Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/496

 452 Mediceval Military Architecture. attended it, or than seems likely to attend it. Its position upon one of the most celebrated of the Yorkshire streams, its grand natural mount, and the striking character of tlie earthworks by which it is defended, are quite enough to attract public attention ; but in addition it has an undoubted though obscure Saxon history, and from the Norman Conquest it was for three centuries or more the residence of a very powerful race of barons, the evidences of whose power and wealth are preserved in the ruins of their fortress. By whom, or precisely when, the present works in masonry were exe- cuted, is a question not exactly to be decided. William de Warren, the third and last earl of the old stock, 1138-1148, was a very likely man to have built in masonry this his most important northern castle, and it is probable that he built the enceinte wall of the inner court, and the hall and offices now destroyed. The keep is certainly later, scarcely much earlier than 1200, and is, therefore, probably the work of Hameline Plantagenet, who held the earldom and the castle from about 1163 to 1201. The tower was, no doubt, added for security only, for, though it contains state apartments and an oratory, these were dark and inconvenient, only fit to be inhabited during a siege. The hall and ordinary lodgings were, of course, more spacious and placed in the court, where are still traces of their foundations. At a still later period, possibly under Earl John, who held the earldom from 1240 to 1304, the Norman curtain seems to have been repaired and strengthened with round bastion turrets, small and solid, along the southern and western faces of the inner ward. Then also the arrangements for crossing the ditch, and defending the lower entrance, were made more elaborate. The work of this period is of inferior quality, and much of it has fallen down. Since this no additions of any importance seem to have been executed. It is probable that, during the civil war and after the death of King Charles, the curtain wall, domestic buildings, and lower gate- house were broken down, and the keep gutted and unroofed, but since that time, now nearly two centuries and a half, the ruins seem to have been left untouched save by the hand of time. Such is the excellence of the workmanship of the keep that for very many years the walls stood unshaken. During the last quarter of a cen- tury, however, the rains of autumn and the frosts of winter have begun to tell upon the structure, and the top of the tower is in a shaky condition. Still, it is not so far gone but that a few pounds judiciously laid out upon it would save it. The upper two or three feet should be removed, stone by stone, and replaced with water- lime or cement. The cost of this would be very trifling indeed ; but what should also be done, and what would not by any means involve a very serious expense, is the replacement of the roof and floors. All Yorkshire, and indeed all the Archccological Societies in England, from the Society of Antiquaries down to the most recent local society, must feel an interest in this subject. Probably, if it were brought before the owner of the castle in a proper manner, the