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
A fourth chamber was contained within the west wall. It was entered
by a doorway now broken down, opening into a passage 2 feet 8 inches
broad by 19 feet long, lighted by two loops in the outer wall, one
of which was in a garderobe, and in the broken wall is seen a shaft
descending from an upper garderobe, possibly in the second floor or on
the battlements. The mural chambers are all vaulted. At the south-east
angle a doorway and lobby lead into the winding staircase. This main
floor was lighted by three windows, one in the north and one in the
south wall of the larger apartment, and one in the west wall of the
smaller room. These windows are all alike. Their recesses are flat
sided and round headed, and are open to the floor-level. They are 8
feet wide. Their framework or tracery is gone, so that it is impossible
to say precisely how they were closed in. Their flat sides give to
these three window recesses very much the appearance of doorways. This
floor was not vaulted, but ceiled with timber in the ordinary way.
The upper or second floor is a mere ruin and inaccessible, only
fragments of its walls remaining. The least injured part is about the
head of the staircase at the south-east angle. Here the sides of the
doorway and one wall of the lobby remain.
The material of the building is a rough strong sandstone, weathered
to a dark colour. The walls, inside and out, were faced with coarse
ashlar, well executed, and on three of the exterior sides remaining
unhurt. The west face has been stripped, no doubt for use for later
buildings. The interior also has been almost wholly stripped, just
enough remaining to show what has been. The basement is encumbered with
the fragments of the vaulting, so that the floor is nowhere to be seen.
There may therefore have been a well. The stairs have been designedly
broken away, so that the staircase remains an empty cylinder. The
entrance to it, at the base, is much broken. The three southern loops
are tolerably perfect; one quite so.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account