Ernald, who held six fees under Tickhill; and a sister, Beatrix, from
whom descended the Earls of Eu. On Robert’s death, however, Tickhill
was claimed by Robert de Belesme, as the next heir; and, as he was
powerful, and supported his claim by payment of a heavy fine, or
bribe, he succeeded. On his death, however, King Henry stepped in and
took possession. The castle remained for some time, with some brief
intervals, in the Crown. William Fitz-Godric held it in 1142, and
Stephen, Earl of Eu, for a time. Ralph, Earl of Chester, had it in
1151–3. Henry II. seems to have settled it upon Eleanor, his queen, who
founded the “Chapel of St. Nicholas within the walls.”
It descended to Richard I., and in his absence was seized by Prince
John, and besieged for Richard by Pudsey, bishop of Durham. When John
inherited it as king, he annexed his mother’s chapel to the chapter of
Rouen. John was frequently at Tickhill, which is remarkable, as there
was no park or chase annexed to it. He was here six times between 1200
and 1216 for at least eleven days. Early in John’s reign, however, the
Earl of Eu, being powerful, claimed Tickhill as the husband of Alice,
heiress of Henry, Earl of Eu, and representative of Beatrix, sister
of Roger de Buisli. Ralph de Issoudon, or De Lusignan, her husband,
an earl in her right, in 1197, seems to have been son of Geoffrey de
Lusignan, who was to marry a daughter of King John, in consequence
of which the king agreed to restore Tickhill to Ralph and his wife,
and John de Bassingbourn was ordered to give possession, which was
supplemented by an order to the same effect, 1 Henry III.
Meantime, another claimant appeared, in the person of Idonea,
representative of Ernald, Roger de Buisli’s brother, and who had
married Robert de Vipont, a baron much employed by John, and not
unfrequently in connexion with Tickhill. Thus, in 1204 he was concerned
in certain repairs at the castle, as also in 1206, which included a
barn and stables. In 1207 he was to be paid for these repairs, and he
was also employed upon the king’s castles of Nottingham, Bolsover,
the Peak, and Scarborough. In 1208, five dolia of red wine, such as
would keep, were to be sent to him at Tickhill, for the king. Idonea,
Vipont’s wife, held by descent six fees in Tickhill, and now claimed
the rest against Countess Alice, 6 Henry III. Alice had the best of it;
but in 9 Henry III. she went abroad, probably to her Norman estates,
and in consequence Tickhill seems to have lapsed to the Crown.
Henry III., when king, granted it to Prince Edward, who, in 1254,
settled it upon Eleanor of Castile, but in 1259–60, Edward de Lacy,
Constable of Chester, used the phrase, “Baronia mea de Tikehull,” as
though absolute lord. Prince Edward, however, granted it to his cousin
Henry, son of Richard, King of the Romans, in 1263.
In 1296, John, Earl of Eu, revived the family claim. He was grandson of
Alphonso (son of John, King of Jerusalem), by a daughter of Countess
Alice. His claim was speedily set aside, he being an alien. This was
the last assertion of the right, but a century later it was remembered,
when Henry V. created William Bourchier Earl of Eu and Lord Bourchier
of Tickhill, titles only, not connected with the property, which
remained in the Crown.
In February, 1322, the castle was besieged for three weeks by Thomas
of Lancaster, and this siege was one of the charges brought against
him on his trial:—“Et misit homines suos ... ad obsidendum castrum
domini Regis de Tikhull; et quædam ingenia, ad projiciendum petras
grossas super castrum prædictum, et homines in eodem castro ex parte
domini Regis existentes; qui quidem proditores castrum illud, per tres
septimanus continuè insultando et debellando, obsederunt, et quosdem
homines Regis ibidem interfecerunt.” The castle was defended gallantly
by Sir William de Anne, and relieved by the king in person. Tickhill
was again settled upon a queen in the person of Philippa, who died in
1369. In 1362, Edward exchanged Tickhill with John of Gaunt, against
the honour of Richmond, and it descended with the other estates of the
duchy of Lancaster. In the Parliamentary struggle it was held for the
king, but surrendered after Marston Moor, and was dismantled. When
thus held, its outer defences were the moat and the palisades on the
counterscarp. The foundation of the chapel was dissolved, 1 Edward VI.
The castle now belongs to the Earl of Scarborough.
Tickhill Castle is an excellent example of a pre-Norman or English
earthwork, composed of mound, fosse, and lower ward, converted into a
Norman castle. It exemplifies exactly the manner in which the Norman
engineers treated earthworks of this description, and how such works
gave rise to one of the two great types of a Norman castle, that with
the shell-keep. Tickhill is Laughton on a larger scale, the only
difference being that the ditch of the mound is not carried wholly
round it, but is wanting towards the attached area. Either it was never
formed, or, what is not improbable, was filled up when the Norman works
were constructed, or, as at Cardiff, at a much later period. Something
analogous to this seems to have taken place at Kenilworth.
In the original construction of this fortress advantage was taken of a
knoll of soft sandstone rock to form the base of the mound. This was
scarped, and the ditch dug, and the material employed in forming the
upper two-thirds of the mound. A modern cave in the side shows this
natural base. The castle is composed of the mound, and a court or ward
appended to its western side, the whole included within a ditch. The
mound is conical, about 60 feet diameter at its table-top, and about
60 feet high, above the ward. The ward is a rounded and more or less
circular area, save where it touches the mound, and includes about one
quarter of its circumference. The exterior ditch follows the figure of
this ward, and of the uncovered three-quarters of the mound: hence in
plan it resembles somewhat a figure of 8, and it is this notch in the
outline that makes it probable that the mound ditch was once complete,
and the two parts of the fortress were, as at Barwick, distinct. The
domestic buildings stood in the lower ward, on its western edge,
opposite to the mound upon which was the keep. The gatehouse stands on
the southern edge of the ward, between the domestic buildings and the
keep. The curtain is broken down to the east, but elsewhere tolerably
perfect. The ditch is filled up on the same side, and its place
occupied as a kitchen-garden and by stables.
Upon the summit of the mound are seen the foundations of the keep, a
decagon, the sides of which average 16 feet 11 inches, of which each
angle was covered by a flat pilaster of 4 feet broad, and very slight
projection. The door seems to have been towards the south-west, of 4
feet 6 inches opening. It lay between two sides of the exceptional
length of 20 feet. The wall seems to have been, at the top of the
plinth, 10 feet thick. The shell was apparently faced with ashlar. The
whole building has been taken down with some care to the top of the
plinth, a mere plain chamfer, formerly about 6 inches above the ground,
and now covered to its level. Thus the actual dimensions of the plan
are preserved, and the position and breadth of the entrance. It is said
there is a well within the area, a few feet inside the place of the
door. If so, it is at present effectually concealed.
The keep at this time is ascended by seventy-five stone steps in a
straight line on the western face. Possibly this was the original
approach. If so, the path from the head of the stair must, as at
Tamworth, have passed for 20 feet round the outside of the keep. The
steps terminate below under the shelter of the curtain. The two ends of
the curtain ascend the mound about two-thirds of its height. Probably
they were continued to the summit, but no foundations are now seen at
the keep level, and the plinth of the keep shows there was no bond.
The curtains which thus ascended these mounds were rarely bonded into
the keep, and do not seem ever to have risen to its full height. On
the contrary, they seem to have only risen to the level of the top of
the mound or to the base of those of the keep, the parapet probably
being continued so as to stop the passage round the exterior. This
seems to have been the case at Tunbridge, Berkhampstead, and Tamworth.
At Hawarden the curtain abuts against the keep about 10 feet high, but
with no original bond, and with a doorway in it opening outside the
base of the keep.
The curtain which enclosed the lower ward is here from 10 feet to 13
feet thick, and 20 feet to 30 feet high, with a plinth at its interior
base. It rises out of a bank which forms a ramp or terrace 15 feet
broad, on both outer and inner sides. Inside, this ramp is about 8
feet above the court level. Outside, it forms a walk all round the
fortress, being carried by a bridge over the gateway, and in a step
or notch round the slope of the mound. The curtain is entire from the
mound to the dwelling-house, about 240 feet, along the north front,
but to the west it is concealed by the house which represents the
domestic buildings of the castle. It also remains from the house to
the gatehouse, and about 50 feet or 60 feet beyond it along the south
front. Towards the south-east about 300 feet are gone, but the last 78
feet, where it again ascends the mound, are tolerably perfect.
Where the outer wall skirts the mound it forms a revetment 6 feet high,
and which may have been higher, and crested with a parapet to defend
this front.
The exterior ditch is broad and deep, and in part contains water.
Formerly it was fed from an adjacent stream, which flowed all round
it. Beyond the ditch was a bank of earth, of which traces and portions
remain, especially towards the north. It is difficult to say whether
there was a second ditch, owing to the encroachments of roads and
buildings.
The gatehouse deserves special notice, as an original and early Norman
structure. It is 36 feet square, with walls 7 feet 6 inches thick, and
has a round-headed gateway at each end, of 12 feet opening, with a
plain rebate for doors, but no portcullis or chamfer. The inner space
was covered with timber, and there was an upper story. This may have
been partially rebuilt; it contains in the wall over the inner door a
large Tudor window, probably an insertion.
There is no staircase. The structure much resembles Porchester before
the alterations. It is placed upon the curtain, with a bold exterior,
and still bolder interior projection. The outer front of the first
floor is ornamented with four stiff rude pediments, each a right-angled
triangle, with a rude figure at the apex of each and in the hollow
angle or gutter, joining each pair. The tympana are filled with small
square blocks, each carved with an undeveloped dog-tooth ornament. A
plain string marks the division of the two stages, and so far all is
Norman.
But although the upper part is unaltered, the lower part has been
masked by a Decorated gateway with portcullis groove and pointed arch,
while in front of and flanking this arch two walls, 6 feet thick,
project 15 feet, and contained between them the drawbridge. Above and
upon these, concealing the upper part of the arch of entrance, is a low
flat bridge, which carries the exterior walk, or _chemin de ronde_,
over the entrance, and from which the grate was worked. Had it not
been for this bridge, and its Decorated connexions, it might have been
supposed that the _chemin de ronde_ was a mere modern pleasure walk,
whereas it is clear that it was a part of the defence, a work covering
the foot of the wall, and no doubt strongly palisaded. There is no
trace of a parapet.
The gatehouse seems early Norman, probably with most of the curtain the
work of Roger de Buisli before 1089. The keep looks much later, but
it must have been part of the original design, and possibly the works
begun by Roger were completed by his son. In the Decorated period there
were probably considerable additions. Probably when the gatehouse was
masked, and the bridge thrown over it, the curtain also was repaired,
and a new parapet added, and the _chemin de ronde_ formed. Leland
speaks of a hall, now gone. Where the chapel stood is not known. A door
case which may have belonged to it has been removed and set up inside
the gatehouse, and outside is an old oak door of the style of James I.,
on which are carved the words,—
Peace and grace
Be to this place.
The entrance-way now leads up to the gatehouse across a modern bridge,
over the wet ditch. To the south of the place is a tributary of the
river Torne or Thorne, which covered that front.
This is one of the most curious castles in Yorkshire, not only for its
pure Norman gatehouse, and the undisturbed foundation of its shell
keep, but because it shows how the Norman lords availed themselves of
an English seat, and how their architects or engineers accommodated
their defences to the already existing earthworks. It should be studied
in conjunction with Pickering for the general plan and the Norman
works, and with Barwick-in-Elmete and Laughton-en-le-Morthen for the
general resemblance of the earthworks. Unfortunately there is no plan.
TRETOWER, BLAEN-LLYFNI, AND
CRICKHOWEL CASTLES, BRECKNOCKSHIRE.
Among the passes that communicate between the open country of the upper
Usk and the Wye, in the neighbourhood of Talgarth, Glâsbury, and Hay,
and the valley of the lower Usk, there are two especially dangerous,
and which, therefore, it behoved the Norman settlers to guard with
peculiar care. These are the pass of the Bwlch, between Buckland and
Cefn Moel, and the valley of the Rhiangoll. The strip of land bordering
on the Usk, which flows close to the west of Mynydd Buckland, is
very narrow, and in wet seasons was formerly scarcely practicable;
and was besides, to a considerable extent, guarded by the castle of
Blaen-Llyfni, which was specially built for the defence of the Bwlch,
close to the north of which it is placed.
The Rhiangoll rises in Cwm Catwg, a deep, dark hollow in the Black
Mountains, and flows down to join the Usk about three miles above
Crickhowel. Near its head, where it lies open towards the north-west,
it was guarded by the hill-castle of Dinas, and lower down by Tretower.
Still lower down, the Usk itself is protected by the castled mound of
Crickhowel, and still lower by that of Abergavenny; so that between the
seigniorial castles of Blaen-Llyfni, Dinas, and Abergavenny, and the
private posts of Tretower and Crickhowel, the incursions of the Welsh
of Brecknock and Radnor were liable to be checked in their advance, and
altogether cut off in their retreat.
Tretower stands in the meads of the Rhiangoll, on the left bank of
the stream, about a mile above its junction with the Usk, at a point
where a tump of gravel rises on the margin of, and a little above, the
general level of the meadow, once evidently an impassable morass, and
even now by no means a favourable specimen of Breconshire farming. The
meadow is traversed by several branches of the stream, here reinforced
by divers springs and brooklets, which, added to the natural strength
of the ground, made the place one of very difficult approach save from
the slightly higher ground to the north-east.
Tretower is a chapelry in the parish of Llanvihangel Cwm Du, and seems
to have been the private estate of the owners of the castle, who, when
the conquests of Edward I. settled the Principality, deserted the small
and inconvenient fortress for a larger house a little to its south, now
occupied by a farmer, and showing some traces of the Decorated style of
architecture.
The castle was a three-cornered enclosure, having two round towers at
its northern and southern angles, or the ends of its base, and the keep
at its western angle or apex. The two sides are each about 60 yards in
length, and the base about 80 yards. The entrance was probably near the
centre of the base or eastern curtain, in the line of the present road
to the farm-buildings which occupy this outer ward. Fragments remain
of the two round towers, and about half of the northern curtain. At
the gorge of the southern tower, nearly buried, is seen the crown of a
large pointed arch which probably opened into its basement, though its
breadth is unusual.
The inner ward, within, or rather capping which, is the keep, is a
square of about 23 yards by 18 yards outside, and 17 yards inside
measurement, placed at the apex of the triangle; so that three sides
of it are exterior to, and one within, the outer ward. It has been
destroyed on the north and east sides; but the south side is perfect,
and the west very nearly so. The foundations can be traced all round.
This ward occupies the whole of a tump of gravel rising about 12 feet
above the meadow, which is its defence on the west, south, and east;
and it is so built that its lower part serves as a scarp wall, the
ground within having been about 6 feet above the narrow bank or terrace
outside. There were no towers at the two northern angles, which seem to
have been chamfered off with a sort of spreading or buttressed base.
From the south wall, at its west end, projects a half-octagonal tower,
and at its east end another, much larger. They are but half-octagons,
and have no internal projection. The wall was 8 feet thick, and 25 feet
high to the battlements. In the remains of the west wall are traces of
a recess, perhaps for a loop, a fireplace with a clumsy drop-arch, and
higher up a window in the same style. These, in their present form, are
late insertions, but probably represent original openings, as on the
exterior is a broad flat buttress intended to carry the chimney-shaft.
This wall has been a good deal pulled about at an early period. The
south wall is exceedingly curious, and though evidently much altered,
bears large marks of its original style. Near its west end, in the
hollow angle, is a small round-headed doorway opening into a well-stair
which led to the battlements, but has been blocked up. East of this,
an opening in the wall (probably the place of a second door) shows a
flight of steps descending in the wall to another door, also round
headed, and now nearly buried. The stairs are lighted by an exterior
loop. Higher up, at a different level, is a window recess having bold,
heavy, flanking, engaged piers fluted in zigzag, and supporting a
fragment of an arch-moulding worked in the same chevron pattern. It may
be that this was a double window, or two arches of an arcade, for the
fragments of the arch-head have somewhat that appearance.
[Illustration: TRETOWER CASTLE.
TRETOWER CASTLE—GROUND PLAN.]
Next, east of this, at the same level, is a doorway of 4 feet by 6
feet opening, in the same fashion and style as the window, with jambs
fluted in zigzag and the chevron moulding above. The work is rude, and
the ornamentation only partially executed. All these openings have
been walled up with early masonry. The east half of this east wall is
occupied by a rectangular projection, forming a chamber 10 feet deep
by 18 feet broad, which may have been a kitchen, since it contains
a fireplace with a round back and gathering up to a cylindrical
shaft, and at the ground level is a water-drain; also there are three
round-headed loops, of which one is in the west wall, and in the east
wall is a small round-headed door, 2 feet 9 inches broad, and opening
upon the outer ward; it has no portcullis.
The openings, of which traces remain in this wall, seem to show that
the building was originally a rectangular Norman keep, having a
basement and a first and a second floor, indicated by the lower door,
the entrance to the wall stairs, and the door and window above. The
southern projection is probably original, as is the small door in its
side. The battlements, of which a part remain on the west wall, are,
no doubt, restorations. They are composed of broad merlons with a
cruciform loop in each, the cross-arm being very short.
In the exterior of this building, near its ground level, a breach in
the masonry discloses a cavity about 14 inches square, which pierces
the wall parallel to its faces. This was evidently occupied by a beam,
inserted as a tie, as at Brunlas, where also the timber has rotted
away, and the cavity been exposed, and has given rise to a number of
ingenious conjectures. In the centre of this square enclosure, and
leaving only a space of from 7 feet to 9 feet between its exterior
and the centre of each side, is the interior keep. This keep is a
cylindrical tower, at its base about 43 feet in diameter, and battering
inwards to a height of about 10 feet, where it is girt by a very bold,
rather more than half-round bead or cordon, which marks the summit of
the slope and the first-floor level. Here the tower is about 38 feet in
diameter. From thence it continues to batter, though slightly, perhaps
2 feet, to the base of the battlements, which are gone. It is now 70
feet high from the ground level, which originally may have been 5 feet
lower, and the tower 5 feet higher, making a total of 80 feet. About
half-way up is a plain set-off of about 6 inches, reducing the diameter
of the tower by a foot. With this exception the exterior is quite
plain. The present entrance to the basement or ground floor is on the
north-east side, by a broken entrance of modern date, the making of
which has been aided by the first-floor entrance, which is immediately
above it, and of which it now makes a part. The tower is composed of a
basement and three floors, and its interior diameter at the base and
first floor is 20 feet. The floors were of timber, and are gone; and
the roof seems to have been flat. The basement, now about half filled
up, was about 10 feet high, and the wall at its floor about 11 feet 6
inches thick. It was lighted by two loops in the north-west side, the
splayed recesses of which are square-headed, and, as in Canterbury
keep, have their inner opening closed above, so that the loop was on
the level of the first floor. These loops are stopped up outside,
evidently by very early masonry. In the south-west side is a door, of
which the top is seen unburied, whence a flight of steps leads in the
wall upwards and southward into the floor above, and this was evidently
the only entrance to the basement floor.
The entrance into the first floor was also the general entrance into
the keep. The doorway, much broken, was 4 feet wide and 6 feet high,
and about 10 feet above the original ground level. Over the doorway,
outside, is a curious drip or hood, forming an equilateral arch, a sort
of pediment; and on either side of the doorway are two holes, at the
base and near the top, which seem to have carried the base of a wooden
structure, probably covering an exterior stair. There is no portcullis.
The door enters a passage vaulted with a drop arch, which traverses the
wall leading direct by a second door, viz., into the first floor. From
this passage, on the left, a door opens into a mural stair, 3 feet 3
inches wide, which ascends in the curve of the wall to the upper floors.
The first floor is 20 feet in diameter, and its walls about 8 feet
6 inches thick; its floor rested on two large parallel beams laid
north-west and south-east. To the north-east and south-west are large
window recesses, 4 feet 6 inches broad, with drop chamfered arches,
and having stone seats. In each was a window of one light, about 2
feet opening, with an equilateral arch, and chamfered edges. In the
south jamb of the south-west window is a door, the termination of
the staircase, vaulted, and lighted by two external loops, and which
has been already mentioned as rising from the basement floor. In the
north-west wall is a large fireplace, with a bold flat stone hood
dying into the wall above, beneath a bold bead moulding, and below
resting upon two short columns with bell caps of a stiff early English
character. The columns are cut away below, and in fact form corbels. On
either side is a rude circular corbel, either to hold a light, or as at
St. Briavel’s, to support the lateral thrust of the hood. This floor is
18 feet high. It was the state-room.
The staircase leading to the second floor, after ascending in the curve
of the wall a few steps, terminates in a well staircase 6 feet in
diameter, which continues the ascent to the second floor, and passes on
to the battlements, as at Chepstow, Carlisle, Ludlow, and Newcastle.
The staircase opens into the first floor by the intervention of a small
recess or lobby in the thickness of the wall, where a door, now broken,
opens into the main chamber.