THE CONCENTRIC CASTLE, _c._ 1250, TO THE CASTELLATED MANSION PERIOD
The inception of the concentric idea in castellation must not be
ascribed to the English builders of the second half of the thirteenth
century, inasmuch as the plan is essentially oriental and appeared in
the Levant before 1200. Thus Château Gaillard, built by Richard I. in
1196 upon the banks of the Seine near Les Andelys, is based essentially
upon the concentric type, though it does not absolutely conform to that
ideal owing to the configuration of the ground. That crusading monarch
was among the first to recognise the possibilities of the Saracenic form
and based this castle upon it. Upon the only side where it could be
attacked it offered first an outer triangular-shaped ward, with an
encircling wall, having five towers upon its enceinte. Between this and
the second ward was a formidable ditch, 30 feet in depth, the wall
standing upon the brink of the scarp; this second ward was of large
dimensions with five towers upon its walls, which were practically built
upon the edge of precipices. It was roughly hexagonal in shape and
contained the inner ward, partially circular in outline and surrounded
by a ditch. The walls of this ward were lofty and faced with bastions
segmental in plan, thus embodying the prevailing belief that angles and
corners were more vulnerable than curved surfaces. Inside this ward
stood the Keep, forming the fourth successive line of defence to be
overcome. The Keep or Donjon is splayed outwards at the base, a device
often adopted for projecting missiles among the assailants when dropped
from above, and also for greater strength. Probably the earliest
examples of machicoulis are found upon this Keep. This formidable
fortress fell by a combination of mining, filling up of the great ditch,
battering the Keep, and escalading the inner ward, after pounding the
curtain walls with perriers.
The thousands of warriors returning from the many crusades were well
acquainted with the Concentric Castle, having in many cases been
detained before the walls of an eastern city built upon a similar
design. The difficulty and danger in attacking such a place were well
known to them, and we can only ascribe the question of cost as the chief
reason for the non-adoption of the idea at an earlier period.
At Constantinople the crusading hosts before the city found themselves
confronted by a comparatively low fortified wall, bristling with
impediments; within it, at the distance of some hundreds of feet, arose
another and taller wall, while beyond that again a third wall, the
highest of all, appeared. These walls extended for more than three miles
upon the western side, with one hundred towers; all were embattled, and
they offered a stupendous scene to the wondering eyes of the Crusaders
as they vanished in grand perspective into the distance. There is no
castle in England which presents more than three hundred yards of
continual front. The capture of the first defence of the eastern capital
by no means imperilled the integrity of the second, while the
prospective losses of the assailants when confined in the narrow space
between the first and second lines was appalling to con template. The
same difficulty would occur with regard to the second and third lines of
defence, and it is small wonder that the leaders paused in a projected
attack upon so formidable an obstacle.
[Illustration: CASTLE RUSHEN, ISLE OF MAN.]
The essential principles underlying the construction of a castle erected
upon the concentric plan were:--
1. That the natural features of the selected site should be adapted
and made part of the defences, and that no rigid plan of the ground
occupied, based upon former principles of castellation, should be
strictly followed.
2. That a series of defences independent and complete in themselves
should be presented in turn to an assault, the capture of one by no
means entailing that of another.
The castle-builders of the second half of the thirteenth century rigidly
adhered to the principles embodied in the first clause given above; they
did not produce a structure of the Motte and Bailey, or the Keep and
Base-court types, with little regard to the situation and configuration
of the ground, but made their plans with the utmost care, embracing
every advantage which the site presented. As a necessary sequence the
ground plan of one Concentric Castle differs from every other, and it is
only by a general summary of the ideas prevailing that any comparison
can be made.
The second clause naturally suggested a concentric plan whereby each
defence was placed within the other, the strongest of all naturally
being in the centre. But as most of the English castles were rendered
concentric by means of additions to buildings previously existing, the
pure concentric ideal is seldom reached except in those structures
reared entirely at that period, the others attained it more or less by
developing conditions already obtaining.
[Illustration: THE IDEAL CONCENTRIC CASTLE.]
The ideal concentric outline may be gleaned from the accompanying plan,
where the three entrances are a special feature, each being placed as
far as possible from the one adjacent. By this device the assailants who
had managed to capture the outer enceinte would be compelled to pass
under one half of the second line of towers and curtain walls before
reaching the entrance pierced through them, being all the time subjected
to a plunging fire of deadly missiles. The same would occur if the
second line were captured. The gates were in all cases flanked by
defensive towers, and generally reached by a drawbridge which could be
raised before the entrance archway; this was narrow and defended by one
or more portcullises, while a strong gate, usually sheathed with iron,
was placed at the entrance immediately behind the raised drawbridge. If
these formidable obstacles were overcome and the first part of the
passage captured the inner portcullis or portcullises had to be forced,
but the assailants would in the meantime be subjected to a galling
discharge of arrows and bolts from the narrow loopholes on either side,
which were pierced in the walls of rooms whose only entrances were from
the inner courtyard or from the ramparts. In the vaulted roof of the
passage also circular openings were built, termed "meurtriers," or
murderers, through which melted lead, hot water or oil, and other
liquids could be poured upon the struggling mass of assailants below.
From the formidable nature of the defence it may readily be understood
that direct assaults of castles built upon the concentric ideal were
limited, the besiegers contenting themselves with waiting until famine
had done its work, or treachery within the walls allowed them to enter.
The project of capturing three strong castles, one within the other, was
a prospect sufficient to daunt any ordinary commander, and so long as
the besieged could count upon a friendly army in the field outside, the
loyalty of the garrison, and a plentiful supply of provisions, the
fortress might be relied upon to maintain its integrity.
[Illustration: MACHICOULIS SUPPORTING AN ALUR.]
It was during this period that machicoulis and alurs reached their
highest efficiency and development, and in every castle built after 1250
they may be found wherever extra strengthening of the defence was
desirable. In some illustrated medieval romances of the second part of
the thirteenth century the castle is depicted with these additions,
although at times the perspective indulged in by the artist is somewhat
disconcerting. Where machicolation was not adopted, probably by reason
of the expense, the walls were generally corbelled outwards at the upper
parts of towers and walls, thus giving a more effective control over the
bases of these structures where mining or battering might be attempted.
Battlementing was almost universal, and the system of piercing the
merlons with arbalestraria may be assigned to this early date, although
not reaching the full development it subsequently met with in the
Edwardian Castles of Wales. It may be seen in illustrated manuscripts in
the form of simple circular openings in the merlons. The protection of
loopholes and windows by a hanging shield is likewise illustrated; it
prevented the admission of arrows and bolts discharged with a high
trajectory.
The maximum development of the art of castle-building in the British
Isles occurred in the reign of Edward I. and is exhibited in its best
form in those magnificent buildings which he erected in Wales to
consolidate the conquest of that country. With the great Snowdonian
range as the centre he placed a ring of fortresses at those strategic
points, chosen with remarkable military perspicacity, where they would
be of the utmost advantage in commanding the widest stretch of country.
Criccieth and Harlech, standing upon the sites of previous strongholds,
and Conway and Carnarvon upon entirely new ground, are the most
prominent and famous of this encircling ring. The term "Edwardian,"
however, for a Concentric Castle so frequently used, is a misnomer,
because some of the grandest examples of the style date from the time of
Henry III.; the outer ward of the Tower of London, for example, rendered
it concentric in 1240 to 1258.
The _Castle of Harlech_ approaches the concentric form so far as its
position will permit, but the bold rocky promontory upon which it stands
was too irregular for the complete ideal, and consequently the Castle
was adapted to the site. It is practically an oblong with massive
circular buttress towers at the four angles; two others defend the
gateway and two smaller ones are on either side of the barbican
entrance. Small watch-towers, corbelled at the summits upon false
machicolations, are adjacent to the larger. The barbican lies upon the
eastern side of the fortress, and was only accessible by a steep and
narrow entrance after a dry ditch had been crossed. Harlech and Kidwelly
are similar in not being purely concentric; each have short fronts of
wall and the defences of two of the baileys are united, thus only two
lines of resistance are interposed. Neither possess a donjon, the two
inner wards being the last resort of the garrison.
The inaccessibility of this massive pile, perched 200 feet above the
adjacent sea and producing a strangely impressive effect by reason of
its grim vastness, has been repeatedly tested since its walls were first
raised. Owen Glendower beat in vain against its impregnable strength and
lost Mortimer, his son-in-law, before its walls. In the Wars of the
Roses, when the soul-stirring "March of the Men of Harlech" was penned,
the Castle was summoned to surrender by the Yorkists, but the Constable
of the time, a doughty Welshman, held out for the Lancastrian cause and
made a most protracted resistance in the campaign of 1474, Harlech being
the last fortress to surrender in that great struggle. In the Civil War
it maintained its reputation, but was finally delivered up to Cromwell's
brother-in-law.
_Conway Castle_, one of the most impressive and majestic of medieval
fortresses in Britain, is situated in a romantic and picturesque spot at
the mouth of the river Conway. It presents a perfect ideal of a fortress
and a fortified town, the massive accompanying walls of the latter
forming an integral portion of the defence as a whole. The town walls
are over a mile in length and are in a singularly good state of
preservation; there are twenty-one towers, arranged at regular intervals
along this enceinte, and four gates, over one of which is a row of
machicoulis, twelve in number, projecting from the upper part of the
wall. It was also protected by a dry ditch and with drawbridges placed
before the gateways.
[Illustration: LEEDS CASTLE, KENT.]
The Castle occupies an irregular oblong area divided into a larger and
smaller ward by a transverse wall, which is carried across at one of the
narrowest parts; thus where breadth is unobtainable, as at Conway and
Carnarvon, ward is set behind ward. Eight lofty circular towers are
arranged at intervals around the massive curtain wall, four of them
being provided with small look-out turrets upon their summits. In the
larger bailey the banqueting hall and domestic apartments were placed.
The Castle and also the town fortifications were erected by King Edward
I., with Henry de Elfreton as the architect; they were completed in
1284, and occupied by the King and Court in 1290, upon the occasion of a
Welsh rising. The monarch, however, was nearly starved out in his
fortress through an unusual flood whereby provisions were unable to be
sent across the river. Previously, however, he had passed a Christmas
there and the assertion that Conway was really a combination of a
castle, a palace, and a pleasant residence is perfectly legitimate.
Richard II. assembled his forces at Conway to resist the invasion of
Bolingbroke, but was induced to leave it, and his betrayal and lodgment
in Flint Castle followed. The edifice suffered but little during the
Wars of the Roses; Henry VII. repaired it where decay had taken place,
and it practically remained intact until the Great Rebellion, when it
suffered from two sieges, and shortly afterwards, in 1665, was despoiled
of its timber, lead, and iron, and reduced to its present condition. The
excellence of the masonry which characterises the Edwardian castles in
Wales is perhaps in no way better exemplified than at Conway, where a
portion of the base of a tower on the south side fell out bodily in
recent times through being undermined, and gave much trouble before it
could be broken up. It has since been restored. The protection of the
Castle is now in the hands of the town authorities of Conway.
_Beaumaris Castle_ was erected by King Edward I. about 1295, and
approximates more to the concentric ideal than perhaps any other castle
in Britain. The outer enceinte is an almost regular octagon,
strengthened by towers at each of the angles and in the centre of each
curtain, excepting the one in which the entrance gateway is placed. The
inner enceinte is square in shape and of very great height, thus
commanding the ramparts of the outer; it has the usual towers, of
immense strength, and is finished with a grand array of battlements. Its
position probably detracts from impressiveness, for it was designed to
have the moat surrounding it filled with water at every tide from the
Menai Strait, and this necessitated the selection of low ground for a
site. By the arrangement of the walls two baileys are formed, the inner
and outer, and the Castle affords an example of a fortress built upon
the concentric ideal where the ground does not modify the detail in any
way.
_Carnarvon Castle_ may be confidently claimed as the finest example of
its type in Europe. It stands upon a site previously unoccupied and was
commenced by King Edward I., who raised the walls sufficiently high to
cover the garrison, and completed by his son, Edward II., who carried
the walls and towers to their present altitude. It is built of limestone
blocks with string-course bands of dark-brown sandstone, the mouldings,
doorways, and other ornamental portions also being of the same material.
The plan of the Castle approaches that of a kidney form, the whole of
the space enclosed forming one ward in contradistinction to that at
Conway, which is subdivided; as the ancient town of Carnarvon was
surrounded by massive walls, large portions of which still remain, the
area so enclosed may be looked upon as the outer bailey.
[Illustration: MERLON PIERCED WITH OILLET.]
Although the enceinte of the Castle is plentifully supplied with towers
which undoubtedly form the chief feature of its picturesque appearance,
yet it is to be questioned if the latter added very materially to its
powers of resistance when compared with the walls, which are in places
over 15 feet in thickness, and of very great height, often over 100
feet. These walls contain, at the points most vulnerable to an attack, a
double line of galleries traversing the thickness and leading easily
into each other for mutual support. The outer walls of these passages
are plentifully supplied with loopholes, and as the merlons upon the
battlements are also pierced with oillets, a triple discharge of
quarrels and arrows could be brought to bear upon assailants by a
garrison securely protected from injury. Against such a hail of missiles
any attack would probably prove futile.
The moat is of great width and depth and formed no inconsiderable
portion of the original defences. The main idea of the architect when
planning Carnarvon Castle appears to have been to render attacks upon
the general line of the enceinte impossible of success, by reason of the
galleries and the thickly-set mural towers, and thus to lead the
assailants to concentrate upon the chief entrance. This, however, was
protected primarily by the town walls, then by a formidable moat, two
massive towers, a narrow entrance furnished with no less than four
portcullises, with two inner obstructions of a similar nature to be
overcome ere the entrance was forced. Such an elaborate concentration of
effective resistance is seldom encountered in medieval fortresses, and
the fact that Carnarvon Castle has never been taken by assault, but only
subdued by starvation, is amply accounted for.
This magnificent structure has always been a Crown possession, and at
the present time is preserved with a care deserving of all praise. It
narrowly escaped demolition at that period which proved so fatal to all
castles in Britain, but, although the order was issued, the carrying out
was delayed, and the accession of Charles II. in 1660 nullified it. The
chief architectural beauty is perhaps the Eagle Tower, crowned with its
three graceful turrets and boasting of the birth within its walls of the
first Prince of Wales, but the traditional apartment is still
problematical.
Although as we have seen the Concentric Castle is usually associated
with the reign of Edward I., and the formidable strongholds in North
Wales are generally cited as the perfection of the type, yet earlier
attempts at the ideal had been made in Britain, and in no greater
perfection than at the well-known Castle of Caerphilly in
Glamorganshire, completed a year before the King came to the throne.
From a military point of view it is the grandest example of the
concentric ideal in our islands, and it is perhaps to be deplored that
this embodiment of a medieval fortress has never been subjected to the
stern arbitrament of war, and that no great military renown is
associated with its history. It was only assailed once, in 1648, when
the Parliamentarians wreaked their traditional destructive tendencies
upon it.
[Illustration: CAERPHILLY CASTLE.
(_From an old print._)]
It was erected and completed in 1271 by Gilbert de Clare, Earl of
Gloucester, and stands upon a mound of gravel in the middle of an
artificial lake, produced by damming up two water-courses and turning
the contents of a marsh into the catchment basin thus formed. The
curtain of the middle ward is of no great height, that of the inner ward
being thus able to dominate it. The outer ward is essentially divided
into two, each forming a _tête-du-pont_.
The eastern portion, and the smaller, has a curtain 15 feet in height
and a moat of its own, the island thus formed being approached through
two gatehouses from the land side, and joined to the inner ward by
drawbridges. The western and outer ward is much more important than the
eastern. It acts as a _tête-du-pont_ the same as its companion, but
contains also the chief approach to the Castle, two conspicuous towers
standing on either side of a narrow entrance, thus forming a strong
gatehouse. From it curtain walls of great height branch off on either
side, washed by the waters of the lake, and sundry half-drum towers, and
other buildings have been built abutting upon the defensive wall. Thus
any assailants would have most formidable obstacles to encounter on
attacking either the eastern or western faces, two moats and three
successive lines of walling being opposed to their efforts.
The immediate object of its erection was to overawe the Welsh Marches,
but these had been reduced to order almost at the same time it was
built; subsequently it but served to consolidate the peace thus secured.
[Illustration: TOWER OF LONDON: THE MIDDLE TOWER]
A still earlier example, though not perhaps embodying all the conditions
of the type, is to be found in the neighbouring county of Carmarthen.
Kidwelly Castle occupies a commanding position upon Carmarthen Bay near
the estuary of the river Gwendraeth. The stream here is of considerable
width and the eastern side of the castle is built upon the edge of the
steep slope leading down to it; consequently no fear of an assault was
to be apprehended from that quarter, and a curtain wall of no great
height was deemed sufficient for the defence. This wall formed the
string of a bow as it were, and the semicircular portion defending the
land side had to rely upon other obstacles, such as a deep moat and a
curtain set with towers. The entrance gateway is at the southern
termination of the wall and consists of two towers with a building
between containing the passage; it affords rooms for soldiers on duty
with two stories above, all the masonry being of the most solid
description. This entrance gave upon the outer ward. The inner ward
consisted of a square enclosure abutting upon the centre of the river
line: it is protected by high curtains strengthened by the usual towers.
It will be perceived that the deviation from the concentric consists in
the coincidence of the east wall of the inner bailey with a portion of
that of the outer. Its foundation dates from 1250, when Payn de Chaworth
reared it.
[Illustration: KIDWELLY CASTLE, CARMARTHENSHIRE.]
Not far from Llandeilo, a village near Carmarthen, stand the remains of
a Concentric Castle around which local tradition has woven a web of
romance, asserting that all history is lost in remote antiquity and
leading the imagination to run riot in conjuring up the identity of its
former inmates. Upon the south side the walls stand upon a precipice
with a sheer drop of probably 500 feet, while a climb of over 200 feet
is necessary to reach the northern face. It is called Carreg Cennen and
occupies the summit of a height springing up from a ring of encircling
hills. It stands upon an acre of ground and is of the rectangular shape;
within the outer curtain stands a small inner bailey with one side
coincident with that of the outer curtain overlooking the precipice,
and as such is comparable to Kidwelly. There is one round tower, but the
others are angular like those of Carnarvon. It was built by Rhys of
Wales in the thirteenth century.
It must not be imagined that the castle-building energies of Edward I.
were entirely expended upon the grand examples of his work found in
North Wales, on the contrary there are many buildings to be discovered
where his handiwork, or that of contemporary barons, is a prominent
feature. A tendency appears to have manifested itself at that period to
alter existing castles of a previous type so that they conformed in some
way to the concentric ideal, and Pevensey, Chepstow, and Corfe are cases
in point. In addition to Caerphilly in Glamorganshire there are many
other structures in South Wales showing a very high ideal of
castellation, indeed that portion of the Principality has been termed
the "Land of Castles," and the appellation is by no means undeserved.
There is hardly a prominent position upon the coast, or a suitable site
inland, but what has been seized upon at some period to erect a position
of defence.
_Pembroke Castle_, with the town walls supporting it, is perhaps the
most important pile to be found in this district; it embodies additions
of varying dates in its massive walls and towers. The great gatehouse
and circular Norman Keep are undoubtedly its chief attractions at the
present day when, although shattered by powder after Cromwell's capture
by means of starvation, and much subsequent spoliation, it presents one
of the most imposing aspects to be found in the kingdom.
_Carew Castle_ is deservedly celebrated for picturesqueness and affords
an illustration of the use of the angle-spur at the foot of drum towers
as a preventive against mining.
_Cilgerran Castle_ occupies a position which is probably unparalleled in
South Wales. It approaches very closely to the Edwardian type, but the
area chosen has not entirely dominated the plan; it once possessed an
inner and outer bailey with a great portcullised gatehouse and massive
cylindrical towers, two of which still stand. Pembrokeshire is
essentially the centre of the castle-land of Wales, for besides those
mentioned there are Manorbier, Lamphey, Narberth, Haverfordwest,
Llawhaddon, Roche and many others, most of them exhibiting traces of
Edwardian influence based upon Norman work.
In the upper valley of the Wye the efficiency of castles was of great
importance, inasmuch as they guarded one of the great lines of incursion
from the heart of Wales into the Marches; here Edwardian additions may
be seen at Builth where a donjon was placed upon a motte which had
already been encircled by a Shell Keep, while a circular rampart
surrounding the whole bailey made a very presentable representation of
the concentric ideal. At Bronllys, farther to the south, a cylindrical
tower was the chief addition, while at Tretower, still farther south
near Crickhowell, a Shell Keep appears to have been inserted within the
remains of a previous Rectangular Keep defending the motte.
_The Tower of London._--This great fortress, palace, and prison, unique
among the castles of England, dates from the time of William the
Conqueror. The site occupied a position upon the river Thames
immediately to the east of Roman London; the latter was surrounded by
massive walls with mural towers which had subsequently been repaired by
Alfred the Great. A portion of this walling undoubtedly furnished part
of the western defence of the Norman citadel, inasmuch as remains have
been found adjacent to the present Wakefield Tower. The wall thus
adapted extended between two bastions, and possibly the first enclosure
was merely stockaded.
It was, however, necessary to erect a more substantial fortress in order
to overawe as well as protect London, and in 1078, William entrusted
Gundulf, the architect-bishop of Rochester, with the commission. The
great Keeps at Rochester and West Malling were also designed by him, and
possibly he had much to do with those at Norwich, Colchester, and other
places in England. To this period may also be ascribed some of the
towers and part of the massive curtain wall lying to the west of the
inner ward or ballium which at that period contained the royal palace,
apartments for the court, and dwellings for the garrison. Possibly a
narrow ditch encircled the walls on the inner line of the present
spacious moat.
In 1155, the buildings were repaired by Thomas à Becket; but to Richard
I. must be ascribed the carrying out of works which materially added to
the general strength. Henry III. caused additions to be made, chiefly
upon the river front, which give it the characteristic appearance it
presents at the present day. The well-known Traitors' Gate dates from
this period, and is one of the finest examples of medieval masonry in
existence. About the year 1270 the Tower began to acquire those features
which subsequently rendered it an excellent example of the concentric
fortress; an outer wall of circumvallation was carried completely round,
with a deep and broad moat washing its face. The outer ward was formed
lying between the two lines of walls, thus producing three lines of
defence, the innermost being the great Keep. A small barbican, which has
now disappeared, stood upon the outer edge of the moat. In the early
part of the reign of Edward III. some towers were added, the chief being
the Beauchamp and Bowyer. Since the period of the Commonwealth the Tower
has ceased to be inhabited by royalty, the removal of the palace, which
stood against the south-eastern corner of the inner ward, being probably
responsible for it. As the Tower of London has been inextricably
involved in the major portion of events forming the history of England,
it is obviously impossible to deal even in a cursory manner with them
within the confines of this work. A few facts, however, relating to the
Keep may be of interest, as it is undoubtedly the most ancient portion
of the structure. It is rectangular in shape, 118 feet long by 107 feet
broad; it rises to a height of 90 feet at the battlements and contains
three stories. The usual Norman pilaster buttresses occur, those at the
angles being continued upwards into three of the square turrets, while
the remaining corner supports a large projecting circular turret
containing the main staircase. The walls are of enormous thickness,
ranging from 12 to 15 feet, and as usual the building is divided into
two portions by a wall 10 feet thick, rising to the maximum height of
the building.
[Illustration: CHEPSTOW CASTLE, MONMOUTHSHIRE.]
The floors were originally of wood, but when Sir Christopher Wren
destroyed the ancient interior features of the Keep, great brick vaults
were built in the lower portion. St. John's Chapel is a magnificent gem
of Early Norman ecclesiastical architecture; it stands upon the
second floor, and its apsidal termination projects boldly beyond the
walls of the Keep. The third floor contains the state apartments with
the great Council Chamber, the walls of the chapel rising through it to
the roof, and containing a mural passage and a triforium. The roof is
flat and was adapted during the Tudor period for mounting artillery. The
position of the original entrance to the Keep is now unknown, the
present one being evidently a construction of later date. No traces of
the forebuilding defending it have come to light. The internal
arrangements for defence against surprise are marvellously intricate,
the principal apartments being approached by mural passages so narrow
that only one person could pass at a time. This was, of course,
eminently desirable from a military standpoint, but inconvenient and
awkward when occupied by the court.
_Corfe Castle._--Seated upon an isolated chalk hill in the island of
Purbeck, with a natural escarpment upon three sides where two rivers
bifurcate on their way to Poole Harbour, and with a gentle slope upon
the fourth side, the great castle of Corfe reared its massive front
through many centuries of dramatic history, marked more than once with
touches of the tragic. The remains of its cyclopean walls and towers now
lie in mighty masses over its slopes, and tell eloquently of a day when
destruction only seemed to occupy the minds of men, and all that was
great and beautiful from the foregoing ages was marked out for
desolation and ruin. Perhaps no castle in England has suffered so much
as that of Corfe.
Its site is connected by history with the Saxon dynasty, for King Edgar
is said to have founded it; and here the tragic deed was perpetrated by
which it is popularly known, when his son Edward the Martyr, King of the
West Saxons, was treacherously murdered by Elfrida his step-mother. Such
an unholy deed was a sinister incident in the birth of a castle, and
appears to have thrown a gloom over its subsequent history.
Four miles to the southward rises the bold coast-line of the Dorset
littoral, while northward is the great depression occupied by the waters
of Poole Harbour.
It appears to have been successively a Saxon Palace, then a Norman, and
afterwards an Edwardian fortress. King Stephen besieged it in 1139,
Earl Baldwin de Redvers having seized it for the Empress Maud. King John
used it as an arsenal for military engines and stores, and here his foul
crime of starving twenty-two knights and nobles to death, whom he had
captured at Mireteau in 1203, was committed. The wretched ex-King Edward
II. lived here for a time before his removal to Berkeley, and it appears
to have been possessed by several important historical personages before
it reverted to the Crown in 1552, when it was granted to Sir Christopher
Hatton. That family sold it in 1635 to Sir John Bankes, the ancestor of
the present owners. The notable defence of the castle for three years by
Lady Bankes against the Commonwealth forces is one of those feats which
stand out bravely against the somewhat sordid history of that period.
The Castle occupies an area of about three acres. The Norman work
consists chiefly of a square Keep occupying the most elevated part of
the hill, where possibly the Saxon Palace had been situated, and, with
its enceinte, formed the innermost ward of the Castle. It is about 60
feet square, and 80 feet high, with the usual flat pilasters; the
masonry is remarkably good, formed of large squared stones obtained
from some hard beds in the vicinity. The floors and apparently the roof
were of wood, and have now disappeared, while the battlements also are
missing.
On the east side of the Keep are the remains of the Queen's hall of
Early English work, and other buildings within the inner ward appear to
be of the same date. The gateway of the middle ward was overthrown by
undermining, part of it has sunk and moved out of the perpendicular. The
great curtain wall reaching between this gateway and the Keep is
comparatively intact, and forms one of the finest defences of that
description now remaining in Britain. The entrance to the outer ward has
been sadly wrecked; the two drum towers have been blown forwards by the
explosive force of gunpowder, the vaulting is rent, and the adjacent
wall to the west overthrown. More than half of the tower called the
Buttavant Tower has been blown clean away, while the minor bastions and
the encircling wall generally have either disappeared or been thrown out
of the perpendicular.
The order to "slight" the Castle, _i.e._ to dismantle it, was issued by
the Parliament in 1646, and perhaps no fortress exists in Britain where
the decree was so thoroughly carried into effect. Unnecessarily large
charges of gunpowder appear to have been used, not only dislodging the
masonry but shattering it; while in many places the effect was obtained
by undermining and propping up with wood, which when subsequently
burnt brought down the superincumbent mass, similarly to the
proceedings at the Keep of Raglan Castle.
[Illustration: CHEPSTOW CASTLE.]
_Chepstow._--The noble ruins of Chepstow Castle form one of the
attractive features of the celebrated Wye valley. They stand in a grand
position surmounting a vertical escarpment springing from the river and
protected on the three remaining sides by ditches of formidable width
and depth. The ground plan is that of an elongated parallelogram, one of
the longer faces being that overlooking the river. This is subdivided
into four courts or wards, while the whole area enclosed is about three
acres. The principal living-rooms overhung the river, where the great
Hall, kitchens, ladies' apartments, etc., were placed. This was a point
of a quite inaccessible character, and consequently permitted of a
certain amount of embellishment, such as large windows, etc.; in the
remainder of the enceinte, oillets and balistraria form the chief
openings.
The main entrance to the Castle is on the eastern side, under a fine
Norman arch flanked by two massive circular towers; the passage was
guarded by a portcullis, and two meurtrières in the groining. Not far
from this entrance the lesser Hall is placed. The Clare family, Earls of
Pembroke, were the earliest Norman owners of Chepstow, after William
Fitz-Osborne the founder, the last of whom, Richard Strongbow, is well
known in connection with the Conquest of Ireland in 1172. His daughter
Isabel married one of the Bigot family, and subsequently it passed to
Sir Charles Somerset, Earl of Worcester, from whom it has descended to
the present owner, the Duke of Beaufort. Chepstow saw much of the Civil
War, being held at first by the Royalists, but it was assailed by
Colonel Morgan in 1645 and surrendered after a siege of four days. It
was again attacked in 1648, when the governor, Sir Nicholas Kemyss, and
forty of the garrison were killed.
[Illustration: LEEDS CASTLE, KENT.]
_Leeds._--This castle is undoubtedly one of the most picturesque in the
British Isles, and its beautiful natural surroundings are enhanced by a
rich history extending back to the Saxon Period. Here Ethelbert of Kent
raised a fortification which was given to Bishop Odo at the Conquest
and, at his fall, came into the Crévecoeur family, who began the
Norman building. It remained in their hands until the Barons' War when
it reverted to the Crown, with whom it remained for about 300 years.
Edward VI. gave it to Sir Anthony St. Leger about 1550, and his
descendants sold it to Sir Richard Smith. It subsequently came into the
possession of the Colepeper family, from whom are descended the Martins,
the present owners.
Among the many historical associations connected with the Castle is that
of the frail Queen Isabella, wife of Edward II. She appeared one evening
before the gateway with a large force of attendants and demanded
admission; under the circumstances then obtaining the Governor, Sir
Thomas Colepeper, thought fit to refuse, being without the king's
orders, and, upon a display of force, saluted the visitors with a shower
of arrows. She repaired to the king and so influenced him that the
Castle was besieged and captured; the Castellan was hanged over the
drawbridge with eleven others. At Leeds Henry V. received the Emperor
Sigismund and imprisoned his step-mother Joan for practising witchcraft;
subsequently, Eleanor, the wife of good Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, was
tried here for the same offence in 1431.
[Illustration: LEEDS CASTLE, KENT.]
The position of this castle was an exceedingly suitable one in those
days when water was deemed the chief method of defence. It occupies two
natural rocky islands, one in the centre of a lake, and one in an
artificial one on the mainland made by sluices and ditches upon which
was placed the Barbicans. The Keep, or Gloriette, as it is here termed,
may have been modelled out of a late Norman Shell Keep, but has been
much altered by additions and restorations. It contains a chapel built
in 1380; the walls rise from the water to a considerable height and are
arranged round a small middle court. In it are the dining-hall, the
Queen's bed-chamber, and other domestic buildings, chiefly of the time
of Henry VIII.
From this island drawbridges permit of passage to the larger central
island, around which a curtain wall of great strength has been built at
the edge of the water with drum towers at the principal angles. Inside
this was a second and concentric wall, thus forming an Inner and Outer
Bailey, but only the southern gate of this has been preserved. It is
probably of late Norman work. The domestic buildings occupied the
northern end of the inner area, now superseded by a splendid mansion
standing upon Norman foundations. Another drawbridge gives upon the
artificial island upon the mainland previously mentioned, where the
Inner Barbican stood, and beyond this again was a strong and massive
Outer Barbican.
[Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE.]