gateway, built against the south curtain, which is of Norman date. They
abut also upon the keep. Along the north curtain is the grand mass of
the state and domestic buildings, composed of the buttery tower, the
hall, the state and private rooms, and the square tower, which occupies
the north-east angle of the ward. This group forms the grand feature of
the castle, being of mixed Norman and Decorated date, of great height,
and of lordly dimensions. On one side of the ward is the kitchen,
built against the inner ward wall; and opposite to it the well-known
Norman chapel, the circular nave of which stands detached, but which
formerly had a chancel which abutted upon the curtain.
[Illustration: LUDLOW CASTLE.
GROUND PLAN.
Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.]
The outer ward contains at present but few buildings. Near the centre
of its curtain is the outer gatehouse, and on its south side a range of
Tudor buildings, probably stabling. One square tower, of early date,
stands on the east wall, and indicates the boundary of the Norman
castle; and another, later and semicircular, on the west wall above the
river, bears the name of Mortimer. There were some later buildings,
including probably a chapel, at the south-west corner of this ward;
but these are in part pulled down, and this quarter of the ward has
been walled off, and a public footway made across it. This footway
passes through two modern doorways in the outer curtain, the thickness
of which is thus seen. The ditch covering the middle is, of course,
actually within the outer ward. It is cut in the rock, 13 yards broad,
4 yards deep. 150 yards long, and in part revetted; the revetment
being, no doubt, a long subsequent addition. It is crossed and closed
at each end by the curtain, and must always have been dry, or nearly
so. The general position, and to some extant the plan, of Ludlow,
suggests a comparison with Barnard Castle, the outline of which is also
Norman.
Before considering the interior of the castle, it will be convenient to
bestow a few words upon the walls as seen from the exterior, especially
along the road and north fronts. Commencing with the south-west angle,
where the front wall branches off towards the river bridge, first comes
Mortimer’s Tower, half-round in plan, and in the early English style,
in which Hugh Mortimer is said to have been imprisoned in about 1150,
but which seems of later date. It has a close gorge-wall, a basement
at the ground level, and three upper floors. The basement is vaulted,
groined, and ribbed, but the ribs and a large window are insertions.
There is a well-stair in the north-east angle, and the upper floor
communicates laterally with the curtain, which is lofty. Just below
the line of the parapet is a row of corbels intended to support a
wooden gallery or _brétasche_. This tower is of early English or early
Decorated date, with additions of the Perpendicular and Tudor periods.
Next to this, upon the wall, is the bakehouse tower, placed at the
junction of the exterior curtain and that of the middle ward, and to be
described with the keep. Beyond this tower the original Norman wall has
been raised to 40 feet. In it is what seems to have been a sewer-mouth.
Next follows the postern tower, a small Norman tower, square, of bold
external and no internal projection, having a Norman door in its gorge;
and another, the postern, of 4 feet opening, in its northern face.
This tower is closed up and inaccessible. The upper part seems an
addition. It marks the junction of the inner and middle wards. From it
the curtain is continued northward at the same height; the lower part,
at the least, being original. Inside, various buildings, now removed,
were placed against this wall, and the wall itself is pierced by
chambers and galleries not now accessible. Upon it is corbelled out the
vent of a mural garderobe, which has been supplemented by the addition
of a hollow shaft placed as a buttress below the corbels.
At the north-west angle is a group of towers, forming the angle, and
which contain the buttery. The first has a rectangular projection, in
the base of which is a round-headed sewer of 2 feet opening. Connected
with this is a second tower, a half-octagon in plan, much patched and
added to, but the lower part of which is Norman, and the upper early
Decorated. This group is very lofty, and has a battering base, so that
the weight is thrown backwards well within the edge of the cliff.
Across the hollow angle, between this last tower and the north curtain,
is turned a Norman squinch arch, in the soffit of which is the vent,
and above, the loop window of a garderobe. This curtain forms the wall
of the great hall and adjacent building. A large stone spout marks the
buttery, and beyond are the three exterior windows of the hall. This
wall crowns a cliff of about 40 feet, below which a broad platform
has been cut in modern times, and from which a second steep slope of
50 feet or 60 feet descends to the meadows. The hall wall ends in a
half-octagon, within which is the staircase to the private apartments;
and beyond this again is the garderobe tower—a large rectangular mass
of great height and breadth, and very bold projection, and entirely of
Decorated date. In each of the three faces, at the base, are two large
shoulder-headed recesses, each containing a vent, the sloping shoot
from which is 6 feet long. In the floors above are various windows, of
one light with trefoiled heads, and above rises the lower part of a
handsome octagonal chimney shaft.
Beyond the garderobe tower is the wall of a part of the private
apartments, mainly of Decorated date, but much altered. In its base
are three large early Perpendicular windows of two lights, trefoiled,
with tracery in the heads; and above are various Tudor insertions of
inferior taste and workmanship, and the timbers of two balconies.
This face of the middle ward ends in a square tower of Norman date,
which stands at the junction of the walls of the outer and middle
ward. From hence the wall is of the outer ward, and seems to have been
rebuilt partly in the reign of Elizabeth, to which belongs a small
square-headed door, outside which are some ruins upon a platform of
rock about 30 feet broad. From hence the wall is modern, nearly to the
Norman tower, from which to the gatehouse it is probably Norman. Beyond
the gatehouse, to the river cliff, the wall is 5 feet to 6 feet thick
and 40 feet to 50 feet high. It is old, but probably not original. The
ditch is filled up, and trees have grown along its line, two or three
of which must be above a century old.
The _Inner Ward_.—The keep stands on the higher part of the enclosure,
but at some distance from the river cliff, nor has it any natural
advantages for defence. It was not intended to stand alone, but,
as is often the case with keeps of that age, is placed upon the
_enceinte_, and so forms part of the general line of defence. It is
peculiar in that its original plan, though rectangular, had two slight
ears or projections, and it was, in fact, slightly ⟙-shaped, and had
communications right and left through the arms of the ⟙ with the
curtain wall on which it stood. This is very unusual, and quite an
exception to the jealousy with which the entrances to Norman keeps are
usually guarded. In this respect it is rather a large mural tower than
a keep. It has been much altered at various periods, both within and
without, and the history of these successive alterations is by no means
easy to unravel. The keep is 40 feet long on its south face, which
projects about 7 feet beyond the curtain into the outer ward. This is
the cross limb of the ⟙. The stem projects from the curtain into the
inner ward about 30 feet, and is 31 feet broad.
[Illustration: LUDLOW KEEP.
GROUND FLOOR.
Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.]
In the original building there was a basement nearly at the ground
level and a lofty upper floor with an open roof. The exterior was
plain. It had a low plinth, but no pilaster strips, save that at the
end of the east wall there is a sort of pilaster 6 feet broad by 1
foot deep. On the south face a string of half-hexagonal section runs
a little above the level of the first floor, and on the east and west
faces, a little higher up, are sets-off of 5 inches. The upper story is
marked by a similar set-off all round. The north, south, and west walls
at the base are 7 feet 6 inches thick, and above it 5 feet. The east
wall, containing the staircase, is 9 feet 6 inches thick. Two additions
have been made, which much affect the ground plan. On the west, the
hollow angle of the ⟙ has been filled up by a building 11 feet broad by
24 feet long, which is carried up to the top, and enters partly into
the composition of a north-west turret. The wall of this building is
only 3 feet thick. The corresponding hollow angle on the east face is
also filled up by a mass of masonry 9 feet thick, but which goes no
higher than the first floor. It contains a cell, the porter’s prison,
and a passage leading from the main gate to the well-stair of the keep.
The porter’s prison is barrel-vaulted, is not bonded into the keep, and
is probably very late Norman. There is in the keep wall, partly seen in
the vault, a loop or window, though there is no indication inside from
whence it opened.
The existing keep is composed of a basement and three floors. At
present the basement chamber is entered by a door in the north wall
from the inner ward, the first and other floors by a well-stair in the
east angle, entered from the main gate. The basement is three steps
below the ground level. It is 31 feet north and south and 14 feet
5 inches wide. It has a high-pointed vault, a loop in the south or
outer end, and in the north end a loop, and above it a window, and by
their side the door from the inner ward. The window recess is slightly
pointed, that of the door more decidedly so, but the exterior facing
of both door and window is late Perpendicular, four-centred in a flat
head. In the side walls, at their north end, on each side is a Norman
arcade of two arches, plain and shallow, springing from plain detached
columns with fluted and cushion capitals, the whole resting on a low
bench. The arcades begin a foot from the north wall, and the arches
are full centred, but of unequal span, 4 feet 3 inches and 5 feet 11
inches. The western arcade has been walled up and is only partially
seen. On the east side, at the southern arch, the column is gone, and
the lower half of its nook is occupied by a sort of altar of square
stones, having a large flat stone on its top. The whole work is rude.
There are no drips or hood mouldings, and a mere attempt at an incised
ornament. The arcade is recessed about a foot. In the east wall, near
its south end, are two square-headed doors of 2 feet opening and 7
feet 6 inches apart. Each opens into a passage 3 feet 7 inches long
and 2 feet 7 inches broad, and these end in, and are connected by, a
cross gallery 12 feet long and 2 feet 6 inches broad. These passages
are lined with ashlar and are 6 feet 7 inches high, and flat-topped.
The roof is formed of rubble, wedged tight and plastered. Also, each
doorway has a rebate and bar-hole, showing that the door opened
inwards, and was fastened on the inner side or from the passage, into
which, however, there was no other way. It appears also that the great
chamber was formerly divided by a cross wall, so placed that one of
these doors opened into each chamber, and a step in the rubble vaulting
shows where this wall crossed, and that there was a slight difference
in the height of the vault on its two faces. The southern of the two
doorways has been mutilated and a Norman pier has been inserted, but
this seems modern, and a clumsy device to support the roof. It is
difficult to understand for what purpose this very curious passage was
constructed. It afforded a way from the outer to the inner room, but
this does not account for the position of the bar-holes. Moreover, as
regards the large room, the arcade seems strangely out of place. It
was certainly confined to two arches on each side; and as the room
lies north and south, it could scarcely have been a chapel, neither is
it likely that it was a room of state. The wall seems at one time to
have been lined with ashlar, and there are ashlar bands in the vault,
a part of which is built of hammer-dressed stone, and part of very
ordinary rubble. The arcade and probably the substance of the building
are rather early Norman, and the vault and north wall seem additions in
the early English period. This chamber has no communication with the
additions either upon the east or the west front.
The first floor is exactly above the basement, and measures 30 feet
by 17 feet 6 inches. In its south end is a Tudor window, no doubt
replacing a Norman loop; and in its north end are two windows in
Tudor recesses, and between them a Tudor fireplace. In the west wall,
north end, a round-headed door opens into a side-chamber 8 feet by 13
feet, vaulted, but with a timber floor, having windows to the north
and west, and in its east or keep side two round-headed recesses of
3 feet 8 inches opening, and 3 feet deep. In the south end of this
room a narrow passage leads into a garderobe chamber, 7 feet 6 inches
by 5 feet, with a loop to the west. Between the two rooms is a block
of masonry which contains the shafts of the garderobes from the
upper story. In the other or south end of the west side of the main
room, a lofty full-centred arch of 5 feet 10 inches opening, is the
mouth of a vaulted lobby, 13 feet 7 inches long; at first 5 feet 10
inches wide, and then reduced to 3 feet 2 inches. This opens upon the
south curtain, west of the keep. In the south wall of the lobby is a
small round-headed window in a plain recess, and outside, flanked with
nook-shafts, the only ornamented Norman window in the keep. Opposite,
in the east wall, is a door, of 4 feet 3 inches opening, which leads
into a vaulted and groined chamber, 8 feet square, with a loop to the
south, and to the east a short passage 4 feet wide, which opens upon
the south curtain and leads to the upper floor of the gatehouse. In
the north wall of the chamber is the head of a straight staircase,
which threads the east wall of the keep, and was the original entrance
from the ground level to the first floor. The staircase is of ashlar,
barrel-vaulted, and fifteen steps are still to be seen. Returning to
the main chamber, there remains to be noticed a door at the north
end of the east wall, which opens into a well-stair, and from it by
an outer door into what was the first floor of the gatehouse. This
well-stair occupies the north-east angle of the keep. It is entered by
a vaulted rising passage in the east wall from the main gate at the
ground level, and the staircase rises to the ramparts, opening upon the
first and two upper floors. At present its door and window openings are
Tudor, but the staircase itself is probably much older. It is evident
that here was the original entrance to the keep, as at Chepstow and
Carlisle, whence a straight stair led up the centre of the wall to the
first floor; but when the lower part of the well-stair was inserted,
the straight stair was walled up, and so remains. At Chepstow and
Carlisle, besides the staircase, there was a door which gave entrance
to the basement floor. This could not have been the case here, for it
would have cut the arcade. The cill of the south-east door shows the
floor of the first floor chamber to have been slightly raised, which
was, no doubt, done when the vaulting was inserted. There are two
square holes in the floor, intended to give air to the main room below,
and probably late insertions. This story was 12 feet 6 inches high.
From it seventeen steps in the well-staircase lead to a Tudor door into
the second floor.
[Illustration: LUDLOW KEEP.
FIRST FLOOR.
Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.]
The second floor is of the same dimensions with the first. In its
south wall is a Tudor window, no doubt replacing one of Norman date;
and in the north wall two windows, square-headed, but in round-headed
though not Norman recesses. In the east wall, besides the staircase
door, is a Tudor fireplace, possibly only refaced in that style. This
wall has been much altered and patched, and the fireplace is probably
an insertion. In the west wall, at its north end, a door opens into a
lateral chamber, above that appended to the first floor, and in it are
two garderobes. It has a square-headed loop to the north and three to
the west, the central one in a round-headed recess. On a level with
this chamber, and probably opening from it, is a small chamber over
the west lobby. This has a loop to the west, but is not accessible.
There is a similar chamber over the east lobby, but how entered does
not appear. This second floor is 11 feet 10 inches high, and from it
nineteen steps ascend to the floor above.
The third floor, also entered by a Tudor doorway from the staircase,
is of the same dimensions with the floor below. In the east wall is
a fireplace, also Tudor, and in the west wall, at the north end, a
square-headed door, opening into the third floor of the appended
chamber. This chamber has a Decorated window in its north wall, and had
a timber floor and ceiling, and is crossed by a round-headed arch which
supports the south wall of the north-west turret. A weather-moulding in
the south wall shows that this appendage had at first a lean-to roof.
The south wall of the main chamber has also a weather-moulding, showing
that this wall was once a gable, and that the keep had originally
a high-pitched roof with a central ridge. A Tudor window has been
inserted into the wall, and cuts through the moulding. The north wall
is pierced by two round-headed recesses, in which are trefoil-headed
windows of one light, and apparently of Decorated date. There is no
weather-moulding at this end, one of the many indications that this
wall has been rebuilt. This floor, like that below it, is 11 feet 10
inches high, and from it nineteen steps ascend to the battlements,
opening by a Tudor door at the stair-head. The stair ends in a
rectangular turret, 15 feet by 9 feet. The north-west turret, 8 feet
by 10 feet, has no opening from the ramparts. The two southern turrets
are larger, and both have exterior staircases of twelve stairs leading
to their flat roofs. The south-west turret is 15 feet by 14 feet, and
the south-eastern, not now accessible, is about 15 feet square. The
north and south walls are here 5 feet thick, two being occupied by
the embattled parapet. The east wall is 9 feet thick, and contained a
double chimney-flue. The west wall is double, the inner 4 feet thick,
being the wall of the keep, and the outer 3 feet to the wall of the
appendage. The space between, 5 feet 8 inches broad, was covered by a
flat roof, so that the rampart here was 12 feet 8 inches broad within
the parapet. There were two embrasures on each face of the keep, and
the roof last laid upon it was flat.
The keep seems originally to have been built by Roger de Lacy, 1086 to
1096, as a plain ⟙-shaped tower, upon and a part of the curtain wall.
It had a basement floor at the ground level, and one upper floor of
considerable height, with an open, high-pitched roof, of which the
north and south walls, nearly if not quite of their present height,
formed the gables, just as in the Norman gatehouse of Sherborne Castle.
Probably the side walls were nearly as high as the gables, so as to
conceal the roof. The basement was entered at the ground level by a
door in the north wall. It had at least two arches of an arcade in each
of its side walls, and was probably divided by a cross wall into two
chambers, the inner being entered by the passage in the east wall. The
entrance to the upper floor was also on the ground level, but in the
east wall, and therefore in the middle ward. It was by a small door and
short passage, from which, on the south or left, a staircase threaded
the east wall, and landed in a vaulted lobby at the level of the first
floor. This lobby and one opposite to it led out upon the curtain. How
the keep battlements were reached is uncertain, possibly by the present
well-staircase, which, in that case, then commenced at the first-floor
level.
The first alteration made in the Norman period was probably a century
later than the original building. This consisted in the addition of
a building on the west front, filling up the hollow angle of the ⟙.
It contained a basement, which seems to have been a cesspit, and is
now entered by a breach, and is vaulted. The roof was a lean-to. To
enter the first floor of this building a door was opened in the wall
of the keep. Also on the opposite or east side a mass of masonry was
built into the hollow angle of the ⟙. This, however, stopped at the
first-floor level, and was probably intended to give a second passage
between the first floor and the gatehouse. In the block was a vaulted
prison cell for the porter, and a passage which led into and covered
the entrance of the keep.
At a later date, during the early English period, still greater changes
were made. The north wall was either rebuilt or refaced, the basement
was vaulted, and the north-east angle was taken down and rebuilt,
a well-stair being probably inserted into it. At the same time the
lateral walls and the west appendage were raised, the first floor
fitted with a flat ceiling, and two floors inserted above it, with
doors into the western appendage, and two turrets were carried up at
the two northern angles of the building.
The next and final alteration occurred in the Tudor period, when the
vault of the eastern entrance was rebuilt, and faced with an outer
door-case, the well-staircase fitted with doors and loops, and the old
straight staircase walled up, and fireplaces inserted in the walls.
Also the north door and window of the basement were refaced. Of course
all this is a matter of opinion only, the alterations having been so
great, and of so complete a character, that it is difficult to form
even a theory concerning them. This is one of the most curious and
perplexing Norman keeps now standing. It is much to be desired that its
owner would cause an accurate plan and section of it at each floor to
be made and published.
The curtain connecting the keep with the _Bakehouse Tower_ is 36 feet
by 38 feet long, 7 feet thick, and about 20 feet high to the ramparts,
but it had a covered passage, and rose towards the tower, probably
having a narrow staircase communicating with the second floor, while
the main gallery opened into the first floor. The tower is rectangular,
about 23 feet by 27 feet. It projects 16 feet into the ditch, and its
interior measures 15 feet by 11 feet. It was originally open at the
gorge into the inner ward, the masonry being replaced, as at Cologne
and Avignon, and as in the later gatehouse of the Tower of London, by
a timber partition. A large oven has been built at the ground level,
filling up the whole area, and an arch turned at the first-floor
level, supporting a wall, which replaces the timber work in the upper
floors. In this wall are a fireplace, small oven, and window. A door
in the east wall opens from the curtain, and in the west wall another
door opens into a mural passage in the west or outer curtain, in which
it has a loop. On the left, or south, is a garderobe chamber, 6 feet
by 5 feet, with a loop to the south, and in the opposite direction the
passage runs 11 feet, descending four steps. It probably was continued
in the substance of the curtain to the postern tower, but is now walled
up. The upper or second wall of the tower is not accessible. It seems
to be on the pattern of the first floor, and is entered by an exterior
staircase from the south curtain, and on the other side has a garderobe
and passage opening upon the rampart of the west curtain, towards the
postern tower. The bakehouse tower is Norman, and of the age of the
keep. Its floors were of timber.
The _Postern Tower_ is spiked up and inaccessible. It is about the
size and height of the bakehouse tower, and of the same date, but its
gorge was always closed. At the ground level a small door opens from
the inner ward, and there is a similar door on the north and outer face
of the tower, which is the postern. Both are full centred and plain.
This tower has no internal projection. In the ward, close to the tower
door, in a most inconvenient position, is the well, with a shaft worked
roughly in the rock, 8 feet in diameter. It is now partly choked up.