Chapter 8

Pontefract, Yorks.Preston Capes, Northants.Quatford, Salop.

Pontefract, Yorks.

Preston Capes, Northants.

Quatford, Salop.

Fig. 26.

It is no part of our task to trace the fortunes of this famous castle, which was considered in the Middle Ages to be the key of Yorkshire.[584]In spite of the labels affixed to the walls we venture to assert with confidence that none of the masonry now visible belongs to the days of Ilbert. The structural history of the castle was probably this: Ilbert de Lacy, one of the greatest of the Norman tenants-in-chief in Yorkshire,[585]built in this naturally defensive situation a castle of earth and wood, like other Norman castles. Whether he found the place already defended by earthen banks we do not attempt to decide, but analogy makes it fairly certain that the motte was his work, and was crowned by a wooden tower. This motte, which was at least partially scarped out of the soft sandstone rock, is now disguised by the remarkable keep which has been built up around it, consisting at present of two enormous round towers and the ruins of a third. As a fourth side is vacant, it mayreasonably be conjectured that there was a fourth roundel.[586]If the plan was a quatrefoil it resembled that of the keep of York, which is now ascertained to belong to the reign of Henry III.; and the very little detail that is left supports the view that Pontefract keep was copied from the royal experiment at York, though it differed from it in that it actually revetted the motte itself. There is no ditch now round the motte, but we venture to think that its inner ditch is indicated by the position of the postern in Piper’s Tower, which seems to mark its outlet. It appears to have been partly filled up during the great siege of Pontefract in 1648.[587]The platform which is attached to the motte on the side facing the bailey is probably an addition of the same date, intended for artillery; its retaining wall shows signs of hasty construction. A well chamber and a passage leading both to it and to a postern opening towards the outer ditch appear to have been made in the rocky base of the motte in the 13th century.

The area of the inner and probably original bailey of this castle, including the motte, is 2⅓ acres. The Main Guard, and another bailey covering the approach on the S. side, were probably later additions, bringing up the castle area to 7 acres. The shape of the first bailey is an irregular oval, determined by the hill on which it stands.

The value of the manor of Tateshall had fallen atthe time of the Survey from £20 to £15, an unusual circumstance in the case of a manor which had become the seat of an important castle; but the number of ploughs had decreased by half, and we may infer that Tateshall had not recovered from the great devastation of Yorkshire in 1068.[588]

Preston Capes, Northants (Fig. 26).—That a castle of the 11th century stood here is only proved by a casual mention in theHistoria Fundationisof the Cluniac priory of Daventry, which tells us that this priory was first founded by Hugh de Leycestre, Seneschal of Matilda de Senlis, close to his own castle of Preston Capes, about 1090. Want of water and the proximity of the castle proving inconvenient, the priory was removed to Daventry.[589]The work lies about 3 miles from the Watling Street. The castle stands on a spur of high land projecting northwards towards a feeder of the river Nesse, about 3 miles W. of the Watling Street. The works consist of a motte, having a flat top 80 to 90 feet in diameter, and remains of a slight breastwork. This motte is placed on the edge of the plateau, and the ground falls steeply round its northern half. About 16 feet down this slope, a ditch with an outer bank has been dug, embracing half the mound. Lower down, near the foot of the slope, is another and longer ditch and rampart. It is probable that the bailey occupied the flatter ground S.E. of the motte, but the site is occupied by a farm, and no traces are visible.[590]

The value of the manor of Preston Capes had risen from 6s. to 40s. at the time of the Survey. It was held by Nigel of the Count of Mellent.[591]

Quatford, Shropshire (Fig. 26).—There can hardly be any doubt that thenova domusat Quatford mentioned in the Survey was the new castle built by Roger de Montgomeri, Earl of Shrewsbury. We have already suggested that theburguswhich also existed there may have been his work, and not that of the Danes.[592]The manor belonged to the church before the Conquest.[593]The oval motte, which still remains, is described as placed on a bold rocky promontory jutting into the Severn; it is not quite 30 feet high, and about 60 feet by 120 in diameter on top, and has a small bean-shaped bailey of 1 acre. It is near the church, which has Norman remains.[594]Robert Belesme, son of Earl Roger, removed the castle to Bridgenorth, and so the Quatford castle is heard of no more.[595]The manor of Quatford was paying nothing at the date of the Survey.

Rayleigh, Essex (Fig. 27).—“In this manor Sweyn has made his castle.”[596]Sweyn was the son of Robert Fitz-Wymarc, a half English, half Norman favourite of Edward the Confessor. Robert was Sheriff of Essex under Edward and William, and Sweyn appears to have succeeded his father in this office.[597]Sweyn built his castle on land which had not belonged to his father, so Rayleigh cannot be the “Robert’s Castle” of theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle, to which some of the Norman adventurers fled on the triumph of Earl Godwin.[598]There is a fine motte at Rayleigh, and a semicircular bailey attached; the ditch round the whole is still well marked. There is not a vestige of masonry on the surface, but some excavations made in 1910 revealed stone foundations. The inner bailey covers ¾ of an acre. The value of the manor had risen since the Conquest, but it was only a small one, with no villages in its soke.

Richard’s Castle, Herefordshire (Fig. 27).—There can be little doubt that this is the castle referred to in Domesday Book under the name of Avreton, as it is not far from Overton, on the northern border of Hereford.[599]Richard’s Castle is almost certainly the castle of Richard, son of Scrob, one of the Normans to whom Edward the Confessor had granted large estates, and who probably fortified himself on this site. At the time of the Survey Richard was dead, and the castle was held by his son Osbern, and it is noted that he pays 10s., but the castle is worth 20s. to him. Its value was the same as in King Edward’s time, a fact worth noting, as it coincides with the assumption that this was a pre-Conquest castle. There is a high and steep motte at Richard’s Castle, and a small half-moon shaped bailey.[600]There are remains of a stone wing wall running down the motte, and on the top there is a straight piece of masonry which must be part of a tower keep. The area of the inner bailey is ⅔ of an acre. Avreton wasnot the centre of a soke, but appears to have lain in the manor of Ludeford.

Rayleigh, Essex.Richard’s Castle, Hereford.

Rayleigh, Essex.

Richard’s Castle, Hereford.

Fig. 27.

Richmond, Yorks (Fig. 28).—As in the case of Pontefract, this other great Yorkshire castle is not mentioned by name in Domesday Book, nor is there any allusion to it except a casual mention in theRecapitulationthat Earl Alan has 199 manors in his castelry, and that besides the castelry he has 43 manors.[601]The castle must have been built at the date of the Survey, which was completed only a year before William I.’s death; for during William’s lifetime Earl Alan, the first holder of the fief, gavethe chapel in the castle of Richmondto the abbey of St Mary at York, which he had founded.[602]The name, of course, is French, and it seems impossible now to discover what English manor-name it has displaced.[603]It is certainly a case in which the Norman castle was not placed in the seat of the former Saxon proprietor, but in the site which seemed most defensible to the Norman lord. The lands of Earl Alan in the wapentake of Gilling had belonged to the Saxon Earl Edwin, and thus cannot have fallen to Alan’s share before Edwin’s death in 1071. TheGenealogiapublished by Dodsworth (from an MS. compiled in the reign of Edward III.), says that Earl Alan first built Richmond Castle near his chief manor of Gilling, to defend his people against the attacks ofthe disinherited English and Danes.[604]The passage has been enlarged by Camden, who says that Alan “thought himself not safe enough in Gilling”; and this has been interpreted to mean that Alan originally built his castle at Gilling, and afterwards removed it to Richmond; but the original words have no such meaning.[605]

Richmond Castle differs from most of the castles mentioned in Domesday in that it has no motte. The ground plan indeed was very like that of a motte-and-bailey castle, in that old maps show a small roundish enclosure at the apex of the large triangular bailey.[606]But a recent examination of the keep by Messrs Hope and Brakespear has confirmed the theory first enunciated by Mr Loftus Brock,[607]that the keep is built over the original gateway of the castle, and that the lower stage of its front wall is the ancient wall of the castle. The small ward indicated in the old maps is therefore most likely a barbican, of later date than the 12th century keep, which is probably rightly attributed by theGenealogiacited above to Earl Conan, who reigned from 1148-1171.[608]Some entries in thePipe Rollsmake it almost certain that it was finished by Henry II.,who kept the castle in his own hands for some time after the death of Conan.[609]There are some indications at Richmond that the first castle was of stone and not of earth and wood. The walls do not stand on earthen banks; the Norman curtain can still be traced on two sides of the castle, and on the west side it seems of early construction, containing a great deal of herringbone work, and might possibly be the work of Earl Alan.

Richmond, Yorks.Rochester, Kent.

Richmond, Yorks.

Rochester, Kent.

Fig. 28.

The whole area of the castle is 2½ acres, including the annexe known as the Cockpit. This was certainly enclosed during the Norman period, as it has a Norman gateway in its wall.

As we do not know the name of the site of Richmond before the Conquest, and as the name of Richmond is not mentioned in Domesday Book, we cannot tell whether the value of the manor had risen or fallen. But no part of Yorkshire was more flourishing at the time of the Survey than this wapentake of Gilling, which belonged to Earl Alan; in no district, except in the immediate neighbourhood of York, are there so many places where the value has risen. Yet the greater part of it was let out to under-tenants.

Rochester, Kent (Fig. 28).—Under the heading of Aylsford, Kent, the Survey tells us that “the bishop of Rochester holds as much of this land as is worth 17s. 4d.in exchange for the land in which the castle sits.”[610]Rochester was a Romancastrum, and portions of its Roman wall have recently been found.[611]The factthat various old charters speak of thecastellumof Rochester has led some authorities to believe that there was a castle there in Saxon times, but the context of these charters shows plainly that the wordscastellum Roffensewere equivalent toCastrum RoffenseorHrofesceastre.[612]Otherwise there is not a particle of evidence for the existence of a castle at Rochester in pre-Norman times, and the passage in Domesday quoted above shows that William’s castle was a new erection, built on land obtained by exchange from the church.

Outside the line of the Roman wall, to the south of the city, and west of the south gate, there is a district called Boley or Bullie Hill, which at one time was included in the fortifications of the present castle. It is a continuation of the ridge on which that castle stands, and has been separated from it by a ditch. This ditch once entirely surrounded it, and though it was partly filled up in the 18th century its line can still be traced. The area enclosed by this ditch was about 3 acres; the form appears to have been oblong. In the grounds of Satis House, one of the villas which have been built on this site, there still remains a conical artificial mound, much reduced in size, as it has been converted into a pleasure-ground with winding walks, but the retaining walls of these walks are composed of old materials; and towards the riverside there are still vestiges of an ancient wall.[613]We venture to think that this Boley Hill and its motte formed the original siteof the (probably) wooden castle of William the Conqueror. Its nature, position, and size correspond to what we have already observed as characteristic of the first castles of the Conquest. It stands on land which originally belonged to the church of St Andrew, as Domesday Book tells us William’s castle did.[614]The very name may be interpreted in favour of this theory.[615]And that there was no Roman or Saxon fortification on the spot is proved by excavations, which have shown that both a Roman and a Saxon cemetery occupied portions of the area.[616]

It is well known that between the years 1087 and 1089 the celebrated architect, Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, built a newstonecastle for William Rufus, “in the best part of the city of Rochester.”[617]This castle, of course, was on the same site as the present one, though the splendid keep was not built till the nextreign.[618]But if what we have maintained above be correct the castle of Gundulf was built on a different site from that of the castle of William. Nor are we without evidence in support of this. What remains of the original Norman wall of Gundulf’s castle (and enough remains to show that the circuit was complete in Norman times) does not stand on earthen banks; and this, though not a proof, is a strong suggestion that there was no earthen bank belonging to some previous castle when Gundulf began his building.[619]But further, Mr Livett has shown in his paper onMediæval Rochester[620]that in order to form a level plateau for the court of the castle the ground had to be artificially made up on the north and east sides, and in these places the wall rests on a foundation of gravel, which has been forcibly rammed to make it solid, and which goes through the artificial soil to the natural chalk below. Now what can this rammed gravel mean but an expedient to avoid the danger of building in stone on freshly heaped soil? Had the artificial platform been in existence ever since the Conquest, it would have been solid enough to build upon without this expense. It is therefore at leastprobable that Bishop Gundulf’s castle was built on an entirely new site.

It seems also to be clear that the Boley Hill was included as an outwork in Bishop Gundulf’s plan, for the castle ditch is cut through the Roman wall near the south gate of the city.[621]Mr Livett remarks that King John appears to have used the hill as a point of vantage when he attacked the city in 1215, and he thinks this was probably the reason why Henry III.’s engineers enclosed it with a stone wall when they restored the walls of the city.[622]Henry III.’s wall has been traced all round the city, and at the second south gate it turns at right angles, or nearly so, so as to enclose Boley Hill.[623]It is probable, as Mr Livett suggests, that the drawbridge andbretasche, or wooden tower, ordered in 1226 for the southern side of Rochester Castle,[624]were intended to connect the Boley Hill court with the main castle. In 1722 the owner of the castle (which had then fallen into private hands) conveyed to one Philip Brooke, “that part of the castle ditch and ground, as it then lay unenclosed, on Bully Hill, being the whole breadth of the hill and ditch without the walls of the castle, extending from thence to the river Medway.”[625]

The general opinion about the Boley Hill is thatit is a Danish earthwork, thrown up by the Danes when they besieged the city in 885. But if our contention inChapter IV. is just, the Danish fortifications were not mottes, nor anything like them; and (as has already been pointed out) theAnglo-Saxon Chronicleindicates the nature of the fortress in this case by its expression, “they made a work around themselves”;[626]that is, it was a circumvallation. Moreover, at Rochester the Danes would have had to pass under the bridge (which is known to have existed both in Roman and Saxon times) in order to get to the Boley Hill; and even if their ships were small enough to do this they would hardly have been so foolish as to leave a bridge in their possible line of retreat. It is therefore far more likely that their fastness was somewhere to the north or east of the city.[627]

It is a noteworthy fact that up till very recently the Boley Hill had a special jurisdiction of its own, under an officer called the Baron of the Bully, appointed by the Recorder of the city. This appears to date from a charter of Edward IV. in 1460, which confirms the former liberties of the citizens of Rochester, and ordains that they should keep two courts’ leet and a court of pie-powder annually on the Bullie Hill. The anonymous historian of Rochester remarks that it was thought that the baron represented the first officer under the governor of the castle before the court leet was instituted, to whose care the security of the Bullie Hill was entrusted.[628]This is probably much nearer the truth than the theory which would assign such thoroughly feudal courts as those of court leet andpie-powder to an imaginary community of Danes residing on the Boley Hill. When we compare the case of the Boley Hill with the somewhat similar cases of Chester and Norwich castles we shall see that what took place in Edward IV.’s reign was probably this: the separate jurisdiction which had once belonged to an abandoned castle site was transferred to the citizens of Rochester, but with the usual conservatism of mediæval legislation, it was not absorbed in the jurisdiction of the city.

The value of Rochester at the time of the Survey had risen from 100s.to 20l.[629]The increase of trade, arising from the security of traffic which was provided by William’s castles on this important route, no doubt accounts in great measure for this remarkable rise in value.

Rockingham, Northants (Fig. 29).—Here, also, the castle was clearly new in William’s reign, as the manor was uninhabited (wasta) until a castle was built there by his orders, in consequence of which the manor produced a small revenue at the time of the Survey.[630]The motte, now in great part destroyed, was a large one, being about 80 feet in diameter at the top; attached to it is a bailey of irregular but rectilateral shape (determined by the ground) covering about 3 acres. There is another large bailey to the S. covering 4 acres, formed by cutting a ditch across the spur of the hill on which the castle stands, which is probably later. The first castle would undoubtedly be of wood, and it is probable that King John was the builder of the “exceeding fair and strong” keep whichstood on the motte in Leland’s time,[631]as there is an entry in thePipe Rollof the thirteenth year of his reign for 126l.18s.6d.for the work of the new tower.[632]This keep, if Mr Clark is correct, was polygonal, with a timber stockade surrounding it.

Rockingham was only a small manor of one hide in Saxon times, though its Saxon owner had sac and soke. It stands in a forest district, not near any of the great ancient lines of road, and was probably built for a hunting seat.

The value of the manor had risen at the time of the Survey.[633]

During the Civil War, the motte of Rockingham was fortified in an elaborate manner by the Parliamentarians, part of the defences being two wooden stockades:[634]an interesting instance of the use both of mottes and of wooden fortifications in comparatively modern warfare. Only the north and west sides of this mount now remain.

Rockingham, Northants.

Fig. 29.

Old Sarum, Wilts (Fig. 30).—Sir Richard Colt Hoare printed in hisAncient Wiltshirea document purporting to be an order from Alfred, “King of the English,” to Leofric, “Earl of Wiltunshire,” to maintain the castle of Sarum, and add another ditch to it.[635]The phraseology of the document suggests some doubts of its genuineness, and though there would be nothingimprobable in the theory that Alfred reared the outer bank of the fortress, recent excavations have shown that the place was occupied by the Romans, and therefore make it certain that its origin was very much earlier than Alfred’s time. Moreover, the convergence of several Roman roads at this spot suggests the probability of a Roman station,[636]while the form of the enclosure renders an earlier origin likely. Domesday Book does not speak of Salisbury as aburgus, and when theburgusof Old Sarum is mentioned in later documents it appears to refer to a district lying at the foot of the Castle Hill, and formerly enclosed with a wall.[637]Nor is it one of the boroughs of theBurghal Hidage. But that Sarum was an important place in Saxon times is clear from the fact that there was a mint there; and there is evidence of the existence of at least four Saxon churches, as well as a hospital for lepers.[638]

For more exact knowledge as to the history of this ancient fortress we must wait till the excavations now going on are finished, but in the meanwhile it seems probable that the theory adopted by General Pitt-Rivers is correct. He regarded Old Sarum as a British earthwork, with an inner castle and outer barbicans added by the Normans. After building this castle in the midst of it the Normans appear to have considered the outer andlarger fortification too valuable to be given up to the public, but retained it under the government of the castellan, and treated it as part of the castle.

There is no mention of the castle of Salisbury in Domesday Book, but the bishop is named as the owner of the manor.[639]The episcopal see of Sherborne was transferred to Sarum in 1076 by Bishop Hermann, in accordance with the policy adopted by William I. that episcopal sees should be removed from villages to towns:[640]a measure which in itself is a testimony to the importance of Salisbury at that time. The first mention of the castle is in the charter of Bishop Osmund, 1091.[641]The bishop was allowed to lay the foundations of his new cathedral within the ancient fortress. As might be expected, friction soon arose between the castellans and the ecclesiastics; the castellans claimed the custody of the gates, and sometimes barred the canons, whose houses seem to have been outside the fortress, from access to the church. These quarrels were ended eventually by the removal of the cathedral to the new town of Salisbury at the foot of the hill.

Old Sarum, Wilts.

Fig. 30.

The position of the motte of Old Sarum is exceptional, as it stands in the centre of the outer fortress. This must be owing to the position of the ancient vallum, encircling the summit of one of those round, gradually sloping hills so common in the chalk ranges, which made it necessary to place the motte in the centre, because it was the highest part of the ground. Thepresent excavations have shown that it is in part artificial. But though the citadel was thus exceptionally placed, the principle that communication with the outside must be maintained was carried out; the motte had its own bailey, reaching to the outer vallum. The remains of three cross banks still exist, two of which must have enclosed themagnum balliumwhich is spoken of in thePipe Rollsof Henry II. Probably this bailey occupied the south-eastern third of the circle, which included the main gateway and the road to the citadel. In the ditch on the north side of this enclosure, an arched passage, apparently of Norman construction, was found in 1795; it was doubtless a postern or sallyport.[642]The main entrance is defended by a separate mount with its own ditch, which is conjectured to be of later date than the vallum itself. The area of the top of the motte is about 1¾ acres, a larger size than usual, but not larger than that of several other important castles.[643]In Leland’s time there was “much notable ruinous building” still remaining of this fortress, and the excavations have already revealed the lower portions of some splendid walls and gateways, and the basement of a late Norman keep which presents some unusual features.[644]The earthworks, however, bear witness to a former wooden stockade both to the citadel and the outer enclosure. The top of the motte is still surrounded by high earthen banks.

As that great building bishop, Roger of Salisbury(1099-1139), is said to have environed the castle with a new wall,[645]it would seem likely that he was the first to transform the castle from wood to stone. But in Henry II.’s reign, we find an entry in thePipe Rollsfor materials for enclosing the great bailey. An order for the destruction of the castle had been issued by Stephen,[646]but it is doubtful whether it was carried out. The sums spent by Henry II. on the castle do not amount to more than £266, 12s. 5d., but the work recently excavated which appears to be of his date is very extensive indeed.

The mention of a small wooden tower in Richard I.’s reign shows that some parts of the defences were still of wood at that date.[647]Timber and rods forhoardingthe castle, that is, for the wooden machicolations placed at the tops of towers and walls, were ordered at the end of John’s reign.[648]

It is not known when the castle was abandoned, but the list of castellans ceases in the reign of Henry VI., when it was granted to the Stourton family.[649]Though the earls of Salisbury were generally the custodians of Sarum Castle, except in the time of Bishop Roger, it was always considered a royal castle, while the manor belonged to the bishop.[650]It is remarked in theHundred Rollsof Henry III., that no one holds fiefs for ward inthis castle, and that nothing belonged to the castle outside the gate.[651]

The value of the manor of Salisbury appears to have risen very greatly since the Conquest.[652]

Shrewsbury(Fig. 31).—The passage in Domesday Book relating to this town has been called by Mr Round one of the most important in the Survey, and it is of special importance for our present purpose. “The English burghers of Shrewsbury say that it is very grievous to them that they have to pay all the geld which they paid in King Edward’s time, although the castle of the earl occupies [the site of] 51 houses, and another 50 are uninhabited.”[653]It is incomprehensible how in the face of such a clear statement as this, that the new castle occupied the site of fifty-one houses, anyone should be found gravely to maintain that the motte at Shrewsbury was an English work; for if the motte stood there before, what was the clearance of houses made for? The only answer could be to enlarge the bailey. But this is exactly what the Norman would not wish to do; he would want only a small area for the small force at his disposal for defence. Shrewsbury was certainly a borough (that is, a fortified town) in Anglo-Saxon times; probably it was one of the towns fortified by Ethelfleda, though it is not mentioned by name in the list of those towns furnished by theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle.[654]Itsancient walls were certainly only of earth and wood, for a writ of 1231 says that the old stockade and the old bretasche of the old ditch of the town of Shrewsbury are to be granted to the burghers for strengthening the new ditch.[655]

The castle of Shrewsbury was built on the neck of the peninsula on which the town stands, and on the line of the town walls. The oval motte, which still remains, stands, as usual, on the line of the castle banks, and slopes steeply down to the Severn on one side. Its nearness to the river made it liable to damage by floods. Thus we find Henry II. spending 5l.on the repair of the motte,[656]and in Edward I.’s reign the abbot’s mill is accused of having caused damage to the extent of 60 marks to the motte. But the men of the hundred exonerate the mill, and from another passage the blame appears to lie on the fall of a great wooden tower.[657]This can hardly have been other than the wooden keep on the motte, and thus we learn the interesting fact that as late as Edward I.’s reign the castle of Shrewsburyhad only a wooden keep. The present tower on the motte is the work of Telford.

Shrewsbury.Skipsea, Yorks.

Shrewsbury.

Skipsea, Yorks.

Fig. 31.

The bailey of Shrewsbury Castle is roughly semilunar and covers nearly an acre. The walls stand on banks, which shows that the first wall was of timber. The Norman entrance arch seems to render it probable that it was in Henry II.’s reign that stone walls were first substituted for a wooden stockade, and thePipe Rollscontain several entries of sums spent by Henry on this castle.[658]But the first mention of stone in connection with the castle is in the reign of Henry III.[659]In the reign of Edward I., ajarolaor wooden wall, which had been raised above the outer ditch in the time of the Barons’ War, was replaced by a stone wall.[660]This perhaps refers to the second bailey, now destroyed, which lay to the south of the castle. In the time of Charles I. the castle still had a wooden palisade on the counterscarp of the ditch.[661]The two large drum towers on the walls, and the building between them, now converted into a modern house, belong to a much later period than the walls. The area of the present castle, including the motte, is ⅘ of an acre.

The value of the town of Shrewsbury had risen since the Conquest.

Skipsea, Yorks (Fig. 31).—There is no mention of this castle in Domesday Book, but the chronicle of Meaux Abbey tells us that it was built by Drogo deBevrère in the reign of William I.[662]This chronicle is not indeed contemporary, but its most recent editor regards it as based on some much earlier document. It was the key of the great manor of Holderness, which the Conqueror had given to Drogo, but which Drogo forfeited by murdering his wife, probably on this very site. The situation of Skipsea is remarkable, but the original plan of Kenilworth Castle presented a close parallel to it. The motte, which is 46 feet high, and ⅕ of an acre in space on top, is separated from the bailey by a level space, which was formerly the Mere of Skipsea, mentioned in documents of the 13th century, which reckon the take of eels in this mere as a source of revenue.[663]The motte thus formed an island in the mere, but as an additional defence—perhaps when the mere began to get shallow—it was surrounded by a bank and ditch of its own. No masonry is to be seen on the motte now, except a portion of a wing wall going down it. It is connected with its bailey on the other side of the mere by a causeway which still exists. This bailey is of very unusual size, covering 8¼ acres; its banks still retain the name of the Baile Welts, and one of the entrances is called the Baile Gate. Skipsea Brough, which no doubt represents the formerburgusof Skipsea, is outside this enclosure, and has no defences of its own remaining. A mandate of Henry III. in 1221, ordered the complete destruction of this castle,[664]and it was no doubt after this that the earls of Albemarle, who had succeeded to Drogo’s estates, removed theircaput baroniæto Burstwick.[665]

The value of the manor of Cleeton, in which Skipsea lies, had fallen at Domesday.[666]

Stafford(Fig. 32).—TheAnglo-Saxon Chroniclesays that Ethelfleda of Mercia built theburhof Stafford; and consequently we find that both in King Edward and King William’s time Stafford was a burgus, or fortified town. Florence of Worcester, who is considered to have used a superior copy of theChronicleas the foundation of his work, says that Ethelfleda built anarxon the north bank of the Sowe in 914.Arx, in our earlier chronicles, is often only a bombastic expression for a walled town, as, for example, when Ethelwerd says that Ethelfleda’s body was buried in St Peter’s porch in thearxof Gloucester.[667]But the statement led many later writers, such as Camden, to imagine that Ethelfleda built atowerin the town of Stafford; and these imaginings have created such a tangled skein of mistake that we must bespeak our readers’ patience while we attempt to unravel it.

Domesday Book only mentions Stafford Castle under the manor of Chebsey, a possession of Henry de Ferrers. Its words are: “To this manorbelongedthe land of Stafford, in which the king commanded a castle to be built, which is now destroyed.”[668]Ordericus also says that the king placed a castle at Stafford, on his return from his third visit to the north, in 1070.[669]Now the language of Domesday appears to us to say very plainly that in the manorial rearrangement which followed the Conquest some land was taken out of the manor of Chebsey, which lies immediately to the south of theborough of Stafford, to furnish a site for a royal castle.[670]It is exactly in this position that we now find a large oblong motte, similar to the other mottes of the Conquest, and having the usual bailey attached to it. It lies about a mile and a half south-west of the town, near the main road leading into Shropshire.

The position was an important one, as the castles of Staffordshire formed a second line of defence against the North Welsh, as well as a check to the great palatinate earls of Shropshire.[671]The motte itself stood on high ground, commanding a view of twenty or thirty miles round, and both Tutbury and Caus castles could be seen from it. Between it and the town lies a stretch of flat ground which has evidently been a swamp formerly, and which explains the distance of the castle from the town; while the fact that it lies to thesouthof the Sowe shows that it has no connection with Ethelfleda’s work. There is no dispute that this motte was the site of the later baronial castle of Stafford, the castle besieged and taken in the Civil War; the point we have to prove is that it was also the castle of Domesday Book.[672]

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