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having had the opportunity of doing this, we will only ask what features the keeps of Langeais, London, and Colchester have in common, which may serve as marks of an earlier date than the 12th century. The square or oblong form and the entrance on the first floor are common to all three, but also to the keeps of the first three-quarters of the 12th century. The absence of a forebuilding is probably an early sign, and so is the extensive use of tiles. The chapel with a round apse which projects externally only occurs in the keeps of London and Colchester, and in the ruins of Pevensey keep. The absence of a plinth is believed by Enlart to be an early token. But Colchester has a plinth and so has the Tower. It is, however, very possible that in both cases the plinth is a later addition; at Colchester it is of different stone to the rest of the building, and may belong to the repairs of Henry II., who was working on this castle in 1169; while the Tower has undergone so many alterations in the course of its

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eight hundred years of existence that it is difficult to say whether the rudimentary plinth which it still possesses is original or not.

Wide-jointed masonry is generally recognised by architectural students as a mark of the early Norman style. Even this is a test which may sometimes deceive; certain kinds of ashlar are very liable to weather at the edges, and when the wall has been pointed at a comparatively recent period, a false appearance of wide joints is produced. Moreover, there are instances of wide-jointed masonry throughout the 12th century. The use of rubble instead of ashlar is common at all dates, and depends no doubt on local conditions, the local provision of stone, or the affluence or poverty of the castle-builder. We are probably justified in laying down as a general rule that the dimensions of the ashlar stones increase as the Middle Ages advance. There is a gradual transition from the petit appareil of Fulk Nerra's castle to the large blocks of well-set stone which were used in the 15th century. But this law is liable to many exceptions, and cannot be relied upon as a test of date unless other signs are present. The Tower of London is built of Kentish rag; Colchester keep of small cement stones (septaria), which whether they are re-used Roman stones or not, resemble very much in size the masonry of Langeais. It is of course unnecessary to say to anyone who is in the least acquainted with Norman architecture that all Norman walls of ashlar are of the core-andfacing kind, an internal and an external shell of ashlar, filled up with rubble; a technique which was inherited

1 It is well known that blocks of huge size are employed in Anglo-Saxon architecture, but generally only as quoins or first courses. See Baldwin Brown, The Arts in Early England, ii., 326.

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from Roman times in Gaul, but which was not followed by the Anglo-Saxons.1

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The presence or absence of fireplaces and chimneys is not a test of date. Colchester is certainly an early keep, but it is well provided with fireplaces which appear to be original. These fireplaces have not proper chimneys, but only holes in the wall a little above the fireplace. But this rudimentary form of chimney is found as late as Henry II.'s keep at Orford, and there is said to be documentary mention of a proper chimney as early as 816 in the monastery of St Gall. The entire absence of fireplaces is no proof of early date, for in Henry II.'s keep at the Peak in Derbyshire, the walls of which are almost perfect (except for their ashlar coats) there are no fireplaces at all, nor are there any in the 13th-century keep of Pembroke. It is possible that in these cases a free standing fireplace in the middle of the room, with a chimney carried up to the roof, was used. Such a fireplace is described by the poet, Chrestien of Troyes, but no example is known to exist.

But apart from details, if we look at the general plan of these four early stone castles, we shall see that it is exactly similar. It is the keep-and-bailey plan, the plan which prevailed from the 10th to the 13th century, and was not even superseded by the introduction of the keepless castle in the latter century. The motte-and

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bailey type was of course only another version of the keep-and-bailey. In this primitive type of castle the all-important thing was the keep or donjon.1 Besides the donjon there was little else but a rampart and ditch. "Until the middle of the 12th century, and in the simpler examples of the epochs which followed, the donjon may be said to constitute in itself the whole castle." Piper states that up to the time of the Crusades German castles do not seem to have been furnished with mural towers. Köhler, whose work treats of French and English castles as well as German, says that mural towers did not become general till the second half of the 12th century.* Nevertheless, as it is highly probable that the baileys of castles were defended at first with only wooden ramparts on earthen banks, even when the donjon was of stone, it is not unlikely that mural towers of wood may have existed at an earlier period than these writers suppose. It is, however, in favour of the general absence of mural towers that the word turris, even in 12th-century records, invariably means the keep, as though no other towers existed.5

That the baileys of some of the most important castles in England had only these wooden and earthen defences, even as late as the 13th century, can be amply

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proved from the Close Rolls.1 Colchester Castle had only a timber wall on the banks of its bailey as late as 1215, and in 1219 this palicium was blown down and an order issued for its reconstruction.2

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The arrangements in the stone donjons were probably the same as those we have already described when writing of the wooden ones. The basement was the storehouse for provisions, the first floor was generally the guardhouse, the second the habitation, of the lord and lady. Where there were three or four storeys, the arrangements varied, and the finest rooms are often found on the third floor. An oratory was probably an invariable feature, though it cannot always be detected in ruined keeps. One of Mr Clark's most pronounced mistakes was his idea that these keeps were merely towers of refuge used only in time of war.5 History abounds with evidence that they were the permanent residences of the nobles of the 11th and 12th centuries. The cooking, as a rule, was carried on in a separate building, of which there are remains in some places.

Occasionally we find a variant of the keep-and-bailey type, which we may call the gatehouse keep. The most