Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/391

Castell Cock, Glamorgan, 361 from the courtyard, and a mural gallery seems to have led from this passage to the window or opening in the south end of the hall. The upper chamber was accessible from the hall battlements, as it pro- bably also was from those of the gateway curtain. It is uncertain whether this tower rose from a square base — probably it did. Its upper part was cyHndrical, 40 feet diameter. The walls are 8 feet thick, and the chambers do not appear to have been vaulted. This tower is in a ruined state. The two outer thirds of its circumference have been blown away by a mine, but the part connected with the hall, including a door below, two windows in the lower and middle story, and the small chamber in the wall, remain tolerably perfect, and remove all doubts as to the original elevation and particulars of the whole. The East Tower corresponds in altitude and general arrangements to the other two, like them containing three stories. It is cylindrical from the base, and 40 feet diameter ; but, towards the courtyard, it presents a flat face, with two shoulders projecting at its junction with its curtains. Like the other towers, it has a square projection for a small chamber, here found at its junction outside with the great or northern curtain. The lower story, like those of the other towers, is below the level of the court, but instead of being entered directly by a distinct staircase, a gallery branches off from the passage to the middle chamber, and descends, winding in the thickness of the wall, to a vaulted prison below. This lower chamber is filled up, but its existence is evident enough, and the staircase is seen through a great rent in the wall. The diameter is 18 feet 4 inches, and the thickness of the wall 10 feet 10 inches. The first floor is entered by a passage from the court, on a level. This chamber had two loops. There is no fireplace, and no trace of a vault, although the walls are above 10 feet thick. On either hand, opening out of the passage leading to this chamber, are galleries in the wall, that on the right descending to the chamber below, that on the left running on a level, to open into a small chamber in the square projection between the tower and the great curtain. Here seems to have been the well. The upper chamber appears to have been entered from the ramparts by a long pointed doorway in the gorge ; and over the lower door, leading from this, on the right, a passage leads to a spiral stair in the wall, which evi- dently gave access to the battlements of the tower. This tower has been rent asunder by a central explosion, but the outer part has only shifted a little. The Hall stands upon a vaulted chamber, now filled up with rubbish. It occupies the space between the north and south towers, which it connects, its outer wall forming the curtain between them. It is rectangular, 30 feet 8 inches by 17 feet 8 inches, vaulted, with a pointed arch, and having its outer wall 7 feet, and its inner wall 6 feet, thick. In the former are three loops, splayed towards the interior, and having pointed heads. They are high above the base of the wall, and command a fine view. The door was near the