Page:Medieval Military Architecture in England (volume 1).djvu/90

 74 MedicBval Military Architecture in England. hill which William Earl of Moretaine selected for his castle, of which the name, appropriately transported from, his Norman castle, alone remains, and but little more of Castle-Carey, the Lovell seat, besieged and taken by Stephen, or of the Norman keep of Harptree, in a pass in the Mendip range. Of importance beyond all these more or less local castles was that of Bristol, founded by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, but found too valuable to be intrusted to his successors in the earldom. Its square Norman keep stood between the Frome and the Avon, and was strong both in works and in position. After centuries of contest for its possession between the earls of Gloucester and the Crown, it ceased to be of military value and was taken down. Upon and beyond the Tamar, as at Montacute, Wallingford, and Berkhampstead, may be traced the footsteps of the powerful noble who held the great earldom of Cornwall. Their principal Cornish castles, — Trematon, Launceston, where the town also was walled, and Restormel, — were the work originally of Robert, half-brother of the Conqueror. Their remains are con- siderable, and their strength and position were such as to give them immense influence in that wild and almost impene- trable district. St. Michael's Mount remains strongly fortified ; Carnbrea, the work of Ralph de Pomeroy, still marks the rocky ridge whence it derives its name, and there are traces of Boscastle, the hold of the Barons Botreaux, and of the Arthurian castle of Tintagel. There are besides in Cornwall a few fortified houses, and a multitude of strong places, — camps rather than castles, very peculiar in character, and probably the work of the native Cornish before the arrival of the stranger. It appears, then, that south of and upon the Thames and Bristol Avon there stood, at the close of the twelfth century, at least eighty-nine more or less considerable castles, a very large number of which were kept in repair by the sheriffs of the counties and governed by castellans appointed by the king and holding office during pleasure. Of these, at least thirty contained shell keeps placed on moated mounds, and were in some form or other far older than the Conquest ; and about seventeen were characterised by rectangular keeps, of which two only, Guildford and Christchurch, were associated with mounds, and of these very few indeed were of pure Norman foundation. Of the remaining forty-two the parti- culars are doubtful, so they cannot be counted with one class or the other, but most of them are also older than the Cpnquest.