Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/471

Conisboroito'Ji Castle. 435 base of the hill between two thick and lofty walls, parallel, and lo feet apart, like those at the entrance to Berkhampstead. The cross walls which connected them at each end, and were perforated by the portal arches,- are gone. The gatehouse thus formed had probably a timber covering, and perhaps an upper floor above the entrance passage, with an embattled platform above all. The lateral walls are, or have been, continued up the hill. That on the left on entering was carried straight up the slope till it abutted upon, and was united to, the curtain of the inner ward. The wall on the right hand springs from a small, solid, round turret which flanks the inner end of the gatehouse. It is carried obliquely up the slope, gradually approaching the upper entrance, which it reaches at a right angle towards the middle of the southern front. This wall protects the roadway from the lower to the upper gate ; and is itself commanded from the curtain wall above. It may be said to traverse the Middle Ward, if that term be applied to the slope of the hill between the ditch and outwork below and the containing wall of the inner ward above. It is, in fact, the glacis of the inner line of defence. Of the I?tner lVa?'d there is at this time no trace of an exterior gatehouse. Probably the entrance was a mere archway in the curtain, as at Bridgenorth and Kenilworth, or Cardiff, flanked in addition by a projecting shoulder of the wall which still remains. An exterior gatehouse, though not an unknown, was not an essential feature in a Norman castle. Entering the inner court, the wall to the left shows abundant traces of buildings attached to it. It is evident that here, right and left, were the principal structures for domestic purposes, as the hall, kitchen, and probably the chapel, attached to and with walls bonded into the curtain. The rectangular space between these buildings, 14 feet by 24 feet, may have been, as it was at Tickhill, a gatehouse with a portal opening into the inner ward. The inner ward is somewhat of an oval figure, but contained within a wall of many straight lengths, in fact a very irregular polygon, fitted to the natural outline of the ground. The older part of this curtain is, in substance, of good coursed rubble, from 6 feet to 7 feet thick, and from 30 feet to 35 feet high. The outer face was of ashlar, and much of it remains, either perfect, or with marks showing where the stones have been stripped off. The angles were quoined with ashlar blocks inside and outside, and there are several exterior pilasters, locally called "pillars," broad, of slight projection, and with one or two sets-off, being of a late Norman character. In the north-west angle, high up in the wall, is a round- headed arch which probably opened into a tower, capping the angle, but now gone. A part of the west wall seems to have been rebuilt 2 F 2 PILASTERS AS SEEN FROM OUTSIDE.