Once the centre of the baronage of the north, it was now to appear
as the rallying-place of the great aristocracy of Yorkshire, and of
the Royal party. In 1642, when Charles lifted his standard at York,
Pontefract Castle was garrisoned by a very strong force of local gentry
and volunteers, with the gallant Sir William Lowther, of Swillington,
as governor. Their courage was soon to be tried. After Marston Moor
and the surrender of York, Sir T. Fairfax appeared before the castle,
and in December, 1644, commenced its siege. The main attack seems to
have been directed upon the north-west angle, where the Pix Tower was
battered, and fell, bringing down part of the adjacent curtain with it.
The enemy, however, did not storm, and the breach was made good with
earth. Mines were then tried, and one was sprung near the King’s Tower,
at the south-east angle. These were met by counter mines, for which the
ground, a soft rock, was very favourable. Very many shafts were sunk
near the walls in the main ward, and, no doubt, are still in existence.
Both attack and defence were carried on with great spirit, but at last
stores began to fail, and matters looked ill for the garrison. They
were reduced to extremity when, on the 1st of March, Sir M. Langdale
arrived with 2,000 men from Oxford, and forced Lambert to raise the
siege, while he victualled and reinforced the garrison.
The Parliament, however, was now in the ascendant, and in a few days
their forces were recruited, and again appeared before the place.
This time regular trenches were opened, batteries thrown up, and a
complete line of circumvallation laid out. This was of an oval figure,
completely inclosing the castle and its outworks. The contained area,
from the head of Micklegate by Knollys’s Hospital on the west, to
Monk-hill near New Hall on the east, was 900 yards; and from Baghill
on the south, to the middle of the Abbot’s Closes on the north, 700
yards, and about 3,000 yards in girth. Upon this line, which in
parts commanded the castle, were thrown up twelve regular places of
arms, redans, or batteries, besides flèches and lighter works on the
intermediate curtains to beat off the frequent sallies of the garrison.
General Sands commanded, and General Overton was governor of the town.
New Hall, a large mansion of the Talbots, to the east of the castle and
outside the lines, was entrenched, and occupied by Sir John Savile. The
garrison held Swillington Tower, the tower of the great church, and
Neville’s Mount, a cavalier thrown up by them within the barbican, and
carrying a large iron gun. These advanced works were of great service,
as they both retarded the siege works and protected the repeated
sallies from the garrison.
The trenches were opened in March, but it was the 24th of May before a
battery was opened upon the keep. General Poyntz then took the command
of the attack. It was, however, late in May before the church-tower
was battered down, and the post, therefore, abandoned. Notwithstanding
the disastrous news of Naseby, Lowther continued to hold out, and it
was not until July 20th, after four months of siege, without further
supply of stores or ammunition, and without a chance of relief, that he
surrendered upon excellent terms. The fall of Pontefract was followed
in three days by that of Sandal Castle, within signal of its towers.
The Parliament spared Pontefract on account of its strength, and put in
General Cottrell, with a garrison. The Royalists, however, were still
strong in the district, and June 6th, 1648, it was recovered by the
treason of Morrice, a renegade, but a man of courage. A garrison was
quickly collected, and the castle became once more a Royalist centre.
A third siege thus became necessary, and such was the strength of the
place that, even discouraged as the Royalists were, it promised to be a
troublesome one. General Rainsborough, who was appointed, met his death
before taking the command, which fell at first to Sir H. Cholmley.
Cromwell himself was present for a time, and a work on the north front
bore his name. He left Lambert in command. Meantime, the king’s death
had broken up the party; and ultimate success being impossible, the
governor, Morrice, listened to terms. He himself and some others were
excepted by name. The difficulty thus created was ingeniously evaded.
The excepted persons being reduced to three, they were walled up in
one of the subterranean chambers, well provided with food and air,
and Lambert was made to believe that they had escaped. The place was
then surrendered, Lambert entered March 24th, 1649, and as he did not
retain the place, the three culprits got away safely. Parliament now
ordered the castle to be demolished, and the only record of the details
of its parts is that preserved in the schedule of its destruction. The
materials—timber, lead, glass, and iron, sold for £1,779. 17s. 4d., of
which £777. 4s. 6d. was the cost of demolition, £1,000 was paid to the
town, and the balance of £2. 12s. 10d. went to the Commonwealth. This
last creditor, however, received afterwards some arrears amounting to
£145. 11s. 7d., and so, in an account of profit and loss, was wound
up the history of one of the strongest and greatest fortresses in the
North.
DESCRIPTION.
The position and dimensions of the castle were worthy of the great
barons by whom it was constructed, and far too noble for the events
with which its name is associated. North-east of, and one-third of
a mile from, the market-cross of Pontefract, there is seen a very
remarkable table of rock, oval in form, the sides of which are in
part a steep slope and in part a cliff of from 30 feet to 40 feet
high, rising out of a talus, which, on the north, south, and eastern
faces, descends into two deep natural valleys, which unite on the
north-eastern front. At the south-west end is also a natural depression
dividing the rock from the town, and which has been deepened somewhat
by art, as has the cliff been scarped and, where necessary, revetted,
so that the general result was the production of an almost impregnable
stronghold. This description, however, requires, as regards the east
front, some little addition. Here, immediately beyond the wall, is a
ditch nearly all artificial, and beyond it a nearly level area, beyond
which, again, is the natural valley. As it was necessary to cover the
ground, it was walled and converted into what was called the barbican,
but was really a double ward outside the castle, covering its main
entrance. The castle was thus composed of the main ward, occupying the
table-rock, and the outer and inner barbicans covering its south-east
front and entrance.
The main ward occupies the whole summit of the rock. It is in plan an
irregular oval, 150 yards north-east and south-west, and 103 yards
in its cross diameter. Of this area a segment at the south-west end,
37 yards deep or on the “sagitta,” is occupied by a raised platform
containing the keep and remains of various buildings, and a smaller
segment at the north-east end is occupied by the bases of other
buildings, including the chapel. If the arrangement be likened to the
deck of a ship, the keep end will be the poop, &c., the other end the
forecastle, and the large intermediate space the waist.
The present appearance of the north-eastern platform is a bank of
earth, irregular, and about 20 feet above the area level. In plan
it is rather semilunar, and is evidently composed of the basements
and ruins of buildings, the soft red sandstone of which readily
becomes converted into soil. The face towards the ward, standing
from 2 feet to 6 feet high, shows the base mouldings and plinth of a
range of buildings that rose from the main ward level, and seems to
have included a polygonal tower or turret. All that is visible is of
excellent ashlar, with stones of large size, and the workmanship is
mainly in the Perpendicular style. In the rear, along the edge of a
cliff, is the curtain-wall, part of which is a revetment filling up the
irregularities of the rock. This platform is returned a few yards along
the east front against the curtain, and there is seen the basement of
St. Clement’s Chapel, more than once rebuilt since its first Norman
foundation.
The curtain along the crest, where the cliff is high, seems to have
been a mere parapet. On the north-east point, where there is only a
slope, the curtain is very lofty, and of prodigious thickness; much is
broken away, but what remains shows it to have been 15 feet thick, at
its base and 11 feet at 24 feet high. The main gate was in the curtain
near the south end. It seems, from the drawings, to have been covered
by a small square tower, the exterior and interior portals not being
opposite.
The main interest of the castle attaches to its south-western platform.
This is about 20 feet above the main ward, and at its southern angle
there is raised upon it a conical mound, flat-topped, and rising about
as high again.
Towards the main ward this platform is supported by a revetment wall
from 12 feet to 14 feet high, of good rough ashlar, of large stones,
having a base of 4 feet, and above this a plinth of about 4 feet
more, the two offsets being plain chamfers. This, no doubt, carried a
curtain wall. In the wall, near its centre, is a broad-arched recess,
called “the King’s Seat,” probably from a tradition that Richard II.
sat there, which is probable enough. At the north end the platform is
returned about 25 yards along the west curtain. Various indications
show that this platform was covered with buildings, most of which, like
the retaining wall, were of Norman date, and of which the basements
remain, though much covered up. Of the _enceinte_, or curtain-wall
that supports the outer face of this platform, only the lower 30 feet,
or revetment, remains. This commences some way down the slope, and is
prodigiously strong, and built against the rock. At the south-west
angle was the Treasurer’s or Pix Tower, the ruins of which still
encumber the slope. Passing southward, the wall rises and becomes more
perfect. In its exterior base, about 30 feet below the rampart, is a
Norman postern, very perfect, and which probably was in the base of the
old Red Tower. Then, behind, and on the level with the top of the wall,
are remains of early buildings. One presents the end of a round-headed
vault of about 16 feet span, of rude rubble, but springing from good
ashlar walls, and having a later-inserted window. This is called “King
Richard’s Prison.” Near this is a rectangular shaft, 8 feet by 4
feet, but which, a few feet down, is increased to eight feet square, a
round-headed arch supporting the upper half. It is now about 40 feet
deep, and dry. It is called a well, but is more probably the shaft of a
garderobe.
Beyond this rises the mound, the top of which is circular, and about 20
yards across, and 40 feet to 50 feet above the main ward, and much more
above the exterior base of the _enceinte_ of which it forms a part.
Those who formed the mound no doubt gave it a natural slope all round,
and placed their structure on its top, and, making it a part of their
line of defence, carried the general palisade to its summit from either
side. The Normans, on taking possession, proceeded in a different way.
They cut the soft rock, forming the core of the mound, on the outer
sides, into the figure of a three-quarter round mural tower, and then
faced it with a very solid wall, so that though really a solid bastion,
it had all the appearance of a magnificent half-engaged round tower,
70 feet diameter. When this segmental bastion had been carried to a
height of 50 feet or 60 feet, that is, to the level of the top of the
mound, the wall was continued all round, and the cylinder completed, so
that the mound was crowned by a regular shell keep of 60 feet diameter,
and probably 25 feet high, which was really, what its substructure
only seemed to be,—a tower of masonry. As the rock was of irregular
figure, this process was repeated, and a second smaller bastion was
formed to the north, and probably a third. Leland speaks of the donjon
as composed of three large and three small roundlets; of these only
two now remain. These grand bastions still form the finest part of the
castle, standing high above the road from the railway station into
the town, upon the crest of a steep slope. They are faced with large
blocks of sandstone, of excellent open-jointed ashlar work, with a
bold set-off at the base. Advantage was taken of the soft character of
the rock to excavate the interior into cells and staircases, some of
which are still open. In the large bastion, at its exterior base, near
a covering angle, a shoulder-headed doorway, a postern, opens into a
round-headed passage, partly cut in the rock, and partly vaulted. From
this one way leads into a mural chamber; another up a steep flight of
steps, cut in the rock, but having a series of shoulder-headed hanging
arches to support the roof. At a height of 30 feet this stair leads
to an open gallery above, commanding the postern, and from this again
ascends, covered, to the base of the keep proper. Boothroyd gives three
other excavations, one of which contained the well mentioned by Leland.
Besides these the remaining fragments of the keep proper contained the
base of a well-stair, probably ascending to the battlements, and a
shaft, probably from a garderobe about that level.
The main entrance to the castle was a few yards east of the keep, in
the south curtain. From the gate a narrow stair ran up the curtain into
the keep, and is still seen. Another, on the other side, still descends
from the keep towards King Richard’s prison.
From the keep a spur wall descends the slope, and was intended to
cover the approach, as at Hawarden and Coningsborough. It evidently
crossed the ditch, and formed part of the barbican. Thus the keep could
be reached rapidly and directly by three ways, all narrow and well
defended,—one from the outside by a postern, another from the main
gate, and a third from the west ramparts. In substance the masonry and
arrangement of this keep is clearly Norman, but the whole has been
refitted, and no doubt refaced in the Perpendicular period.
Mention must be made of a very curious and early excavation in the main
ward. On the surface, a few feet from the king’s seat, a flight of
rock-cut steps descends nearly north-west, and at 70 feet distant is
the mouth of a square shaft, lighting the passage below. Descending,
thirty-three steps lead steeply down a gallery, 4 feet broad, with
a hanging roof. A little way down, on the right, are traces of a
cylindrical staircase, no doubt the original way in, but now destroyed,
with the tower, in the base of which it no doubt was contained. At
the foot of the stairs is a plain round-headed door-case, apparently
of late Norman date. Beyond this the stairs recommence, and ten steps
lower the descent ceases and the passage forks, a short branch running
north, and another, a trifle longer, east. Before the fork, part of the
passage is vaulted in fine-jointed ashlar, with two plain round-headed
ribs. In the wall, on the right, is a round-headed recess for a lamp,
and the commencement of another passage, also round-headed, but left
as a mere recess. Above the fork opens the shaft, here seen to be a
truncated pyramid, about 6 feet by 12 feet, and 30 feet deep. At the
fork the salient is occupied by two small oblong cells, with pointed
roofs. They communicate with each other and the passages by narrow
lancet doorways. The excavation is now called the magazine, and no
doubt was so used at the siege; but it is of Norman and early English
date, and probably was intended for a cellar. The arrangements of the
cells are scarcely suitable for a prison. The present entrance is
clearly an addition, opened when the well staircase was disused.
There remain some exterior points to be noticed. Leaving the keep by
its postern, and going north-west along the foot of the west face, the
wall is seen evidently to be Norman, and near the centre of this front
is the original Norman postern. There are upon the face of the wall two
broad shallow pilaster strips, 8 feet broad by 6 inches projection,
between which is a plain round-headed relieving arch, and below it a
segmental-headed doorway, of 4 feet opening, without portcullis, but
with a rebate for a door, and holes for two stout bars. This opens
into a straight vaulted passage, about 5 feet broad, lofty, also
round-headed, of excellent ashlar, and clearly Norman. It runs about
15 feet, and is then choked up. It possibly ends in a well-stair, and
might readily be excavated. In later, probably Perpendicular times,
this postern has been disused, and the door converted into a loop, and
blocked with the usual window-steps within.
Following the base of the cliff along the north front, it is seen to
have been carefully made good with masonry; and at the north-west
angle, under what was Queen’s Tower, a large rift in the rock has been
lined with ashlar, and spanned by a round-headed arch in good masonry.
It looks like a large cavalry postern, but is merely a recess. At the
foot of the talus on the west front, and about 180 yards outside the
wall, are the remains of Swillington Tower, an outwork built by Thomas
Earl of Lancaster, and in which he is said to have been imprisoned.
About half of the basement remains. The tower was 46 feet square, with
walls 10 feet 6 inches thick. It was intended to command the approach
from the north, and was of great use during the siege as a flanking
defence. Doubtless a double wall connected it with the main ward; but
of this there is no trace.
It would seem that at Pontefract, as at many inland castles, a dam was
thrown across a valley below the place, and thus provision made for
defence and for the working of a mill. This seems to have been the case
here below the northern front. The valley was converted into a lake,
employed to feed two mills, of one of which traces remained in 1806,
and the other, the lower mill, was removed in 1766, when the dam was
levelled, and the pool converted into a meadow. Bubwith Bridge, no
doubt, crossed this pool, at what is still called “the Wash.”
Nearly all traces of the Barbican are gone, but its memory and site
are preserved in Barbican House, Row, and Garden, and there remains a
fragment, probably of the lower gate, between Ass Hill and the Castle
chain. There were two approaches, one from the town and one from the
great church, which met in the outer ward of the Barbican. In front of
the north entrance there still remains a good but late Tudor House,
into the front of which has been inserted a grand old stone heater
shield, bearing the three lions of England and a label of three points,
carved in bold relief, a relic probably of the royal occupation of the
castle. The style of the shield is early, and the blazon points to the
eldest son of a king of England, before Edward III. introduced the
lilies of France.
Boothroyd’s bird’s-eye view gives a general notion of the castle before
it was destroyed. There were eight mural towers,—the Keep, the Red
Tower, the Treasurer’s or Pix Tower, Swillington Tower in advance of
the wall, the Queen’s Tower, the King’s Tower, Constable’s Tower, and
the Gatehouse. All, save the keep, were rectangular, perhaps Norman. Of
these only the keep and the ruins of Pix Tower are traceable: the rest,
with the great hall, kitchens, and lodgings, were carefully removed by
the Parliamentary contractor, though probably a few pounds spent in
excavation would still show the basements, and establish a general plan.
Looking to the general evidence afforded by the remains of this castle,
it is clear that it was a strong place in pre-Norman times; those who
fortified it placing the mound at what was naturally its weakest point.
The greater part of the remaining masonry is Norman, and not improbably
early. The _enceinte_ wall, the buildings connected with it on the west
platform, the rear wall of the platform, the old postern, the interior
of the keep, and the magazine, all seem to be in substance Norman. Of
the early English and Decorated periods very slight traces are left
visible; but it is clear that under the House of Lancaster, in the
Perpendicular period, much was added. Probably, the buildings on the
north-east platform were constructed. St. Clement’s Chapel was rebuilt,
Swillington Tower added, the keep refaced, and much done in repairing
the chambers and staircases within.
Boothroyd, whose history, with all its imperfections, should be
mentioned with respect, gives a copy of the account rendered for
the destruction of the works, a plan of the siege operations, and a
bird’s-eye view of the castle.
Ruined as is the place, and for many years reduced to be a mere garden
of liquorice, enough remains to interest very deeply those who are
conversant with our ancient military structures, and especially such
of them as are of Saxon or English foundation, and have been recast to
suit the Norman fashions of defence.
PORCHESTER CASTLE, HANTS.
Although England is rich in Roman remains, and full of material traces
of the all-pervading energy of that race of conquerors and colonists,
such remains are chiefly roads, encampments, foundations of domestic
buildings, and less frequently of fortresses or military works in
masonry. Of these latter the chief are Burgh, Caerleon, Caerwent,
Caistor, Pevensey, Richborough, and Silchester; parts of Colchester,
Lincoln, Wroxeter, and York, and a few traces at Chester and Leicester.
But of these, not inconsiderable remains, none are to be compared for
completeness of preservation, and but few for extent of area, with
Porchester.
That Porchester is a Roman work is unquestionable, though this
certainty is not derived from its early history, of which little has
been preserved, but from the evidence afforded by its plan, materials,
and workmanship, confirmed in some measure by the relation of its walls
to the additions of the Norman period; also, an undoubted Roman way
connects Porchester with Venta Belgarum or Winchester.
This celebrated fortress is built upon a low point of land which
projects into the inner or northern part of Portsmouth Harbour,
dividing that spacious and secluded inlet into two heads, and
expressing in its name both its position and its character. It is
placed about 3 miles above the narrow entrance which, flanked by the
towns of Portsmouth and Gosport, is the passage from the larger and
exterior roadstead of Spithead.
[Illustration: PORCHESTER CASTLE.]
In its present and tolerably perfect condition, Porchester is a
walled enclosure, square or nearly so, containing within its area
close upon 9 acres. The investing walls measure, by the larger Ordnance
survey, 210 yards north and south, and 207 yards east and west. They
range from 15 feet to 40 feet high, and from 6 feet to 10 feet thick.
They were supported outside by four mural bastions on each face, and
one at each angle, in all twenty, of which six have at various times
been removed, two from the east, one from the north and from the west,
and two from the north-west and south-east angles. Those bastions
which remain are half-round, 19 feet to 20 feet in diameter, and have
slightly prolonged and flattened sides. The angle bastions are of the
same pattern. That to the north-west was removed to make way for the
keep; that to the south-east has fallen, undermined by the sea. The two
remaining are open at the gorge, as are the two upon the east front.
The rest are closed, and probably all were originally so, for the
interior work is very rough indeed, and seems intended to have been
concealed with earth and rubbish, as was often the fashion in Roman
bastions. Probably some of those now open have been cleared out by the
Norman architect, to make use of the interior, but the gorge wall of
one of those to the south has recently given way, and the interior is
seen rough as the Roman builders left it. These bastions at present,
with one exception, rise no higher than the curtain, no doubt their
original condition, but it seems probable that the Normans raised a
story upon them, and thus converted them into mural towers. They stand
from 41 yards to 42 yards apart, from centre to centre, the distances
being slightly unequal. On the west face the two bastions flanking the
gate are 48 yards asunder.
The walls are built mainly of flint nodules, laid in courses with as
thick or even thicker, beds of mortar. Occasionally are seen single
and double flat courses of red tiles and tile-stone, and sometimes of
herring-bone work, characteristic peculiarities, especially strongly
marked in the bastions. The work seems late in the Roman period. The
walls have been patched with Caen stone, and by later builders with
coursed flint, and more recently with brick. Here and there the parapet
may be Norman, but this can scarcely be the case with much of it, which
must have been frequently renewed. The two missing bastions to the
east, to judge by the patching up, were probably gone when the Normans
took possession. One on the west face was evidently standing in the
Perpendicular period; that at the south-east angle fell but a few years
ago. There is still an east and west, a water and a land gateway, nor
do there appear to have been more in the Roman period.