Mediæval Military Architecture in England, Volume 1 (of 2)Clark, George Thomas
History
Mediæval Military Architecture in England, Volume 1 (of 2)
Clark, George Thomas
Architecture -- England; Architecture, Medieval; Military architecture
Coningsborough on the Don is the most complete English example of
the Early English or Transition Norman cylindrical keep. Pembroke,
though rather later, and of far inferior workmanship, is also, in its
proportions and dimensions, a very fine building. Launceston, Tretower,
Penrice, Skenfrith, Brunless, and Dolbadarn, are good examples, as
are the Danes’ tower at Waterford, and the small and rude, but very
curious, tower at Aghadoe. At Nenagh also is a very fine tower,
apparently of the Early English type. The round keep of Barnard Castle,
though of nearly similar pattern, is of later date. At Whitchurch, near
Cardiff, are, or recently were, the foundations of a detached round
tower of considerable diameter, the base mouldings of which showed it
to be of Early English date. At Caldecot, a fine old Bohun castle,
admirably described by Mr. Octavius Morgan, is a round tower, probably
Early English, having a ditch of its own. This tower crowns a small
and evidently artificial mound. It is now a mural tower upon the line
of the outer wall, but it seems to have been cased, and the core is
probably, or possibly, the keep of an earlier castle.
Those English towers, though curious, are far inferior to those of the
same period remaining in France, whether keeps, such as Étampes, 1160,
the plan of which is a quatrefoil; or Roche-Guyon, where one-half of
the cylinder is absorbed in a triangular spur; or mural towers, as the
King’s Tower at Rouen, that at Carcassonne, and a specially fine one,
lately restored, at Pierrefonds. The keep at Nuremberg is also a good
example. The tower of the Louvre has long been destroyed, but its base
was recently laid open, and found to contain two shafts—those of a well
and a sewer.
Probably the round towers, or keeps, are the oldest examples of the
form, but very soon afterwards they came into use in England and France
as mural towers, flanking and strengthening the _enceinte_ wall. They
were especially used to cap an angle or to flank a gateway. There is
an example of a round tower capping an angle, of this date, in the
Tower of London, known as Bell Tower. Marten’s Tower at Chepstow is a
good example of a mural tower of the Early English period, having a
fine oratory attached. Its interior is a complete cylinder, but the
exterior, or gorge wall, seen within the court, is flat. At Rochester,
the angle of the ward next the keep has a circular tower, or rather a
buttress tower, as it is not higher than the curtain. In such positions
their passive strength was a great advantage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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