Page:Kirby Muxloe Castle near Leicester (1917).djvu/21

12 down. A delightfully polyglot entry, typical of the mixture of Latin, French, and English in which the accounts are made out, records the buying of "iiij peciae maeremii vocatae le polles pro iiij Corneriis pro levelyng le erthe infra muros," that is, "four pieces of timber called poles for the four corners for levelling the earth within the walls." Freestone is quarried at Alton and brought to Kirby, the bricklayers are also at work, and hurdles, the mediaeval substitute for the modern scaffold boards, are being made. In July the foundations for the walls of the courtyard are being dug, and rough stone foundations for the brick walls laid. A shed for the masons to work in was put up, and in August oak boards were being prepared, from which templates of mouldings were to be cut for use by the masons. The sides of the moat were being set out and finished, under the superintendence of one Davy Bell, and entries occur constantly of payments to men watching in the moat at night lest a sudden rise in the brook should flood the moat before the banks were complete or the walls carried up above the intended water level. The laying out of the moat seems to have been finished by the middle of September, and the regular payments to "dykers" cease from this time. The work of pulling down the old buildings continues, and straw, fern, and hurdles are provided for covering the new and unfinished walls and towers against the coming winter frosts. In October John Cowper, the master-mason, goes to Tattershall and back by order of Lord Hastings; Robert Steynforth had done the same thing on behalf of the master-mason in June; doubtless in order to take notes of the treatment of the brick and stone masonry there. Through the winter of 1481-2 the work of demolition of old buildings goes on, materials are collected and stored, and roads made. In March 1482 the "Basse tours" and "mydultours" of the old house are being pulled down, and the building of new "basse tours " begins in April. The gatehouse is being replaced by that which now exists, the rough masons working on its foundations in May and June. In April is an entry, "circa facturam le murther holies de novo," "for making the murder holes anew." This cannot refer to the "meurtrières"—holes through which missiles of many kinds could be hurled on the heads of attacking parties—in the gatehouse, as that building was then only just begun, and there is not enough now left of the castle to suggest an alternative place. Floors and windows are put into some of the towers in May and June 1482, and by September and October the towers are nearly finished and covered in. In November 41 cwt. of lead is brought "from the