CLUN CASTLE, Plan _face p._ 404 COCKERMOUTH CASTLE, Plan 〃 410 COLCHESTER CASTLE, Plans of Ground Floor and First Floor _face p._ 424 CONISBOROUGH CASTLE, Plan of Castle and Earthworks 432 Ditto Ascent from the Gatehouse 434 Ditto Pilasters as seen from the Outside 435 Ditto Detail of the Base of one of the Buttresses of the Keep 436 Ditto Keep from outside the Curtain 437 Ditto View of the Keep as at Present _face p._ 437 Ditto Keep 〃 438 Ditto Plan, First Floor 439 Ditto Plan, Second Floor 440 Ditto Window in Second Floor 441 Ditto Interior of the Keep _face p._ 442 Ditto Plan, Third Floor 442 Ditto Capitals of Centre Arch, North Side 443 Ditto Interior of the Oratory or Chapel _face p._ 443 Ditto Plan at Rampart Level 444 Ditto Suggested Original Appearance 446 CONWAY CASTLE, Plan 455 Ditto Bird’s-eye View 456 Ditto Bird’s-eye View of the Town 459 CORFE CASTLE, Sections of Lodge Door 464 COUCY CASTLE, Plan 481 COYTY CASTLE, Ground Plan _face p._ 488 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. The art of construction in Europe from the fall of the Roman empire to the dawn of the Reformation, though of late years much and successfully investigated, has been approached almost exclusively from its ecclesiastical side. This was, for many reasons, to be expected. The service of the altar justified, perhaps required, the highest degree of taste in the design of the temple, and the utmost richness in its ornamentation. Moreover, the greater number of our ecclesiastical buildings are still in use, and even the remains of those that are in decay, being chiefly monastic, are interesting from the intimate connexion of their foundations and endowments with early piety and learning, and from the evidence supplied by their records of the descent of landed property and of the ancestry of the older historic families of the country.