Kidwelly Castle; Tower at south-west angle of inner ward
Kidwelly Castle; Tower at south-west angle of inner ward
The defensive precautions taken at Kidwelly were not so thorough as in the other great Welsh castles of the time, and the chief reliance of the builders was in the strength of their walls and towers. The outer curtain has the peculiarity, rare in English castles of the date, of possessing a stair built against itfrom the level of the ward.294The inner ward has several curious features. The stair to the curtain was a straight flight of steps protected by the west wall of the main entrance from the outer ward. A path along the back of the rampart of the south curtain led into the south-west drum tower, from the second floor of which the rampart-walk was gained. The walk, though much overgrown by ivy and other weeds, still keeps its rear-wall, and is continued through the towers and round the inner ward. The two western drum towers are interesting. The upper part of that on the north, where it faces the ward, is not a simple curve, but is broken into two convex curves, with a recess between: the reason of this is not apparent.295The south-west tower (281), standing at an angle from which it commands the inner face of the great gatehouse, has the most unusual peculiarity of having all its stages covered with vaulting: the vaults themselves are shallow domes, rather rudely constructed. It is probable that the engineers may have intended to establish a catapult on the tower in time of siege. The situation of the tower would have been excellently suited for that purpose, butits unusual strength may be due merely to its position in the line of attack. The basements of all the towers are vaulted, but that of this particular tower, instead of being entered from the ward or one of the domestic buildings directly, is entered by a long and dark passage in the thickness of the south wall, from the left-hand side of the doorway of the inner ward. The unusual precautions taken with regard to this tower and its entrances give it a prominent position in an account of the castle; and, although it is no larger or loftier than the other angle-towers of the inner ward, it has something of the special importance of Marten’s tower at Chepstow or the Eagle tower at Carnarvon.
Carcassonne
Carcassonne
Although the Edwardian castle in Wales has many points of interest, and provides a highly-developed scheme of defence, yet its devices are simple when compared with the highest achievements of French fortification. The elaborate care bestowed upon the outer defences of Caerphilly, and the variety of ingenuity manifested at Beaumaris, are exceptions to this general statement; while the general plan of Carnarvon is as imposing as that of any castle in Europe. But such carefully contrived approaches as the barbican of Conway and the long ascent from the water-gate at Harlech take a second place when compared with such a work as the outer approach to the castle of Carcassonne, as restored with approximate faithfulness in the drawings of Viollet-le-Duc (283). The castle stood within the inner wall of the town, occupying a rectangular site on the south-west side of this masterpiece of concentric planning. The entrance from the town was guarded by a semicircular barbican; but the approach which called for the most watchful defence was that from the foot of the hill, on the edge of which the city stands. Where the hill meets the plain, therefore, below the castle, a great barbican was constructed, within the outer palisade and ditch of which was a great round tower, not unlike the great tower on the mount at Windsor, surrounded by a wet ditch. The centre of thischâteletwas open to the sky: the walls were pierced with two rows of loops below the rampart. This tower guarded the entrance to a walled and carefully protected ascent, which, after making a right-angled turn, led upwards in a straight passage,296commanded by the rampart of the outercurtain of the town. Where it met the curtain, it turned to the right, along the foot of the wall, and so reached a gateway into the outer ward or “lists” of the town. But here the passage, passing through a covered vestibule, turned back on its own course, and entered an inner barbican, with two upper stages. Not until this was passed, were the lists entered, and the chief gateway of the castle, in the inner curtain, reached. As we trace this passage, we recall the ascent at Harlech and the traps set for an enemy at Beaumaris; but their combination here is on a scale undreamed of in those fortresses, minutely calculated though their planning was.
Domfront; Casemates
Domfront; Casemates
The wall-galleries, again, at Carnarvon and Beaumaris, are a device of great utility, unusual in English castles, and are planned at Carnarvon with exceptional skill; while, at Caerphilly, the gallery in the south wall, between the hall and the moat, is a solution of the defence of a point which the somewhat crowded plan of the domestic buildings threatened to leave unguarded. But the covered gallery below the ramparts was not a prominent feature of medieval defence in England. On the other hand, it was used freely in France. Two examples of the defensive use of covered galleries may be given here. One is from Domfront, where, as at Coucy, the castle was separated fromthe walled town by a very formidable ditch. On the side next the castle, the rock was covered by a retaining wall flanked by two round towers at the ends, and a polygonal tower near the centre. At some time in the middle ages, probably late in the thirteenth century, the rock behind the wall was pierced by a long gallery, communicating with all three towers, and by stairs at intervals with the upper ward above. Loops were made in the retaining wall, so that the approach upon this side was thus provided with a line of defence below the level of the towers and curtain. The gallery is not on one level throughout, but forms a series of separate vaulted casemates, connected with one another by short flights of stairs297(284).
In the second case, at Coucy, we have a case of a closed gallery, without loops, which was designed as a counter-mine against the efforts of the sappers of an attacking force. Remains of such galleries exist in more than one part of the castle, forming a remarkable addition to defences which, by themselves, were strong enough to discourage attack. Towards the end of the fourteenth century, the curtain of the donjon, the strongest tower in Europe, was thickened by the addition of a talus or battering base, which was pierced by a passage. The main object of this work was to cover in a spring which had its source in the ditch at the foot of the curtain: the passage communicated at one end with an earlier and well-guarded passage leading from the domestic buildings to a postern in the wall which crossed the west end of the ditch, while, at the other, it communicated by a stair with the rampart-walk of the curtain and gatehouse of the inner ward. But it did not merely form a convenient means of access to the spring. It afforded an opportunity to the defenders of counteracting the miners of the enemy; while, if the miners pierced their way through the talus, they would be met by the thick curtain on the other side of the passage. The passage itself, well protected at both ends, would be commanded by the defence; while the spring in the middle, to those not acquainted with the geography of the place, would form a dangerous barrier in the darkness.
To such finished achievements of military art as these, which have been quoted as specimen examples, our English castles can afford no exact parallel. In the military, as in the ecclesiastical architecture of France, principles were worked out with a logical precision and completeness, which, in its practical effect, provokes our wonder. The effort manifested in the Edwardian castle ismore humble; the achievement more limited. This, however, is true rather of the scale of the castle and the details of its defence than of the general idea. The main object, of flanking the curtain effectually and completely, is as fully realised as in any foreign example; while it may be safely said that in no country were the advantages of concentric lines of defence better exhibited than in the Welsh castles, whose main features have been indicated in this chapter. The walls of Carcassonne may provide us with the concentric plan on its largest scale; but the Welsh castles show at least an equal understanding of the value of concentric fortifications. The difference lies in the fact that the French engineer proceeded to strengthen his defences by the addition of intricate refinements and subtle devices; while the Englishman stopped short at this point, and was satisfied when his aim of providing and combining adequate towers and walls of defence was achieved.