356 THE CASTLE, AND ' THE PROVISIONS OF OXFORD.' called Maude's Chapel, to show that it belongs to the end of the eleventh, or ven'- beginning of the twelfth century (between 1087 and 1135.) The mound is unques- tionably very much earher, and before the Saxon period, but the remains within it belong to the time of Henry III., so that here may be seen what preceded the ]Iercians, and the latest remains erecteil by the Plantagenets. The cr3'pt, commonly called Maude's Chapel, is a most interesting example of early Xorman work.^ The vaulting is bold, and the voussoirs carefully worked with stools. The capitals of the piers are highly cr.rious. It was in all probabiUty the crypt under the Great Hall. Before, however, opening the exami- nation of the existing buildings, it will be well to go on gathering what few particulars we can of an authentic kind that have been recorded on official documents. The custody of the County of Oxford, arid the castle, were united from the earliest notice that mentions their existence. And hence the sheriff was the constable ; and since every outlay, either for actual buildings that were necessar}', or for the repairs of those existing, were made under precepts issued to him from the Crown, these expenses will be found entered on the Great Roll of his accounts, annually delivered into the Exchequer. I have looked through these from the thirty-first of Henry the First, to the end of the reign of Edward the Second, but only two entries have been discovered relating directly to the Castle of Oxford. — The first, 33 Henry II., 1187, states a small charge of 1/. Os. 8d., for repairing a certain house in the Castle of Oxenford, and is, therefore, also decisive as to its erection before this year. The two others belong to the second and third of Richard the First. In the former years, there is a charge of sixty shiUings for covering the King's Hall ; and in the ensuing one, 81. bs. Id., for general restoration. But if these records are unusuall}'- deficient during its early state, it may be accounted for by the fact, that the castle beino- recentlv built, it would need but triflino; renova- lion, or else no doubt the entries would have been as full as
- It has been asserted, on what appears from every kind of hearsay testimony, I
to me rather vague authority, that the wish to leave it an open question for whole of this crypt has been rebuilt within architectural observers tu decide, and say the last half century ; as I must confess how far existin<j appearances can be re- I can discover nothing to favour this state- conciled to the current tradition, ment, beyond the ambiguity inseparable
