Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/513

Corfe Castle, Dorset. 467 connected with it by a short curtain, is the fourth of these mural towers. This, however, though a tower, is of the nature of an epaulement, or redan, and caps a projection or shoulder of the curtain. It has but two loops, longitudinal only, one towards the field and one raking the south wall. The former is divided into a short upper and long lower part by a narrow plate of stone, which projects inwards like a shelf. The curtain from this Redan Tower to the gateway of the middle ward is probably earlier than either, and is very lofty. It traverses King John's fosse. It is constructed of large stones, and resembles, in some respects, the curtain above the Plukenet Tower, at the other end of the same fosse. Below it is solid, above it is pierced by four rude loops, boldly splayed within, and which must have opened from a chamber, of which the curtain was the outer wall, or possibly from a wooden platform. The fosse, attributed to King John, which traverses the outer ward, is about 20 feet deep, with a vertical counterscarp cut in the chalk rock. The Plukenet Tower and adjacent curtain cross its east end, but these stand upon a ridge of solid rock, showing that the ditch has never been continued into the front in this direction. At its west end the case is different. There it has been cut right into and down the slope, and the curtain crossing and stopping it is built actually in the ditch. No doubt the present dressing of the counterscarp is due to who- ever placed artillery upon its crest. Outside it, by way of glacis, is a level platform, 30 feet broad, known to have been defended by artillery, and in front of which are three steps or benches. The whole work forms a fausse braie at the foot of the glacis of the keep, and a strong defence in front of the gatehouse of the middle ward. A bridge of two arches, of the same age and fashion with that already described, traverses this fosse, here 50 feet broad, and leads up to the middle gateway. A profile cut in one of the gate towers shows where the parapet abutted, which, however, was clearly not original. As in the lower bridge, a space of about 18 feet next the portal, now filled with earth, was evidently intended to be spanned by the drawbridge. The middle ward is also triangular. Its longer and about equal north and south sides are capped at the acute western angle by the Buttavant Tower, and the base is formed by the middle gate- house and curtain, and by the revetment wall and gate (now destroyed) of the inner ward. The gatehouse of the middle ward is a very fine structure. Like the lower gatehouse, which it resembles in general arrangements, it is composed of two drums flanking the entrance passage, and ter- minating square in the rear. One, the north tower, rises direct from the fosse, without base- ment or set-off, and is connected with a short but very thick and lofty curtain, which ascends the steep ground to abut upon the keep. The tower is of bold projection, but flat towards the curtain. Within 2 H 2