Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/59

WOODEN HOARDS 39 INTRODUCTION the roof, where the defences were situated. There are only three stories in the height of the building, so that each floor is very lofty, the great hall being about 40 feet to the crown of the vault. The principal hall, which is on the second or highest floor, is of great size, with a raised gallery in the thickness of the wall all round, and could contain an assembled garrison of several hundred men. The openings in the walls are small till the parapet is reached. There we find a series of large stone corbels for carrying the hoards, and doors in the parapet for access to them. Above these the wall is crowned with a. carved and foliated cornice. We have here a good opportunity of examining the hoards or wooden defences already several times referred to. These were universally adopted in the castles of the thirteenth century. They consist of Wooden boardings projected from the face of the parapet for the pro- tection of the defenders, and in order to enable them the better to see and command the base of the curtains and towers. The boarding is carried by wooden beams run out from holes in the walls made to receive them, and these are supported and strutted by stays resting on wooden putlogs or stone corbels. The Tower of Jeanne d'Arc, at Rouen (Fig. 32), has been restored in imitation of old examples, and is armed with hoards as of old. It is curious to trace the history of the use of wood in the con- struction and defences of mediaeval castles. At first we find the whole of the erections in the castle, with its dependencies and enclosing pali- sade, constructed entirely of wood. The first change was the introduc- tion of stone for the construction of the keep or chief stronghold, which was thus rendered secure against fire. Then it was found desirable to prevent the enclosing fortifications from being easily destroyed with fire, and a stone wall is substituted for the wooden palisade. Wooden defences are still adhered to, but they are now raised to the top of the walls in the form of hoards. At Aigues Mortes the apertures for the putlogs used for supporting the hoards are perfectly preserved. (See sketch.) By and by the engines of attack became powerful enough to throw missiles which destroyed these hoards, and fire-balls which set them on fire. It then became necessary to make the hoards of stone likewise ; but this change is introduced very gradually. First stone corbels are used instead of wooden putlogs to support the wooden stays, then larger corbels are substituted for the wooden struts (as at Coucy), and finally the hoarding or parapet itself is built with stone. This last change did not take place till about the beginning of the fourteenth century. The general adoption of vaulting in keeps arose from the same desire to avoid conflagration. Norman keeps were often floored entirely with wood. Sometimes the basement only was vaulted, the other floors being of wood. But now, with the introduction of the circular form of tower,