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
Projecting from the outside of the south wall, bonded into, and of
the same age with it, is a fragment of curtain 7 feet 6 inches thick,
in which, as at Kenilworth, is seen the jamb of a doorway, defended
outside by a portcullis, the groove of which, square and 5 inches deep
by 3 inches broad, shows that the grate was of iron. The groove, as at
Kenilworth, stops about 3 feet from the ground, the door having been
reached by steps. The groove is not open at bottom, but runs up behind
a covering wall, as usual, and was evidently worked from the rampart,
as is still seen at the Fishergate postern, at York. The door jamb is
about 6 feet from the keep. This was evidently the entrance into the
innermost ward, in which, or rather upon the wall of which, stood the
keep.
A few feet to the west of the keep is a mass of masonry, clearly a part
of the forebuilding which covered the entrance. Its face towards the
keep is 13 feet long, and towards the south 16 feet. It varies from 3
feet to 6 feet thick, and is at present about 10 feet high. At present
it is distant from the keep 3 feet 6 inches, but the two faces were
evidently once in contact, and were displaced by an explosion. The mine
by which the keep was destroyed seems to have been placed here.
The material of the keep was rubble-stone faced with excellent
fine-jointed ashlar. The exterior face of the forebuilding seems to
have had a similar casing.
It is not easy to obtain accurate measurements of the keep, so much has
been removed, so much injured, and what remains is so obscured with
ivy. Moreover, the interior is fitted up for two dog-kennels, kept in
a very filthy condition, and with putrid carrion suspended from the
walls. The ruins also stand in three distinct enclosures, all locked
up. A mine has been sprung between the keep and the forebuilding, and
the explosion has removed all the upper part of the latter, and so
tilted the keep that it leans at an angle of fifteen degrees eastward
from the vertical, and the upper part of the east and south walls are
gone. Moreover, the keep seems to have been lifted bodily about three
feet towards the east, and the north wall has a large open crack. About
fifteen yards from the south-east angle stands a huge ivy-covered mass
of masonry, probably the detached angle of the tower. What remains of
the keep is held together by the excellence of the cement. The ruin is
in a state of great filth and neglect, and it is much to be regretted
that the whole area is not converted into a public garden. Judicious
excavation would probably throw much light upon the details of the
keep, and show the line of its contiguous curtain wall.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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