Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/194

 178 MedicEval Military Architecture. short curtain, within which is a dressing-room. Finally, between these and the gatehouse, completing the circuit of the keep, and projecting due south, is the gallery, having on the first floor a breadth of one line of five rooms and a corridor, and below, the middle gateway. The rooms are the private apartments of the duke and duchess, and a passage communicating with the kitchens. The gate- way, which has a portcullis, is of the date of 1309-15, and built into the south curtain, from the outside of which it projects as a mural tower. The gallery replaced a curtain about 1760, and was rebuilt 1856. The battlements of the gatehouse were probably added about 1407-55- The entrance to the state apartments is in the central court, beneath the arched vestibule, at the north-west corner. From this a grand flight of steps ascends to an interior vestibule, and thence by a second flight to the guard chamber, which opens into the state- rooms. These are all on the first floor, the basement being occupied by servants' rooms. Although the greater part of the keep has been rebuilt in the last and the present century, it still is composed of the seven towers of the early Percies, shown in the plan of 1567, and much, especially of the basement, is old ; and what is new is arranged with a close general regard to the older, and, indeed, in many parts, Norman plan. The exterior ditch of the keep is partly filled up, and the draw- bridge of the inner gate has been removed. A portcullis remains. Of the general and exterior eiiceinte^ the most complete and striking portion is the western gateway, a very fine and unaltered example of a gate and barbican of the Edwardian period, 13 12-15, simplest form. The barbican, about 55 feet long by 32 feet wide, is entered by a large round-headed arch, between a pair of square flanking buttresses, corbelled out above into two turrets, also square. Over the entrance in a sunk panel is a large Percy lion, with their motto, "Esperance." The arch leads into a passage, 55 feet long by 10 feet wide, for the first 20 feet vaulted, but afterwards open to the sky. This lies between very lofty side walls, embattled each way. On the left, a small side-door led to the counterscarp of the ditch ; also on the left another door opens into a mural stair ascend- ing to the battlements. In front is the portal of the gatehouse. This barbican crossed the ditch now filled up. Besides an outer draw- bridge, over a loop of the main ditch, it had an inner bridge between its lateral walls, dropping from the gatehouse. This is mentioned in the survey of 1538, and was removed in 1567. The parapets are without machicolations, and the embrasures have no mouldings. The merlons are not looped, and the figures placed upon them date only from 1750-86. Probably in advance of the ditch of this barbican was a barrier or palisade of timber, and the level space in front, commanded by the walls of both town and castle, is what was usually employed for jousting matches or military duels. The ad- jacent river was a sufficient security against surprise. The gatehouse, of which the barbican is the covering, is a rect-