Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/529

 The Castle of Coitcy, near Laon. 483 form thus gained have been constructed a terrace and a range of state rooms, of which the principal is the ladies' hall, or Salle des Preuses^ so named from the medallions of nine celebrated women which adorned the great chimney piece. In the exterior was a sort of oriel boudoir, and large windows towards the field. Above this was another story, to construct which the curtain was raised. These buildings were the addition of the Duke of Orleans. A large well-stair, also an addition, led from the court to these apartments. The west side also has a high curtain, against which is constructed a magnificent chamber, 45 feet broad by 470 feet long, down the centre of which stands a line of ten columns, dividing the space into eleven vaulted and groined bays, of which the northern pair are cut off as a private cellar. On the east side of this chamber are four doors, two near the centre opening into the crypt of the chapel, one south of this, probably the main entrance, and one near the south end, opening into what appear to have been the kitchens, and which lie between this splendid range of magazines and the great tower. Connected with the kitchens are three courts, and a staircase descending to the cellars. Below the chamber is another of equal size excavated in the chalk, as a cellar, probably about the finest and most spacious ever constructed. Above, on the first Boor, or third stage, was the great hall of the castle, called, from its nine effigies of heroes, La Salle des Preux. It had a wooden roof, two large fireplaces, and a large window at the south end, below which a small door opened upon a light wooden bridge, whi.ch dropped upon the curtain of the outer ward, just above the postern. The chapel w^as a rectangular building, 60 feet east and west, by 36 feet north and south. It projected from the hall into the court. It was composed of two parallel aisles, vaulted, each in four bays. Its south-east angle was engaged wuth the chemise of the great tower. Its south-west angle was free, and had two buttresses set on at right angles. This chapel is now destroyed to its foundations. It opened from the great hall. The keep, or great tower, is the boast of Coucy, and deservedly so, being one of the finest towers in the world, and no doubt the largest and most complete single military building. It is a plain tower, perfectly cylindrical, of excellent ashlar work- manship, 100 feet diameter at base and summit, and 200 feet high. It rises out of a paved moat, the base being about 12 feet below the level of the terre-plein, and is entered by a drawbridge from the level, all below being solid. Including the basement, the tower contains three stories. The ground floor, on the level of the terre-plein, is entered by a draw- bridge laid across the ditch, and which, when raised, covered a small square-headed portal, under a pointed arch, the entrance to a passage directly piercing the wall. The passage has an interior machicolation and a portcullis, both worked from a small chamber 2 I 2