The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles.Armitage, Ella Sophia
History
The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles.
Armitage, Ella Sophia
Architecture, Norman; Castles -- Great Britain -- History -- To 1500; Normans -- Great Britain
The bailey of the second castle, according to Hasted, extended almost
to the Dane John, which is about 800 feet from the present keep. The
part of the older castle which lay outside the new city bank was
possessed by a family of the name of Chiche from the time of Henry
II. to that of Edward IV., while the Dungeon Hill itself remained
royal property.[333] That the new bank was Henry II.'s work we may
conjecture from the passages in the _Pipe Rolls_, which show that
between the years 1166 and 1173 he spent about £30 in enclosing the
city of Canterbury and making a gate. We are therefore not without
grounds for concluding that Henry II. was the first to enlarge the city
by taking in the Dane John, cutting through the ancient bailey, and at
the same time enclosing a piece of land for a new stone castle.[334]
The very small sum paid for the city gate (11s., equal to about £11
of our money) suggests that the gate put up by Henry II. was a wooden
gateway in the new stockaded bank. The stone walls and towers which
were afterwards placed on the bank are of much later date than his
reign.[335]
The Dungeon Hill appears to have been used for the last time as a
fortification in 1643, when ordnance was placed upon it, and it
was ordered to be guarded by the householders.[336] In 1790 it was
converted into a pleasure-ground for the city; the wide and deep ditch
which had surrounded it was filled up, and serpentine walks cut to
lead up to the summit. Brayley says that "the ancient and venerable
character of this eminence was wholly destroyed by incongruous
additions." Still, enough remains to show that it was once a very fine
motte, such as we might expect the Conqueror to raise to hold in check
one of the most important cities of his new realm.
The value of Canterbury had increased from 51_l._ to 54_l._ since the
days of King Edward.[337]
CARISBROOKE, Isle of Wight (Fig. 11).--There can be no doubt that
this is the castle spoken of in Domesday Book under the manor of
Alwinestone. Carisbrooke is in the immediate neighbourhood of
Alvington. The language in which the Survey speaks of this manor is
worthy of note. "The king holds Alwinestone: Donnus held it. It then
paid geld as two and a half hides: now as two hides, because the castle
sits in one virgate."[338] Certain entries similar to this in other
places seem to indicate that there was some remission of geld granted
on the building of a castle;[339] but as here the king was himself the
owner, the remission must have been granted to his tenants.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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