Among the numerous memorials of history and antiquity which distinguish
Wales, castles and religious buildings possess the chief claim to
attention; and, as Wales is an admirable field for the study of the civil
and military architecture that prevailed in the middle ages, I shall give
a slight sketch of the progress of those arts, so far as it seems
applicable to the present purpose.
On the overthrow of the Romans by the Goths and Vandals, the arts
vanished before the scourge of war; and the standard mode of architecture
which adorned the Greek and Roman empires could no longer be executed in
its original perfection. The general forms, indeed, were imitated, but
without an observance of symmetry: the execution was rough and clumsy;
the pillars were excessively thick, and the arches heavy; and where
ornament was attempted the performance was very uncouth. Such was the
state of architecture (a mere corruption of the Roman) that succeeded the
devastations of the Goths, and has been called _Saxon_ and _Norman_: the
term Gothic, however, would certainly be more appropriate.
At the beginning of the twelfth century, a new style of architecture made
its appearance, distinguished by pointed arches and clustered columns
{9}. Though at first coldly received, and but sparingly introduced among
the rounded arches and massive columns called Saxon, it soon gained an
undisputed footing.
About the latter end of the reign of Henry the Third, we find it acquire
a more ornamental and distinct character. The pillars, which before were
rounds and encircled with slender detached shafts, were then formed in
entire reeded columns; the arched roofs also, which only exhibited the
main springers, then became intersected with numerous ramifications and
transomes. The decorations continued to increase until toward the close
of Henry the Eighth's reign, when the light of science again dawned over
Europe, and the relics of Greece and Rome were rightly considered as
models of genuine taste; the classic elegance of the five Orders then
appeared, intermixed with the Gothic; it soon became universal, and is
now adopted in all superior buildings throughout Europe. Further
characteristics of style might be pointed out, and lesser variations
defined: but I do not presume to inform the antiquary; and the
distinctions already drawn will be sufficient for the cursory tourist.
_Castles_ appear of no generally chosen figure, except such were founded
by the Romans, who preferred that of an oblong square, unless there were
special reasons to the contrary. Small castles consisted of a single
court, or ward, whose sides were usually flanked by towers. The great
hall, chapel, and domestic apartments, built from the outer wall into the
court, occupied one or more sides. The citadel, called also the Keep and
Dungeon, was a tower of eminent strength, wherein the Garrison made their
last stand, and where prisoners were sometimes confined: the citadel was
often detached from the walls, and built on an artificial mound encircled
with a ditch. The barracks for the soldiers in garrison was generally a
range of building near the gatehouse, or principal entrance. The latter
building contained apartments for the Officers of the castle, and the
portal was furnished with one, two, or three portcullisses. {11} A wet
or dry moat surrounded the whole; and, advanced before the drawbridge
that crossed it, there was often an outwork called a barbican. Large
castles were only a repetition of these courts upon somewhat of a larger
scale, connected with each other (Chepstow castle consists of four). In
fortresses of the first class, an extensive embattled wall sometimes
encircled the mass of fortification already described, at some distance,
inclosing a considerable tract of ground, as at Caerphilly in
Glamorganshire. {12} Castle walls appear in some instances built of
solid masonry; but their general construction is of grout work. For this
purpose, two slight walls were built parallel, from six to twelve feet
asunder; the interval was then filled up with loose stones and rubbish,
and the whole cemented together with a great quantity of fluid (according
to some authors boiling) mortar: the mass soon acquired a sufficient
firmness, and in the present day it possesses the adhesion of solid rock.
This method was used by the Romans, and adopted by succeeding ages; but
the arches were turned, and the angles coigned with hewn stones, which,
after the Conquest, were brought from Caen in Normandy.