Mediæval Military Architecture in England, Volume 2 (of 2)Clark, George Thomas
History
Mediæval Military Architecture in England, Volume 2 (of 2)
Clark, George Thomas
Architecture -- England; Architecture, Medieval; Military architecture
There remain two wards to be described. The line of the _enceinte_
of the castle seems to have been much as follows: Commencing at the
angle of Castle Street and Quarry Street, where the site of the
present “King’s Head” inn was probably marked by a tower, the west
front took the line of Quarry Street, past the great gateway, to the
tower containing a postern, which still marks the south-west angle
of the enclosure. Thence the wall passed east till it reached the
boundary of the extra-parochial ground, whence, in the line of that
boundary, it probably took the curve of the counterscarp of the main
ditch, in the direction of the Bowling Green Cottages. There, on the
platform at the end of the causeway, was no doubt a barbican covering
the direct approach to the keep. Thence the wall seems to have been
continued along the line of the ditch, shown by the curve of Castle
Street, until it again reached Quarry Street, thus enclosing what
corresponds tolerably well to the area of the castle at the sale of
1612, which is described as 5 acres, 3 roods, 10 perches; or nearly
six acres. Of this area, the part north of the great gateway was shut
off by a curtain, parts of which remain, and which seems to have run
up the mound to the _enceinte_ of the inner ward. In this, the middle
ward, stood the hall and principal buildings, as is clear from the
considerable, though fragmentary, Norman walls still to be seen, two of
which, forming two sides of a large chamber, are very perfect, and one
is pierced by a very perfect Norman window recess and loop.
[Illustration: GUILDFORD CASTLE.]
What stood in the area south of the gateway, into which the postern
led, is not known. It long contained the gardens of the governor of the
gaol, when the castle was employed for that ignoble use, and in it is
the celebrated well connected with the caverns.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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