, the masons here threw out a platform, and that the spiral
round, by which the materials were raised for the upper part of the
tower, began here. The tower of Coucy was scaffolded in the same way.
There is throughout the building a remarkable absence of vaulting. It
was confined to the oratory and to parts of the entrance passage.
The bird’s-eye view here given is taken from the east or landward
side, and shows the entrance, with its great gatehouse, here, as at
Caerphilly, seen to cross and close the narrow outer ward. The northern
postern is also shown.