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
CARLISLE, Cumberland (FIG. 12).--This castle was built by William Rufus
in 1092, when for the first time Cumberland was brought under Norman
sway. The _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ says, "he repaired the _burh_, and
reared the castle," a passage which is sufficient of itself to show
that _burh_ and castle were two quite different things. Carlisle of
course was a Roman fortress, and needed only the repairing of its
walls. The castle was a new thing, and was placed outside the city. Its
plan, which is roughly a triangle, with the apex formed into a small
court by a ditch which (formerly) separated it from the bailey, looks
very suggestive of a previous motte and bailey, such as we might expect
the Norman king to have thrown up. The keep is known to have been built
by David, king of Scotland, in Stephen's reign,[343] and it is possible
that he may have removed the motte. The castle appears to have had a
wooden _pelum_ or _palicium_ on its outer banks as late as 1319.[344]
The whole area covers 4 acres.
CASTLE ACRE, Norfolk (Fig. 12).--There can be no doubt that this castle
existed in the 11th century, as William de Warenne mentions it in the
charter of foundation of Lewes Priory, one of the most interesting and
human of monastic charters.[345] The earthworks still remaining of
this castle are perhaps the finest castle earthworks in England; the
banks enclosing the bailey are vast. The large and high motte carries
a wall of flint rubble, built outside and thus revetting the earthen
bank which formed its first defence. In the small court thus enclosed
(about 100 feet in diameter) the foundations of an oblong keep can
be discerned. A very wide ditch surrounds the motte, and below it is
a horse-shoe bailey, about 2 acres in extent, stretching down to the
former swamps of the river Nar. On the east side of the motte is a
small half-moon annexe, with its own ditch; this curious addition is
to be found in several other motte castles,[346] and is believed to
have been a work intended to defend the approach, of the nature of
a barbican. On the west side of the motte is the village of Castle
Acre, enclosed in an oblong earthwork with an area of 10 acres. This
work now goes by the name of the Barbican, but probably this name
has been extended to it from a barbican covering the castle entrance
(of which entrance the ruins still remain). It is most likely that
this enclosure was a _burgus_ attached to the castle. Mr Harrod, who
excavated the banks, found quantities of Roman pottery, which led him
to think that the work was Roman; but as the pottery was all broken,
it is more likely that the banks were thrown up on the site of some
Roman villa.[347] This earthwork has a northern entrance in masonry,
evidently of 13th century date; and as the scanty masonry remaining
of the castle is similar in character, it is probably all of the same
date. The area covered by the motte and the two original baileys is
3-1/2 acres; that of the whole series of earthworks, 15 acres.
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