except the south-eastern chamber, under the crypt of the chapel. were The first floor, like the basement, is divided into three rooms, as, in addition to the usual cross wall, the Tower has a branch cross wall to its eastern section, which is carried up to the top. This floor was formerly only lit by loopholes ; Clark states that there were two fireplaces in the east wall, but there is some doubt about this. The S.E. room contained the crypt of the chapel, which was vaulted. It is commonly supposed that the rooms on the first floor occupied by the guards of the keep. In the account which we have quoted from Lambert of Ardres, the first floor is said to be the lord's habitation, and the upper storey that of the guards; so that there seems to have been no invariable rule. No special room was allotted to the kitchen, as in time of peace at any rate, the lord of the castle and all his retainers took their meals in a great hall in the bailey of the castle. The ceilings of the two larger rooms of this floor are now supported by posts, an arrangement which is probably modern, as the present posts certainly are. 3 The second floor contains the chapel, which in many keeps is merely an oratory, but is here of unusual size. Its eastern end is carried out in a round apse, a feature which is also found at Colchester, but is not usual in 1 Ante, p. 89. 2 Many of the larger keeps contain rooms quite spacious enough to have served as banqueting halls, and it is a point of some difficulty whether they were built to be used as such. But as late as the 14th century, Piers Ploughman rebukes the new custom which was growing up of the noble and his family taking their meals in private, and leaving the hall to their retainers. Every castle seems to have had a hall in the bailey. 3 Mr Sands says the main floors are not of too great a span to carry any ordinary weight. TOWER OF LONDON 225 Norman keeps.1 It is a singularly fine specimen of an early Norman chapel. This floor probably contained the royal apartments; it was lighted by windows, not loops. Both the eastern and western rooms had fireplaces; the eastern room goes by the name of the Banqueting Chamber. 2 The third storey is on a level with the triforium of the chapel. This triforium is continued all round the keep as a mural passage, and it has windows only slightly smaller than those of the floor below. These mural galleries are found in most important keeps. As their windows were of larger size than the loops which lit the lower floors, it is possible that they may have been used for defence, either for throwing down missiles or for shooting with bows and arrows. But no near aim could be taken without a downward splay to the window, and the bows of the 11th and 12th centuries were incapable of a long aim. A plausible theory is that they were intended for the march of sentinels. 3 The masonry of the Tower is of Kentish rag, with ashlar quoins. In mediæval times it had a forebuilding, with a round stair turret, which is shown in some old views; but it may reasonably be doubted whether this was an original feature. As regards the ground plan of the castle as a whole, 1 The keep of Pevensey Castle, the basement of which has been recently uncovered, has no less than four apsidal projections, one of which rests on the solid base of a Roman mural tower. But this keep is quite an exceptional building. See Excavations at Pevensey, Second Report, by H. Sands. 2 Mr Sands has conjectured that the third floor may be an addition, and that the second storey was originally open up to the roof and not communicating with the mural passage except by stairs. This was actually the case at Bamborough keep, and at Newcastle and Rochester the mural gallery opens into the upper part of the second storey by inner windows. 3 Until the end of the 12th century the roofs of keeps were gabled and not flat, but probably there was usually a parapet walk for sentinels or archers. P The it is now concentric, but was not so originally. Tower was certainly placed in the S. E. angle of the Roman walls of London, and very near the east wall, portions of which have been discovered. The conversion of the castle into one of the concentric type was the work of later centuries, and the history of its development has still to be traced.2 TREMATON, Cornwall (Fig. 34). - "The Count [of Mortain] has a castle there and a market, rendering 101 shillings." * Two Cornish castles are mentioned in Domesday, and both of them are only on the borders of that wild Keltic country; but while Launceston is inland, Trematon guards an inlet on the south coast. The position of this castle is extremely strong by nature, at the end of a high headland; on the extreme point of this promontory the motte is placed. It carries a wellpreserved shell wall, which may be of Norman date, from the plain round arch of the entrance. It has been separated by a ditch from the bailey, but the steepness of the hill rendered it unnecessary to carry this ditch all round. The bailey, I acre in extent, in which a modern house is situated, still has an entrance gate of the 13th century, and part of a mediæval wall. A second bailey, now a rose-garden, has been added at a later period. In spite of the establishment of a castle and a market 1 Parts of these walls, running N. and S. have been found very near the E. side of the Tower. No trace of the Roman wall has been found S. of the Tower, but in Lower Thames Street lines have been found which, if produced, would lead straight to the S. wall of the inner bailey. Communicated by Mr Harold Sands. 2 I have to thank Mr Harold Sands for kindly revising this account of the Tower. 3 "Ibi habet comes unum castrum et mercatum, reddentes 101s." D. B., i., 122. 4 It must be remembered that round arches, in castle architecture, are by no means a certain sign of date. Of course the first castle on this motte must have been of wood. |