fortresses, and the most important stronghold between Carlisle and
Berwick, was long the “Castle Dangerous” of that contested territory,
and the strongest place on the Marches. It is a lasting monument of
episcopal magnificence, founded, restored, and maintained by Flambard,
Pudsey, and Beke, three of the most powerful prelates who sat in the
chair of St. Cuthbert, and as an example of a great Norman keep is
not unworthy to be named with Bamborough itself. The natural strength
of the ground led to its early occupation for purposes of defence,
and the traditions of Norham are in keeping with its architectural
grandeur. Here the Roman legions paused in their progress northwards,
and threw up earthworks which may still be recognised, and which
were probably abandoned when, under the military occupation of the
country, a permanent road was laid out a few miles to the eastward,
near to the mouth of the river. An early settlement of the Saxon kings
of Deira seems to have been on the steep side of Yevering Bell, the
ancient Gebrium, a spur of the Cheviot range, about twelve miles south
of Norham, where there yet remain formidable earthworks, which Mr.
Raine regarded as traces of the residence of the celebrated Eadwine,
King of Deira (585–633), the disciple and friend of Paulinus, but who
derived his knowledge of Christianity and probably his taste for a hill
residence from Cadvan of Gwynedd, by whom he was educated. Hence, in
later times, his successors moved their seat to Millfield, a place near
to the Till, and scarcely nine miles from Norham. Probably it was from
here that the Saxon kings guarded the pass of the Tweed, then called
Ubbanford; and it may well be that their handiwork remains in the banks
and ditches, not to be confounded with the camp of the legions, but
incorporated with the later castle, and which much resemble in their
figure and strength other well-known residences of the ninth century.
Here, near this “Northern home” of the successors of St. Cuthbert,
Bishop Ecfrid of Lindisfarne founded the parish church dedicated to
that saint, towards the middle of the ninth century, and placed in it
the remains of Ceolwulph, king and saint. The two contiguous shires
of Norham and Island, probably given by Oswald of Northumberland to
Lindisfarne, are reputed the oldest possessions of the see of Durham,
and detached from the body of the bishopric, presented a bold and
strongly-fortified front of twelve miles, from Coldstream to Berwick,
to the Scottish invaders. Early in the twelfth century arose the
castle, of which the ruins are still so grand, and for the possession
of which English and Scottish kings contended for centuries with
varying success. The great Edward, “Malleus Scotorum,” made much use
of Norham in his wars, and here, both in the church and in the castle,
were assembled before him the competitors for the Scottish throne,
of whom he selected one rather on the score of his subserviency than
of his worthiness. It was also from Norham that Surrey and Dacre and
the warders of the middle march directed that formidable raid which,
following upon Flodden, carried fire and sword almost to the gates of
Edinburgh. But although the broad stream of Tweed still flows at the
base of the castle rock, and the scaurs and ravines that constituted
the strength of the position still remain unaltered upon its southern
frontier, all else is widely changed. The lofty, though ruined,
battlements, rising far above the tufted trees, still, indeed, remain
the landmark of the local shire, but they no longer look out over
wasted lands and ruined villages, harried alternately by Englishman and
Scot, “galling the gleaned land with hot assays.” In no part of Britain
are the fields more skilfully cultivated, the rickyards more richly
stored, the byres stocked with cattle of a higher breed, the farmhouses
indicative of greater ease, or the agricultural labourer better able
to care for his own interests. All shows plainly to the eye of the
experienced traveller what has been achieved by the sturdy northern
agriculturist, under the invigorating influence of an unfettered trade.
Norham occupies the hollow of a grand bend of the Tweed, which here
cuts “a huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle,” out of the English bank
to bestow it upon that of Scotland, in the form of a broad and fertile
meadow. The castle stands upon a rocky platform, the south-western
extremity of a cliff which forms the river bank for a considerable
distance. A deep ravine cuts off the higher ground to the north-east,
and is joined by a less marked depression, which, deepened by art,
sweeps round and forms the southern defence until it opens upon the
steep slope which descends to the river and forms the north and
north-western front of the castle. Beyond this ditch, which contained
the approach from the village of Norham, and more to the south, is a
broad and level platform, also defended by deep ravines, upon which may
be traced the remains of the Roman camp and the less regular banks and
ditches of some of the besiegers of the castle. Both in its choice and
in the manner of occupation of the position are shown much strategical
judgment and engineering skill. It is both locally strong and well
selected for the defence of St. Cuthbert’s and the Northumbrian
frontier from Scottish inroads, as well as for the cutting off such
invaders as, having advanced southwards, might be forced to retreat.
The description of Simeon of Durham is both concise and accurate.
Writing of Flambard, he says: “Condidit castellum in excelso præruptæ
rupis super Tuedam flumen, ut inde latronum incursus inhiberet et
Scottorum irruptiones. Ibi enim, utpote in confinio regni Anglorum et
Scottorum, creber predantibus ante patebat excursus, nullo ibidem, quo
hujusmodi impetus repellerentur, præsidio locato.”
The glories of Norham, indeed, have been honourably recorded in every
stage of its stirring existence. Its sieges, misfortunes, reparations,
and their particulars and cost, are entered in considerable fulness in
the sheriffs’ accounts and in those of the Palatine see, and, finally,
in its neglect and decay, it has been honoured with Scott for its poet
and Raine for its historian.
The plan of the castle is irregular, following the general outline
of the ground. Like Barnard Castle, its form is a sort of quadrant,
the north and east faces 143 yards and 108 yards long, being nearly
at right angles, and more or less straight, and the border to the
south-west a curve of 223 yards, connecting the two sides. Of the area
thus enclosed, the north-eastern portion is occupied by the upper or
inner ward, the plan of which is roughly square, 57 yards east and west
by 47 yards north and south, covering, therefore, within its walls
2,680 square yards. The north and east sides of this ward form part of
the common curtain of the whole. In front of the other two sides is a
broad and deep ditch, which extends from the eastern ravine to the
northern steep, and is contained wholly within the outer ward, the
available area of which is thus considerably reduced. The whole was
contained within a curtain wall which, where it belonged to the inner
ward, was high and strong, but where to the outer ward was unequal,
being high where it crossed the ends of the inner ditch and along
a part of the north front, but elsewhere either very low or of but
moderate thickness. Most of the care of the engineer was lavished upon
the inner ward.
[Illustration: NORHAM CASTLE.
Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.]
The keep, the great, and, though a mere ruin, the best-preserved
feature of the fortress, is rectangular, and measures at its base about
64 feet north and south by 86 feet east and west, and is or has been
about 90 feet high. The walls range from 12 feet to 15 feet thick, and
appear to be 8 feet to 10 feet at the summit, which is inaccessible.
The east end is a part of the exterior line of defence, and ranges with
the curtain. The south face looks into the outer, the two other faces
into the inner, ward. The exterior faces have certain peculiarities.
The south-east angle is capped by two pilasters, 11 feet broad and of
slight projection, which, like the similar pilasters at Kenilworth,
rise from a rough, bold, sloping plinth, 12 feet high, continued all
along the east end. These pilasters have various sets-off reducing
them to 10 feet at the summit. They meet at and cover the angle,
which is solid. Near the centre of the east end is another somewhat
similar pilaster, only 10 feet broad, and beyond this the wall has been
pulled down to the first floor. The part left, forming the north-east
angle of the keep, had no pilaster, but is bonded into the northern
curtain, which is of its age. The southern curtain is not in the line
of the keep, but sprung from its south face about 25 feet west of the
south-east angle, where it is seen to have been 7 feet thick and of
the height of the first floor of the keep, or about 30 feet. This also
was of the age of the keep. The southern face of the keep, so far at
least as its outer face is concerned, is of two dates. In the centre,
but belonging to the eastern or older part, is a pilaster, 8 feet
broad, but without setts-off. Between this and the south-east angle,
above the curtain, and also without sett-off, is another pilaster, only
3 feet wide. A flat wall, without pilasters, but with two setts-off
near the summit, occupies the next 36 feet westward. The base seems
old, but the upper part is certainly later, into which the Decorated
windows are probably insertions. Near the west end, about 16 feet from
the angle, is a plain pilaster, 3 feet broad and 6 inches projection,
which ascends to the second floor level, and stops at the cill of a
small pointed doorway in the second floor; above this, in the two upper
storeys, are two similar but rather smaller doors. It is probable that
these opened from mural lobbies into garderobes of timber, projected
from the wall: at least, it is difficult to suggest any other reason
for doorways so placed.
The west face is all of one date; the doors and windows are of the
Decorated period, but the wall itself is Norman. The curtain of the
inner ward abuts upon the south-west angle, and is about 30 feet high
and very thick, with a mural closet high up within it, which may be the
garderobe, completed probably soon after 1431–2. There are two pointed
doors, both at the ground level; one leading into the south chamber
of the keep, the other, near the centre, into a well-stair, 10 feet
diameter, which ascends in the wall to the summit, and terminates in
a raised square turret, a marked feature in every view of the keep.
Six loops, one over the other, show the line of this staircase, and a
few feet from the top, and over the door, are four or five corbels,
which evidently supported some kind of _brétasche_ of timber to protect
the doorway below. Above are various windows, three of two lights,
trefoiled, square-headed, but Decorated, and others of one light, with
square labels. Towards the south end of this front, at the first-floor
level, is a large round-headed doorway, evidently the original main
door of the keep, the outer stair leading to which is removed. No doubt
this stair ascended from the north end, and the chamber in the curtain,
now inaccessible, was either an oratory or a garderobe, opening from
the vestibule before the door. This end, like the south, is tolerably
perfect.
The north front is almost all removed. About 15 feet from the west end
there remains one jamb of a door at the ground level. Beyond this,
about 26 feet is level with the ground. The remainder, about 45 feet,
remains to the level of the first floor, and is pierced by two loops
from the basement.
The interior of the keep shows it to have contained a basement and
four floors, the whole divided east and west, or longitudinally, from
bottom to top, by a party wall 5 feet thick, of which only the lower
part remains. The basement, at the ground level, is composed of a north
and south chamber, each 60 feet long, the northern 20 feet and the
southern 15 feet broad. The southern was divided by a cross-wall into
two chambers, both barrel-vaulted, the western rather the longer. The
eastern has a loop to the east, high up, set in a splayed, round-headed
recess; and in the north wall is a door leading into the north chamber.
In the south wall, here 12 feet thick, is a breach 8 feet wide, at the
ground level, which probably represents a loop. The western chamber has
a loop in the south wall, the recess of which runs into the barrel,
producing a groin. In the west end is a doorway and passage through the
wall, here 15 feet thick, and by its side a loop. There must have been
a door between these southern chambers, in the cross-wall.
The northern chamber seems to have been one room only, broken into four
compartments by groined vaulting, between each bay being a broad flat
band. There is a loop at the east end, and two others near it, in the
north wall. The two western bays are broken down. In the west wall is a
loop, and near it, in the north wall, the jamb of a door of entrance,
probably the stone doorway into the dungeon vault made in 1429–30,
and fitted with an iron gate. This basement vaulting is about 10 feet
high to the springing, and is original, as at Bamborough, Mitford, and
Newcastle, and the walls and loops all round, seen from within,
seem also original, and their interior face work is excellent open or
jointed ashlar. The remains of the cross-wall show the first floor
to have contained two chambers, both probably vaulted; the southern
certainly so. Each was entered by a door from the western staircase.
The north and much of the east wall of this north chamber is gone. In
the west end is a Decorated window in a large round-headed recess,
flat-sided, and near it the entrance from the staircase. In the east
end was a loop in a splayed recess. The southern chamber was probably a
lower and lesser hall. In its east end is a door from the well-stair,
and another door, large and round-headed, once the main entrance.
Against the south wall are seen the remains of the vault, of four
compartments, groined, the bays divided by cross arches springing from
corbels. In the most western bay was a fireplace; in each of the three
eastern a round-headed window in a splayed recess. In the east end is
a pointed recess and a large lancet window, the whole evidently an
insertion. The height of this floor was about 12 feet to the spring of
the vault.
[Illustration: NORHAM KEEP.
BASEMENT.
Wyman & Sons, Gᵗ. Queen Sᵗ. London.]
The second was the floor of state, and, in the original keep, also the
uppermost floor. The two rooms had low-pitched open roofs, of which the
weather mouldings are seen, as at Porchester, in the end walls. These
rooms were entered, each by its own door, from the well-stair, but the
northern door has been built up and a loop placed in it. Of the north
chamber there only remains a large window in the west wall, in a drop
arch, a Decorated insertion. If there was any fireplace, it must have
been in the dividing wall. The south chamber was evidently the great
hall. In its east end is a large full-centred Norman recess, containing
a Norman window. In the west wall, besides the staircase door, here
pointed below a square label, is a pointed recess and window. In the
south wall are two bold, round-headed recesses splayed to small lancet
windows, and west of these a pointed door, probably entering a mural
chamber, and communicating with the door already mentioned, in the
outer face of the wall.
Originally there was no third floor, and to provide this the hall roof
was removed, and for it substituted a flat ceiling supported by nine
joists, the holes for which remain. On these were laid the planks
of the third floor. Of this the north chamber had in its west end a
segmented arched window recess and the staircase door, now blocked up.
In the north chamber, west end, was a similar staircase door and a
pointed window recess. The east wall was not pierced, neither was the
south wall, save by one window, and near it a small pointed door, near
the west end. The covering of this storey was composed also of nine
joists, which carried the planks of the fourth floor.
Of this floor the remains are but slight. It also was composed of two
chambers. Of the north the west wall remains, but it contains neither
window nor staircase door. The south chamber has in its west end a
window, and in its south wall a fireplace. Of this wall only about 6
feet in height remains, so that probably about 4 feet to 6 feet of its
upper part is gone. Considering the thickness of the walls, the absence
of mural chambers and galleries in this keep is remarkable.
The keep was certainly built originally by Ralf Flambard in 1121, and
the eastern end and adjacent halves of the north and south sides were
certainly of the same date. It is also pretty certain that Flambard’s
keep was of the same size with the present one, and the whole basement,
and the vaulting of the first floor, seems original. Probably there
was but one entrance, that in the west end at the first-floor level,
and there would be, in that case, an exterior tower or fore-building,
covering the staircase, and of which there seem to be traces in the
face of the curtain against which, as at Kenilworth, it must have
abutted. The entrance is quite plain, and without a portcullis. Bishop
Pudsey, who ruled from 1158 to 1174, is said to have rebuilt the
western half of the ruined keep. Possibly he only restored it, for
it is scarcely probable that half of so very substantial a building
should have been pulled down, either with the means or in the time at
the disposal of any band of invaders; still, it must be admitted, that
the western half differs materially from the eastern. In the latter,
the plinth is bold and high, and the pilasters marked features. In the
western part are no pilasters, and no plinth of any consequence, and
the setts-off of the wall are at a different height. If Bishop Pudsey
rebuilt the western half, he did so in the late Norman style, so that
the work harmonises inside with that of Flambard. Pudsey, no doubt,
raised the walls somewhat, converted the ridge roofs of the second
story into a flat covering, and, in the space thus gained and created,
added two more floors, as was done to the extent of one floor, at
Porchester, Kenilworth, and Richmond, and in many other Norman keeps.
In the Decorated Period great changes were certainly made. Doors
were opened at the ground level in the north and west walls. The
fore-building was removed, and in its stead a well-stair inserted in
the centre of the west wall, so as to provide a new and convenient
approach to each floor; and this was carried up to the end in a raised
turret, adding somewhat to the view. The entrance to this staircase
was at the ground floor on the outside, but it did not lead into the
basement. The whole of the west wall and the contiguous half of the
south wall were faced with ashlar, and window-cases of the period
inserted. All this may well have been the work of Anthony Beke, “Presul
Magnanimus,” called “the maist prowd and masterfull Busshop in all
England,” in that period—
When valour bow’d before the rood and book,
And kneeling knighthood served a Prelate lord.
The window recesses all through the building are mostly in the Norman
style, and therefore in almost every case much older than the windows
which they contain.
The three ends of the curtain abutting on the keep are of the same
workmanship with, and bond into it, and are about 30 feet high.
That proceeding northwards is capped at the north-east angle by a
stout bastion, with a salient angle of 110 degrees, two faces of 17
feet, and shoulders of 4 feet. This is evidently a rebuilding after
the introduction of artillery, and probably the work of Sir George
Bowes. This curtain is continued 30 feet further along the river face,
and is thence broken down. The kitchen seems to have been in the
angle, the hall next to it, and then the chapel, all built against
the north curtain. The curtain now standing corresponds closely to
what the survey of 1515 calls the long high wall from the Dongeon to
the north-west end of the kitchen (44 yards long and 30 feet high,
contremured, so as to be 28 feet thick). We are told that in 1551 the
chapel was 30 feet by 18 feet, with walls 8 feet thick, and with a
crypt below capable of stabling 20 horses, and a “closet” above, and
that the battlements above this closet and of the long wall were of
the same height, and so extended from the north-east angle of the keep
round to its south-west angle. In Sir George Bowes’s very able report
upon the castle, he advises strengthening this wall by filling the
hall and other buildings with earth, and forming a hall in the first
floor of the keep, which seems then to have been much such a ruin
as at present. Passing to the south-west angle of the keep, whence
springs the southern curtain of this inner ward, also 30 feet high and
very thick, this is continued 50 feet, and then broken by a nearly
rectangular bastion tower of 40 feet projection, and 30 feet breadth,
the “little Bulwark” of 1551;—a Decorated insertion to give a flanking
defence where it was much needed. In the rear of this tower, which
probably was of the nature of a bastion, that is not higher than the
curtain, are remains of buildings. Beyond it, a high bank of earth and
rubbish marks the line, but conceals the remains of the rest of the
curtain. In this bank, towards the west, a gap marks the position of
the gatehouse. The well remains near the north-east corner of the ward,
and indicates the general position of the kitchen.
The _Outer Ward_, or that part of the castle outside the ditch of the
inner ward, is of a lunated figure, 50 yards at the widest part. This
ditch was crossed at each end by the curtain. The lower part of the
wall at the east end still remains, and is about 8 feet thick, and
30 feet high, pierced by a Norman arch, probably for a postern, as
at Carlisle. The curtain along the northern front is gone. The slope
is there very steep, and in Sir George Bowes’s time this was trusted
to, and the wall was a mere low breastwork. More to the west, as far
as the lower gatehouse, the wall has been rebuilt. It is in parts
about 15 feet thick, and 10 feet high inside, and from 15 feet to 20
feet outside. It probably rests in part on a Norman foundation, but
the superstructure looks Decorated or later. It was pierced by deep
recesses 11 feet broad under a flat arch, splayed to a loop, and
intended to flank the approach from the town to the outer gate. Three
of these recesses remain, and probably there were two more.
The lower gatehouse is a rectangular block 40 feet long by 20 feet
broad, and of 30 feet projection within the curtain. It is pierced by
a passage 15 feet wide, reduced at each end and in the centre by gate
piers to 12 feet. These piers carried ribs to stiffen the barrel vault
of the passage. The arches were round-headed. There was no portcullis.
In front of the gate, as at Tickhill, are two projecting walls, between
which there was probably a drawbridge. There was an upper floor. This
gatehouse is evidently Norman, and no doubt Flambard’s work.
From the gatehouse eastward for about 130 yards the curtain is
represented by a high and steep bank of earth and rubbish, which, no
doubt, contains its foundations. The ground rises, and the original
bank, as well as the curtain upon it, were evidently raised to command
the platform opposite and beyond the ditch, which seems to have been
the favourite position for besiegers. The curtain recommences, and is
continued for 80 yards along the high ground, forming the east end of
the southern front. This part of the curtain is very curious, and not
a little difficult to understand. Upon it are the remains of one, or
perhaps two, polygonal bastions, but in the line of the wall, between
them, are six round-headed arches of about 12 feet span, springing from
square piers about 3 feet or 4 feet broad. Most of the masonry is so
rough that it evidently was intended, as at Southampton Castle, to be
covered with earth, though why, while the foundation was excellent,
this mode of supporting the curtain should have been employed, is
not clear; but the first, that is, the most western, of these arches
is of ashlar, and seems to have been a gateway, and is probably the
gateway mentioned in the history of the castle as having had its gates
unskilfully hung upon gudgeons so placed that they could be lifted off
from the outside. Beyond these arches and bastions the curtain makes a
sharp turn, and proceeds northwards to 60 yards, to cross the ditch and
join the keep.