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was mortally wounded at the then imminent battle of Marston Moor on the 2nd, and died on the 24th of July, 1644.

It was addressed to Alexander Wedderburn, clerk of Dundee, who is said to have been knighted by King Charles in 1642 (Dict. Nat. Biog.). If that date is correct, he does not seem to have assumed the title in 1644. He was of Blackness, Forfarshire, and died in 1676. W. S.

For my much respectd frend

Mr Alex Wedderburne,

Sr

clerk of Dundee.

I have red yors & thanke you for ye remembring of yor friends here. I hop befor this all yor troubles in Scotland salbe setled. The condition of or affaires here ar thus. Wee ar still lying about York, yett maior Leslie upon Satterday was a fourthnight marched to ioyne wt ye earle of Manchester wt 2000 horses & 500 dragounes. they have not had any rencounter as yet wt Prince Robert bot ar still attending his motions. Ther is great noyse of him here of his comming to raise ye sieg at York, bot I hop in God he sall not be able to do it, for ye earle of Manchester hath already togedder 7000 foot & betwixt 3 & 4 thousand horses of his owne besidis these yt ar gone from this to him. Upone intelligence of Prince Roberts comming to Lancaster upone Satterday last Sr Jhone Meldrum was divertit away wt my lord Casiles regiment & ane english regiment to assist or friends in lancashir lest they sould suffer by prince Robert. That same day Sr Thomas Fairfax was sent to ye earle of Manchester to consult wt him qt sould be ye fittest way to suppresse Prince Roberts armie & give it sould be thocht fitt he sould stay in those places wt my lord Manchester. Since or comming here wee have cleared ye passage to Hull & taken in Cawood castell upon ows & aires mouth, which is one of ye strongest places in england. Wee hear yt the King is marching toward londone & if he can goe in in a fair way to ye parl: he will doe it, for he wilbe content to subscryve any articles they will present to him prouyding Scotland be left out in the treatie. The earle of Manchester came yeesternight to or leaguer. This is all I can writt for ye present. Lett me heare from you at all occassiones in doing qrof I sall continue

from ye leaguer at York ye 28 of May, 1644.

Yor most affectionat friend,

dudope.

THE CASTLES OF THE NORTH RIDING.

BY WILLIAM M. I'ANSON.

THE North Riding of the county of York is bounded on the north by the river Tees, which separates it from the county. of Durham; on the west by the county of Westmorland; on the south-west by the West Riding; on the south-east by the river Derwent and the East Riding; on the east by the North Sea. Its greatest length from east to west is about 78 miles; its greatest breadth from north to south is about 45 miles; it contains 1,362,560 acres, and, considered as a separate county, is exceeded in area only by the West Riding (1,766,664 acres), and by the counties of Lincoln (1,693,550 acres) and Devon (1,667,154 acres).

There is, perhaps, no county in England in which the gradual evolution of mediæval military architecture can be better studied than in this extensive and beautiful tract of country. We need not expect to find examples of every type of castle in any one county; this would be asking too much. It is true that we possess no Juliet keep1; that we have only one good example, that of Pickering, of what is usually, if erroneously, known as a Shell keep; that we have but one example, that of the very ruinous castle of Kilton, of a Keepless castle; that we possess

1 The earliest type of stone keep was the rectangular, of which the famous tower of Langeais (Touraine) is the earliest example. The writer understands that the leading French antiquaries are agreed that this tower dates from the last decade of the tenth century, and this was his own impression after a very careful examination of it. This type of keep, at a later date, was, to a certain extent, superseded by the Juliet or circular keep, of which Conisborough, Pembroke, and Orford may be cited as typical examples. The advantages of the circular over the rectangular form are obvious. The angles of a rectangular keep were always

a

source of weakness, as it will be readily understood that it would be much easier to dislodge masonry at any one of the four angles of a rectangular tower than at any point on the circumference of a circular keep. This vulnerability

was clearly shown at Rochester in 1215 when King John captured the tower by dislodging masonry at and undermining the south-east angle (Roger of Wendover, ann. 1215). When, in 1225, this tower was repaired by Henry III, he replaced the rectangular turret at the south-east angle by a round turret. Moreover, it is obvious that the circular form of the Juliet naturally gave the defenders a much more complete range of fire than could be obtained from a rectangular tower.

2 In the castles of the keepless type, the keep or citadel was abandoned altogether, or only retained, in a modified form, as the largest of the mural towers, the fortress depending for its defence upon a lofty and massive wall of enceinte thoroughly enfiladed by boldly projecting mural towers. The majority of the Welsh castles are of this type.

no genuine example (although Middleham may, perhaps, approximate more or less closely to that type) of a Concentric castle.1 But here our limitations cease. In all the other types of castle the North Riding is unusually rich. Scattered all over the district, or county as one prefers to term it, are the earthworks which are all that now mark the sites of the majority of our Norman castles; in the great fortress of Richmond we possess one of the finest examples of an eleventh century castle not only in England but in Europe; no other county, with the possible exception of Northumberland, can compare with the North Riding in its collection of early Plantagenet rectangular keep castles. Of the later castles, of what we may term the quadrangular palace-fortress" type, the grim but stately castle of Bolton-in-Wensleydale is, in the opinion of the writer, the finest example in England. Of the other types of late castles and of fortified manor-houses, we possess a large number of examples.

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And yet how little has been written on the subject of our North Riding castles. Practically all that we possess are short descriptions, somewhat inadequately illustrated, from the pen of the late Mr. G. T. Clark, of Bowes (Medieval Military Architecture, i, 259-264), Helmsley (ii, 100-108), of the keep only of Middleham (ii, 293-300), of Pickering (ii, 368–375), of Scarborough (ii, 458–467), and of Richmond (Yorks. Arch. Journal, ix, 33), an exceedingly able account of Gilling Castle (John Bilson, Yorks. Arch. Journal, xix, 105-192), Mr. Milward's article on Richmond (Arch. Inst., v, 41), Mr. Loftus Brock's article on the same castle (Journal of the British Arch. Assoc., xliii, 179), the late Dr. T. Horsfall's account of Snape Castle (Notes on the Manor of Well and Snape, pp. 87-101), an account of Kilton Castle (Yorks. Arch. Journal, xxii, 55-125), and short papers on Richmond (J. F. Curwen, Cumberland and Westmorland Antiq. and Arch. Soc., vi, 326-332), and Scarborough (East Riding Antiq. Soc., 13-17).

And what applies to our North Riding castles applies equally to those of the West and East Ridings. It is not that we do not possess men well qualified to deal with our castles; one of the most energetic members of our Society is, perhaps, the most trustworthy authority in England on mediæval architecture. But

1 A genuine concentric castle may be described as two keepless castles one set within the other, the highest and most effective development of mediæval mili

tary architecture. Beaumaris is the finest example of this type in Great Britain.

unfortunately our leading experts, with a few exceptions, not only in Yorkshire but throughout England, lavish—with admirable results it must be admitted-so much work on ecclesiastical edifices that they would seem to have but little time to devote to our castles.

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There are, however, not wanting signs that the scientific treatment of this most important branch of archæological research is at length to receive more attention. Within the last two years two works, Mrs. E. Armitage's Early Norman Castles of the British Isles and Mr. Hamilton Thompson's Military Architecture in England in the Middle Ages, have been issued to the general public, works which are certain to rank among the classics on the subject. Many of the most valuable works are, however, unfortunately only accessible to a smaller section of the community, and among these may be mentioned the late Mr. Cadwallader Bates' unfinished Border Holds of Northumberland (Archæologia Eliana, xv, 1-465), Mr. Harold Sands' "Bodiam Castle" (Sussex Arch. Coll., xlvi, 114-133) and his "Tower of London" (Memorials of Old London, 1908, vol. i, 27-65), Mr. W. H. St. John Hope's "English Fortresses and Castles of the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries (Arch. Journal, lx, 72-90) and his admirable "Ludlow Castle" (Archæologia, lxi, 258-328), Dr. Horace Round's "The Castles of the Conquest" (Archæologia, lviii, 313-340), Mr. John Bilson's "Gilling Castle" (already referred to), Mr. G. H. Orpen's "Motes and Norman Castles in Ireland" (Proc. Royal Soc. Antiq. Ireland, xxvii, 123-152) and his 'Ireland under the Normans," etc.

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The writer is venturing, in a series of articles, to deal with the castles of the North Riding. Exigencies of space are alone sufficient to preclude the possibility of this series being completed in a lesser time than about six or eight years. Much water will flow under London Bridge in the meantime, and it is possible that the work contemplated may be happily lessened by the appearance of monographs on some of the castles hitherto undealt with.

The idea in writing these articles is two-fold, viz.:—

(i) to trace the gradual evolution of medieval military architecture in the North Riding; and

(ii) to supplement the information already accessible to the antiquary with regard to the North Riding castles by descriptions of those which have not, at the time of writing, been

VOL. XXII.

T

adequately dealt with. It is, of course, unnecessary to remark that an elaborate history and description of any one castle does not come within the scope of such a work; the main events in the history of each fortress will be outlined and a short description of the structure, illustrated where necessary by photographs, plans and sections, will be given. Those castles which have already, at the time of writing, been the subject of a monograph by a competent authority will be only very briefly alluded to. The space and illustration thus economised. will be devoted to those lesser-known ruins which have not hitherto received any attention at the hands of the antiquary. The castles already dealt with by the late Mr. Clark will, however, be fully described, if they have not, in the meantime, been the subject of special monographs. The writer implies no discourtesy to Mr. Clark; but his articles, although most valuable, are somewhat inadequately illustrated, and require to be further supplemented.

2

The first article, which is now placed before the readers of this Journal, deals with the condition of the North Riding castles at the time (1154) of the accession of Henry II, i.e. eighty-eight years after the battle of Hastings. Of the some thirty fortresses then in existence, two only, Richmond1 and Scarborough, possessed any defences in masonry, the remaining strongholds being constructed entirely of earth and timber. As the majority of these castles are now only represented by earthworks this article, to the general reader, will probably prove the least interesting of the series; the reference to each. earthwork is brief, and but little illustration is required.

The second and third articles will deal with the early Plantagenet rectangular keep castles of the North Riding, viz.:— Bowes, Helmsley, the keep only of Middleham, Mulgrave,

1 It is impossible to over-estimate, from an archæological point of view, the great value of Richmond Castle, with its eleventh century walls of enceinte, its mural towers, and its great hall. What we find in stone at this castle we may be tolerably certain existed in timber at its contemporary motte and bailey strongholds. It is this that makes Richmond so intensely interesting. We may-in our efforts to reconstruct the earth-and-timber Norman castles-read up the AngloSaxon Chronicle, we may study all the authorities of the Late Saxon and of the Norman periods; but here at Richmond, solid and durable, a thing we can touch

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