high. As the span is long for single joists, it is possible that these
rested upon a central beam, and this upon posts; or, as no bases have
been found, it may be that they were stiffened by struts from the
side walls. Some traces in the ashlar of the broken staircase at the
north-east corner seem to point to an entrance from the stair through
the north wall, similar to that supposed below. In the south wall are
three window recesses corresponding to those below, but of 6 feet
opening, with segmental heads. They rest on the floor and are 12 feet
high. Above one of these openings, on the outside, may be traced the
head of one of the original Norman windows, which shows that it was of
small size—probably of 2 feet opening. These have been replaced, with
small regard for congruity, by late Tudor windows of three lights,
divided in the centre by a transom. In the east wall are two similar
windows, and over the well-pipe is the well-chamber, 7 feet square,
rudely vaulted and groined. Its floor has been relaid, but it is
evident that the pipe ascended into this chamber, and that a pulley
hung from the centre of the vault for the working of the bucket. In the
south-east corner is a locker for a spare rope or tools. The entrance
to this chamber was through the jamb of the adjacent window, but a
second doorway has been broken direct from the great chamber. Close to
this breach a door and bent passage lead into the south-east turret,
where is a chamber 12 feet 6 inches by 15 feet. The floor is of earth,
with which the turret is filled to this level. Above are traces of an
upper chamber, entered probably by a ladder and a trap-door. There is
no fireplace, but a loop high up in the south wall has been converted
into a window, and a second loop remains in the east wall.
The west wall of the great chamber contains two windows similar to
the other side—save that they do not descend to the floor, but begin
about 8 feet up, so as not to interfere with the forebuilding outside.
North of these windows, in the part of the north-west turret which
abutted on the north curtain, is a door of 3 feet opening, and 8 feet
or 10 feet high. This is the cross section of a mural passage leading
from the great chamber. Close south of it, in the west wall, and above
the similar door on the ground floor, a small round-headed door leads
into the garderobe turret. The other opening in the west wall is at its
south end, and is the main entrance to the keep. It is a plain doorway
of 6 feet opening, with a flat, segmental head beneath a full-centred
arch of relief. The passage has a segmental barrel vault. It goes
direct through the curtain, here 12 feet thick. It has no portcullis.
In the south wall of the passage a side door opens into the south-west
turret. This also had an original upper chamber, but below the entrance
or first-floor level it was filled with earth; this has been removed,
and the lower part fitted up, and windows opened in the south wall, and
a rude door at the base, but the rough character of the masonry shows
that the turret was originally filled up to the first-floor level.
Dudley’s alterations converted the interior of this turret into five
tier of rooms, the windows of which are seen in the south wall. It is
said also to have been fitted up as a staircase.
The great chamber had an open roof, the holes for the joists of
which are seen in the southern wall. The pitch was low, almost flat,
as is shown by the original weather-moulding in the east and west
walls, which has been masqued by a thin interior facing, carrying a
moulding for a roof of a rather higher pitch, all which, however,
has disappeared under the recent repairs. This is different from
Porchester, Rochester, and Bridgenorth, where the original pitch was
steep. On the outside, above the windows, but much below the base
of the parapet, is seen a row of loops, square-headed, with a plain
chamfer, expanded below into a broad fantail. There are three of these
in the south wall and two in the east and west, and each turret has
besides one on each of its two outer faces. The turret loops are at a
higher level, and this shows that the turrets themselves stood clear
above the curtains. These apertures are curious. The loop ascended
in the wall and opened in the base of the parapet beneath a flat,
three-centred arch. The loops are probably original, but the parapet
seems to have been rebuilt, either when the pitch of the roof was
altered or in Dudley’s time. The walls are covered with ivy and in a
dangerous condition, so that even with the aid of long ladders their
upper part is not very accessible. There are traces of doorways opening
from the rampart walk into the upper parts of the turrets, the floors
of which were of timber.
The forebuilding covering the entrance forms almost as remarkable a
feature here as at Rochester or Middleham, though it has suffered much
from alterations. It was a rectangular tower built against the west
wall of the keep, and projecting 38 feet. Its walls are 6 feet thick,
bonded into and of the date of the keep. The west wall has been in
part removed down to the plinth, but the two other walls are tolerably
perfect. It was of two stages and about 40 feet high. The door was in
the south wall, opening from the inner ward. It may be traced, but has
been in part replaced by an entrance of Perpendicular date, now also
broken away. Above the old door, 12 feet from the ground, is a plain
Norman string. From the door a straight stair, reversed with a second
flight, must have risen 25 feet to reach the first floor. At that
level, over the entrance, was a chamber, of which part of the Norman
wall remains, but which was rebuilt by Dudley, and has been nearly all
destroyed. Here was possibly a chapel, as at Middleham. The entrance
to the first floor of the keep opens from this level, in the curtain,
close to the south-west turret. The doorway, like that within, is quite
plain, and has a flat, segmental head under an arch of relief, also
segmental, but less flat. It looks as though the lower arch had been
inserted to carry the joists of the roof, but it is really original.
The pitch of the roof of the forebuilding has been thrice altered, as
is shown by the grooves cut in the wall of the turret. The flattest
is the latest. The roofs seem to have been of the lean-to character.
Whether there was a chamber below the stair, or whether there was a way
at the base of the stair into the lower floor of the keep, as has been
already pointed out, cannot now be ascertained.
It would seem that in the Perpendicular period this forebuilding was
much altered, its entrance a little shifted, and in it were placed
several piers, 3 feet square, supporting full-centred arches, of 9
feet span, on which the timbers of the floor above were laid. A plain
doorway of 6 feet opening was cut in the curtain forming the north end,
and in the exterior of the wall an alcove was formed of 13 feet span
by 6 feet deep, having a segmental arch, and supported by three plain
ribs with a hollow chamfer. This alcove opened upon a terrace, which
overlooked the northern part of the outer ward, and formed a sort of
landing and staircase, giving a descent of four or five steps from the
door to the terrace. The object seems to have been to form a handsome
way from the inner ward to the garden north of the keep. The piers and
arches might be of the date of Elizabeth or James, but their mouldings
and parts of the adjacent walls are clearly earlier, and no doubt the
work of the Lancastrian owners, who in that case must have indulged
in a garden. Dudley made further alterations, and a part of the south
front of the forebuilding still bears the date of 1575, and has Italian
ornaments.
There is to be remarked in this keep, the absence of a cross wall,
the basement filled up with earth, the unusual projection of the four
turrets, the probably distinct entrances from the forebuilding to the
ground and first floor, and the well-stair, nearly as large as that
of the Tower of London. Also, there is no portcullis, and there are
but few mural chambers or galleries. This is the more remarkable as
the walls are unusually thick and the material excellent. Further,
there are no fireplaces in the three remaining walls, and there is no
ornamentation of any kind, inside or outside. The keep is the only
distinctly Norman building remaining in the inner ward, although much
of the curtain is Norman, and more rests upon the Norman lines.
It has been stated that the keep forms the north-eastern angle of the
inner ward. The curtain abutting upon it on either face is of its own
date. At the north-west corner the curtain forms the north wall of the
forebuilding, and for some yards is original. At the south-east corner
of the keep are the remains of the entrance into the inner ward. This,
as at Bridgenorth, was a doorway in the east curtain, close to the
keep, and, as at Bridgenorth, although the curtain has been removed, a
part of the doorway remains. The curtain was here 11 feet thick and 21
feet high to the rampart wall, above which were a parapet and rear wall
of about 5 feet more. One whole jamb and the springing-stones of the
portal remain. There was no gatehouse, only an opening in the wall, as
at Ogmore, and probably at Ludlow. The defences were:—First, a portal
3 feet deep, and in it a square portcullis groove; then a rebate for
a door opening inwards; and, finally, an arched passage 3 feet higher
than the portal and 6 feet deep. The entrance appears to have been a
foot-gate only, so that carriages could not enter the inner ward.
What are called Lancaster’s buildings occupy most of the inner ward.
They commence at the forebuilding, and extend along the rest of the
north side, the whole of the west, and much of the south side. They
evidently replaced similar buildings of the Norman period, and were
built towards the end of the fourteenth century. Next west of the
forebuilding are the remains of the kitchen and buttery, now a mass
of ruin, much of which is covered up with earth. An immense fireplace
has been inserted into the wall of the forebuilding, having two very
perfect ovens lined with thin bricks; another fireplace is formed in
the adjoining curtain; the fire-backs are also of thin brick, set
herring-bone fashion. Further on, a curious triangular buttress outside
the curtain contains a garderobe shaft, the drain from which is a
squared-headed opening in the rock below, about 6 feet high and 4 feet
broad. There is a second drain, which traversed the kitchen, and the
mouth of which, fitted with a groove for a sluice, is seen in the inner
ward, near the hall door. Probably if the rubbish was removed, the plan
of these buildings would be visible. Beyond them, the north-western
angle of the ward is capped by the strong tower, quadrangular, 50
feet by 40 feet, with octagonal turrets at the two western angles,
and between them a rather remarkable triangular buttress. The tower
is of three stages, all vaulted and groined, each vault of four bays
springing from a central pier. It is of the date of the hall and
kitchens, from the foundations. This tower probably derived its name
of the “Strong Tower” from its use as a prison, though evidently for
persons of consequence. The windows are plain, flat-topped openings. In
the sides of one of the splayed recesses, looking towards the west, are
some coats-of-arms scratched in the stone. Those that have been made
out are four.
1. Six cross-croslets flory, on a bend three pheons bend-wise, points
depressed to the sinister.
2. Quarterly, per fesse embattled.
3. On a quarter a fret (or fretty).
4. Quarterly, 1 and 4, a cross botonné.
„ 2 and 3, three crescents inverted.
Next to this tower is the _Hall_, which occupies nearly the whole west
side of the ward. This, for dimensions, proportion, material, and
workmanship was probably the finest hall in the kingdom, wholly of the
early Perpendicular period. It measured 90 feet by 45 feet, and stood
upon a basement of the same size, of which the roof was vaulted in
eighteen square bays, springing from ten piers, arranged with the walls
in three equal aisles, while against the wall are fourteen responds,
besides one at each of the four angles. Between each pair is an arched
recess. This vast and beautiful cellar was aired by loops upon the east
side only. The cross aisle at the north end was partitioned off by a
stone screen as a passage, which traversed the cellar, having at its
east end a door from the inner ward, and to the west a postern opening
on the outer ward. This postern is a square-headed doorway, with a
bold portcullis groove, and immediately above it is a small square
window traversed by the grate, and in the cill of the hall window
above is a round hole for the chain, by which the grate was lifted.
This portcullis is rather a tribute to the military character of the
building, than for the affording any special security, for the large
windows of the hall above would have admitted an army. The cellar was
entered by a side door from the passage, and at its south-west corner
was a small apartment, a cellaret, whence a small well-stair led to the
“buffet” above. The hall, resting upon its vaulted floor, is one storey
above the inner ward level. It was approached by a broad, straight
staircase, which landed in a porch at the north end of the east side
of the room. The porch rested upon a vault, and was itself vaulted and
groined and richly panelled. The hall was lighted by four large windows
towards the west or outer ward, and by three towards the inner ward. At
the upper two-thirds of the room, opposite each other, and between two
pair of windows, are two large fireplaces. They have lintels slightly
shouldered, no hoods or projection, and their splays are panelled.
At the upper or south end of the hall, on the east side, is a large
half-octagon oriel, opening by an arch of 15 feet from the dais,
panelled and groined, and containing three large windows of two lights
with transoms and foliated heads, and a small fireplace. Opposite to
this, in the west wall, is a recess of 10 feet opening, the roof of
which is ceiled, and which is intended for a “buffet” or sideboard. It
is flanked by two small octagonal turrets, one of which contains the
stair which descends to the cellar and rises to the roof. From hence a
passage led to the withdrawing-rooms at the south end of the hall. The
buffet projection, with its turrets, matches the strong tower which
caps the further end of this front. The north wall of the hall is
gone, but there remains the jamb of a large door, probably opening into
the buttery. In the north-west angle, in the window jamb, a small door
opens into a well-stair, leading up to the roof. The south wall behind
the dais is also gone, but one window of the music gallery remains. The
windows are broad and lofty, set in deep, splayed recesses, panelled
and fitted with seats. The arches, though four-centred, are rather
highly pointed. The edge of each recess is replaced by a bold roll. The
windows are coupled, each of two lights, divided by two transoms, and
the heads of the openings thus formed are richly foliated. The roof was
open, of timber, supported by five pair of principals, besides those
against the wall at each end, and the spandrels of the window arches in
the main wall are panelled. The exterior buttresses are set on square,
but have diagonal faces. The door is set in a low drop arch. The whole
building is Perpendicular of the purest kind, and early in the style.
From the upper end of the hall a suite of rooms stood along the south
side of the court, of which only the ruins remain. Beyond the hall was
the White Hall, now entirely gone; and beyond it a fine oriel window,
looking into the court, is said to have belonged to the presence
chamber. Behind this, upon the curtain, is a low turret of bold
projection, 30 feet by 20 feet, divided by a cross partition into two
public garderobes, with large cesspits below, a very curious appendage
to a suite of state rooms. The base of the curtain on this front shows
traces of Norman work, and seems original. Owing to the superior height
of the inner ward, the lower 8 or 10 feet of the curtain on this side
is a revetment.
Lancaster’s buildings end in the remains of an octagonal tower, on the
curtain, and are succeeded by what are called Leicester’s buildings,
though it is a shame to use that title at Kenilworth with reference
to any other than the great earl to whom England owes so much. These
form the south-east angle of the ward. They cover a plot of 50 feet
by 90 feet, and are 80 or 90 feet high. They possess no architectural
merit, and though built of sound ashlar, the walls are thin for their
height, and they are cracked and much ruined. All the floors and roofs
are gone. No doubt these buildings replace a Norman tower of some sort,
but they probably project much further than that did into the outer
ward. Beyond these, along the eastern face of the ward, Henry VIII.’s
lodgings and Dudley’s Lobby extended nearly to the entrance; these are
now removed, and with them the Norman curtain upon which they rested.
This inner ward was in itself a very tolerable fortress, the keep
commanding the whole, and being, from its excessive passive strength
and rocky base, practically impregnable. The curtains seem to have had
buildings placed against them nearly all round; they were certainly
lofty, and from this circumstance and the vantage of the ground on
which they stood the inner ward overlooked all the exterior defences
of the place. The ground falls rapidly upon the north, south, and west
fronts. Along the east front, where the natural slope was gradual,
was excavated a broad and deep ditch, which completed the defences of
the ward. Moreover, it is not improbable that this ditch was continued
along the north front, occupying the site of the garden, and dying out
in the low ground near the Swan Tower.
The _Outer Ward_ has next to be described. This is roughly an oval in
plan, 270 yards east and west, by 174 yards north and south. The inner
ward covers about one-sixth of its area, and is placed about 54 yards
and 30 yards from its west and south boundaries, and 67 yards and
130 yards from those on the north and east, giving a large space in
the latter direction, which seems to have contained various domestic
buildings, the entrances, and the chapel. This ward was divided by the
cross ditch already mentioned, and which extended from the exterior
northern ditch 150 yards, nearly to the lake. Traces of it remain at
either end, but most of it has been completely filled up, probably by
Dudley after Queen Elizabeth’s visit. It was 70 feet broad, and across
it a bridge led up to the entrance of the inner ward. At the north end
this ditch must have been very deep; towards the south, in front of
Leicester’s buildings, where part of it remains, the ground falls and
it becomes shallow. Probably as an additional protection, a cross wall
was built in the rear of this ditch from the south-east corner of the
inner ward to the opposite curtain. Part of this wall was removed when
Leicester’s buildings were constructed, but the outer end remains, and
a part of a doorway in it. This ward is crossed by another wall of
later date, which extends from the Strong Tower to the west curtain,
about 34 yards. In its centre is a doorway of 10 feet opening, which,
with the wall, seems of Perpendicular date. Henry VIII.’s “Plaisance”
was built on each side of this gate to the north. The first wall is no
doubt original, and was intended to prevent an enemy who had crossed
the ditch where it was shallow pushing westwards along the outer ward;
the second was probably built to shut off the garden on the north
front, in the Lancastrian period. In this outer ward is what appears to
be a part of the original earthworks of the early residence. In front
of the hall, about on a level with its floor, so that the cellar wall
is a revetment, is a triangular platform about 72 feet long at its
base along the wall, and of about 63 feet projection at its apex. It
is about 30 feet above the rest of the ward, and has a slope of one to
one. The cutting for the path from the hall postern divides it from a
smaller mound to the north, and the whole seems artificial, or nearly
so. This platform commands the outer curtain. It is odd it was not
included within the inner ward.
The broad space to the north, called in Dudley’s time the garden, and
now a large kitchen garden, has probably been partially raised by the
ruins of the keep and of the north curtain. How it was originally
occupied is not known; possibly there was a ditch here. If the
Lancastrian lords made the passage through the forebuilding and the
alcove in the curtain, they must have laid out the space within
the ditch as a garden. Of the many detached buildings that at various
times must have stood in the outer ward, and especially in the eastern
section of it, the site of but one, the chapel, is known. This was an
oblong nave, without aisles, having an east end of three sides of a
hexagon, and across which is the foundation of a wall. The interior
breadth was 33 feet; the length has not yet been excavated. Probably
there was always a chapel here, for a capital has been found in it of
Norman work much earlier than the keep, but the building, of which the
foundations remain, is of Decorated or early Perpendicular date, as is
evident from the plan, and from parts of the sedilia which have been
dug up.
[Illustration: KENILWORTH CASTLE.
MORTIMER’S TOWER.
KENILWORTH KEEP.
Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.]
The _enceinte_ of this outer ward, about 750 yards in length, and
including rather above nine acres, is mainly composed of a curtain
wall, upon which are six rather important buildings. These are
Mortimer’s and Swan Towers, Leicester’s Gatehouse, Lunn’s Tower, the
Stables, and the Water Tower. Mortimer’s Tower derives its name either
from Lord Mortimer of Wigmore, who led in a tournament here in the
reign of Edward III., or from a Sir John Mortimer imprisoned here by
Henry V. It is a gatehouse, and stands upon the inner end of the dam,
and occupies a salient of the curtain to the south-east. It is in plan
60 feet deep, by 55 feet broad; in the rear, flush with the curtain
and projecting from it, 54 feet. The entrance passage is in the centre
of its length, and the outer portal opened between two half-round
towers of 18 and 20 feet diameter. Within the arch was a portcullis
in a square groove of dimensions for a wooden grate, and behind this
a rebate for folding doors. The passage then widens a little with a
curved splay, and on each side a door 2 feet wide opens into a lodge
looped to the front and to the outside. In the rear of the east lodge
is a solid wall 7 feet thick; but to the west lodge has been added a
garderobe, and beyond it is the shaft of a second garderobe from the
upper floor, and below them a sewer which opened into the lake. The
loops are all cruciform. There was a second portcullis, the groove for
which is stopped up, and at the inner face a rebate for a second pair
of doors. The upper floor of this gatehouse has been removed. It is
evident that it has been much altered. Originally it was composed of a
mere pair of parallel walls, as at Berkhampstead and Coningsborough,
7 feet thick and 12 feet apart, and these form the back part of the
present building. Of the upper floor a fragment remains outside the
west wall, carrying on corbels the overhanging vent of a garderobe.
To the plain rectangular tower the front drums and lateral chamber
were added. The mouldings of the original structure are early, and
of the later, more perfect Decorated; but the work is of an inferior
character. The whole structure seems to have been originally built and
added to in haste.
On its east side, this gatehouse was joined by the ward curtain, here
6 feet thick, of which a few yards have been removed. On the west,
the curtain passes back straight and then turns westward at a right
angle, forming a shoulder, by which means the long southern face is
flanked. Near the angle is a postern door descending by steps to the
lake. In the rear of the gatehouse is a shaft upon a culvert, which
seems to have brought water from the lake into the lower floor of the
Water Tower. There may have been a mill thus fed within the outer
ward. In front, the eastern drum of the gatehouse is connected with a
long curtain wall, which crested the edge of the dam to the east, and
abutted upon the gatehouse, closing one of its loops. In this curtain,
near that end, a small Decorated doorway gave access to the lower lake.