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
Besides the well attached to the keep was a second, now covered up,
in the middle of the lower ward. The habitable part of the castle is
mostly or entirely Howard work. Edward, the ninth duke, was a great
builder. He rebuilt Worksop, which was burned soon afterwards, in 1761,
and he founded Norfolk House in St. James’s Square. What he did here
does not appear. The present domestic buildings which line the lower
ward to the east, south, and west sides are, in substance, the work
of Duke Charles towards the close of the last century, or 1791-1806,
and have since been added to. They are what might be expected from the
period, and better than the rather earlier work at Alnwick, lately
removed. It is said that in the cellars, and built into the outer
walls, are parts of the earlier structure, some of Norman date. The
hall stood on the east curtain. It had a good Early English door,
destroyed in the present century. The hall itself was ruined during the
siege of 1643. The present grand entrance to the ward, to the south of
the original one, is entirely modern, as are the approach to it and
the outer gateway. So also is the Chapel of St. George, which stands
along the west wall. The chapel which preceded it, and was taken down
in 1796, was 40 feet long by 22 feet broad, and was endowed by Richard,
Earl of Arundel, in 1375, with spoils derived from Crecy. The domestic
buildings are said to have been augmented at the same time by wealth
from the same source. The ecclesiastical endowment, shifted from the
oratory of St. Martin to the Chapel of St. George in 1375, was, after
about a century, again shifted to the Fitz-Alan Collegiate Church,
without the walls.
Arundel is a castle where, if anywhere, traces of English masonry
earlier than the Norman Conquest might be expected to be preserved,
and no doubt it is just possible that such may be found about the
foundations of the Norman walls. What is mainly remarkable about it is
the resemblance to Windsor in its general plan; the oblong inclosure
encroached upon from one side by the mound and its ditch, so as to
divide it into two wards, in one of which are domestic buildings. The
older part of the gatehouse, and parts of the curtain near it, may be
regarded as Early Norman, the work probably of Earl Roger. The keep
seems later, though also Norman. The additions to the gatehouse, the
well-tower, and the oratory are probably Decorated. What is wanted is
a correct ground-plan, which should include the outworks and the more
distant earthworks. The older walls should be critically examined, and
especially the basement of the domestic buildings.
HISTORY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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