THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING
KIRBY MUXLOE CASTLE lies low and near a stream, in order to get an ample supply of water for the moat which surrounds it and forms its principal defence. It is planned as a rectangle 175 feet from north-west to south-east by 245 feet from north-east to south-west, with square towers at the four angles, a gatehouse in the middle of the north-west side, and towers of greater projection than the angle towers midway (except on the south-east) in each of the other sides. The internal measurements of the court were about 100 feet by 160 feet. For reasons already given, the castle was left unfinished, but enough remains to show that the gatehouse and towers were to be of three stories in height, joined to each other by two-storied ranges of buildings which did not, like the towers, rise directly from the waters of the moat, but were set back, leaving rampart walks defended by low walls between them and the moat. The main entrance to the castle was through the gatehouse on the north-west side, but there seem to have been posterns on the south-east and south-west.
The history of the building can be set forth in detail, owing to the fortunate discovery among the Hastings papers at Ashby-de-la-Zouch Castle of the complete building accounts from 22 October 1480 (20 Edward IV) to 6 December 1484 (2 Richard III). The total expenditure for the four years was £1,088 17s. 6¾d., made up as follows : The first year £330 3s.; the second, £397 5s. 8¼d.; the third, £300 8s. 6½d. and the fourth, £61 Os. 4d. The significant smallness of the last year's expenses, made by order of Lady Katherine Hastings, after her husband's execution, needs no further comment.
The Controller or Clerk of the Works was Roger Bowlett, Bowlot, or Boulot, who acknowledges the receipt of £989 6s. 8d. given in instalments at various times at Birdnest, Kirby, Ashby, and Ley. At the end of the accounts is a summary in which the receipts are given as £994 18s. 2d., and the expenses as £993 17s. 6¾d., or exactly £95 less than the actual sum of the yearly totals.
When the work began, in October 1480, the site was already
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