The Stately Homes of EnglandJewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William
History
The Stately Homes of England
Jewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William
Historic buildings -- England
staircase in the thickness of its walls: it is now used as a museum for
Roman and British antiquities. Advancing still further eastwards, but
with an inclination to the north, and again following the course of De
Vesci’s curtain, we reach the Constable’s Tower (No. 26 in plan), of
Edwardian architecture, to which there are three external entrances,
one in each floor: one chamber in this tower is used as an armoury.
Again, as we follow the guidance of the curtain-wall towards the S.E.,
we have before us the Norman masonry, with traces of Edwardian, or
first Percy, reparation. Here, about midway between Nos. 26 and 27 of
the plan, an embattled projection from the line of the wall has been
entitled “Hotspur’s Chair,” and to the east of this projection a gap in
the curtain is filled up with eighteenth-century masonry; this gap a
not very well-supported tradition assigns to a fierce assault by some
Scots, who are said to have been so far successful as to beat down
this portion of the castle-wall, after which exploit the tradition
adds that the assailants were cut off to a man by the garrison. This
tower, which is called both the Ravine Tower and the Record Tower
(No. 27 of plan), stands at the easternmost extremity of the castle;
with Edwardian remains in its walls, it was for the most part rebuilt
in the last century: on the ground-floor is the muniment-room, in
which the records are kept. From this point our course inclines in
a south-westerly direction, the curtain being eighteenth-century
work, until again, at No. 28 in the plan, we welcome traces of the
early masonry: here another garret occurs, with the junction of the
Norman and modern masonry; then yet another succeeds, as once more
we follow an eighteenth-century wall until we reach the new Lion or
Garden Gatehouse, No. 29 in the plan, through which a road leads to
Barneyside, where are situated the extensive and beautiful gardens of
the castle.
[Illustration: _On the Barbican._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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