rial employed in Roman buildings is that of the country, the work frequently herringbone, or some Roman pattern, with occasional bonding-courses of flat Roman brick. A mail coach road still enters old Lincoln under the Roman arch, and the road from Chepstow to Newport passes through the Prætorian and Decuman entrances of Caerwent.
These Roman works, however, are rather walled camps than castles. It is certain that the Conqueror found no fortress in England at all resembling those whose ruins have descended to the present day. William, however, constructed very many castles, and before the death of Stephen their number is said to have amounted to eleven hundred and fifteen.
These castles at first supported the Sovereign; but as the feudal system took root, they by degrees became obnoxious to his power. By a treaty between Stephen and Henry Duke of Normandy, many of the later castles were rased, and upon Henry's accession to the crown he destroyed many more. Power to grant a Licentia kernellare et tenellare, or permission to crenellate or embattle and to make loop-holes for defence in the walls of a dwelling, became a part of the royal prerogative.
The crown castles were held by constables or castellans, and the feuars of the castle lands held them by tenures, chiefly military, and connected with the defence of the castle, or of the lord when residing in it. The twelve knights of Glamorgan held their estates by the tenure of castle guard at Cardiff, and the Stanton tower at Belvoir, was long repaired by the family of Stanton, whose arms were a grant from the lords of that castle. The Tower, Dover, Windsor, St. Briavel's, and other crown castles, are still held by constables. Castle guard was abolished with the other feudal tenures by Charles II.
The general type of a Norman castle was composed of the following parts.
The keep. The walls of the enceinte. The base court. The mound and donjon. The ditch.
The Norman keep, both in England and Normandy, is commonly formed after one model. Its plan is a square or oblong, its height from one to two squares[1], strengthened
- ↑ Rochester, 70 feet by 70 feet, and 104 feet high. London, 116 by 96, and 69 feet high. Canterbury, 87 feet square and 50 feet high. Newcastle on Tyne, 60 by 60, and 80 feet high. Guildford, 44 by 44, and 70 feet high. Castleton, 38 feet square. Bowes, 75 by 60, and 53 feet high, all exclusive of turrets. The inequality in the dimensions is chiefly caused by the exterior stair on one side.
