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
Probably the ditch of the mound was originally continued all round it,
and simply traversed by the wall. Much of the ditch between the mound
and the inner ward is filled up, probably very recently, as the process
is now in progress, the object being to connect the level sward of the
_enceinte_ with the mound for pleasure purposes.
The inner ward is an oval space, about 500 feet north and south by 300
feet east and west. It is encircled by a wall, about 7 feet thick,
and now about 20 feet high, and which may have been 4 feet to 5 feet
higher. Traces of the crenellations are visible. This wall is broken
down in parts, but nearly three-fourths of it remain. The northern, or
end opposite to the mound, is concave, the ditch of the mound having
been run into it. There is a fragment of a mural tower on the west
face, much mutilated and apparently rectangular. In the east face are
two openings, one of which may have been a postern. In the north-east
quarter a cross-wall seems to have belonged to a domestic building.
The gap for the main gateway is at the south end. There are no traces
of towers there, and there do not appear, judging from the wall, ever
to have been any. The interior _terre-plein_, or platform, is level,
no terrace against the wall, and no trace of a bank against which the
wall could have been built. Outside the wall is a space of about 5 feet
broad, beyond which the ground falls sharply towards the wet ditch.
The inner ditch is carried quite round both mound and inner ward wall,
being in plan an unbroken oval. It is deep and everywhere wet, and
in parts it opens out into a pool. This is the case where it gave
off the ditch embracing the mound, now in part filled up, and in the
south-eastern quarter, where its overflow escapes into the river.
Outside, and forming the counterscarp of this ditch, is the second or
middle _enceinte_. This is a steep and narrow bank, carrying a walk of
about 8 feet broad, having about an equal slope inwards towards the
inner ditch, and outwards towards the outer. For about its northern
two-thirds this bank is very uniform, but at the south-west quarter it
swells into a small mound or cavalier, about 22 feet in diameter at
top, and about 20 feet high, close to which the land has been cut away
to effect a modern entry. Opposite to this, on the south-east quarter,
is another rather larger mound, about 30 feet across and 25 feet high;
and at this point the bank makes a loop outwards, which somewhat
destroys the symmetry of its plan. These two mounds are evidently
intended to flank the extremities of the outer bank.
[Illustration]
This middle bank is perforated by a modern culvert at its southern
part, by which the waters of the inner ditch escape; and a few yards
east of this the bank is crossed by two parallel walls, 12 feet apart,
and which evidently belonged to the outside of the main entrance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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