Castles of England at the Conquest. 41
architect of the Tower keep. The North or Gundulf's tower at Rochester Cathedral is by the same great builder, and possibly was intended as a military building : if so, it may rank with Malling. Probably there is more of this early masonry ; but not much. Dover, Rochester, Porchester, and Hedingham, among our finest examples, are certainly later. Part of Durham Castle is, no doubt, of the age of the Conqueror ; but the shell keep has been rebuilt, and it is doubtful whether the original work was of the age of the early Norman chapel and hall attached to it. Speaking generally, those castles in England which belong to what is called the Norman period are too late to be the work of the Conqueror or his personal followers, and too early to allow of any preceding work in Norman masonry (usually sound and solid), having been constructed and swept away. What is the solution of this difficulty? Of what character and material were the great majority of the castles which William ordered to be constructed? Of what character were those mentioned in "Domesday"?
That William ordered many castles to be constructed is certain ; and among the orders left with Bishop Odo and William Fitz Osborn, when acting as joint regents of the kingdom, was one specially charging them to see to the building of castles ; and no doubt these orders were obeyed. But it has been hastily assumed that the castles constructed were of masonry. The keeps of Dover and Rochester, for example (if such were erected under the Conqueror), were certainly not those now standing, which belong to the reign of Henry II. ; and so of Norwich, and probably of Nottingham, now destroyed. And yet the masonry of William's reign was of a very durable character, as is seen in the Tower of London, and in not a few still standing churches. Also it is stated that William "custodes in castellis strenuos viros collocavit, ex Gallis traductos, quorum fidei pariter ac virtuti credebat." This looks very much as though the castellans were at first, at any rate, put in charge of existing castles ; which must mean that in most cases some temporary arrangement was made, and the existing works strengthened until it was convenient to replace them by others more in accordance with the new ideas of strength and security.
William and his barons evidently employed two classes of castles, — one always in masonry, and one very often in timber. Where a castle was built in a new position, as in London, or where there was no mound, natural or artificial they employed masonry and chose as a rule for the keep
