The Stately Homes of EnglandJewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William
History
The Stately Homes of England
Jewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William
Historic buildings -- England
And here we resume our survey of the castle, setting forth towards
the Keep from within the Gate-House, which is itself situated within
the Barbican. We proceed eastwards to the gateway (No. 2 in plan),
which admits us to the second or inner baly. From this we approach the
entrance to the Keep, and pass between the Edwardian flanking towers
with their octagonal fronts (No. 3 in the plan): thus we reach the
grand old Norman arch, De Vesci’s work, massive and deeply recessed,
rich with zig-zags and bands of sharp indentations, which forms the
main entrance to the innermost court or ward of the Keep itself.
Immediately adjoining the Norman archway is the draw-well constructed
by the first Percy. Now we have before us the new Corridor, carried
round a part of the court on piers and corbels. We pass the inner
porches, and the entrance-halls, and reach the Grand Staircase (No. 5
in plan), worthily so called, and we find that we have entered such a
palace as might overlook, not the Aln, but the Tiber. At the head of
the noble flight of steps, each one of them a single block of white
Rothbury stone, twelve feet in length, is the Guard-Chamber, with its
floor of rich Venetian mosaic, its panelled ceiling, and the deep
frieze reflecting the memories of Chevy Chase. Corridors lead to both
the right hand and the left from the Guard-Room; and it also gives
access to a gorgeous Ante-Room, placed between the great Library, 54
feet long, which occupies the entire range of the Prudhoe Tower, and
follows its contour; and the Saloon, another magnificent apartment, in
length 42 feet with a bay formed by a circular tower. Next succeeds
the State Drawing-Room, of irregular form, its largest measurements
being 46 by 34 feet. Then we enter the grand Dining-Hall, 60 feet
long, and in both width and height 24 feet, which covers the site
of the old baronial hall of the early Percies. The Breakfast-Room
adjoins this most princely hall, and, passing it, the Corridor leads
us in succession to the State Bed-Rooms and Dressing-Rooms, and to
the private apartments of the duke and duchess, together with other
staircases. Thus, on the principal floor there are two staircases
besides the grand staircase, and eighteen chambers, exclusive of the
chapel. The Chapel (No. 12 in plan), of which we give a view from
the outer baly, is a building of great beauty and interest, having a
stone-vaulted ceiling within a roof of a high pitch, a semi-octagonal
apsidal end towards the south-west, and lancet windows: its total
length is 46 feet, and in the interior it is enriched with Italian
mosaic, after the manner of the Henry III. work in the Confessor’s
Chapel in Westminster Abbey. We must be content, in a single brief
sentence (the space at our disposal restricts us absolutely to one such
sentence), to state concerning every apartment in the grand range of
the entire circuit of the Keep, and also in the southern wing, which
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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