The castles and abbeys of England; Vol. 1 of 2: from the national records, early chronicles, and other standard authorsBeattie, William
History
The castles and abbeys of England; Vol. 1 of 2: from the national records, early chronicles, and other standard authors
Beattie, William
Abbeys -- England; Castles -- England
<g>Mountjoy’s Tower</g>, probably in honour of the nobleman of that name,
governor of Tourney in the time of Henry VIII. The walls of this tower
are in some places eighteen feet thick, and still command a beautiful
prospect, though less extensive than that from the keep. The ramparts
between these towers is about twenty feet high and eight feet thick,
including a parapet of two feet and a half, which was carried quite
round the castle. Under a small building in the castle-yard, adjoining
the governor’s house, is
<g>The Garrison Well</g>, from which the water is drawn by means of a large
windlass-wheel, turned by an ass. On a former occasion this duty was
performed
[Illustration]
during a period of more than forty years by the same animal, which, on
account of his services, was long one of the great curiosities of the
place. Down the well it is usual to drop a nail, or even a pin, which,
after a lapse of three seconds, produces a sound much greater than can
be well conceived by those who have not actually heard it. Another
experiment is often made in showing this well to strangers--namely, that
of letting down, by means of a pulley, a lighted lamp in a wooden basin,
which in descending occasions a loud noise, from the resistance of the
air, like a hollow wind or distant thunder; and as the lamp floats upon
the surface of the water, the compact masonry of the well--which is
partly cut through the rock--is distinctly visible. The water furnished
by the castle-well is remarkably pure and sparkling; and in instances
where it has been carried to India and back, it has still retained its
native purity.
<g>The Governor’s House</g> (see p. 294) contains several spacious apartments,
but now unfurnished, and only inhabited by the cicerone of the castle.
Like the additions above mentioned, it is of the Elizabethan epoch, and
externally has a rather picturesque appearance--its gables and tall
chimneys much resembling buildings of similar date in the Netherlands.
At the conclusion of the late war, the garrison consisted of a governor,
a lieutenant-governor, a captain, a master gunner, and three assistants.
The salary of the governor was twelve hundred pounds, and that of the
lieutenant-governor three hundred and sixty-five pounds per annum.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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