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
The hall was about 50 feet long by 26 feet broad, with an open roof.
It had, at the dais end of the south wall, a window of two lights,
with a transom; the lower pair square-headed, the upper pair pointed.
The whole is in a recess, with a flat segmental arch. There are said
to have been two windows in the north wall, looking into the court,
and here probably was the fireplace, for fireplaces and not central
hearths seem to have been in fashion here. The hall door remains. It
is a handsome archway with a double ogee moulding. It opened below the
music-gallery, and at the other end of this passage was the entrance
to the lesser gatehouse, so that there was access from the court to
the gate, through a passage screened off from the occupied part of
the hall. Of course, the lesser gateway was used for foot-passengers
only. A passage somewhat similar crosses the lower end, not of the hall
itself, but of the vaults below the hall, at Kenilworth.
The state apartments and chapel occupied the east side, and the former
seem mostly to have been of two floors.
Behind the end of the hall was a large room, called the armoury, from
which opened the south-east tower. Here the sub-basement is hexagonal,
and was vaulted and groined. The vaulting has fallen away, but the
corbels remain, and the six gables and wall-ribs. Probably this was a
private store or cellar, for it has no fire or garderobe, and though
the vaulting was elegant, the chamber, being at or a trifle below the
water-level, must always have been damp. The upper floors were of
timber.
Probably the term armoury is modern, and here were the
withdrawing-rooms, to which a passage led from the north end of the
dais, outside the hall. There remains a platform of masonry, which
seems to have been laid to carry such a passage.
North of these rooms are traces of others, which communicated with
the east tower and chapel, and were probably private apartments, with
windows to the court. Under the whole was a range of cellars, below the
court level, but with doors and loops ascending to it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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