Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/385

Carlisle Castle. 355 adjacent walls, as shov/n in Grose's view. All are now gone save a fragment of panelled work, part of the shell of a grand staircase of early Edwardian date, which led to the chief apartments. It appears that in the east wall, near its south end, and, therefore, under the midst of these apartments, was, in the last century, a Norman postern with chevron mouldings and a portcullis groove, leading from the inner ward into the field, independent of the city. These details are shown in some of the late views of the castle. Grose, in 1774, shows, obscurely, the position and size of the gateway, and the Norman pilasters by which the adjacent wall was strengthened. The upper part of this curtain seems to have been Early English. All about this angle is now modern. The space between the keep and its adjacent curtains has been filled up with earth, kept off from the keep by a sort of area wall, and thus the ramparts here, as well as along the cross wall, are made wide enough for cannon. The upfilling is modern, and should be cleared out. A walk, called the "Castle Walk," or Castle Bank, has been laid out at the foot of the curtain outside, whence its details may be conveniently studied. The south-east angle, as has been said, is modern, but proceeding north and westward the old Norman part comes into view, and on the north side of the inner ward the Norman pilasters are seen rising from a plinth, but partly concealed by six enormous stepped buttresses of great projection, and Decorated or Perpendicular date, no doubt a great support to the wall and very curious, but, in a military point of view, very much in the way. From near the centre of the north front there was a spur work, composed of a strong curtain wall, carried down the slope and ending in a round tower. This was of course intended to annoy the enemy should he attack on the west side. The whole is now removed : possibly it was an Edwardian addition. The north face of the curtain and its north-west corner have been much restored in the Decorated period, but most of the west wall is original. Near its centre is a small tower, like the Alnwick Garret Tower, 28 feet broad by 18 feet deep, and about 9 feet projection, and open at the gorge. It is wholly Norman, of the date of the keep. It has a stepped plinth about 10 feet high, with six sets-off of 2 inches each, and on the front face is a central pilaster, dying into the wall at the base of the original parapet. In its north face, high up, is the shoot of a garderobe flush with the face of the wall, and lower down a stone water-spout. About 10 yards south of this tower are traces of a small postern. The wall connecting the castle with the city on this side is of Norman origin ; but has some buttresses apparently Edwardian, in one of which is a garderobe shoot, similar to that of the garret tower. Upon this wall, south of the ditch, is King Richard III.'s, or Tile Tower, 26 feet broad by 20 feet deep, of no internal projection. This looks Edwardian, but probably is altered from Norman. It stands about 30 yards north of the city boundary.