rest upon ground a few feet above the level of the lake and a few
yards distant from its margin. It is of all dates from Norman to
Perpendicular, and is from 20 to 30 feet high outside, and inside
less by 6 or 8 feet. Opposite Leicester’s buildings, where the wall
is 5 feet 6 inches thick, are three loops, of 1 foot opening, placed
in full-centred recesses splayed to 5 feet. They have lighted some
original Norman building now destroyed. Of the buttresses outside the
curtain, some are original pilaster strips, others are from 6 feet to
14 feet broad, and of a projection from 2 feet to 4 feet, with many
sets-off, and of a character decidedly Decorated. On the south face
there are altogether fourteen buttresses. At the two south-west angles
the wall is capped by two broad, flat buttresses, 10 feet broad and
2 feet projection. They may be late Norman. In the space of 30 yards
between these is a shoulder-headed window, of 2 feet opening, and a
late Decorated postern, which corresponds with the postern below the
great hall. Beyond this a depression in the ground causes the wall
to be 40 feet high. This western part is about 112 yards long, and
terminates in the Swan Tower. In it is a large archway of Perpendicular
date and 18 feet opening, corresponding to the “Plaisance” of Henry
VIII., and perhaps intended for the purpose of allowing a boat to be
thence launched upon the lake.
The Swan Tower caps the north-western angle of the ward. It is an
octagon, but rests upon a base 12 feet high and 40 feet square. The
upper part has been removed. The base is solid and the inner floor
about 10 feet above the ground outside. The door to the remaining floor
is in the gorge. The base of this tower may be either Perpendicular
or Decorated. It is said to have been remodelled by Dudley. From the
Swan Tower the north wall ran nearly straight 150 yards to Leicester’s
Gatehouse, and upon it were two towers, one rectangular and one
polygonal. These are gone, as is the wall, excepting one very thick
fragment, which seems to have closed the cross ditch at its north end,
and probably is provided with a sluice. A little probing and clearing
here might bring this into evidence, and settle the breadth of the
cross ditch. In front of this wall is the great northern outer ditch of
the castle by which this front is protected from Clinton Green.
Leicester’s Gatehouse, built about 1570, is a rectangular building
56 feet by 28 feet, with bold octagon turrets at the angles, which
rise slightly above the roof. The basement contained the entrance
passage and gateway, and above it are two storeys. The windows are
square-headed, of two lights and a transom; and, on the whole, the
building is a fair example of its period. The passage has been closed
and converted into two rooms, entered by a curious lateral porch, of
Italian design, which has been added on. Outside are carved the arms of
Beauchamp, and the ragged staff is employed as though it was a Dudley
cognisance. The panelling of the interiors and a fireplace are curious,
and were brought from the castle. A few yards east of this gatehouse
are the remains of a buttressed causeway crossing the ditch, here
nearly filled up. This looks old, and is probably part of the original
entrance. Beyond this, the ditch deepens and reaches Lunn’s Tower,
which caps the east angle of the ward.
Lunn’s Tower is cylindrical, 36 feet diameter, and about 40 feet high,
and stands three-quarters outside the curtain. On the outer face are
four pilaster strips, 5 feet broad by 6 inches projection, which
probably rose to the base of the parapet, now gone. They rest on a
plinth, and the tower has two sets-off, of which they partake. Appended
to the rear of the tower has been added a sort of half-octagonal turret
carrying a well-stair—an early addition. The basement is at the ward
level, and there are two upper floors containing fireplaces under
segmental heads. The floors were of timber. The only openings are
loops: those of the two lower floors are square-headed, placed outside
in square-headed recesses, ending below in broad fantails like those of
the keep. Within, they are placed in splayed recesses with segmental
arches. The basement has a door from the ward, but the upper floors
are reached by the well-stair, which also opens on the contiguous
curtain. This curtain on either side for some yards has been removed;
but fragments remain, and show that a small, round-headed arch sprung
on each side from the tower to the curtain and supported a garderobe
at the rampart level over the hollow angle. Close in the rear of this
tower is a well, lined with ashlar, 4 feet diameter. The curtain south
of Lunn’s Tower has been breached for about 50 feet, and beyond this
it is old and supports a range of stabling and farm buildings 170 feet
long by 25 feet broad with square buttresses, in the centre of which
is a large porch with diagonal buttresses and a wide entrance as for
a barn, with a round-headed arch. The lower stage is of stone, and
above is a stage of brick and timber. It is said to have been built
by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, in the reign of Edward II.; but much of
it is certainly of far later date—in the late Perpendicular style.
The curtain against which it is built is early English or Decorated,
and the superstructure of the barn seems to be an addition, placed
there when it was decided to have an upper storey. The arches are
round-headed and look Decorated, but there are two late Tudor windows.
The chapel was a few yards from this building.
Close south of the barn is the Water Tower, a very curious and complete
building, early in the Decorated style. It is a mural tower, with no
internal projection, having a base 50 feet broad by 30 feet deep, from
which it rises as half an octagon, the angles being taken off by two
diagonal buttresses, between which, in a projection, is a loop which
lights a garderobe. It has a basement and upper floor, and the culvert
from the lake discharged under it and washed out its garderobe sewer.
In the ground floor is a large fireplace, above which is a handsome
chimney-shaft. This seems to have been a kitchen. There is also a mural
garderobe. A well-stair, having a spire over its head, leads to the
upper storey, the floor of which was of timber, and to the battlements
of the tower and of the curtain. The upper floor has a small room
appended on the west, with a loop towards the field. The windows are
of two lights, trefoil-headed. The roof sloped with a moderate pitch.
It was contained within the battlements. Beyond this is a warder’s
chamber, chiefly in the wall, but with a slight exterior projection. It
contains a large fireplace and a garderobe, and seems of early English
or early Decorated date. From hence the curtain was 6 feet thick, and
what remains is supported by three Decorated buttresses. Beyond these,
a breach of 30 yards extends to Mortimer’s Tower.
The walls of this ward, though much repaired and restored, seem to
occupy the original Norman lines, and are probably in many places of
the date of the keep. The defences outside the wall are formidable. On
the north is the ditch cut in the rock, of great depth and breadth, a
very necessary defence, for beyond it the ground is at least as high as
the base of the keep. This is Clinton End or Clinton Green, upon which
are some banks of earth, traces it may be of the great siege by Henry
III., who probably encamped on this side. It is curious that no attempt
should have been made to fill up the ditch, without which no engine
could have been brought to play with effect upon the keep. Probably the
strength of the garrison and the frequent sallies they are known to
have made prevented this, or faggots may have been used. From Lunn’s
Tower to the Water Tower, the ditch is still filled with water, and
from thence to Mortimer’s Tower no ditch was needed, the ground being
low and wet and at times under water. Then follows the dam, above which
the lake covered the south front, as an arm of it did the west front,
as far as the Swan Tower. The north was the weak side, the ground there
being high; but opposed to this was the keep and the very formidable
ditch. It is said that this ditch could be filled from the lake, and
the castle thus encircled with water. If so, there must have been a
small dam, probably at the bridge in front of the old entrance west of
Lunn’s Tower.
The defences on the south require special notice. From Mortimer’s Tower
a bank of earth is thrown straight across the valley. It is 80 yards
long, 15 yards broad, and about 20 feet high on the upper or western
side. The lower side is strengthened by a ramp in the slope. About a
third of the way across, a deep and broad cut, now bridged, lets off
the water and has drained the lake; but whether this was the position
of the sluice is doubtful. Mortimer’s Tower closed the inner end of
this dam, and a curtain wall 4 feet thick defended its eastern face.
At its further end are the remains of the floodgate or gallery tower,
an outer gatehouse, beyond which is a deep ditch across the dam, which
was evidently intended to take the overflow of the lake, and perhaps
to drain it if necessary. It was crossed by a drawbridge, the piers of
which still remain. This gatehouse is attributed to Lord Leicester,
who probably recast it. In substance it is certainly much older. A
grand block of stone, worked with Decorated mouldings, has been used in
its repairs, and is probably part of the older building, though also
thought to have been brought from the chapel. A flight of steps from
this gatehouse descended to the lake, and is superseded by a modern
farm road.
[Illustration: KENILWORTH CASTLE.
GENERAL PLAN.
Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.]
It was by this gateway, between the Brayz and the tilt-yard, that Queen
Elizabeth made her celebrated entry. Dugdale’s drawing of 1620 seems to
show a wall on the upper side of the dam, but of this there is now no
visible trace. The broad and level surface of the dam was well suited
for a tilt-yard and seems always to have been so employed, as was also,
no doubt, the Brayz. Such exercises, being attended by numbers of armed
men, were usually held at the barriers, or outside the main gate of
the castle, as a precaution against a surprise. The effect of the dam
was to form a sheet of water 90 yards to 100 yards across, half a mile
long, 10 feet to 12 feet deep, and covering about 111 acres. Below the
dam, where the valley is rather broader and the ground naturally low
and marshy, a second, lower and smaller lake has been formed, the dam
of which, of a slight character, may be seen along the upper side of
the road from the station to the castle. This lower lake must always
have been shallow, but it served to protect the great dam, to cover the
south-east angle of the castle, and to guard the rear and eastern flank
of the great outwork. At Ledes there was a “Stagnum Regis” below the
dam of the lake, and at Caerphilly the waste water from the lake was
made to cover the principal front of the castle.
There remains, finally, to be noticed the great outwork which completed
the defence of the castle on the south side, and formed a noble
_tête-de-pont_ beyond the lake. It bore the name of the Brayz, possibly
from “Brayda,” a suburban field or broad place.
South of the lake, a tongue of high land intervenes between it and a
more or less parallel brook, which descends from Wedgnock Park, by a
valley which falls into the Inchford a little below the castle. It
was the point of this tongue, lying between the two valleys, that was
taken advantage of for an advanced defence. The ground was scarped
into a sort of large, flattened half moon, with a front of 300 yards,
and covering about eight acres. Along its front is a bank about 20
feet high, and as broad at the top, and upon this are four mounds such
as in later times were called “cavaliers,” and of which that at the
south-west end was 40 feet diameter at the top. In front of this bank
was excavated a ditch, in some parts 40 feet deep and 100 feet broad,
and in parts double, and in the rear, where the work rested on the
lake it was steeply scarped and guarded by a ditch about 20 feet deep,
beyond which, on the edge of the lower lake, was a bank 10 to 12 feet
high, so as to make it very difficult to turn the flank of the outwork
and to enter it from the rear. Near the middle of this outwork was the
entrance to the castle from the south. Its position is marked by two
bold drum bastions in ashlar, 25 feet diameter, and 40 feet apart. They
rise out of the ditch from a plain plinth to the height of 14 feet, and
so high are solid. Their superstructure is gone. There was, no doubt,
a drawbridge here, and the road may be traced across the outwork to
the Floodgate Tower. Here stood the southern of the four gatehouses
mentioned at Elizabeth’s visit, and by this she made her entrance. A
little west of the Brayz is a quarry, which probably supplied some of
the materials for the castle.
In advance of the Brayz, between it and the Wedgnock brook, are traces
of a light bank and ditch, or perhaps two ditches, with flanking
bastions of earth, intended to check the advance of an enemy from
that side. The lines cross the road, and are protected by the brook,
which flows below and in their front. This road—the main approach from
Warwick and the south—leads direct up to the Brayz entrance, whence
it makes a sharp turn to the right and skirts the counterscarp of the
ditch, so as to be completely commanded from the ramparts.
It would add much to the appearance of the castle, and bring some of
its most remarkable features prominently into view, if the owner would
make an entrance for visitors at the Brayz gate, and allow them to
approach the castle along the dam through Mortimer’s Tower.
The history of the construction of Kenilworth is written with tolerable
clearness in its earthworks and walls. The English founder probably
placed his residence upon what became the inner ward; he there fenced
himself in, as was the manner of his nation, with banks and ditches,
and walls either of dry stone or timber, taking the highest ground, and
quartering his herds and herdsmen lower down, nearer to the meadows
and the marshes in what is now the outer ward. Whether he found it
necessary to cut the northern ditch to its full depth is uncertain;
probably not, for its faces are sharp for so remote a period. Some
ditch, however, there must have been, as without it the other works
would be of little use. It may be also that there was then dug an
inner ditch upon the north and east faces, as these were necessary to
complete the security of the inner ward, and of one at least of them
there are traces.
There is no mention of Kenilworth as a lordship until it was granted
by Henry I. to Geoffrey de Clinton, who is the reputed founder of
Clinton’s Tower or the keep; but this is more probably the work of his
son, another Geoffrey, between 1170 and 1180, soon after which the
estate fell to the Crown. Lunn’s Tower was probably the work of King
John, about 1200; and the original curtain of the two wards seems to
have ranged between the two dates. If the northern ditch of the outer
work was not previously dug, it must have been dug, or at any rate
deepened, at this period; and this applies also to the northern and
eastern ditches, which seem to have covered the corresponding faces of
the inner ward.
The character of the ground makes it probable that the Norman fortress
had but one entrance. This could not have been on the east, west, or
south fronts, as the ground was low and marshy; nor on the north,
where the ditch is wide and deep, and on which side the inner ward had
no corresponding gateway. The obvious position would be where is now
Leicester’s Gatehouse, between the high ground of Clinton Green and the
marsh land, and the way from which towards the gateway of the inner
ward would be commanded by the keep.
Henry III. spent large sums here, and the Water Tower and adjacent
Warder’s Tower and the stair of Lunn’s Tower are probably his work,
together with large repairs to the south and east curtain. It is
also pretty certain that to him must be attributed the great dam,
and therefore the older parts of Mortimer’s and the Gallery Towers.
Of parallel cases, the lake at Caerphilly belongs to the end of that
reign; as, or to the commencement of that of Edward I., does the
completion of that at Ledes in Kent. The Brayz, being a necessary
adjunct to the dam, must have been contemplated while that was made,
and therefore is probably of the same date. The light earthworks
crossing the Warwick road are probably the work of Simon de Montfort
the younger, thrown up in haste to check the approach of the royal
troops from Warwick. Save the Gallery Tower, bridge, and the outer
gatehouse, there does not appear to have been any masonry beyond the
lake.
The castle contains but little pure Decorated work. The kitchens, hall,
and rooms to the south-east, called Lancaster’s buildings, are probably
the work of John of Gaunt, late in the fourteenth century. They no
doubt replaced other less magnificent domestic buildings of Norman
date. The chapel seems rather earlier than the hall, the barn later,
and its upper floor later still.
The later Plantagenet and earlier Tudor sovereigns did little more
than keep up the place; and thus it remained, until it was granted by
Elizabeth to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, who spent a large sum of
money upon it in buildings and gardens, most of which have disappeared.
He gutted the keep and forebuilding, and fitted them up in the Tudor
style; and raised the lofty, but flimsy, pile known as Leicester’s
buildings. He also embellished the entrance by the Brayz and Gallery
Tower, and built the gatehouse still standing to the north-east, a very
fine example of a declining period in English architecture. He probably
filled up the east ditch and the inner north ditch, if such there was.
The castle does not seem to have been inhabited after Leicester’s
death. Prince Henry and his brother used it more for its chase than as
a residence, and their successors, until recently, allowed it to be
used as a quarry. During the Parliamentary wars, the north side of the
keep was taken down, and the gorge of Lunn’s Tower blown up. Probably
the lake was drained afterwards, when land became valuable.
Kenilworth is evidently the worth or dwelling of Kenelm; though who
Kenelm was, or when he lived, are matters unrecorded. He was certainly
a considerable person, both because he gave name to his estate and
because his dwelling-place was evidently extensive and strong. It
appears from Domesday that Kenilworth was a member of the royal manor
of Stanlei or Stoneleigh, held as ancient demesne, the tenant doing
suit and service upon the mote known as Motstow Hill. This mote, one of
the most interesting English remains in the midland counties, stands,
as it did at Domesday, and probably for several preceding centuries,
upon a ridge of rock which forms the left bank of the Sow, opposite
to the curious old Norman church of Stoneleigh. Some excavations upon
its flanks have somewhat injured its integrity; but it is still a
very marked feature in the valley, and one of the very few mote hills
in the midland counties. A steep hollow way leads up to it from the
river. The register of Stoneleigh Abbey mentions a castle in the manor,
which was destroyed by the Danes in the wars between King Edmund and
Canute, and which stood at a place called Holm Hill, on the Avon, in
the woods opposite to the site of the late Abbey of Stoneleigh. As the
destruction probably relates only to the timber superstructure, it is
not unlikely that the mound or burh remains. Unfortunately, Holm Hill,
as the ground thereabouts is still called, is in one of the Stoneleigh
preserves, and therefore, not unreasonably, closed against strangers.
Kenilworth at Domesday was in two parts: Opton or Upton, containing
three hides, held direct of the king by Albertus Clericus, in pure
alms; and Chineworde, held by Ricardus Forestarius. Opton is upper-town
or high-town, the rising ground to the north of the present church;
Chineworth is Kenilworth proper. Dugdale mentions a Richard Chineu as
the same with Ricardus Forestarius, and cites the “Testa de Nevill”;
but the name does not appear in the index to the printed volume of that
record. Chineworth may be an accidental coincidence, or it may be a
corruption of Kenilworth.
The two members continued in the Crown until Henry I. granted them
to Geoffrey of Clinton, or Glinton, in Oxfordshire, one of his
chamberlains and his treasurer, and possibly afterwards justiciary
of England. Dugdale says he built the castle, and one of his grants
shows that he had an important residence there, though it may be
doubted whether any of the masonry now standing is his work. The date
of Henry’s grant is not known, but no doubt it was before 1122, about
which year Geoffrey de Clinton founded the priory of Kenilworth, from
the local endowment of which he reserved his castle and park. Speed
places the building of the church as early as 1112, but Robert, Bishop
of Chester, who was consecrated in 1121, is one of the witnesses to
the foundation charter. The Abbey of Stoneleigh was not established
at that place till 1154, when Henry II. translated it from Radmore in
Staffordshire. To Geoffrey de Clinton, who was living as late as 1129,
succeeded Geoffrey his son, a chamberlain to Henry II., who acquired
ten knights’ fees in the county by marriage with Agnes, daughter of
Roger de Bellomont, Earl of Warwick. These he held, 12 Henry II. He
was a large benefactor to the monks of Kenilworth, but he alienated
the castle to the king, who held it, 12 Henry II., for some years. It
was then recovered by Geoffrey, who, in a charter to the priory, says,
“Postquam castellum meum et Honorem meum recuperavi.” It remained
in his hands for about seven years, when it was again obtained by
the king, who held it, 19 Henry II. and 27 Henry II., as did his
successors. The date of Geoffrey’s death is unknown, but it was after
1165. The king evidently strengthened the place, for the entries in
his reign relating to it are frequent and important. In 19 Henry II.,
it was victualled and garrisoned: the prices and quantities of the
stores are set down in the Pipe Roll. In 27 Henry II., ward-silver and
a commutation for castle-guard were paid to the sheriff, and rent,
probably from persons living there for security. In 30 Henry II., the
walls were repaired. In it there was then a prison, which was repaired,
31 Henry II. The castle was kept in order during Richard’s reign, and
was much valued by King John, who, early in his reign, took a re-lease
from Henry, son of the second Geoffrey de Clinton, with whom, or his
son, another Henry, the name disappeared from Kenilworth.
King John paid five visits to Kenilworth between 1204 and 1215, and
by his order large sums of money were spent upon the castle, and much
wine was sent there. In 13 John, the sheriff is allowed sums of £361
and £102, and in the following year £224—all for buildings. In 17 John,
£402 was thus spent. No doubt, King John may have built the keep in
those years; it is, however, more probable that it was of earlier date,
the work of the second Geoffrey; but John may well have built Lunn’s
Tower.
Henry III. was much at Kenilworth, and the sheriff’s accounts show
large and frequent expenditure very early in his reign. In 3 Henry
III., a chapel was built, probably in the outer ward, and £150 allowed
to rebuild a tower that had fallen. In each year more or less is spent.
In 5–7 Henry III., the wind was high, and blew down several trees in
the park, and much damaged certain buildings in the castle. Wine was
occasionally sent there from Southampton. In 13 Henry III., the bank
of the pool was repaired, and two years later there were more repairs,
and mention is made of a gaol delivery by the judges. King John had
already used the castle as a prison. In 19 Henry III., £6 16s. 4d.
was allowed for a fair and beautiful boat to lie near the door of the
king’s great chamber. No doubt the king had by that time constructed
the dam and formed the lake. In 22 Henry III., Archbishop Walter de
Gray had temporary charge of the castle, to receive there Ottoboni, the
papal legate, who was himself soon afterwards placed in charge of it.
In 26 Henry III., more money was spent. The chapel was to be ceiled
with wainscot and painted, and seats provided for the king and queen.
The tower where the bells hung was to be repaired, a new wall built on
the south side by the pool, and the queen’s chamber to be painted. No
doubt the Water Tower and the early part of, and perhaps the additions
to, Mortimer’s Tower were of this period, as well as the dam and the
outworks beyond it. Henry seems to have completed the military works
pretty much as they are now seen.