Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/352

 326 Medicrval Military A7'chitectMre. The roof, of timber, sprung from fourteen short clustered pilasters, resting upon heads as corbels, placed against the north and south walls. The north wall is of dressed stone, and carried a string- course with ball flowers, about 3 feet above the ground. On the east wall is a stringcourse connected with the drip-stone of the chapel window. The east, south, and western sides were plastered, and probably painted, or hung with tapestry. The Chapel, east of the hall — evident from its position and large east window— presents nothing remarkable. There are four state apartments west of the hall, two on the ground and two on the first floor. They are lighted from the north, and one of the windows is of great length and cinquefoiled, with a quatrefoil in the head. A staircase in the thickness of the curtain wall leads into the Braose Gallery, as well as to the upper rooms, and to some appendages connected with the sewage, and which seem to have been added. In the grand court, a little to the north of the eastern entrance, is the well, about 4 feet diameter. PRESENT CONDITION. The castle, in its present condition, assumes a very different appearance from that described as its original state, although enough remains to bear out the description. The eastern, or main front, is in good preservation. The masonry of the three northern buttresses is but little injured, although between them and the curtain are deep fissures, evidently the work of gun- powder, aided by the presence of a long window on either side. The mine was evidently sprung at the gorge of these buttresses, but the quantity of powder introduced has not been sufficient to overthrow them. Most of the smaller buttresses on the southern flank are unhurt, but the two at the southern extremity are laid prostrate, with their connecting curtain, 15 feet in thickness, forming a chasm, through which the Nant-y-Gledyr takes its undisturbed course. The object of this destruction, which was permanently to empty the lake, has been gained. It is now a meadow. The lower story of the grand gatehouse, and the piers of its bridge, are in tolerable order ; but the upper chambers of the former are much battered, and the staircases rendered inaccessible, above a certain height, by the absence of the newels, and the fracture of the stone steps. The great pier stands alone, but the outer semi-pier is encumbered with cottages. The outer and eastern moat, now of no great depth, is still marshy. At its northern end the sides are culti- vated ; towards the southern, cottages are built in it. Between these two portions, north of the pier, is the modern entrance, passing through the water gate, now a battered hole 1 1 feet wide : near it a door has been opened into a sort of cavity below the lower story of the gatehouse, used as a cart hovel. The foundations of the southern curtain, being in the moat, are tolerably perfect. Those of the northern, elevated upon a bank of earth, are much battered.