[736] Hedges, History of Wallingford.
[737] “The Towne of Portsmuth is murid from the Est Tower a forowgh lenght with a Mudde Waulle armid with Tymbre.” Itin., iii., 113.
[738] “In burgo de Walingeford habuit Rex Edwardus 8 virgatas terræ; et in his erant 276 hagæ reddentes 11 libras de gablo.... Pro castello sunt 8 destructæ.” D. B., i., 56. If we divide these 276 haughs by the 114 acres enclosed by the town rampart, we get an average of about 1 rood 26 perches for each haugh; multiply this by 8 (the number destroyed for the castle) and we get an area of 3 acres, which is about the average area of an early Norman castle.
[739] Hedges, History of Wallingford, i., 139.
[740] Camden speaks of the motte as being in the middle of the castle, but this is a mistake.
[741] Such is the account in Hedges’ History of Wallingford, p. 139, but it sounds odd. It is to be inferred from the same source that the fragment of a round building which stands on the top of the motte must be modern; it is thick enough to be ancient.
[742] Close Rolls, i., anno 1223.
[743] D. B., i., 56.
[744] “Abbas de Couentreu habet 36 masuras, et 4 sunt wastæ propter situm castelli.” D. B., i., 238a.
[745] “Hæ masuræ pertinent ad terras quas ipsi barones tenent extra burgum, et ibi appreciatæ sunt.” D. B., i., 238.
[746] Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond, p. 189.
[747] Ordericus, p. 184. “Rex itaque castellum apud Guarevicum condidit, et Henrico Rogerii de Bello Monte filio ad servandum tradidit.” Mr Freeman remarks that no authentic records connect Thurkil of Warwick with Warwick Castle. N. C., iv., 781.
[748] N. C., iv., 190.
[749] In operatione unius domus in mota de Warwick et unius bretaschie 5l. 7s. 11d. Pipe Rolls, 20 Henry II. As domus is a word very commonly used for a keep, it is probable this expenditure refers to a wooden keep.
[750] From information received from Mr Harold Sands. There appears to be no foundation whatever for the curious ground plan given by Parker.
[752] “Willelmus comes fecit illud castellum in wasta terra quæ vocatur Mereston.” D. B., i., 183.
[753] Mon. Ang., vi., 349.
[754] This keep rests on a broad extension of the earthen rampart, similar to what is still to be seen in the mottes of Devizes, Burton-in-Lonsdale, and William Hill, Middleham.
[755] Ordericus says: “Intra mœnia Guentæ, opibus et munimine nobilis urbis et mari contiguæ, validam arcem construxit, ibique Willelmum Osberni filium in exercitu suo precipuum reliquit.” II., 166. The intra mœnia is not to be taken literally, any more than the mari contiguæ. It is strange that Mr Freeman should have mistaken Guenta for Norwich, since under 1067 Ordericus translates the Winchester of the A.-S. C. by Guenta.
[756] “De isto manerio testatur comitatus quod injuste accepit [abbas] pro excambio domus regis, quia domus erat regis.” D. B., i., 43a, 1.
[757] Ibid., i., 43a, 2.
[758] “Sicut rex Willielmus pater meus ei dedit in excambium pro terra illa in qua ædificavit aulam suam in urbe Winton.” Mon. Ang., ii., 444.
[759] “Pars erat in dominio et pars de dominio abbatis; hoc totum est post occupatum in domo regis.” P. 534. This passage throws light on the fraud of the abbot of Hyde, referred to above.
[760] “Extra portam de Vuest ... ibi juxta fuit quidam vicus; fuit diffactus quando rex fecit facere suum fossatum.” P. 535.
[761] Arch. Inst., Winchester volume, p. 51.
[762] It should also be said that the word domus is frequently used for a keep in chronicles and ancient documents of the 11th and 12th centuries.
[763] The line of the more ancient roof gable can be traced in the north wall, and there is a vestige of a Norman doorway in the east wall.
[764] History of Winchester, ii., 210.
[765] Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester and brother of King Stephen, pulled down the royal palace close to the cathedral, which presumably was the old Saxon palace, and used the materials to build Wolvesey Castle. See Malmesbury, “De Vitis Sex Episcoporum,” Anglia Sacra, ii., 421. He could hardly have dared to do this if the palace had still been used by the Norman kings.
[767] Ibid., p. 195. It is difficult, now that the area has been levelled, to say exactly where this motte stood. Woodward says that the keep stood in the N.E. corner; but he probably alludes to a mural tower whose foundations can still be seen, near the County Hall. History of Hampshire, i., 295-304.
[768] Turner, History of Domestic Architecture. He cites from the Liberate Roll, 35 Henry II., an order for the repair of the ditch between the great tower and the bailey.
[769] “Radulfus filius Seifrid tenet de rege Clivor. Heraldus comes tenuit. Tunc se defendebat pro 5 hidis, modo pro 4½ hidis, et castellum de Windesores est in dimidia hida.” D. B., i., 62b. The Abingdon History also mentions the foundation of Windsor Castle and gives some interesting details about castle guard. “Tunc Walingaforde et Oxenforde et Wildesore, cæterisque locis, castella pro regno servando compacta. Unde huic abbatiæ militum excubias apud ipsum Wildesore oppidum habendas regis imperio jussum.” II., 3, R. S.
[770] Leland, iv., 1, 37. See also Tighe’s Annals of Windsor, pp. 1-6. Until recently there was a farmhouse surrounded by a moat at Old Windsor, which was believed to mark the site of Edward’s regia domus.
[771] Edward’s grant of Windsor to Westminster is in Cod. Dip., iv., 227. Domesday does not mention the rights of the church, but says the manor of Windsor was held of the crown T. R. E. and T. R. W. Camden gives William’s charter of exchange with the convent of Westminster. Britannia, i., 151.
[772] This is stated in the charter given by Camden.
[773] In 1 virgata terræ quam Willelmus fil. Walteri habet in escambio pro terra sua quæ capta est ad burgum. P. 721.
[774] The Red Book of the Exchequer, which contains an abstract of the missing Pipe Roll of 1 Henry II., has an entry of 12s. paid to Richard de Clifwar for the exchange of his land, and regular payments are made later. There was another enlargement of the bailey in Henry III.’s reign, but the second bailey was then existing. See Close Rolls, i., 531b.
[775] “In operatione muri circa castellum 11l. 10s. 4d. Summa denariorum quos idem Ricardus [de Luci] misit in operatione predicta de ballia 128l. 9s.” Pipe Roll, 20 Henry II., p. 116.
[776] Tighe’s Annals of Windsor, p. 21.
[777] There is a singular entry in the Pipe Roll of 7 Richard I., “pro fossato prosternando quod fuit inter motam et domos regis,” clearly the ditch between the motte and the bailey. Mr Hope informs me that this can only refer to the northern part of the ditch, as the eastern portion was only filled up in 1824. Mr Hope thinks that the castle area has always included the lower bailey. I regret that Mr Hope’s History of Windsor Castle did not appear in time to be used in this work.
[778] Fœdera, vol. i.
[779] Pipe Rolls, 30 Henry II.
[780] D. B., i., 62b, 2; 56b, 2.
[781] Roger of Wendover, in anno.
[782] Walter and Cradock’s History of Wisbeach, pp. 270-278.
[783] Morris’ Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers, p. 223. This keep was one built by Bishop Morton in 1471.
[784] Birch’s Cartularium, ii., 222.
[785] Ursus erat vicecomes Wigorniæ a rege constitutus, qui in ipsis pœne faucis monachorum castellum construxit, adeo ut fossatum cœmiterii partem decideret. Gesta Pontif., p. 253.
[786] “Castrum Wigorniæ nobis redditum est, tanquam jus noster, usquam motam turris.” Annales de Wigornia, R. S., p. 407. “Rex Johanni Marescallo salutem: Mandamus vobis quod sine dilatione faciatis habere venerabili patri nostro domino Wigorniensi episcopo ballium castri nostri Wigorniæ, quod est jus ecclesiæ suæ; retenta ad opus nostrum mota ejusdem castri.” Patent Rolls, 1 Henry III., p. 46.
[787] Annales de Wigornia, p. 375.
[788] “In reparatione turris Wigorniæ 8l.” Red Book of Exchequer, ii., 656.
[789] “Precipimus tibi quod per visum liberorum et legalium hominum facias parari portam castri Wigorniæ, quæ nunc est lignea, lapideam, et bonam et pulchram.” Rot. de Liberate, p. 93, 1204.
[790] Green’s History of Worcester, i., 19.
[791] Allies’ Antiquities of Worcestershire, p. 15. His words strictly apply to “the lofty mound called the keep, with its ditches, etc.,” but probably the whole area was not more than 4 acres.
[792] See the documents cited by Mr Round in his Geoffrey de Mandeville, Appendix O, and the Pipe Rolls of 1173. “In reparatione Mote et Gaiole de Wirecestra, £35, 13s. 8d.”
[793] Gentleman’s Magazine, i., 36, 1834. See Haverfield, “Romano-British Worcester,” Victoria County History of Worcestershire, vol. i.
[794] D. B., i., 172.
[795] It is needless to remark that baile is the Norman word for an enclosure or courtyard; Low Latin ballia; sometimes believed to be derived from baculus, a stick.
[796] Ordericus, ii., 188 (edition Prévost).
[797] Norman Conquest, iv., 270. Mr Freeman has worked out the course of events connected with the building and destruction of the castles with his usual lucidity. But he never grasped the real significance of mottes, though he emphatically maintained that the native English did not build castles.
[798] “Ethelstanus Castrum quod olim Dani in Eboraco obfirmaverant ad solum diruit, ne esset quo se tutari perfidia posset.” Gesta Regum, ii., 134.
[799] Widdrington, Analecta Eboracensia, p. 120. It was this suburb which Alan, Earl of Richmond gave to the Abbey of St Mary at York, which he had founded. “Ecclesiam sancti Olavii in quâ capud abbatiæ in honorem sanctæ Mariæ melius constitutum est, et burgum in quo ecclesia sita est.” Mon. Ang., iii., 547. For the addition of new boroughs to old ones see ante, p. 174, under Norwich. Although Athelstan destroyed the fortifications of this borough, they were evidently renewed when the Danish earls took up their residence there, for when Earl Alan persuaded the monks from Whitby to settle there one inducement which he offered was the fortification of the site, “loci munitionem.” Mon. Ang., iii., 545.
[800] In Eboraco civitate T. R. E. præter scyram archiepiscopi fuerunt 6 scyræ; una ex his est wasta in castellis. D. B., i., 298.
[801] Notes on Clifford’s Tower, by George Benson and H. Platnauer, published by the York Philosophical Society.
[802] “Thone castel tobræcon and towurpan.” A.-S. C. See Freeman, N. C., iv., 270.
[803] “In operatione turris de Euerwick, 15l. 7s. 3d.” Pipe Roll, 19 Henry II., vol. xix., 2. We assume that William’s second keep lasted till Henry II.’s reign.
[804] Benedict of Peterborough, ii., 107.
[805] “In operatione castri 28l. 13s. 9d.” Pipe Roll, 3 Richard I. Under the year 1193, after relating the tragedy of the Jews at York Castle, Hoveden says: “Deinde idem cancellarius [William de Longchamp] tradidit Osberto de Lunchamp, fratri suo, comitatum Eboracensem in custodia, et precepit firmari castellum in veteri castellario quod Rex Willelmus Rufus ibi construxerat.” III., 34, R. S. The expression vetus castellarium would lead us to think of the Old Baile, which certainly had this name from an early period; and Hoveden, being a Yorkshireman as well as a very accurate writer, was probably aware of the difference between the two castles. But if he meant the Old Baile, then both the castles were restored at about the same time. “Rufus” must be a slip, unless there was some rebuilding in Rufus’ reign of which we do not know.
[806] Messrs Benson and Platnauer are of the former opinion. “The existence of a second layer of timber seems to show that the fortification destroyed was rebuilt in wood.” Notes on Clifford’s Tower, p. 2.
[807] “Pro mairemio castri Ebor. prostrato per ventum colligendo, 2s.” Pipe Roll, 19 Henry III. It is, of course, a conjecture that this accident happened to the keep; but the keep would be the part most exposed to the wind, and the scattering of the timber, so that it had to be collected, is just what would happen if a timber structure were blown off a motte.
[808] As the writer was the first to publish this statement, it will be well to give the evidence on which it rests. The keep of York is clearly Early English in style, and of an early phase of the style. It is, however, evident to every one who has carefully compared our dated keeps, that castle architecture always lags behind church architecture in style-development, and must be judged by different standards. We should therefore be prepared to find this and most other keeps to be of later date than their architecture would suggest. Moreover, the expenditure entered to York Castle in the reigns of Henry II., Richard I., and John, is quite insufficient to cover the cost of a stone keep. The Pipe Rolls of Henry III.’s reign decide the matter, as they show the sums which he expended annually on this castle. It is true they never mention the turris, but always the castrum; we must also admit that the turris and castrum are often distinguished in the writs, even as late as Edward III.’s reign. (Close Rolls, 1334.) On the other hand extensive acquaintance with the Pipe Rolls proves that though the mediæval scribe may have an occasional fit of accuracy, he is generally very loose in his use of words, and his distinctions must never be pressed. Take, for instance, the case of Orford, where the word used in the Pipe Rolls is always castellum, but it certainly refers to the keep, as there are no other buildings at Orford. Other instances might be given in which the word castellum clearly applies to the keep. It should be mentioned that in 1204 John gave an order for stone for the castle (Close Rolls, i., 4b), but the amounts on the bill for it in the Pipe Rolls show that it was not used for any extensive building operations.
[809] “Mandatum est Galterio de Cumpton forestario de Gauteris quod ad pontem et domos castri Eboraci et breccas palicii ejusdem castri reparandos et emendandos Vicecomitem Eboraci mæremium habere faciat in foresta de Gauteris per visum, etc.” Close Rolls, ii., 61b.
[810] Order to expend up to 6 marks in repairing the wooden peel about the keep of York Castle, which peel is now fallen down. Cal. of Close Rolls, 17 Edward II., 25.
[811] Cal. of Close Rolls, 1313-1318, 262. Mota is wrongly translated moat.
[812] See Mr Cooper’s York: The Story of its Walls and Castles. During Messrs Benson and Platnauer’s excavations, a prehistoric crouching burial was found in the ground below the motte, 4 feet 6 inches under the present level. This raises the question whether William utilised an existing prehistoric barrow for the nucleus of his motte.
[813] D. B., i., 298a.
[814] York: The Story of its Walls and Castles, by T. P. Cooper, p. 222.
[816] Drake’s Eboracum, App. xliv.
[817] See Mr Cooper’s York: The Story of its Walls and Castles, which contains a mass of new material from documentary sources, and sheds quite unexpected light on the history of the York fortifications. I am indebted to Mr Cooper’s courtesy for some of the extracts cited above relating to York Castle.
[818] Cooper’s York, chapters ii. and iv. 100l. was spent by the sheriff in fortifying the walls of York in the sixth year of Henry III. After this there are repeated grants for murage in the same and the following reign. There are some Early English buttresses in the walls, but the majority are later. No part of the walls contains Norman work.
[819] The details of this evidence, which consist mainly in (1) a structural difference in the extended rampart; (2) a subsidence in the ground marking the old line of the city ditch, will be found in Mr Cooper’s work, p. 224.
[820] “Locum in Eboraco qui dicitur Vetus Ballium, primo spissis et longis 18 pedum tabulis, secundo lapideo muro fortiter includebat.” T. Stubbs, in Raine’s Historians of the Church of York, ii., 417, R. S.
[821] “The plotte of this castelle is now caullid the Olde Baile, and the area and diches of it do manifestley appere.” Itin., i., 60.
[822] See the plan in Mr Cooper’s York, p. 217.
[823] “In the Wales of the Laws, the social system is tribal.” Owen Edwards, Wales, p. 39.
[824] Vinogradoff, Growth of the Manor, pp. 15-16.
[825] Pennant’s Tour in Wales, Rhys’ edition, ii., 234.
[826] Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales, pp. 238, 94. The MS. of the Leges Wallicæ is not earlier than the 13th century. The other editions of the Laws are even later. See Wade Evans, Welsh Mediæval Law, for the most recent criticism of the Laws of Howel Dda.
[827] The Leges Wallicæ say: “Villani regis debent facere novem domos ad opus regis; scilicet, aulam, cameram, coquinam, penu (capellam), stabulum, kynorty (stabulum canum), horreum, odyn (siccarium) et latrinam.” P. 791.
[828] The word Din or Dinas, so often used for a fort in Wales, is cognate with the German Zaun, Anglo-Saxon tun, and means a fenced place. Neither it nor the Irish form dun have any connection with the Anglo-Saxon dun, a hill. See J. E. Lloyd, Welsh Place-names, “Y Cymmrodor,” xi., 24.
[829] It is doubtful whether Deheubarth ever included the small independent states of Gwent, Brecknock, and Glamorgan.
[830] “Wales and the Coming of the Normans,” Cymmrodorion Trans., 1899.
[831] There is an earthwork near Portskewet, a semicircular cliff camp with three ramparts and two ditches. It is scarcely likely that this can be Harold’s work, as Roman bricks are said to have been found there. Willet’s Monmouthshire, p. 244. Athelstan had made the Wye the frontier of Wales. Malmesbury, ii., 134.
[832] See A.-S. C., anno 1097, and compare the entry for 1096 with the account in the Brut for 1093, which shows that the Norman castles had been restored, after being for the most part demolished by the Welsh.
[833] The Brut y Tywysogion, or Story of the Princes, exists in no MS. older than the 14th century. It and the Annales Cambriæ have been disgracefully edited for the Rolls Series, and the topographical student will find no help from these editions. See Mr Phillimore’s criticism of them, in Y Cymmrodor, vol. xi. The Aberpergwm MS. of the Brut, known also as the Gwentian Chronicle, has been printed in the Archæologia Cambrensis for 1864; it contains a great deal of additional information, but as Mr Phillimore observes, so much of it is forgery that none of it can be trusted when unsupported.
[834] The barbarity on both sides was frightful, but in the case of the Welsh, it was often their own countrymen, and even near relations, who were the victims. And so little patriotism existed then in Wales that the Normans could always find allies amongst some of the Welsh chieftains. Patriotism, however, is a virtue of more recent growth than the 11th century.
[835] There is, however, no contemporary evidence for the existence of the Marcher lordships before the end of the 12th century. See Duckett “On the Marches of Wales,” Arch. Camb., 1881.
[836] The districts of Cyfeiliog and Arwystli, in the centre of Wales, were also reckoned in Gwynedd.
[837] “Wales and the Coming of the Normans,” Cymmrodorion Trans., 1899.
[838] In the descriptions of castles in this chapter, those which have not been specially visited for this work are marked with an asterisk. Those which have been visited by others than the writer are marked with initials: D. H. M. being Mr D. H. Montgomerie, F.S.A.; B. T. S., Mr Basil T. Stallybrass; and H. W., the Rev. Herbert White, M.A. This plan will be followed in the three succeeding chapters.
[839] “Hugo comes tenet de rege Roelent (Rhuddlan). Ibi T. R. E. jacebat Englefield, et tota erat wasta. Edwinus comes tenebat. Quando Hugo comes recipit similiter erat wasta. Modo habet in dominio medietatem castelli quod Roelent vocatur, et caput est hujus terræ.... Robertus de Roelent tenet de Hugone comite medietatem ejusdem castelli et burgi, in quo habet ipse Robertus 10 burgenses et medietatem ecclesiæ. Ibi est novus burgus et in eo 10 burgenses.... In ipso manerio est factum noviter castellum similiter Roeland appellatum.” D. B., i., 269a, 1.
[840] Ayloffe’s Rotuli Walliæ, p. 75. “De providendo indempnitati magistri Ricardi Bernard, Personæ Ecclesiæ de Rothelan’, in recompensionem terræ suæ occupatæ ad placeam castri de Rothelan’ elargandam.”
[841] Tut or Toot Hill means “look-out” hill; the name is not unfrequently given to abandoned mottes. The word is still used locally. Cf. Christison, Early Fortifications in Scotland, p. 16.
[842] Such presentations of abandoned castle sites, and of old wooden castles, to the church, were not uncommon. We have seen how the site of Montacute Castle was given to the Cluniac monks (ante, p. 170). Thicket Priory, in Yorkshire, occupied the site of the castle of Wheldrake; and William de Albini gave the site and materials of the old castle of Buckenham, in Norfolk, to the new castle which he founded there. The materials, but not the site, of the wooden castle of Montferrand were given in Stephen’s reign to Meaux Abbey, and served to build some of the monastic offices. Chron. de Melsa, i., 106.
[843] “Fines suos dilatavit, et in monte Dagannoth, qui mari contiguus est, fortissimum castellum condidit.” Ordericus, iii., 284 (edition Prévost). The verb condere is never used except for a new foundation.
[844] The Brut says that in the year 823 the Saxons destroyed the Castle of Deganwy. This is one of the only two instances in which the word castell is used in this Welsh chronicle before the coming of the Normans. As the MS. is not earlier than the 14th century it would be idle to claim this as a proof of the existence of a castle at this period. Castell, in Welsh, is believed to have come straight from the Latin, and was applied to any kind of fortress. Lloyd, Welsh Place-names, “Y Cymmrodor,” xi., 28.
[845] The “new castle of Aberconwy” mentioned by the Brut in 1211, undoubtedly means this new stone castle built by the earl at Deganwy, as the castle of Conway did not then exist.
[846] See Pennant, ii., 151; and Arch. Camb., 1891, p. 321.
[847] Brut of Tywysogion, 1145.
[848] Published with a Latin translation in Arch. Camb., 1866. “He built castles in various places, after the manner of the French, in order that he might better hold the country.”