The additions to the Tower of London, by which its Norman keep and Early English inner ward were converted into a regular concentric castle, are skilfully managed. Here the second ward, as usual, is very narrow, and a broad and deep ditch girdles the whole. One limb of the ditch is, however, represented by the Thames, but between it and the outer wall is a strip of land serving as a quay for the landing of stores, of which the rear is strongly fortified. At each end was a sluice for regulating the water of the ditch, and in the centre a grand and strongly fortified water-tower, with a portcullised canal from the river, known as Traitors’ Gate. The annexed plan of the Tower represents very fairly a composite but concentric castle. When the size of the fortress did not require more than one ward, as at Pennard in Gower, or where the ground was unsuitable, as at Conway and Chepstow, the concentric arrangement was laid aside. At Chepstow the Norman keep stands upon a steep ridge of rock, occupying its whole breadth. The additions, therefore, were necessarily at each end, so that the whole castle, constructed at various times, is an oblong, composed of five wards opening one from the other, with the keep in the centre. Its plan is, as it were, a slice cut right across a concentric castle. In an Edwardian castle the principal feature was the hall, spacious, well lighted, usually with a handsome fireplace and an open timber roof. At Beaumaris it occupies the first floor of a gatehouse; at Ludlow, Durham, Pembroke, and Conway it is built against the curtain. The domestic apartments opened from the dais end of the hall. The accounts of Henry III. often record works in the halls of castles. 28 Henry III. a great louvre was ordered for the hall at Woodstock, and a new hall 60 feet by 40 feet at Ludgershall, with offices and two kitchens for the king and his household at one end of it. At Chepstow Henry ordered a hall and kitchen to be constructed of timber. [Illustration] The kitchen was a very important part of an Edwardian castle. The Norman cookery was probably very simple, and few of their keeps have any discoverable kitchen. The later kitchen was often a great feature in the castle. At Caerphilly, as at Cockermouth, it occupies a large tower. At Ludlow it stood out alone in the court-yard. At Kenilworth its remains are considerable. The oven was often of large size. That at Morlais was 12 feet diameter.