Archaeological Journal/Volume 1/Rockingham Castle

 

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ROCKINGHAM CASTLE.

 

Entrance Gateway. Rockingham Castle.

On the verge of one of those ancient Forests which originally covered a great portion of the northern parts of Northamptonshire, and on a lofty eminence overlooking the green vale of the Welland, stands the formerly Royal Castle of Rockingham. Its position was equally well chosen as a place of retirement and defence, being sheltered on the south-eastern side by deep and nearly impenetrable woods, and in the contrary direction protected by the natural acclivity of the tongue of

VIEW OF ROCKINGHAM CASTLE

land on which the crowning fortress was built. This ridge, jutting out like a peninsula from the long line of escarpment, commands a far view up and down the valley, and a still more extensive one over the verdant and undulating heights which form its opposite horizon.
Section of Mouldings.

1. Over Gate of Entrance.
2. Portculis Groove.

3. Mouldings of Entrance Hall.
4, 5. Strings of Entrance Tower.

Besides the attractions which nature so profusely displayed in this variety of prospect, the neighbouring preserves of Dene, Brygstock, Cliff, Benefield, and Geddington, were abundantly stocked with the hart and the roe, and here the English monarchs, from the Conqueror to the last of the Plantagenets, were continually accustomed to repair for the sake of following with less interrupted ardour the pleasures of the chace.
Cross-loop with an oilet. It is more than likely that this contiguity to the royal demesnes originally induced William the First to erect on the confines of Rockingham Forest a castle, to which he and his successors might retire when, disencumbered of the burdens of the state, they wished to enjoy the sports of the field.
Section of Mouldings.

6. Cornice.
8.Jambs.

7. Hood mould of Gateway.

Although the forest of Rockingham has been much denuded since the time when the English monarchs made it so frequently the scene of their diversions, many venerable trees, scattered throughout the unreclaimed district, towering above the underwood, serve to point out its ancient boundaries. The deer are but rarely visible in the old enclosures, but within the limits of the romantic park, surrounding the castle, numerous herds of the same breed may yet be observed bounding in their native wildness amid the waving avenues of beech and sunless glens of oak, that lend so great an allurement to seek sylvan nature here in her solitary retreat.

Fig. 4. Ancient Chest; time of Henry V.

Whenever the monarch visited this place, during his sojourn his horses had right of herbage in the pasture land of the Welland, and the constable of the castle shared in the same privilege. The latter also possessed the right of cutting down in the wood of Cottingham any timber he chose, to repair the buildings, or brushwood to burn, or fagots to mend the fences.

Fig. 5. Ancient Chest; time of John.

John de Cauz, abbot of Peterborough, however, gradually deprived the crown of these rights, so that at the inquisition held the 4th of Edward I. (1276), they became lost^[1].

It appears too, from the same authority, that a chaplain was appointed to the little church of St. Leonard's, below the castle, to pray for the souls of the deceased monarchs, for which duty the sheriff of the county was charged to pay him forty shillings a-year; this celebration, however, had fallen into desuetude eight years before the inquisition took place^[2].

The partiality of King John and his successors for hunting, is shewn by numerous entries on the Close Rolls. In these valuable documents the most minute particulars are often recorded respecting the treatment of their hounds and hawks, even to specifying the quantity of flesh they were daily to be fed upon, and to the number of times the royal girfalcons were to be let fly. John orders the sheriff of Nottingham, for instance, to procure for their food young pigeons, and swine's flesh, and once a week the flesh of fowl^[3]. At a later period, namely, in the early part of Edward the First's reign (1277), the following entry occurs on a Roll in the Queen's Remembrancer's Office, shewing the care with which the royal dogs were tended.

"Paid to Thomas de Blatheston for his expenses in taking the greyhounds with the king (Edward the First) ninepence, with twopence in bread for the same, on that day on which the same Thomas departed from Rokyngham. Also for bread for the same, when Master Richard de Holbroc tarried at Rokyngham, in the week next before the feast of St. Barnabas the Apostle, fivepence halfpenny. In bread for two greyhounds of the prior of la Launde, from the day of the Apostles Peter and Paul, even to the Sunday next before the feast of the blessed Mary Magdalene, for nineteen days, nineteenpence. Sum of the expenses on the greyhounds, eight shillings and sixpence halfpenny^[4]."

Independently of being a favourite residence of the English kings, very few of the royal castles have been the scene of more historical events than the one now under notice. In 1094, the great council of British nobility, bishops and clergy, assembled here to settle the fierce dispute, then in agitation, betwixt William the Second, and Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, concerning the right of investiture, and the monarch's obedience to the papal see. The council sat on Sunday the fifth of March, in the chapel within the precincts of the castle, when this question was proposed for their discussion; "Utrum salvâ reverentiâ et obedientiâ sedis Apostoliæe posset Archiepiscopus (Anselmus) fidem terreno regi servare, annon^[5]?"

The bishops, who seem to have known their duty towards their Sovereign better than their intractable leader, advised Anselm not to insist on any reservations on the grounds of spiritual authority, since there were general complaints against him for intrenching on the king's prerogative. But on his still endeavouring to compromise the freedom of the English Church, by yielding a higher allegiance to Urban II., who had offered him a pall, the prelates at once renounced him as their archbishop.

King John more especially delighted to resort hither, and as will be seen from the following extracts from his Itinerary, visited it once, and sometimes twice or thrice, nearly every year of his reign.

1204. Aug. 30.—1205. Sep. 24.—1207. Feb. 20^[6], 21, 22, 23; Ang. 10, 11.—1208. July 26, 27, 28; Nov. 30.—1209. April 1; Sep. 1; Novemb. 13, 14, 15.—1210. March 18.—1212. July 10: when he acknowledged the receipt of a coat of mail, which had belonged to the constable of Chester^[7].—1213. Sep. 24.—1215. Dec. 23.—1216. Sep. 20, 21.

Besides these fourteen recorded royal visits, the members of the House of Plantagenet were frequently in the habit of passing their time in this agreeable retirement. From the attesting of writs, it appears that Henry the Third was here, 1220. June 26^[8], 27^[9], 28^[10].—1226. July 16^[11].—1229. June 26^[12].

Edward the First, 1275. Aug. 24^[13].—1279. Aug. 20^[14].—1290. Sep. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6^[15].—1300. April 20, 21, 25, 26, 28^[16].

Edward the Third attested more than twenty writs at Rockingham between 1334^[17], March 25 and April 1.—1345. Dec. 9^[18].—1354. Aug. 28^[19].—And here, Aug. 24^[20], 1375, the truce concluded at Bruges, between Edward the Third, and Charles the Fifth of France, was duly ratified^[21].

During the absence of the king, Constables (Comites Stabuli) were officially appointed to the custody of the royal castle. They usually possessed the grant for three years, sometimes for life, but generally during the king's pleasure, 'cum pertinentiis habendum quamdin Regi placnerit;' or in the terms of the ensuing entry upon a Miscellaneous Roll in the Tower, No. 50, 9th and 10th Edward I., a document which will serve to shew both the manner of holding, and also the connection that existed betwixt the constableship of the castle, and the seneschalship of the forest of Rockingham.

 

De castro de Rokingham et officio Senescalciæ forestarum, et diversis maneriis commissis.

Rex commisit Ricardo de Holebrok custodiam castri Regis de Rokingham et officium Senescalciæ forestarum Regis infra pontes Oxon et Staunfford cum redditu Regis de Whitele et cum maneriis Regis de Saham, Oneston et Silveston, habenda cum omnibus pertinentiis suis a festo Sancti Michaelis anno regni Regis nono usque ad finem trium annorum proximo sequentium completorum. Nisi de castro prædicto Rex aliud interim duxerit ordinandum. Reddendo inde Regi per annum ad Scaccarium Regis de exitibus castri prædicti et Senescalciæ prædictæ quaterviginti libras. De manerio de Saham quinquaginta et sex libras, de manerio de Selveston quindecim libras, videlicet unam medietatem ad festum Sanctæ Trinitatis, et aliam medietatem in festo Sancti Martini proximo sequenti. Ita tamen quod prædictus Ricardus nihil capiat in forestis prædictis vel in parco Regis de Selveston, nisi rationabile estoverium ad domos castri prædicti inde faciendas et ad easdem domos et alias que sunt in maneriis Regis prædictis sustentandas, et cum necesse fuerit reparandas. Et quod habeat herbagium in parco prædicto, salva sufficienti pastura ad feras Regis ibidem. Et si contingat quod Rex interim castrum illud resumat in manum Regis, præfatum Ricardum indempnem conservabit. Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium xvi. die Novembris^[22].

The duties of a constable consisted in seeing that the royal grants in his district were not abused^[23]; such as the transfer of mills^[24], and of land^[25]; in assisting at the execution of traitors^[26]; in keeping state prisoners in safe custody^[27]; in paying the garrisoned soldiers^[28]; in observing the legal provision concerning such as came to tournaments^[29]; in defending the possessions of the Church^[30]. Henry III. ordered, for example, the constable of Rockingham (Jan. 25, 1217.) to protect the goods of the abbot of Peterborough; and the privilege of holding a castle as its constable, was considered so honourable, that it was only confided to men of high military renown, never to the Welsh, but only to persons of ascertained courage and attachment to the Crown, as is evidenced in the present day, in the instances of the Most Noble the Marquis of Anglesea being constable of Caernarvon, and His Grace the Duke of Wellington constable of Dover castle.

The constables of Rockingham, as far as I have been enabled to make out the list, were the following:—

 

Constables.

1199. Robert Maudut^[31]; he pays a fine of £100, in four quarterly payments, for having had granted to him the custody of the castle.

Hugh de Neville^[32].

1213, Feb. 25. Roger de Neville, held it by the tenure of annually presenting the king with a pair of gold-embroidered shoes^[33]. The manors of Pornstoke, Shenley, Stamford, and Kayngham, were held on the same conditions. He is directed to release (Nov. 1, 1213.) Robert de Mara, then in prison at Rockingham castle, who had been taken at Cracfergus^[34]: the apostolic legate had induced John to order his liberation. He is ordered by the king (May 11, 1215.) to entertain with hospitality William de Harecourt, when he comes thither^[35]. April 13, 1216, he is ordered to hold for the use of the castle the manors of Geddington, Clive, Brigstock, and Corby, and the custody of the soldiers, formerly the fee of the abbot of Peterborough^[36].

1215, June 24. William Mauduit^[37].

1216. William Aindre, ordered (March 3rd) to settle for forty days with the foot cross bowmen, at the usual rate of threepence a-day, and to see that those soldiers who had been maintained at the royal charge, should for the future live at their own, and that the garrisoning of the castle should be made as secure as possible and the dues of the Bailiwick properly collected^[38].

William Earl of Albemarle^[39].

1222. William de Insula^[40].

Robert Passelawe^[41].

*1255^[42]. Hugh de Goldingham^[43]. The fine effigy in forest marble in Rushton church, is probably to his memory.

*1260. Alan la Zouch^[44].

*1280. Richard de Holebroc, for three years^[45], paying eighty pounds a year. This Richard de Holebroc was escheator of the forest, and in the 18th Edward I. William de Latimer complained to the king that he, holding the manor of Corby, and a wood therein, from the king in capite, rendering ten pounds a year, and that the king ought to defend that manor with all its rights, but that Richard de Holebroc, seneschall of the royal forest of Rockingham, before the king went over into Gascony, destroyed the aforesaid wood, cutting down great oaks without number, and also cart loads of underwood and branches without number, keeping charcoal burners there, who had destroyed it, for six years, of whom each gave to him ten pounds per annum, so that they should not be removed. Also that he had in the same wood twenty-four swine, and a hundred goats, with their young ones, for a whole year, contrary to the terms of the royal charter. Lawrence Preston, who held the manor of Gretton, complained in the same way. Both of them asserted that he had abused the royal grant, diverting it from the repairs of the castle, and converting the property of the Crown to private purposes; all of which accusations he denying, and urging that he had husbote and haybote in their, manors, the king replied that he would make enqiury when he came thither, or appoint his justices to do so^[46].

1283. Elie de Hamull^[47], during the royal pleasure, on the same terms as his predecessor.

* 1293. Thomas de Hamull, his predecessor accompanying Edward 1. into Gascony^[48].

*1296. William de Beauchamp^[49].

*1298. Adam de Welles^[50]. He was at the siege of Carlaverock.

*1307. Baldwin de Manners, on the same terms as his predecessor^[51].

*1307. William de Latymer^[52]. He was at the siege of Carlaverock.

*1311. Alan la Zouche^[53]. He was at the siege of Carlaverock.

*1313. Aymer de Valence^[54], Earl of Pembroke.

*1324. John de Morteyn^[55].

*1326. Donenald de Mar^[56], for his life.

*1330. Simon de Drayton, rendering to the king forty pounds a year^[57].

1331. Robert de Veer^[58].

1337. John de Verdoun, office confirmed, on his paying to the end of his life to Queen Philippa forty pounds a year^[59].

*1372. Almaric de St. Amando (Chivaler), paying twenty-four pounds a year as long as he holds it^[60].

*1442. Robert Roos^[61], by a special grant to him and his male heirs, paying the Crown annually seventy-five pounds, sixteen shillings, and eight pence.

*1475. William Lord Hastings and Ralph Hastings, for their lives^[62].

Among the minor circumstances that have been recorded respecting this royal fortress are the following, some of which are found entered upon the Close Rolls.

In 1214, preparatory to his annual visit. King John, according to his usual custom of ordering the wine intended for the royal use to be sent before him in readiness, commanded five casks of the best that could be found in London to be dispatched for his drinking into Northamptonshire^[63]. (Nov. 7th.) Of these five casks which he ordered, one was to be sent to Cliffe, one to Geddington, one to Silveston, one to Salcy, and one to Rockingham, whilst to ensure their safe carriage, if there were need, one of the royal vehicles was to be used for their transport. The carriage of wine forms a long entry on the Close Rolls at a later period, 9th Henry III. (1224), when the Sheriff of Northampton is charged to pay for the transit of ten casks to Northampton, ten to Rockingham, three to Geddington, and two to Cliff, for the royal use^[64]. In 1226, we find ninepence paid to Scogernel, a messenger, for going to Rokingham^[65]. This person seems to have been a King's messenger, as now called, being employed in other errands. In 1226, five casks are sent to Rokingham, three to Cliff, four to Geddington, and four to Silveston^[66].

In 1215 (April 30), King John sends Peter de Barr and Nicholas de Hugevill, foot cross bowmen, commanding that they should be placed in the castle of Rockingham for its defence, and have sixpence a day as long as they are there^[67].

In 1220, Henry III. orders his barons to pay Falk de Breaut £100, which he had expended on his behalf in the siege of Rockingham^[68].

In 1221, Henry III. orders Hugh de Nevil that the constable of Rockingham castle should have materials for its reparation, namely, to be allowed to make rafters and cleft wood in the forest of Rockingham^[69]. The sheriff of the county is also ordered to pay twenty marks for the same purpose^[70].

In 1222, Henry III. sent William de Insula ten marks to repair the building in as efficient a manner as the sum would allow^[71]. And in the following year, five marks are ordered to be paid by the sheriff of the county, for repairing the gutters of the royal chamber^[72]; and on Jan. 28. the year following (1215), four tuns of wine are ordered to be sent to Rockingham^[73].

In 1224, the sheriff of Northamptonshire^[74] was allowed his expenses for the carriage of ten pipes of wine from Southampton to Rockingham, and in 1230 a similar charge is allowed for the freight of three casks from Boston, in Lincolnshire^[75].

In 1225, Henry III. issued a writ to the sheriff of Northamptonshire, directing him to take with him proper and discreet persons who thoroughly understood carpentry and masonry, to examine the royal chamber in the castle of Rokingham in which repairs were necessary, and to order the same to be carried into immediate execution^[76].

Henry III. orders (1226.) the sheriff of Northamptonshire to give William, son of Warin, the constable of Rokingham, twenty marks for the works at the castle, and Hugh de Nevill to let him have sufficient materials from a proper part of the forest to repair the royal chapel, and for other works then in progress^[77]. Three days afterwards Robert de Lexinton is ordered to allow him a load of lead for the gutters of the castle^[78].

In the 34th of Henry III. (1249), it was certified that the last constable. Sir Robert Passelawe, had left the castle in a very ruinous state; the towers, waUlls, battlements, and lodgings, being in great measure fallen to the ground, and the chapel entirely destitute of vestments, books, and the necessary articles for the performance of divine service^[79].

In the 36th of the same reign (1251), Geoffery de Rokingham was found seized of half a virgate of land in Rockingham, which he held by service of collecting the castle-guard rents, from such fees or lordships as were subject to that payment. He had also, by virtue of this tenure, right of husbote and haybote in the abbot of Peterborough's meadows, of fishing in the Welland, and his food in the castle whenever the king or the constable resided there^[80].

He was succeeded by his son Geoffrey de Rokingham. It appears also by inquisition taken in this reign, that a virgate of land late in the possession of Simon le Wayte, who had fled for theft, had been held by him on the tenure of being castle-wayte, (Per servicium essendi Wayta in castro Rokyngham,) a kind of musical watchman, similar to those who disturb the nocturnal slumbers of citizens of the present day. The same custom was observed in other castles^[81].

In the 20th of Edw. III., 1347, the king gave to his wife Philippa, sixty acres in the forest of Rokingham, for the term of her life, in aid of the reparation of the castle, which had been lately destroyed and thrown down^[82].

Baldwin de Gisnes (1216), held the manor of Benefield, on condition of finding one soldier to keep guard at Rockingham castle^[83].

Berengarius le Moygne (1276), builder of Barnewell castle, was bound to pay twenty pence yearly towards the ward of Rockingham castle^[84].

Edward the Third took fealty (1338) of Hugh Doseville for lands at Medbourn, in Leicestershire, on condition of rendering to the king, as often as he came here to hunt in the adjacent forest, a barbed arrow^[85]. The manors of Lanton, Upanry, and Hole, were held on the same conditions^[86].

The permission to hunt was seldom yielded to the subject, and so highly valued, that even when the Crown granted a manor to one of its vassals, the monarch reserved this privilege to himself^[87]. And with such strictness was the forest preserved that, in 1256, (Oct. 11,) four men are returned as being contined in Rockingham castle, and fined two marks for trespassing^[88], and in 1218, Richard Trussel was fined for merely taking his dogs through the forest^[89].

In 1219, Henry the Third orders the constable to permit Walter Preston to catch forty deer for the royal larder, in the forests of Rockingham, Cliff, and Geddington^[90].

As a great favour the feudatories of the Crown were however sometimes allowed to catch deer on the borders of the forest^[91]. Such minuteness prevails in these early notices, and with such extreme care was the royal chace preserved, that not even a single oak could be felled here without first obtaining the king's sanction^[92].

The castle was also used as a State prison, for on August 20, 1347, a writ was addressed to John Darcy, constable of the Tower of London, ordering two Scotch prisoners to be sent to John Vardon, constable of Rockingham, or to his locum tenens, Thomas Stone^[93].

Among the sources of information on the military antiquities of this early period, the Operation Rolls, as I shall venture to call them, hold an important place. The entries on these unpublished documents are generally the counterpart of each other, inasmuch as the marginal notes on each successive membrane follow each other in the same sort of order, the contents merely varying for the most part in the number of workmen employed throughout a particular week, and in the relative sums paid for their labour. These side-titles are arranged under the heads of fodiatores, foundation or fosse diggers; cementarii, masons: dealbatores, plasterers; cubatores, layers; quarreatores, quarrymen; carpentarii, carpenters; plumbarii, plumbers; cissores, smiths; servatores, labourers; and all the weekly expenses incurred under these workmen, according as they were employed, are entered under their own peculiar divisions. The same regular system of arrangement is pursued in all the Rolls I have examined, and being once understood, it becomes a simple matter to refer to an item of expenditure under any of these departments. They are a class of records little consulted, and still less appreciated, but they are nevertheless a most curious and valuable series of documents, serving to illustrate in a most instructive manner, the comparative value of labour in Great Britain. They are replete with Medieval statistics, copious in architectural nomenclature, and above all they throw great light on the science of Pyrgology, developing the nature of military tenures and military defences, at a period when the barons of England were living in continual rebellion against the Crown, and when the nation at large had its thoughts and energies entirely turned to resistance and war.

It cannot, I think, but be deemed an historical loss that all these documents should have remained almost unexamined, and perhaps it is a fond hope that the unpatriotic economy which checked the publication of even a specimen of one of them, should be compensated for by the zeal of those societies whose aim and institution is professedly to elucidate British History and Antiquities. The talents and discrimination of the Rev. Joseph Hunter, have shewn however, how they may be rendered subservient to increasing our knowledge of art, when it rose to its greatest height in our country, and Mr. Botfield by printing at his own charge an entire Roll, has furnished a memorable example of taste and munificence. But as regards the future, while the press will reek with the ink of unread reprints and impure Elizabethan pamphlets, these, the varied records of England's greatness, the genuine sources of history, civil, military, and ecclesiastical, the evidences of by-gone events that serve to cast a ray of intellectual sunshine over the dusky town and the ruined hamlet, will be left

To the memorial majesty of Time,
Impersonated in their cahn decay.

The Miscellaneous Rolls in the Queen's Remembrancer's Office, give the following disbursements for repairs carried on at Rockingham castle.

In the year 1279^[94] expended on

Carpenters' work ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	£12	2	3
Quarrymen ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	1	2	0
Plasterers ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	1	7	0
Carpenters ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	4	8	5
Ralph the baker making an oven ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................		3	9
The purchase of a stool (stagnum) ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................		2	0
For glazing the windows ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................		5	0
For boards bought at the fair of St. Botulph's ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................	1	18	0
At Melton ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................		4	6
For nails ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................		6	6
Master Milo the carpenter, for making the passage (clanstrum) and door to the chamber of the Queen ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................		1	4

For the expenses of Master Thomas, in the week in which was the feast of St. Lawrence, upon the stars, in the little chamber of the king and in the great chamber of the king—(circa astres or astros), probably stars of Bethlehem (a common conventional decoration, as may still be seen on a cope of crimson velvet preserved at Chipping Campden, and also on the vaulting of the Blessed Virgin's chapel in the cathedral of Canterbury), and upon stools (stanna) in the Queen's chamber, stairs and windows in the tower, and plastering the rooms there, and placing a cage (cabies) upon the wall of the tower and barbecan, with his eight underlings, because they were found in victuals (quia præbentur), 9s. 6d. The cage was a kind of defence in which men standing under shelter might throw down stones and fire on the besiegers; it was sometimes called a lantern.

To Michael de Welydon, John de Cotingham, and Maurice de Stanerne, layers, making the walls about the greenhouse (viridarium) near the chamber of the Queen, 3s. 6d. namely to each, 1s. 2d. In payment to seven labourers of the aforesaid with spades (hoccis) removing earth, 5s. 3d. And it is to be noted, that of the said nine labourers, as appears in the preceding week, two of them, to wit, Henry Amund and Ralph de Essex left Master G., of whom one departed altogether, and the other joined himself to the plasterer and served him, because his workman had left him.

In payments to Rosa, the daughter of Alexander the baker, Agnes de Colevile, Avicia Cooke, Avicia the daughter of the plumber, John Scot, Ivota the wife of Adam le Chapman, and John Cooke, workpeople, moving the earth with shovels and barrows ('cum hoccis et civereis' κινέω, moveo) towards the granary, 5s. 3d., each per week 9d.

In payments to Ralph the painter for whitewashing the closet and vaulting (circa claustrum dealbandum et volticium), 1s. 4d. In payments to Alexander his son, 1s. 3d. In payments to William his son, 9d.^[95]

In payment to a carpenter for carpentering in the wardrobe of the Queen by task-work, and working in the donjon, 40s.—et condubandum (condulandum?)—V. Du Cange sub voce, Dulo. Against Edward the carpenter, for one great rope of hemp, brought for lifting materials, 20d. In payment made to a plumber for the gutter of the aforesaid wardrobe, 20d. For grease (uncto) bought for the same plumber, 51/2d.^[96]

The expenses of William Newport, from the feast of Easter to that of St. Michael, 1278, were £21. 6s.; on the castle alone, £17. 19s.^[97] On this roll there occurs,

In payments to four men digging and cleaning the sun-dial of the gable (gabelle solarium), near the hall, by task-work, 2s. 6d. (Solarium is also a balcony.)

For carrying slate from Harringworth (carriacio petræ de slatte), for stone from Welledon and Stanerne, £12. 10s. 9d. Purchase of boards at St. Botulph, 20s.; of lead, £3. 16s. 1½d.; of nails, in the summer, at Nottingham, 16s. 9d.^[98]

The following entry furnishes the price and names of the different sorts of nails that were then used.

For ten thousand of lath nails (lathe nayle), bought at Nottingham, 7s. 1d., namely, 81/2d. a thousand. For two thousand and a half of board nails (bord nayle), bought at the same place, £1. 17s. 9d., namely, at 1s. 6d. a hundred. For a thousand great spike nails (magnis spikingg), bought at the same place, 3s. 4d., namely, at 21/2d. a hundred. For two hundred and a half of wyt nayle, bought at the same place, 2s. 3d. namely, at 6d. a hundred. For four hundred of clout nail (clut nayl), bought at the same place, for the fastenings and bars (ad cynties (cingo) et barres), 4d., namely, a hundred for a penny^[99].

In payments to Master Milo, the carpenter, for joists for the chapel, 1s. 4d. (ad capellam gistandam^[100].)

Paid John Smith of Peterborough, for three great platelocks (platelokes), with keys bought for the gate of the castle and Gillot's door (ostio de Gillot), 2s. 3d.; and to the same, for two pair of fastenings (garnettis) for different windows, at 4d. a pair, (infra castrum ibidem pendendum^[101].)

Among the expenditure of the 5th of Richard II. (1381-1382.), which amounted to £208. 3s. 2d., there is an entry to Robert de Corby, for different stones called 'ashlers, corbeles, and tables,' for the works, 12s. 6d.^[102]

The expenses of repairs from the last day of January in the 5th year of Richard II. (1382.), to the feast of St. Michael, in the 8th year, 1385, were £129. 8s. 1d.

Amongst the miscellaneous items appear the following:

Twenty cart loads of stone bought at Stanerne, and used in corbeles and tables. For six Tribulets of iron, 2s. 3d., (tribulis ferreis.) This military engine was probably the same as the Trebuchet. (See Du Cange, sub voce.) For three iron spades (vangis), 15d., and for two crocks (crokis), and one riddle (redele) for sifting lime and sand, and for a vessel (cuna) bought for putting water in for the mortar of the tilers, 2s. 4d. And for two iron-hooped buckets, bought for drawing water from the fountain, 3s. And in fine cords bought as well for drawing water, as for the clips (sterynges), (stringo?) and strengthenings of the scaffolds, containing 16lb. at 21/2d. per lb. And for two ladders bought at Ryhale, 4d.^[103]

And for twelve pair of lesser hooks and hinges (hokes et hengles) bought for the small doors and great windows of the castle.

In payments to Robert Patrick, for making hurdles or clayes and barrows (cleyas et civeris), 10d. In payments to Hugh the Blacksmith, for repairing stancheons (staunzonum), 10d. In payments to Ralph Pacy, for repairing the shingles (roof?) (cyndulis), 14d. In payments to Richard of Cotingham, the smith, for mending the iron-work (ferramento) of the masons and quarrymen, 11s. 4d. In payments to four men emptying the bakehouse? (torallum, torreo?) and carrying lime into the hall, 3s.^[104]

For 3½lb. of wax, bonght^[105] for cement (ad cimentum), 21d. at 6d. a lb. In 2 lb. of frankincense. 6d. In 5 lb. of lees (coda) and 1 lb. of pitch, 6½d. Amongst the cost of utensils are the following; For a fork (tina) bought at Rothwell, for the use of the masons, 4½d. For a stoup (stoppa), 1¼d. For six spades (vanga), 10d. In payments to Baldwyn de Rokingham, for placing twelve rings (circulos) upon the forks and stoups of the material belonging to our lord the king, and for six wooden hoops of his own material upon the large standing vessels (cunas) with water near the cistern (mortuarium), 9½d. For six large hoops (opis) bought for one large vessel, with the wages of one man making a vessel, and mending other different forks, 6½d.

The next entries having reference to a quantity of iron bought at Nottingham, the account is rendered according to the pieces used. For two new wedges, made at the quarry of Welledon, and for mending a wedge, and for two small wedges for fastening the head of a hammer (marcell) with the same, three pieces; for mending a hammer, and making a new one, four pieces: for two irons for extending the cistern (mortar) from the wall, and buying one wedge, one piece: for eight bills (goiones), eight hoops (hopes), eight stocks, and half a hundred of nails for four barrows (cyveria), and in mending one wedge, four pieces: for making two new hammers, five pieces: for one iron dish (patella) in which the cement is burnt and made, together with an old dish, one piece: for mending three wedges, and making two new ones, three pieces: for making one new iron rake for the mason, and mending another rake, one piece: for making two new mattocks (ligonibus), three pieces: for four fastenings (gumphis^[106]) for the door of pantry (del vit) near the small chamber close to the chapel, and for one fastening for the door of the same chapel, and two fastenings for the door of the pantry (del vit) in the tower, four pieces: for four fastenings for a door of the small privy (cloaca) near the new chamber, and for a door inside the closet (le vit) near the chapel and the castle wall, and for fourteen bars for two windows within the great cellar and the pantry (dom del vit) near the chapel, and for a window in the small cellar between the chapel and the castle wall, and for a small window in the pantry, and for eighteen stays (clavonibus) for the wall of the tower beyond the fountain; and for twenty spiknails (spikingg) for the seat of the aforesaid privy, near the new tower (turriolum), five pieces: for two buttons (vertenellis) and two fastenings for a window in a room of the tower, and mending one poleaxe, one piece: for two pointed bars (lanceis), eight transoms (traversenis) and four fastenings (gumfis) for the cellar near the chapel and under the chapel, nine pieces: for making a large new hammer, seven pieces, to wit for the quarry of Weldon: for making one new gaveloc for the quarry of Weldon, and mending another, nine pieces: for twenty-four transoms (traversenis), twenty-two hooks and one pointed bar (lancea) for the rooms in the tower and the small chamber near the chapel, seventeen pieces: for three pointed bars (lanceis) for the windows under the chapel and the king's chamber, three pieces: for one poleaxe for the quarry at Stanion, three pieces: for mending one pickaxe (pikoys), one piece: for three fastenings (gumphis), and one transom (travarseni) for the window towards the—(Sansoriu), one piece: for two hundred of nails and staples (stagnatis) made for different doors, three pieces: for twenty-four sides for two doors of the salting-room, two pence? (sules ad duo hostia salsarii): for one fastening (serura) for a door of a certain little cellar in the tower, four pieces^[107].

The history of the Manor is so intimately woven with that of the Castle that even were it essential, it would become difficult entirely to separate them. Yet as they are occasionally mentioned without immediate reference to each other, a few facts connected with the former will not be deemed irrelevant.

At the great survey of the Norman Conqueror, Rockingham was in the hands of the Crown. It was returned as having one hide; the arable land was three carucates; and five villanes with six cottagers had three carucates. It had been held by Bovi, with sac and soc. In the Confessor's time it lay waste, but William ordered a castle to be built. The demesne was valued at twenty-six shillings^[108].

It probably continued in the hands of the Crown for several years, the first grant of the manor with the Fair distinct from the castle, being made to Alianora, grandmother of Henry III., (Eleanor of Guienne), in 1224^[109]. The profits arising from fairs and markets, must in those times have been something considerable, since we find Henry III., in the eighth year of his reign (1224), directing William de Insula (Lisle) who was then constable of the castle, that the proceeds of the fair held on the exaltation of the cross in the preceding year, should be reserved for the use of the king's mother, Isabella of France^[110]. It had, however, been included previously in the ample dowry of her Majesty by King John^[111]. (1203.)

In 1271, we find the manor in the hands of Edmund, earl of Cornwall, son of Richard, king of Germany^[112] who then obtained the grant of a market here every Friday^[113].

In 1315, Edward the Second possessed the manor^[114].

In 1329, Edward the Third confirmed the grant to his mother Isabella^[115].

In 1346, he granted to his consort Philippa, for her life, a certain spot in the forest of Rockingham, containing sixty acres, in aid of the repairs of the castle, described as being then ruinous^[116].

The castle, domain, and manor of Rockingham, were confirmed to Queen Margaret, wife of Henry VI., with all their privileges, together with the village and manor of Brigstock, and the wood and bailiwick of Cliff, for the term of her natural life^[117]. Granted March 19, 24th of Hen. VI., confirmed 32nd Hen. VI., resumed by the Crown 4th Edw. IV.^[118] In 1464, the manor, with the castle and forest, was settled on the Queen Elizabeth, by Edward the Fourth, for her natural life^[119], and confirmed to Elizabeth, 7th of July, 7th of Edw. IV.^[120] Raulf Hastynges, esquire, keeper of the royal lions, William Hastynges, knight. Lord Hastynges, constable of the castle, and surveyor of the verte and venison in the forest of Rokyngham, steward of the lordships and manors of Rokyngham, Brigstock, and Cliffe, master of the forest and parkes^[121], 4th Edw. IV. These privileges were confirmed to them the 7th of Edw. IV.^[122]

The act of resumption, 1st of Hen. VII., confirms the office of constable and of steward of the castle, lordship, and manor of Rockingham, and the office of master forester of the forest of Rockingham, and all the parks within the same forest, to John Lord Welles^[123].

By virtue of the tenure of this manor with Wymundham^[124], John de Clyfton, knight, 5th of Richard II., claimed to discharge the office of butler at the king's coronation, which had been, he stated, unjustly given to the earl of Arundell, at the coronation of Richard the Second^[125].

In 1396, the custody of the Lordship was granted to William Brauncepath for the term of twelve years, at the annual rent of four pounds two shillings and one penny^[126]. And by this rent, it was afterwards held by Thomas Palmer, of Rockingham, in the year 1442, for the same term^[127].

In 1551, it was given to Edward Lord Clinton.

The manor next came to Sir Edward Watson, subsequently to Sir Lewis Watson, who, zealously attached to the royal cause, garrisoned the castle for the service of Charles the First, and who, in consideration of his loyalty, was afterwards created (1645) Baron Rockingham, of Rockingham.

In 1714, Lewis Watson, created Earl of Rockingham, possessed the manor. The title devolved in 1745 upon his brother Thomas, who dying in 1746 the earldom became extinct, but the barony came to his cousin, Thomas Wentworth, created Marquess of Rockingham, 1746, and this dignity also became extinct in 1750. The manor, however, has from the time of Lewis, Lord Rockingham, been vested in the Watson family.

Leland describes the castle as presenting the following appearance in his time: "The castelle of Rokingham standith on the toppe of an hille, right stately, and hath a mighty diche, and bullewarks agayne withoute the diche. The utter waulles of it yet stond. The kepe is exceeding fair and strong, and in the waulles be certein strong towers. The lodgings that were within the area of the castelle be discovered and faul to ruine. One thing in the waulles of this castelle is much to be notid, ^[128] that is that they be embattelid on booth, so that if the area of the castelle were won by cumming in at either of the two greate gates of the castelle, yet the kepers of the waulles might defende the castelle. I marked that there is a stronge tower in the area of the castelle, and from it over the dungeon dike is a drawbridge to the dungeon toure^[129]."

After the frequent reference that has been made to repairs carried on through several succeeding reigns, the reader will naturally enquire about its present state. Viewed in the distance, the building exhibits an appearance rather remarkable for solidity and extent, than for a bold and varied outline. Yet on a closer approach, after having wound through a rugged defile partially overgrown with furze and ancient timber, the entrance gate, with its long extending curtain walls on either side, stands prominently forward in all the severe simplicity of form that characterizes an Early English castle. It is more than probable that one of the preceding extracts has relation to this barbican, at all events the profile of the mouldings authorizes us in referring its erection to the time of Edward I. Hence passing onward we reach what was originally the outer bailey, but which at present, as the drawing (p. 357) will better explain, forms the immediate entrance to that portion of the castle, partly of the 13th and partly of the 16th centuries, which is still inhabited. The equilateral-headed arch, with its deep mouldings, (see fig. 3, p. 358), the opposite door communicating with a second quadrangle, and the exterior mouldings yet visible, where a huge chimney is buttressed out from the present hall, (which was probably also the ancient one,) indicate that the whole of this portion of the building is of the same age. Though they be but mere fragments, there are always some unerring marks to be met with, which will clearly reveal the history of a place, and which, amid all subsequent alterations or embellishments, carry us back to an earlier date. There is an instance of this kind here: and though the inexperienced or wandering eye may for a moment be detained from pursuing the search after truth, by stopping to examine the two royal coffers which adorn the hall, (see p. 359,) or on passing onwards through the spacious room adjacent, be again arrested to admire the curiously sculptured armorial bearings that mark the succession of noble possessors who have lived and acted within its walls; yet once more breaking away from the memorials which the taste of each has amid all the successive changes and restorations engrafted, we still discover other evidences, externally, to prove the same antiquity for the whole of this portion of the castle.

We have now again reached the spacious enceinte (cincta), but are tempted to loiter on the level grass, and among the ever verdant topiaries, resigning ourselves to the enchantments of the glorious prospect that lies in unending variety and richness below us. At the extremity of this enclosure we reach the mound on which formerly rose the massive keep, but beyond the mound there are no traces of it discernible. The whole of this enclosure, comprehending about three acres and a half, is bounded by the old wall (promurale).

We now pause to draw a momentary contrast between the early state of Rockingham Castle and that exhibited at the present day. We deplore the loss of much of the ancient fortress, but we recognise in its place a variety of Elizabethan and Jacobean architecture that is marked by the peculiar features of those styles: the imagination strives to recal the glittering array of visor'd bowmen and feudal state, but these are supplanted by the smiling aspect of happy cottagers with their neatly cultivated gardens: a spacious school, (itself no unworthy structure,) and the glittering spires thickly rising out of the vale of the Welland, shew that an attention to the highest interests of the population has kept pace with their knowledge of an improved system of agriculture, and thus far tended to verify the truth of that apothegm appropriately written by Sir Lewis Watson in letters of gold on the beams of the castle hall, that "the : howse : shal : be : preserved : and : never : wil : decaye : wheare : the : almightie : god : is : honored : and : served : daye : by : daye : 1579." CHARLES HENRY HARTSHORNE.

Plan of Gateway.

1. Rot. Hund. p. 15.
2. Rot. Hund. p. 16.
3. Close Rolls, pp. 118, 400.
4. Miscellan. Roll. Queen's Remembrancer's Office, 5th Edw. I.
5. Spelman, Cone, vol. ii. p. 16.
6. He was at Lamport the preceding day.
7. Introd. to Pat. Rolls, p. 37.
8. Lit. Rot. Claus., p. 422.
9. Rot. Fin., vol. i. p. 49.
10. Ibid.
11. Rot. Lit. Clans., p. 129.
12. Ibid., p. 422.
13. Rymer, Fœder., vol. iii. p. 82.
14. Itinerary of Edw. I., in Queen's Remembrancer's Office.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Rymer, Fœder., vol. iv. p. 597; and vol. ii. p. 881—886.
18. Ibid., vol. iii. p. 64.
19. Ibid., vol. iv. p. 608.
20. Ibid., vol. iv. p. 608.
21. Ibid., vol. vii. p. 82.
22. Miscell. Roll., No. 50; 9, 10, Edw. I.
23. Rot. Claus., p. 251.
24. Ibid., p. 251.
25. Ibid., p. 253.
26. Rolls of Parl., vol. ii. p. 256.
27. Rot. Claus., p. 253.
28. Ibid., p. 250.
29. Rolls of Parl., vol. i. p. 85.
30. Rot. Claus., p. 297.
31. Rot. Oblat., p. 9.
32. Rot. Chart., p. 209.
33. Ibid.
34. Rot. Lit. Pat., p. 105.
35. Ibid., p. 135.
36. Ibid., p. 177.
37. Ibid., p. 144.
38. Rot. Lit. Claus., p. 250.
39. Ibid., p. 196.
40. Ibid., p. 573.
41. Inquis., 34. Hen. III. No. 49.
42. Those marked with an asterisk, held the custody of the forest with the castle.
43. Rot. Orig., p. 16.
44. Ibid., p. 17.
45. Ibid., p. 46. and Misc. Roll in the Tower, No. 50.
46. Rolls of Parl., vol. i. p. 36.
47. Rot. Orig., p. 66.
48. Rot. Orig., p. 83.
49. Ibid, p. 100.
50. Ibid, p. 103.
51. Ibid, p. 154.
52. Ibid, p. 157.
53. Ibid, p. 187.
54. Ibid, p. 203.
55. Ibid, p. 286.
56. Ibid, p. 300.
57. Ibid, vol. ii. p. 40.
58. Calend. Rot. Pat., p. 113.
59. Rot. Orig., vol. ii. p. 116.
60. Ibid, p. 325.
61. Calend. Rot. Pat., p. 285.
62. Ibid., p. 323.
63. Rot. Lit. Claus., p. 177.
64. Rot. Lit. Claus., p. 5.
65. Ibid, p. 48.
66. Ibid, p. 121.
67. Ibid.
68. Ibid, p. 439.
69. Ibid, p. 457.
70. Ibid.
71. Ibid, p. 417.
72. Ibid, p. 573.
73. Ibid, p. 185.
74. Rot. Pipæ, 9 Hen. III.
75. Ibid., 15 Hen. III.
76. Rot. Lit. Claus., p. 35. 47.
77. Ibid., p. 129.
78. Ibid., p. 130.
79. Inquis. 34 Hen. III., No. 49.
80. Eschæt. 36 Hen. III., No. 43.
81. Inquis. Hen. III., No. 118. See also Blount's Tenures, p. 7.
82. Rot. Orig., vol. i. p. 181.
83. Rot. Chart., p. 222.
84. Rot. Hund., p. 8.
85. Rot. Orig., vol. ii. p. 122.
86. Ibid.
87. Rot. Chart, p. 222.
88. Rot. Fin., vol. ii. p. 240.
89. Rot. Lit. Claus., p. 380.
90. Ibid., p. 396.
91. Ibid., p. 133.
92. Ibid., p. 9.
93. Rymers Fœder., vol. iii. p. 133.
94. Miscellaneous Roll, 7 Edw. I.
95. Miscellaneous Roll, 7 Edw. I.
96. Roll, 4, 5, Edw. I.
97. Miscellan. Roll, Queen's Remembrancer's Office, 6 Edw. I.
98. Roll, 9 Edw. I.
99. Roll, 9 Edw. I.
100. Ibid., 10 Edw. I.
101. Ibid., 3 Ric. II.
102. Ibid., 5 Ric. II.
103. Ibid.
104. Roll, 4 Edw. I.
105. Roll, 8 Edw. I.
106. Γόμφοισι δ ᾶρα τήν γε καὶ ἁρμονίησιν ἄρηρε—Hom. Odys. 1. v.
107. The reader must be aware that the meaning of several of these terms is ambiguous, and I have therefore printed the Latin text, that he may be enabled to supply more correct equivalents.
108. Domesday, vol. i. p. 220.
109. Lit. Rot. Claus., p. 581.
110. Ibid.
111. Calend. Rot. Chart., p. 30. Rymer's Fœdr., vol. i. p. 88. 5th John.
112. Calend. Rot. Chart., p. 207.
113. Bridge's Northants, vol. ii. p. 334, quoting Cart. 56 Hen. III.
114. Plac. de quo Warr., p. 556. Nomina Villarum apud Parl. Writs, p. 391.
115. Author. apud Bridges, p. 334.
116. Rot. Orig., p. 181.
117. Roll of Parl., vol. v. p. 261.
118. Ibid., p. 517.
119. Pat., 5 Edw. IV.
120. Roll of Parl., vol. v. p 627.
121. Roll of Parl., vol. v. p. 533.
122. Ibid., p. 598.
123. Ibid., vol. vi. p. 370.
124. The lord of the manor of Wymondley, county Herts, presents a maple cup at the coronation. There is a Wymondham co. Rutland.
125. Roll of Parl., vol. iii. p. 131.
126. Fin., 20 Ric. II.
127. Ibid., 21 Hen. VI.
128. Ibid., 5 Edw. VI.
129. Itin., vol. i. p. 14.