Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/197

Alnwick Castle, Nortlmniberland, 181 Alnwick Castle is probably the finest extant example of a Norman castle of this type, having an open keep and a complete enceinte; for although most of the present buildings are either of the fourteenth or the nineteenth century, the plan is certainly Norman, and certain detached portions of the construction. It seems also that the keep was never a mere shell, like Cardiff or Arundel, but was always set about with towers and provided with a handsome gatehouse. A notable feature is the use of the round-headed and the segmental arch in the Decorated period. This is not uncommon in the North of England. The very free use of stone warriors upon the parapets, c:arried to an absurd extent in the repairs of the last century, is also remarkable. They are seen at Bothal, and in Edwardian works both at Caernarvon and Chepstow, but by no means so freely distributed as here. They were obviously intended for ornament only, but, of all figures, that of the eagle at Caernarvon is the only one at all appropriate. No archer would or could have stood on the crest of the parapet. Most of the later figures were very properly removed by Mr. Salvin. There is found upon the battlements of both walls and towers, in various parts of the castle, a convenient arrangement for hanging a movable wooden shutter in the embrasures, so as to defend the warders from a Scottish shaft, and from the scarcely less keen edge of the bleak winds of the Border. The shutter was suspended hori- zontally, like a port-lid, but from trunnions, of which one rested in a round hole in one merlon, and the other in a similar hole terminating in a groove in the other, so that the shutter hung freely, and could be lifted in and out if necessary. The arrangement is precisely that applied to the roller of a round towel. Traces of this arrangement remain in various parts of the castle. A perfect example is seen on the barbican. It may also be seen on the east wall of Goderich, at Chepstow, and elsewhere. The officers forming the staff of this castle as a civil residence, in 1567, were the constable or governor; the porter of the outer gate ; the greive, or executive officer or bailiff ; the receiver or auditor ; the feodary, who looked up the services and tenures ; the steward, learned in the law, who administered justice ; the clerk of the courts, who engrossed the rolls and kept the records ; and the foreign or outer bailiff, who collected the castle-guard and cornage money, and summoned the tenants and suitors. The whole of the annual payment to these officers was ;^58. i8s. Looking to the character of the country, so charged with traces of early military earthworks, and to the strong and well-defined natural position of Alnwick, it seems probable that it was occupied as a camp by some of the tribes who, from a very remote period, made this Border their battlefield, and whose defences are still visible in eleven distinct earthworks withm a very short distance of the town. If so, they would necessarily have placed their defences to the north and east upon the lines of the present castle. The interior eminence would certainly have been their citadel, and the trench,