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Caerphilly Castle^ Glamorgan. 315 The larger of the accompanying illustrations gives a bird's-eye view of the castle from the north-west. In the front and centre is the King's Gatehouse, and next, on the spectator's right, is the Well Tower, and beyond it, the Eagle Tower. On the extreme left is the interior of the Queen's Gatehouse, placed between the Granary Tower on the left and the Black Tower. Opposite to the King's Gate is the Exchequer Tower, and between it and the Eagle is the Prince's Tower. In the lower or right-hand court are seen the foundations of the hall ; next on the left of the King's Gate is the Dungeon Tower. The smaller illustration shows the allure or rampart-walk of the Eagle Tower, The rear wall, if it ever existed, has been removed. The cut shows the merlon, with its contained loop, the plain flat- sided embrasure, and the figures placed upon the ridge of the coping, one of which gives name to the tower. The small, shoulder-headed doorway opening from the tower upon the rampart is also seen. CAERPHILLY CASTLE, GLAMORGAN. CAERPHILLY is by very much the most extensive castle in Wales, and is reputed to cover, with its outworks and earth- works, about thirty acres. The castle owes its celebrity to its great extent, and to the peculiar manner in which one of its towers has been thrown out of the per- pendicular by the forces employed for its destruction. Its real merits are of a less obvious but much higher character, and rest upon the great miUtary skill exhibited in its design and construction. It possesses few associations with historical events. But one, and he a falling, sovereign is certainly known to have visited it. It is not, like Kidwelly or Cardiff, the head of a feudal honour or lordship, nor is it surrounded by any franchise or barony. It has not even received the barren dignity of conferring a title of honour upon any of its numerous possessors. It has been celebrated by no bard, and even mentioned only by one. Neither does Caerphilly possess many of the ordinary sources of interest. It boasts not the architectural decorations of Caernarvon, the commanding position of Conway, nor the picturesque beauty of Raglan. It is simply a ruin of great extent, and possessing that sort of rugged sublimity which is inseparable from an assemblage of lofty walls and massive and partially overthrown towers, though neither bosomed in woods, nor mantled, to any extent, with ivy. It is remarkable that this castle should have remained altogether neglected, or very superficially noted by the historians of Wales. The earlier authorities, Caradoc of Llancarvan and Giraldus Cam- brensis, flourished before the erection of the present edifice, but it