and, in 32 Henry III., Alianor, the king’s daughter, and Earl Simon’s
wife, has the custody of the castle for life. In 34 Henry III.,
such was the state of the district that the constable of the castle
was ordered to cut away the woods to a breadth of six acres between
Coventry and Warwick. In 38 Henry III., the Earl of Leicester and his
countess had a grant of the castle for their lives, a concession by
which Henry made over to his most dangerous enemy the strongest and
most central fortress in his dominions. The events by which the king
and the earl became opposed in arms in the field, and the succession
of great events which led to the death of the earl, and the celebrated
siege of Kenilworth, belong to the history of England rather than to
that of Kenilworth, and form one of its most interesting and most
valuable chapters. The subject has fallen under the pen of Mr. Green,
and has found a place in the pages of the _Archæological Journal_ (vol.
xxi. p. 277), where the course of the events is disentangled, and very
clearly narrated, and their political significance and bearing upon
the constitutional history of our country treated in a manner both
brilliant and profound. Earl Simon had evidently prepared Kenilworth as
the base of his operations in the impending struggle; and upon his fall
and death at Evesham, his son at once completed the preparations, and
made his arrangements for a protracted defence. It was under the walls
of Kenilworth that the younger Simon was surprised and nearly captured
by the superior activity of Prince Edward, and it was from Kenilworth
that he was marching when intercepted by the superior generalship of
the prince, on the eve of the battle of Evesham.
The death of the earl and the defeat of his party brought out into
strong relief the immense military value of Kenilworth. Thither fled
all who escaped from the field, and they were employed in scouring
the country, and adding to the immense stores already accumulated
there. Richard, Earl of Cornwall, the king’s brother, was a prisoner
there, and the conduct of Sir Simon towards him bears testimony to the
prudence and moderation of the captor. He set free Richard, his son,
and his followers, and despatched them to the Parliament convoked in
September at Winchester, in the hope, not altogether in vain, that
moderate counsels would ultimately prevail.
The possession of Kenilworth was the first object of the royal party;
but not only was the castle strong, and its resources abundant, but
the popular cause was in the ascendant, and the garrison included some
of the greatest nobles and bravest soldiers in England. Henry, forty
years before, had learned by the experience of Bedford that the siege
of a well-appointed fortress was no light matter, and his preparations
were very considerable. On the 8th of December he summoned his nobles
to a muster at Northampton to proceed against Kenilworth, and on
26th December he called out the “posse” of Warwick and Oxford, “ad
gravandum et expugnandum illos qui se tenent in Castro de Kenelworth.”
The garrison refused to surrender the castle to Sir Simon, then in the
hands of their enemies, and pleaded that they held it in trust for the
Countess of Leicester, and could give it over to none other. It was the
23rd June, 1265, before the siege was commenced in good earnest.
The royal head-quarters seem to have been on the north side of the
castle, probably along the high ground between what is still called
Camp Field and Clinton Green, and it is not improbable that the king’s
pavilion was pitched at the former point so as to be out of reach of
the sallies of the garrison. On the Sunday after St. Margaret’s day,
20th July, the sword of state, called “Curtana,” was brought to the
camp, and, in the presence of the king, delivered to the keeper of
the king’s pavilion. To the camp came also the legate, Ottoboni; and
so intent was the king upon the siege that the Duke of Brunswick, who
had come to Windsor to marry Henry’s niece, came on to the camp, where
the marriage ceremony was performed. The garrison was, however, in
no way daunted by these symptoms of the king’s determination to take
the place. They constructed powerful engines, and threw great stones
from the walls, some of which are probably the stone balls, 18 inches
diameter, which have been found there, and are still preserved at the
castle. Unfortunately, the political events were so important that the
operations of the siege have escaped record.
As, however, the royal cause gained ground, it became evident that,
however strong the castle might be, its fall was a question of time
only, and the counsels of Prince Edward and Prince Richard and the
legate were directed to hasten this event by moderate means. A royal
council was summoned, and met at Coventry, to settle the terms to be
offered to the “disinherited”; and on the calends of November (31st
October) the celebrated “Dictum” or “Ban” was proclaimed in camp, and
on the following day confirmed, and, finally, on the Sunday, read out
from the pulpit of Warwick Church by the legate in the presence of the
king. The terms were, however, rejected by the garrison; on which the
king decided to attack the place by storm, and, 20th November, masons,
labourers, pioneers, and sappers were ordered up from Northampton.
Probably the garrison had been improvident; for stores began to fall
short, the water became bad, and disease broke out. Upon this, the
garrison asked for time to seek and advise with Simon de Montfort, then
supposed to be on the continent. This was granted, but as the sickness
became pestilential, Hastings agreed to surrender on terms. Four days
were allowed for the retreat of the garrison, with their horses, arms,
and harness. The necessary safe-conducts bear date the 13th December,
but the castle was surrendered on the 12th. The siege had lasted six
months, at a prodigious expense to the royal exchequer, as Henry soon
afterwards informed the sheriffs, and to the severe injury of the monks
of Kenilworth and Stoneleigh, and of the people of the whole midland
district, who had been harried by both besiegers and besieged. Henry
left immediately afterwards for Oxford, placing Philip Marmion in
charge as constable; but before leaving he, by grant dated Warwick,
16th December, made over the castle and lordship to his brother Edmund,
Earl of Lancaster.
Edmund was created Earl of Leicester by his nephew, Edward I., in 1274;
and four years afterwards, 7 Edward I., he held a grand tournament
at the castle, at which Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, specially
distinguished himself. Edmund’s son and successor, Earl Thomas,
enlarged the park, 30 Edward I. On his execution and attainder, the
castle escheated to Edward II., who was afterwards brought here a
prisoner by Henry, Earl Thomas’s brother and heir, and here retained
until he was sent to Berkeley. With the new reign the attainder was
reversed, and Earl Henry held the castle till his death, 19 Edward
III., as did his son Henry, created Duke of Lancaster, 25 Edward III.
Ten years later, on his death, 35 Edward III., Kenilworth came to
his second daughter and co-heir, Blanch, who married John of Gaunt,
Edward’s fourth son, who became Duke of Lancaster, 36 Edward III.
On the death of Edward III., John of Gaunt, distrusting the new king,
his nephew, took up his abode for a time at Kenilworth, and probably
commenced his alterations there. The works were, no doubt, carried on
for many years; and certainly were not ended 15 Richard II., 1391–2,
when masons, quarrymen, carpenters, and labourers were employed at
the castle, the result being the remodelling of the inner ward, and
the construction of the magnificent range of kitchens, hall, and
state apartments, of which the remains are still visible. When the
son and successor of John of Gaunt became Henry IV., Kenilworth, with
the other possessions of the Duchy of Lancaster, fell to the Crown,
and so remained. The castle received certain small additions, not of
a military character, and all now removed, from Henry VI. and Henry
VIII. Elizabeth, in the fifth year of her reign, 1563, granted the
domain to Lord Robert Dudley, creating him in the following year Earl
of Leicester. Leicester’s works were considerable. He gutted the keep
and forebuilding, fitting them up in the Tudor style; built the pile
of masonry, now nodding to its fall, and which bears his name, at the
south-east corner of the inner ward; he built or restored the Gallery
Tower upon the outer end of the dam; probably added an upper storey to
the great barn; and built the great gatehouse, a very fine specimen of
its age.
Probably also, late in his life, he filled up the ditch of the inner
ward. His masonry, though of ashlar, and not ill executed, was not
substantial; and upon the removal of the floors and roofs, the
walls became unsafe, and much has fallen and is about to fall. No
doubt his works were executed with great rapidity, since his famous
reception of Elizabeth here took place in 1575. Leicester’s conduct
threw a doubt upon the legitimacy of his only son, of which King James
availed himself to make an enforced purchase of Kenilworth for an
inconsiderable sum for Prince Henry; after whom it was held by Prince
Charles, probably more for the use of the chase than as a residence. At
that time the lake covered 111 acres, and there were four gatehouses;
the four being, no doubt, Leicester’s Gatehouse, Mortimer’s and the
Gallery Towers, and the entrance gate of the Brayz.
[Illustration: KIDWELLY CASTLE.
BIRDS EYE VIEW.
_Drawn by J. H. Le Keux, from a Sketch by H. Smyth._
_J. H. Le Keux sc._]
Charles granted Kenilworth, in 1621, on a lease on lives to Carey,
Earl of Monmouth, which was converted into a freehold in 1626, and
upon which the Careys founded a claim at the restoration in 1660;
Colonel Hawkesworth and others having held it while Cromwell was in
power. Finally it was granted by Charles II. to Lawrence Hyde, Earl of
Clarendon, from whom it has descended in the female line to its present
owner, whose conduct shows a true appreciation of the value of the
remains.
KIDWELLY CASTLE, CAERMARTHENSHIRE.
DESCRIPTION.
The reader who places before him the two sheets, 37 and 41, of the
Ordnance Survey, may observe, between the ranges of Penbrè and
Mynydd-Sulen on the east, and Mynydd-Garreg and Llangyndeyrn on the
west, a valley of about ten miles in length, and from one and a half
to three in breadth. The head waters of its stream spring from the
well-known elevation of Mynydd-mawr, and its mouth opens upon the
Bristol Channel, between the estuaries of the Llwchwr and the Towy, in
the bay of Caermarthen.
This is the valley of the Gwendraeth (white-strath)—
“Gwendra that with such grace delib’rately doth glide”—
one of the larger rivers of Caermarthen. West of this valley, between
it and the Towy, but of much smaller dimensions than either, is a
second valley and stream, tributary to the former, and bearing,
like it, the name of Gwendraeth (“fach,” or “the less,” being its
distinction). The rivers meet in a sort of estuary, chiefly formed by
the “Gwendraeth-fawr.”
These valleys are traversed by the roads leading from the strait
and tower of Llwchwr to the castles of Llanstephan and Caermarthen,
as well as by the northern and originally Roman road from Llwchwr to
Caermarthen, so that the district lies in the way between England and
Pembroke and Cardigan, and was, in consequence, known at an early
period to, and often crossed by, the Norman invaders of South Wales,
who attached considerable importance to its possession.
The castle and town of Kidwelly are placed upon either bank of the
Gwendraeth-fach, on the verge of the hill country, here divided from
the sea by a marsh of a quarter of a mile in breadth.
The new town, parts of which are of high antiquity, with its church and
some remains of a priory, stands upon the left bank, and is traversed
by the old road from Llwchwr to Caermarthen. A mile east of the town,
the road crosses the Gwendraeth-fawr by an ancient and narrow bridge.
Close west of the town a similar bridge crosses the Gwendraeth-fach,
just below the castle, with which it is connected by a suburb, said by
Leland to be the original town, and, in his time, enclosed within a
wall with three gates.
The castle stands from 80 feet to 100 feet above the river, on the
right bank, here steep and rocky. It thus protects and overawes the
town and priory, which are opposite to and below it. The eastern face
is defended naturally by the steep and the river. On the other sides
the defences are wholly artificial. The castle weir and a leat lead the
water from the river, cutting off a bend, to the mill, which is placed
between the castle and the town bridge.
Kidwelly is distant from the tower of Llwchwr, eleven miles; from the
castles of Llanstephan and Caermarthen, five and nine miles; and from
those of Dryslwyn and Dynevor, thirteen and eighteen miles.
The Gwendraeth seems to have derived a part of its name from the
“traeth” or “strath” of meadow land found along its course, the
fertility of which may have led to the establishment of the town and
priory of Kidwelly.
Cydweli is the name of one of the three commots of Eginoc, one of the
four cantrefs or hundreds of the ancient county of Caermarthen, which
included Gower. The adjacent commot of Carnwyllion, north of Kidwelly,
contained the strong pass of the same name, and is often mentioned in
local records.
The lordship of Kidwelly extends from the Llwchwr to the Towy, and
includes the parliamentary borough of Llanelly, and the municipality of
Kidwelly. The franchise of the corporation is reputed to extend beyond
the town, around the castle precinct. Of this franchise the mayor is
the lord, holding his courts in the town. The courts for the lordship
are held in the castle.
Kidwelly is a castle of the Edwardian or concentric type, slightly
modified from the perfect examples of Beaumaris and Caerphilly. It is
composed of the “castle proper,” containing the inner and outer ward,
and the “outworks,” containing the southern and northern platforms.
[Illustration: KIDWELLY CASTLE.
_H. Smyth del._ _J. H. Le Keux sc._]
[Illustration: KIDWELLY CASTLE.
_H. Smyth del._ _J. H. Le Keux sc._]
The castle is in plan nearly a semicircle, the main ditch forming the
curve, and the cliff and river the chord. The long axis lies north and
south, and the gateways are at opposite ends. The whole work measures
440 yards, by from 90 yards to 130 yards, and covers about three acres.
The _Inner Ward_ contains the drum towers, the curtains, the chapel
tower, the hall, and the kitchen.
The drum towers are four:—The north-west or black tower; the
south-west or Astragun Tower; the south-east or Margaret Dun Tower;
and the north-east tower. All are of one date, and nearly of one
pattern,—cylindrical, 30 feet diameter, with walls 9 feet thick. They
are 44 feet high, with a battlement, and each has a well-stair at the
gorge, terminating above in a square turret, the top of which is 53
feet high. Each contains a _souterrain_, and three stages of circular
chambers, looped outwards, usually with three openings. There are also
the usual chambers in the walls, and doors opening upon the ramparts of
the curtains. There are also some points of difference. The chambers
of the south-west tower are vaulted; the rest have timber floors. In
this tower the _souterrain_ is entered by a long gallery in the wall,
common to the south curtain and the kitchen, opening from the porter’s
lodge. This is the “porter’s prison,” and possibly the vaulting was to
allow the whole tower to be used for this purpose. The north-west tower
is cylindrical below, but above it passes into a sort of heart-shaped
plan, presenting towards the gorge a double bow, with a flat recess
between. These two towers cap the angle of their curtains, and are
engaged in about one-fifth of their circumference.
The north-east and south-east towers are placed, not at the angles,
but on the faces of the north and south curtains, close to their east
ends, and on the edge of the river cliff. Besides their junction with
the curtains of the inner ward, they are connected north and south with
that part of the curtain of the outer ward which is built along the
edge of the cliff. The south-east tower is closely connected with the
chapel tower, and has also a door opening upon the curtain of the outer
ward, leading to the great gatehouse.
The curtains are four in number. That to the east is irregular, low,
and weak; the cliff has been considered its defence. The other three
are 6 feet thick, and 18 feet high to the top of the parapet. Along
each is a rampart walk, having a parapet pierced with loops and a rere
wall. The curtains enclose a quadrangle 80 yards square.
The north curtain is pierced by a gateway, 6 feet wide, with a low
drop arch, and the groove of a portcullis worked from the rampart; it
is near the east end of the wall, and nearly opposite the northern
gatehouse. This curtain is pierced by two loops, which seem to have
been defended from the ground level. The west curtain has three loops,
two of which opened from the kitchen.
The south curtain is pierced near its centre by a gateway, 10 feet
wide, with a low drop arch and portcullis groove. The wall has been
thickened to give depth to the gateway, and possibly to allow of the
superstruction of a low tower above it. This is the principal entrance
to the inner, and opens towards the great gatehouse of the outer, ward.
The chapel tower, forming part of the east curtain, deserves particular
attention. It is an oblong building, springing from a rectangular base;
but, as the two outer or eastern angles are formed by buttresses, each
of which is a half pyramid, cut diagonally, the plan of the upper part
is an oblong, with the two eastern angles removed so as to form an
apse. As this tower projects some way down the steep, its outer face is
56 feet high and its inner only 20 feet. Its top is 24 feet lower than
that of the contiguous south-east tower.
Against the south side of the chapel tower is a small square projection
containing a vestry. This does not rise to the clerestory.
The chapel tower has three floors, all ceiled with timber. The interior
is 26 feet from the altar to the west end, and 18 feet broad. The
east wall is 6 feet thick; the west wall, 3 feet. In the south-east
corner is a mural gallery, leading to a sewer chamber below the vestry.
In the north-east corner is a well-stair. The ground floor is below
the level of the inner ward, and is entered by a curved stair from
the adjacent hall. The next, or first floor, is on the level of, and
entered directly from, the hall. Above this, and on the rampart level,
is the chapel. This includes two tiers of windows, the upper being a
clerestory, and is entered by a west door. The east window is common to
both tiers. It is a long, narrow, and acutely-trefoiled loop, set in a
broad recess, which nearly occupies the whole east bay of the apse, and
has a flat drop arch with a plain rib.
In the face next south of the altar-place is a small trefoiled piscina,
and next to this a broad recess or sedile under a drop arch. On the
south side, a small, acutely-pointed door leads to the vestry, and west
of this is another recess, with a flat drop arch, and in it, close
to its east side, a loop, long since blocked up, intended to defend
the nook between the vestry and the south-east tower, and to rake the
adjacent curtain. There is also a trefoiled loop in the north wall, and
a door long closed up.
The clerestory is lighted by nine windows, three on each side,
and three, including that to the east, in the apse. They are all
alike—long, narrow, acutely-trefoiled openings, within broad recesses,
plainly ribbed, and with flat drop arches. All rest inside upon a
string, a filleted half round, which dips to pass under the east
window. Between each pair of windows is a plain corbel block for
the roof timbers. There is nothing, save the battlements, above the
chapel. The walls have been stuccoed. The west wall has neither ashlar
dressings nor string course, and is of different date and inferior work
to the rest of the tower.
The hall, 60 feet by 25 feet, filled up, with the retiring-room, the
whole east side of the inner ward. Its south end is formed by the
south-east tower, the circular face of which has been patched and
plastered to present a flat surface towards the hall, and this addition
still shows the height and pitch of the hall roof. The west wall of the
chapel forms part of the east wall of the hall; and in another part of
this, which was also the outer wall towards the river, are traces of
a window recess, like those of the chapel. Near this, also connected
with the chapel, is a projecting space from the curtain, which may have
been a sort of oriel or small chamber attached to the hall. In the west
wall, at the south end, is an ashlar door or window jamb. The west wall
is destroyed.
[Illustration: KIDWELLY CASTLE.
INTERIOR Of CHAPEL.
_Mʳˢ. Traherne delᵗ._ _J. H. Le Keux sc._]
The retiring-room is of the breadth of the hall, and 30 feet long. It
communicates with the north-east tower. Its west wall is tolerably
perfect. It has been stuccoed, and includes a doorway. The cross wall,
and perhaps the place of its door opening into the hall, may be traced.
A trefoiled and recessed loop, of the date of those in the chapel,
remains on the east side in the curtain; and close south of it is the
fireplace, with a carved base to the chimney shaft. The whole of the
east curtain seems to have been employed to carry the roofs of the hall
and retiring-room, and was probably defended by a battlement accessible
from the roof gutter. The commanding position of the north-east and
chapel towers and the steep rise from the river would render this the
least accessible side of the castle.
The kitchen is placed opposite to the hall, in the south-west corner
of the court. It is 30 feet by 17 feet, and appears from its remaining
gable to have had a highly-pitched roof. At each end, north and south,
is a large fireplace, with magnificent tunnels. On the west side, which
is formed by the curtain, a window of narrow opening but broad recess
opens into the outer ward. Towards the south end is a third fireplace,
of smaller dimensions, apparently intended for stewing and similar
operations, like a modern hot closet.
In the east wall is a narrow doorway, placed within and on one side of
a wider arch, which at breast high is opened to its full breadth. This
seems to have been devised to allow servants to carry out large dishes
without opening a doorway of unnecessary breadth. On each side of this
door are low, broad openings, evidently intended for buttery hatches.
The north-west angle of this ward is occupied by an enclosure 45 feet
square, of which the two curtains form two sides. It is walled in, and
may have contained offices or barracks.
The _Outer Ward_ is nearly semicircular, the inner ward being built
upon the middle of its chord. Its parts are the great and lesser
gatehouses, the curtains, the mural towers, and the offices. The inner
ward has no ditch, and the space between the walls of the two wards is
on the north side, 90 feet; on the west side, 60 feet; and on the south
side, 80 feet.
The great gatehouse is a fine pile of building. It is an oblong mass,
80 feet broad by 50 feet deep, and 62 feet high. The gateway is 11
feet high, and 8 feet broad, and has a high drop arch. It is placed in
a very flat, segmental, arched recess, 20 feet high. The sill of the
doorway is 12 feet above the bottom of the ditch, and on either side
it is flanked by a conical round tower, 24 feet in diameter below, and
20 feet above. Above the gateway, between and on a level with the top
of the towers, runs a bold machicolation of three flat arches upon two
corbels.
The gatehouse has a circular projection eastward towards the river; and
at its north-west angle a square turret terminates in a watch-tower,
which rises 93 feet above the court, and is known as “Pigin Tower”
[Pigwn, Beacon].
The portals, both towards the field and towards the court, have plain
chamfered ribs in ashlar; the portal vault is turned in rubble, with a
portcullis groove at either end. The gates open inwards, so that the
gatehouse could be defended on either side. There are also three chases
in the vault, intended for the passage of gratings. The middle one
appears to have been long closed up.
The drawbridge dropped across the moat, here reduced 16 feet, upon a
pier connected with the barbican.