Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/42

INTRODUCTION 22 NORMAN SHELL KEEPS walls, the fine gateways of which still exist. On the top of the motte is the shell (Fig. 17) or wall of polygonal form, with flat pilasters on the angles. The entrance door is seen on the left, a plain archway, to which a straight flight of steps led up from the level ground below, where there was, no doubt, a drawbridge over a ditch which surrounded the motte, but is now filled up. There is a small keep or tower opposite the entrance, and the remains of a Norman chapel with circular apse against the wall of the shell. FIG. IT. Gisors Castle. Motte and Keep. The other buildings would be erected round the wall on the various sides. This keep was probably built in the latter half of the twelfth century. The great tower of Windsor Castle (now rebuilt) gives an idea of the effect of a great shell keep raised on a lofty mound. Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, Durham Castle, and numerous other shell keeps, are fully described by Mr. Clark in his work on the Castles of England. Norman keeps had always one or more castle garths or courtyards attached to them, enclosed with a curtain wall connecting with the keep, but not generally giving access to it from the wall battlements. Sometimes, as at Rochester, the keep is placed near the wall of the enceinte, but not touching it, so that it may either be joined to it by