Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/535

 Coyty Castle and Lords J dp. 489 of the giltehouse has a window in each face. The floor of this room and the roof were of timber, and are gone. The gatehouse is probably of the reign of Richard II. The windows are Tudor insertions. The northern gatehouse, that between the outer and inner wards, is destroyed ; but the foundations show a passage 9 feet broad by 33 feet deep, which seems to have traversed a mass of buildings 84 feet broad by 30 feet to 40 feet deep. Of this, the part to the west of the portal, was a nearly rectangular building, 30 feet by 22 feet, having an entrance from the passage, and in its south wall a mural staircase. East of the portal is a much larger building still in part standing, and which seems to have been the keep. The keep is nearly rectangular, 37 feet by 40 feet, having at its eastern end a projection into the ditch, 18 feet by 24 feet. This pro- jection contained in its basement a plain vault, 15 feet by 9 feet, with two loops j and a culvert, probably a garderobe, has its vent below a recess in the north wall. This recess was probably a prison. The basement of the keep is occupied by a chamber, 28 feet by 22 feet, at the ground level, and vaulted in eight cells, the ribs forming which spring to and from a central eight-sided pier. The arches are pointed. There are two loops in this chamber, and three doors, — ■ one from the court, set in a square-headed recess ; a second into the vaulted accessory chamber ; and a third to a postern opening into the ditch, and by a mural stair to the chamber above. The first floor also is composed of two chambers, both vaulted, and the ribs of the large chamber spring from an octagonal pier resting upon that below. There was a second, and a third story roofed with timber. The fireplaces were in the north wall, and the windows in the north and east walls, and of moderate size and Tudor pattern. This tower seems of early Decorated date. A part of it has recently fallen. The roimd tower is altogether a very curious and a very unusual structure. It is placed on the south-west front of the inner ward. It is 18 feet diameter, but projects into the ditch 22 feet, being con- nected with the curtain by a neck of wall 14 feet broad. It is lofty, having a basement and three upper floors. The basement is a huge vaulted receptacle for sewage, with an outlet to the south. The two upper floors are alike in dimensions and use, being 9 feet by 7 feet, and lighted by narrow loops, three on each floor. They are vaulted, and contain garderobes, with shafts into the vault below. The third story had a flat wooden roof, now gone. A well-stair led to the bat- tlements. Laterally, the upper part of this tower is widened by a pair of cheeks resting on a row of corbels, so as to give greater space within. On the east side of this tower, at its base and junction with the curtain, is a postern of 3 feet opening, from which a vaulted staircase ascended to the domestic buildings. This door is protected by a mass of masonry filling up the hollow angles above it, and machicolated at its summit. This part of the castle seems of the age of Henry III. 2 K