west, the mound descends rapidly to the ravine, but on its way the
slope is broken by concentric banks, ditches, and shelves, of somewhat
irregular height, depth, and configuration, owing, no doubt, to their
having been originally natural, but converted and strengthened by art.
This kind of fortification by mound, bank, and ditch, is well known
both in England and Normandy, and was in use in the ninth and tenth,
and even in the eleventh centuries, before masonry was general. The
mound was crowned with a strong circular house of timber, probably
constructed like the walls of Greenstead chancel, and such as in the
Bayeux tapestry the soldiers are attempting to set on fire. The court
below and the banks beyond the ditches were fenced with palisades and
defences of that character.
The Normans in Normandy, towards the middle of the eleventh century,
and in England a little later, and onwards into the reign of Henry
II., commonly replaced these defences by more substantial walls of
masonry, which, being of great thickness and solidity, have often
remained to the present day, though more frequently they were removed
in the reigns of the earlier Edwards, to be replaced by structures of
more scientific though less solid design, affording more accommodation
within the _enceinte_. At Hawarden, the course of action seems to have
been different. Here are no traces of Norman work or of the Norman
style, and though the keep is unusually substantial, it bears evidence
of being the work of one period, and that the close of the reign of
Henry III. or early in that of Edward, his Welsh-compelling son. If
this be so, it must be concluded that the Norman barons, who were known
to have held Hawarden in the twelfth century, were content to allow its
defences to be formed of timber, as any masonry constructed by them
would scarcely so soon have needed to be removed.
The _Keep_ (A in the plan) very nearly covers the top of the mound.
It is circular, 61 feet across at the base, and originally about 40
feet high. The base gathers inwards to a height of 5 feet, where the
cylinder is 59 feet across, and from hence to the summit it further
diminishes to 57 feet. The interior is vertical, and 31 feet diameter
throughout; hence the wall, which is 15 feet thick at the base, and 14
feet a little above it, is 13 feet at the level of the rampart walk;
dimensions of unusual solidity even at the Norman period and very rare
in England under Henry III. or the Edwards.
The exterior is very plain, having neither cordon, string-course, nor
window labels. A little above the ground is a double course of large
ashlar blocks of a light yellow sandstone, tying the work firmly
together, and higher up are other bonding courses of a less substantial
character. The ordinary material is a bluish stone laid as rubble work,
with the spaces and joints neatly filled up with spawls and fragments.
The battlements have been replaced by a modern wall, but the junction,
at the rampart walk, may be readily detected.
The entrance is at the ground level on the north-east side, from the
main ward. It is marked by a broad, flat buttress, rather Norman in
character, which rises vertically from the common base so as to stand
out about 18 inches, where it dies into the wall about 5 feet below the
battlements. In its centre is the gateway, and above it the window of
the portcullis chamber. It is extended laterally in two wings, rising
about half its height, and also dying into the wall above. These are
intended to strengthen the wall, weakened by a well-stair and a lodge.
As this buttress covers a considerable segment of the circle and is
flat, it is broken into three planes by two vertical angles. The modern
brick and stone wall replacing the battlement is rugged and broken,
but in parts about 12 feet high, and intended to give elevation to the
keep. The building thus made extensively visible has become a sort
of parish cynosure, and, however irregular its appearance, it would
scarcely be in good taste to remove the addition.
The keep has two floors. The lower is cylindrical, 31 feet in diameter,
with walls 14 feet to 15 feet thick. It was about 14 feet high, with a
ceiling of logs, which rested upon some forty plain corbels, of which
about seventeen remain. At two opposite points, about half way up the
wall, are two larger corbels, which evidently supported the struts
destined to give stiffness to the central and longest beam.
This chamber, no doubt a store-room, save when in time of siege it
might accommodate soldiers, was entered directly from the gateway, and
rather ventilated than lighted by three equidistant openings, about 4
feet from the floor, 4 feet broad, and 5 feet high, having shouldered
heads and covering. The sides converge, and the floor rises to a small
square-headed loop of 4-inch opening. There is neither fireplace,
seat, nor recess. The floor has been removed. There is no subterranean
chamber.
The upper chamber within is an octagon, inscribed about the cylinder
below it, with walls from 13 feet to 14 feet thick, and from side to
side 31 feet. It is about 15 feet high to the corbels that carried
its flat roof, and a row of larger corbels along one of the remaining
faces seems to have supported struts necessary to make the roof a safe
platform for military engines and stone ammunition. This, which was a
state-room, was lighted by three recesses at irregular distances. They
are 6 feet 6 inches wide, and rise from the floor 8 feet, being covered
by slightly-pointed drop arches. Each has a vaulted roof and parallel
sides, which afterwards converge upon a square-headed window, 2 feet
wide and 5 feet 6 inches high, having a plain chamfer outside. In each
side of the recesses is a plain shouldered doorway, 3 feet 9 inches
broad by 10 feet high, opening into the mural gallery.
This floor has its main entrance through the portcullis chamber,
and next north-west of this entrance is the chapel. This is a mural
chamber, 14 feet by 7 feet, but not quite rectangular. It is flat
vaulted, and its axis points south-east to the altar, which is a
restoration. The doorway next the west end is only 2 feet broad by 7
feet high, with a cinquefoiled head and a plain moulding of Decorated
character. The door opened inwards, and could be barred within the
chapel. On the same side, but near the altar, is a small cinquefoiled
recess for a piscina, with a projecting bracket and a fluted foot. In
the opposite wall, in vaulted recesses, are two windows, that next the
altar square-headed, the other lancet-headed. Against the west wall is
a stone bench, and above it a rude squint through which any person in
the adjacent window recess could see the altar.
The entrance to the keep is by a gateway 5 feet wide and 6 feet 6
inches high, having a drop arch rising about 3 feet more. The jambs
have a single and the arch a double chamfer. Two feet within is the
portcullis groove, 4 inches square, and next is the rebate for the
door, with its bar holes. Beyond is the vaulted passage, 6 feet
broad, leading to the ground floor, with a door opening so as to be
barred against that chamber; within, however, is a narrow rebate, as
though for a lighter door opening inwards. The portcullis grooves are
stopped 3 feet above the floor, so that either the cill must have been
obstructively high or the grate have terminated in a range of long
spikes. On each side of the entrance passage is a shouldered doorway.
That on the right, 2 feet 9 inches broad, opens into a mural chamber,
vaulted, 6 feet by 9 feet, with a lancet loop to the field. On the
left, the door is 3 feet 3 inches broad, and opens on a well-stair,
which, lighted from the field by loops, ascends to the upper floor and
the battlements.
Twenty-one steps lead to the portcullis chamber, which is also the
antechamber to the state-room. It is vaulted, 6 feet broad by 10 feet
long, with a square-headed window of 2 feet opening to the field, and
within it the chase for the passage of the portcullis. At the other end
a large doorway with a plain moulding of a Decorated type and an arch
very nearly, if not quite, round-headed, open in a recess similarly
arched, and this into the state-room. The door was barred inside so as
to be held against the stairs.
[Illustration: HAWARDEN CASTLE, FLINTSHIRE, 1870.
Ground Plan, from a Survey made by Mr. James Harrison, of Chester,
in 1857.]
Returning to the well-stair, the upper part of which is broken away,
at twenty-nine steps from the base is a small lancet-headed door. It
opens into a mural passage, 2 feet 6 inches broad, and 7 feet high,
which makes two turns at right angles. At one, on the left, is a
recess, 3 feet deep by 1 foot 9 inches broad, a garderobe, the back
part of which, probably bratticed off, carried a shaft from a similar
recess on the ramparts. At its second turn the passage descends seven
steps to the nearest window recess in the main chamber, crossing which
an opposite doorway leads into the mural gallery. The ascent and
descent in the narrow passage is rendered necessary by the level of the
steps of the well-stair.
The mural gallery, at the main chamber level, is continued within the
substance of the wall, to the recess next the chapel. It is in plan a
polygon parallel with the inner faces of the wall. It is 10 feet high
and 3 feet 9 inches wide, having a flagged roof resting on a double
tier of corbels, and in it are three large recesses, each opening to
the field by a long loop, swallow-tailed at each end. These recesses
and loops are not seen from the main chamber. The doors and window
frames, where original, are executed in straw-coloured sandstone. The
chapel doorway and piscina and the side doors of the window recesses
seem of later Decorated work than the rest, and may be insertions,
though this does not look probable.
The keep, as at Tamworth, Durham, Berkhampstead, Warwick, and Cardiff,
stands in the _enceinte_ line of the main ward, and forms part of it,
about two thirds of its circumference being outside, and one third,
including the doorway, inside the curtain. This curtain was about 460
feet in length, and encircles the main ward, abutting against the keep
at two points: one 24 feet south and one 18 feet north of the entrance.
On each side it is carried down the slope, and, meeting below, thus
encloses a somewhat fan-shaped area, about 170 feet north-east and
south-west by 142 feet north-west and south-east, within which were
the principal buildings of the fortress. The southern part of this
curtain can be traced, but in its foundation only; that to the north is
tolerably perfect. It is 7 feet thick, and has been about 25 feet high.
It does not, as at Tamworth, so ascend the mound that its ramparts
terminate at the level of the base of the keep, but it abuts against
the keep at a height of 12 feet or 14 feet, and is so continued down
the slope. Up the mound, the rampart of the curtain, as at Windsor, was
a flight of steps, but as the ramparts only abutted against, and had no
doorway into, the keep, the steps were merely to enable the defenders
to man that part of the wall. On the north side, besides these steps,
there was a second flight, laid on the surface of the mound, behind and
at the foot of the curtain, and probably covered over, as traces remain
of a second wall. These led to the entrance to the keep, and were the
communication between it and the main ward.
At the junction of this curtain with the keep is a postern, a small,
shouldered doorway with a door barred within, where an enemy who had
reached the foot of the keep could be attacked. About 90 feet lower
down are traces of a similar doorway, whence the base of the mound
could be reached. Of the south curtain a fragment remains attached to
the keep; it had no postern, and probably no steps behind it.
The _Main Ward_ (B in the plan) is divided into two parts: the one a
level platform, in which stood the hall and other buildings, round a
court about 125 feet by 92 feet, and into which was the main entrance;
and the other, and much smaller part is the steep slope of the mound,
about 50 feet broad, and which was probably left rugged and waste as we
now see it. At the foot of this slope are the remains of four rooms,
about 18 feet deep from the face, probably for stores, each with a
doorway to the court; in the wall of one is a sort of rude drain as
from a sink or trough. This range was evidently continued along the
south end of the court, being built against the curtain and carried on
to the hall. Of these extensions only the excavated ground-floor, some
low walls, and the base of a well-stair remain. From the character of
the stair, it looks as though it had been of some consequence, and it
shows that there was an upper floor, probably of rooms communicating
with the hall, and perhaps connecting it with the keep.
At the opposite, or north end of the store-room range is the doorway
at the foot of the stairs leading to the keep, and beyond this, in the
curtain wall, a door which seems to have led into a well-stair which
gave access to the stepped rampart. Again, a few feet beyond this, at
an angle of the enclosure, are the fragments of the great gateway,
beyond which, for about 100 feet round the north angle of the court,
the curtain is of full height and very perfect, having angle-quoins of
the same yellow ashlar used in the keep.
The _Hall_ (C) was placed on the east face of the ward, at its south
end, and occupied above one half of that face. The curtain formed its
outer wall, and was pierced by its windows, and strengthened at its
south-east angle by a solid, half-round buttress, 22 feet diameter,
probably an addition. The hall was on the first floor, the low basement
being probably a cellar, and entered by a vaulted passage at its south
end. The hall was about 30 feet high from its timber floor to its wall
plate. Two lofty windows remain, and traces of a third, and between
them are the plain chamfered corbels whence sprung the open roof. The
window recesses have a low-pointed arch and a bold bead moulding. The
windows are of one light, trefoiled, with the cusp lights worked. There
is no label. Within the recess are lateral seats.
North of, and connected with the hall is a rectangular projection
(D), 36 feet deep by 60 feet in front, the lower floors of which
are laid on the scarp of the ditch, considerably below the level
of the ward. These were doubtless offices, but as nothing but the
lower walls remain little can be discovered of their detail. There
remains, however, in the curtain the jamb of a large doorway, whence
descends a flight of steps about 20 feet, probably to a postern, of
which, however, there are no traces, on the edge of the ditch. These
steps led into one of two apartments, at one end of each of which is
what was probably a fireplace, though they more resemble the vent
of a garderobe shaft, which, however, they cannot well be, since the
chambers were certainly not cesspools. The walls of this projection are
substantial, and certainly carried an upper storey, probably occupied
by withdrawing-rooms and private apartments attached to the hall. No
well has been discovered, nor oven, nor any signs of a garrison chapel,
all which were probably placed in this ward.
The great gateway opened in the north-west face of the curtain, and
from the fragment of a jamb that remains with a bold rebate seems to
have been about 8 feet high and broad in proportion. A projection
inwards from the curtain shows that there was some kind of small
gatehouse.
This gateway opened into a spur work formed by two curtains, 32 feet
apart, projecting from the main curtain down the scarp of the ditch so
as to form a parallelogram 40 feet wide by 68 feet long. The curtains
were 4 feet thick and about 24 feet high. The western is destroyed, but
the eastern is tolerably perfect, and at its junction with the main
curtain is a shouldered postern door, 2 feet 9 inches broad, which
opened on the scarp of the ditch.
At the further and lower end of the spur-work the walls turn inward (E
in the plan), and again proceed parallel for 14 feet at 27 feet apart,
and there contain the gates and pit of the drawbridge, beyond which a
second narrowing reduces the distance to 21 feet, at which they proceed
for 14 feet more, when the walls abut upon the counterscarp of the
ditch, at that point revetted with ashlar. Thus the whole length of the
spur-work, from the main curtain to the counterscarp, is 96 feet, and
its breadths, over all, 40 feet, 25 feet, and 21 feet.
About 34 feet in advance of the great gateway was a cross wall,
probably containing a second gate, and beyond it is a flight of fifteen
steps, 6 feet broad, leading down into a rectangular chamber, which
has had a flat timber roof, and in the opposite wall of which is a
shouldered doorway, with no rebate for a door, 2 feet 9 inches broad,
and 7 feet high. This opens into a low, narrow, flat-topped passage,
3 feet broad and 10 feet long, but expanded at the centre to 3 feet 6
inches, so that two persons could pass by squeezing; and at this point,
in the roof, is a hole 8 inches square, evidently for the purpose
of attacking them if necessary. The passage ends in a second small
doorway, barred from the inside, which opens upon a bridge-pit, about
27 feet long right and left, 12 feet deep, and 10 feet broad, to a
similar doorway opposite. The pit is lined with rubble below the door
cills and with ashlar above, and at its west end is a hole, probably
for cleaning it out, and communicating with the main ditch, of which
the pit is an isolated part.
Crossing over a narrow plank bridge, the further door leads through
a short, narrow passage into a chamber 13 feet square, entirely of
ashlar, and having, right and left, a small door, 2 feet 9 inches
broad, opening upon the counterscarp of the ditch. The doorway from the
bridge had no door but those of the lateral sally-ports opened inwards.
In the further, or north, wall is another doorway, also shouldered,
3 feet broad and 8 feet high, the door of which also opened inwards
and disclosed a very steep flight of eleven steps, rising about 8 feet
in a dovetail-shaped chamber, commencing at a breadth of 3 feet and
expanding to 8 feet. It is 14 feet long. The steps land on a floor, but
the walls, of which the lower 6 feet 6 inches, of ashlar, are quite
perfect, have so far no openings. This singular chamber is niched into
the counterscarp of the ditch, and is actually within the barbican.
The remains of the _Barbican_ (F) are a considerable knoll of earth,
having a ditch of its own, and on its rugged surface showing traces of
old buildings. This covers the head of the bridge, and appears to have
been approached by a winding road and entered on the west side.
This work has been the subject of much speculation. That it was the
main entrance is sufficiently certain. This could only have been at
one end of the main ward, and the remaining jamb is too large for
a postern, and the ground at the opposite end far too steep for an
approach.
The spur-work, with its lateral curtains, completely enclosed the
entrance. The steps to the bridge are modern, but must represent others
somewhat similar. The doors and passage were calculated for single
files only, with a special arrangement for commanding the only point at
which two armed men could pass. In the chamber beyond the bridge 80 or
100 men could assemble previous to a sally by the lateral doorways.
On their return, if pursued, and the enemy should enter with them, the
narrow passages would make almost impossible a surprise or any sudden
rush into either the body of the place or the barbican.
Further, looking to the lateral space between the walls and the
great length of the bridge-pit, it is pretty clear that above the
foot passage was a roadway for wheel carriages, with at least one
drawbridge. Most of the passages below seem to have been flagged with
stone. One drawbridge was clearly over the remaining pit; another may
have covered the chamber at this time occupied by the modern flight of
stairs. The thickness (4 feet) and solidity of the existing walls show
that they must have been much higher, so that they would have formed
lateral parapets, concealing the passage of the bridge. For this, about
15 feet might be added to the existing wall.
The fan-shaped chamber was probably an outlet for those who, having
used the foot-bridge, did not wish to go out by the sally-ports but
to ascend into the barbican. The steps are no doubt inconvenient, but
the whole passage was certainly only meant for occasional use, and
is in no part particularly commodious. Probably the means of egress
from the stair-head into the barbican were stairs of timber. The
whole arrangement is very peculiar, and it may be doubted whether the
safety proposed was worth the considerable expense bestowed upon it.
As the whole of this bridge arrangement is clearly an addition, it is
probable that though the original entrance was at this point, it was by
an ordinary drawbridge, of which the lateral curtains of the spur-work,
which are old, would be the protection.
Of the exterior earthworks there is little to be said. On the
south-east side of the fortress the outer bank is cut through, as
though for an entrance. If so, this must have been carried laterally
along the ditches of the place until it reached the barbican.
Hawarden seems to present traces of at least three periods of
construction, the oldest being that of the earthworks, which, like some
similar ones in England, may be as early as the tenth century.
The keep, the curtain of the main ward, the hall, and perhaps the
curtains of the spur seem to be of one date, the material employed
being substantially the same, and the workmanship not unlike.
[Illustration: Spur-work enclosing the main entrance.
HAWARDEN CASTLE. NORTH-EAST SIDE.]
The range of storehouses in the main ward, the offices projecting from
it towards the north-east, and the whole of the buildings of the foot
entrance are of later date, and of different design, material, and
workmanship. The material is a greenish sandstone, and the workmanship
ashlar of the most expensive kind, dressed on every face, and laid in
thin joints, with but little mortar. This excellence has proved fatal
to the structure; for, as the stones needed only to be lifted from
their beds and laid, without any adaptation, into any new work, the
temptation has proved too strong, and most of this later work has been
carefully removed by hand, and not, like the older work, overthrown
by gunpowder. In fact, the lower walls that remain have much more the
appearance of an unfinished than of a partially-destroyed building.
There is a paper by the late Mr. Hartshorne in the fifteenth volume of
the _Archæological Journal_, which, though it touches but lightly upon
the topography of the castle, enters at some length upon the history
of the Barons of Montalt, long its owners. From thence, and from other
sources, it appears that Hawarden belonged, from a very early period,
to the Earls of Chester, some of whom probably constructed it, but no
doubt occupied it before the completion of the structure. In their line
it remained till the death of Ranulph de Blundeville, the last earl,
in 1231, when, with Castle Rising and the “Earl’s Half,” in Coventry,
it came to his second sister and co-heir, Mabel, who married William
d’Albini, third Earl of Arundel. Their second son, Hugh, who inherited,
died in 1243, when the estates passed to his second sister and co-heir,
Cecilia, who married Robert de Montalt.
The Barons de Monte-Alto, sometimes styled de Moaldis or Mouhaut (Mold,
where the mound of the castle remains), were hereditary seneschals of
Chester and lords of Mold. Roger de Montalt, grandson of Robert and
Cecilia, inherited Hawarden, Coventry, and Castle Rising. He married
Julian, daughter of Roger de Clifford, justice of North Wales, but
dying childless, in 1297, his lands passed to his brother, Robert, the
seventh and last lord, who died childless, 1329, when the barony became
extinct. Robert de Montalt signed the celebrated letter to the Pope in
1300, as Dominus de Hawardyn. [P. Writs, I. 743.] He bequeathed his
estates to Isabella, the queen of Edward II.