Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/410

380 Mediceval Military Architechire, but have vertical faces. They are, in fact, machicolations, but com- mencing low down ; and, like ordinary machicolations, are con- nected by a series of arches, carrying the parapet, behind which was a passage for projectiles, as, for example, at Avignon. These exag- gerated machicolations give a considerable increase of space to the top of the keep, but they are confined to its inner two-thirds, the outer side being sufficiently secure without them. As the upper part of the keep has been removed, the arches are gone, and only the buttresses remain. One of these defences overhung the entrance. From a curious representation of the castle in stone in the church of Great Andelys, there is evidence that the keep was sur- mounted by a second and smaller tower within the rampart walk, and this again by another within that, rising like the tubes of a tele- scope. These probably were of timber. A narrow flight of steps, commencing at the ward level, and carried up the outside of the keep, ascended, with two turns, to the entrance. Part of this narrow and dangerous staircase remains. There are also traces of a lean-to building on the east side of the keep, probably an addition. The material of the keep is flint rubble, grouted in a copious bath of mortar, and faced inside and out with ashlar. The stones are about I foot 6 inches long by 6 inches high, and are a hard and durable variety of chalk, with occasional flints. The material is probably local. The workmanship, though plain and without orna- ment, is good. The joints are moderately open, enough to admit an ordinary lead-pencil. The inner ward is something of the shape of the human ear, the keep standing in the west or hollow side, and the lobe being to the north or north-east. This ward measures about 200 feet north and south by 100 feet east and west. Its enceinte wall is one of the curiosities of the castle. It is in girth about 500 feet. Of this the keep, a round tower, and an intermediate building, occupy about one-third on the north-west quarter, and the remaining two-thirds includes some plain wall, a gateway, and seventeen segmental buttresses of 9 feet in the chord, placed upon the curtain 3 feet apart. The wall, about 8 feet thick, is plain within. By means of this arrangement great strength was given to the wall, and a series of flanking defences provided on the only face on which the ground admitted of any attack being directed. This part of the wall was probably about 30 feet high, and stood upon a vertical scarp of about 20 feet more. The battlements are gone, so that it does not appear how the wall was crested. A wall similarly buttressed, and of rather earlier date, existed at the Castle of Cherbourg, and there is something a little like it at Caerphilly. The keep has already been described. It stands in the line of this enceinte^ on the west side, which it protects. Annexed to the keep, on the north side, and also a part of the e?iceinte, is a rect- angular building, probably the lodging of the casteflan. It is about