Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/511

 Corfc Castle, Dorset. 465 In the door-jambs are cut six mortises, three on a side, the lowest 6 inches from the ground. They are each 8 J- inches long, 2 inches broad, and 3 J inches deep. They must have been intended to hold boards, though the shallow depth would scarce allow of their inser- tion. These would, indeed, have been better suited to keep pigs in than warriors out, and perhaps were so used in times of peace. They can scarcely be original, but are probably earlier than the dismantling. The entrance passage falls gently from the interior, so as to give an advantage to the defenders in a contest. It is difficult to understand the defences of this gateway in the absence of the upper story, from which most of them were worked. There is at present no trace of the drawbridge in the portal, unless, indeed, the pivot-holes on which it turned be concealed by the soil. If the cylindrical pipe, with the opening or slot in its side, contained a sash-weight, of what was it the counterpoise ? Scarcely of the drawbridge, for which, even if of lead, unless of inconvenient length, the weight would be too light ; and portcullis groove there is none. The 5-inch chase exactly in front of the pipe may have contained a portcullis, or a frame; but, if so, the absence of lateral grooves must have left it very unsteady, except when down upon and fixed in the cill. No doubt, a portcullis with crooked sides or ears might have worked in this tube, but that is scarcely probable. The other chases were, no doubt, intended for the passage of projectiles. They are, however, mere slits across the vault, unaccompanied by lateral grooves as when used for a portcullis, and they do not appear to have been divided by cross septa^ as in regular machicolations ; but this vault has been riven by an explosion, and restored in part in recent times, so that it is difficult to pronounce upon its details. From each side of the gatehouse springs a short curtain. That to the east, from 10 feet to 12 feet thick, and about 20 feet high, now mostly destroyed, terminates in the Horseshoe Tower, a mere shell, about 20 feet diameter and 20 feet high, open at the ground floor and across the gorge, and intended to be floored and bratticed with timber, as is not infrequent with mural towers, to prevent their being used against the garrison. It is pierced by three loops on the ground floor. These are mere vertical slits, 7 feet long and i inch broad, splayed deeply, and opening from recesses in the wall. The tower caps the south-east angle of the work, and the loops are directed upon the field, and along the two curtains. The removal of the talus outside shows this tower to stand upon a deep and solid foun- dation. At the junction of the gatehouse curtain with this tower, the former contains a mural chamber, 6 feet broad, and roofed with five tiers of overhanging slabs. The east curtain is, for the most part, a mere wall, 8 feet to 10 feet thick, and 10 feet to 15 feet high, exclusive of battlements, and more or less ruined. Loops are to be seen on its exterior, directed down- wards so as to rake the scarp. Near the Horseshoe Tower was formerly another mural chamber, called a stable, but more pro- bably a garderobe, and beyond this is a large arch, now walled up, 2 H