plan made by Simpson in 1617,' and is therefore not quite trustworthy; the position of the keep, for example, is quite different. The keep, which Hutchison in his Memoirs speaks of as "the strong tower called the Old Tower on the top of the rock," seems clearly Norman, from the buttresses. It was placed (according to Simpson's plan), on the north side of the small ward which formed the top of the motte, and was enclosed in a yet older shell wall which has now disappeared. The height of this motte is indicated in the bird's-eye view by the ascending wall which leads up it from the bailey. It had its own ditch, as appears by several mentions in the accounts of "the drawbridge of the keep," and "the bridge leading up to the dongeon." It is highly probable that this keep was built by King John, as in a Mise Roll of 1212 there is a payment entered "towards making the tower which the king commanded to be built on the motte of Nottingham." But the first masonry in the castle was probably the work of Henry II., who spent £1737, 9s. 5d. on the castle and houses, the gaol, the king's chamber, the hall, and in raising the walls and enclosing the bailey. The castle has been so devastated by the 17th century spoiler, that the work of Henry and John has been almost entirely "2 1 Published in a paper on Nottingham Castle by Mr Emanuel Green, in Arch. Journ. for December 1901. 2 See Mr Green's paper, as above, p. 388. 3 "Apud Rokingham liberavimus Philippo Marco ad faciendam turrim quam dominus Rex precepit fieri in Mota de Notingham 100 marcas quas burgenses de Notingham et Willelmus Fil. Baldwini dederunt domino Regi pro benevolencia sua habenda." In Cole's Documents Illustrative of English History, 235. There is some reason to think that John instead of building the cylindrical keeps which were then coming into fashion, reverted to the square form generally followed by his father. ↑ Pipe Rolls, 1170-1186. The Pipe Roll of 6 Richard I. mentions the making of "I posterne in mota," which may be the secret passage in the rock. M swept away, but the one round tower which still remains as part of the defences of the inner bailey, looks as though it might be of the time of Henry II. This bailey is semicircular; the whole original castle covers only 1 acres. A very much larger bailey was added afterwards, probably in John's reign. Probably this later bailey was at first enclosed with a bank and stockade, and this stockade may be the palitium of which there are notices in the records of Henry III. and Edward I. The main gateway of this bailey, which still remains, is probably of Edward I. or Edward II.'s reign. 8 The castle of Nottingham was the most important one in the Midlands, and William of Newburgh speaks of it as "so well defended by nature and art that it appears impregnable." The value of the town had risen from 18 to £30 at the time of the Survey." OKEHAMPTON, Devon (Fig. 24).—Baldwin de Molis, Sheriff of Devon, held the manor of Okehampton at the time of the Survey, and had a castle there." On a hill in the valley of the Okement River 1 This is rendered probable by a writ of Henry III.'s reign, ordering that half a mark is to be paid annually to Isolde de Gray for the land which she had lost in King John's time "per incrementum forinseci ballii Castri de Notinge." Close Rolls, i., 508. 2 Close Rolls, i., 548b. "Videat quid et quantum mæremii opus fuerit ad barbecanas et palitia ipsius castri reparanda" (1223). Close Rolls, i., 531b Timber ordered for the repair of the bridges, bretasches, and palicium gardini (1223). Cal. of Close Rolls, 1286, p. 390: Constable is to have timber to repair the weir of the mill, and the palings of the court of the castle. Nottingham was one of eight castles in which John had baths put up. Rot. Misæ., 7 John. 3 The murage of the town of Nottingham was assigned "to the repair of the outer bailey of the castle there" in 1288. Patent Rolls, Edward I., i., 308. ♦ Chapter xlii. 5 D. B., i., 280. "Ipse Baldwinus vicecomes tenet de Rege Ochementone, et ibi sedet castellum." D. B., i., 105b, 2. OKEHAMPTON-OSWESTRY 179 stand the remains of a castle of the motte-and-bailey pattern. On the motte, which is high and steep, are the ruins of a keep of late character, probably of the 14th century. The oval bailey covers an acre, and the whole castle is surrounded with a very deep ditch (filled up now on the east side) which is in part a natural ravine. The usual ditch between the motte and the bailey is absent here. This castle appears to have continued always in private hands, and therefore there is little to be learned about it from the public records. The value of Okehampton manor had increased since the Conquest from £8 to £10. As there is no burgus mentioned T. R. E., but four burgenses and a market T. R. W., Baldwin the Sheriff must have built a borough as well as a castle. Otherwise it was a small manor of thirty ploughs. OSWESTRY, Shropshire. Mr Eyton's identification. of the Domesday castle of Louvre, in the manor of Meresberie, Shropshire, with Oswestry, seems to be decisive. The name is simply L'Œuvre, the Work, a name very frequently given to castles in the early Norman period. Domesday Book says that Rainald de Bailleul built a castle at this place. He had married the widow of Warin, Sheriff of Shropshire, who died in 1085. The castle afterwards passed into the hands of the Fitz Alans, great lords-marcher on the Welsh 3 1 The late Mr Worth thought the lower part of the keep was early Norman. He was perhaps misled by the round arched loops in the basement. But round arches are by no means conclusive evidence in themselves of Norman date, and the size of these windows, as well as the absence of buttresses, and the presence of pointed arches, are quite incompatible with the early Norman period. The whole architecture of the castle agrees with a 14th century date, to which the chapel undoubtedly belongs. 2 Eyton, Antiquities of Shropshire, vol. vii. 3 "Ibi fecit Rainaldus Castellum Luure." D. B., i., 253b. Rainald was an under-tenant of Roger, Earl of Shrewsbury. |