castle of this period. The angle-springings of the groined ceilings are of a peculiarly elegant form.

Entering the interior area of the castle, the antiquary views with regret the mutilation to which the building has been subjected; for while the curtain wall is all but intact and the towers remain almost in stata quo, as far as the masonry is concerned, not a single apartment of the quadrangular range stands entire, and in some parts scarcely a trace of the inner wall remains.

The apartments to the east and west of the great gateway were probably used as guard-rooms and offices for servants. and retainers. The first apartment on the eastern side of the quadrangle, going southward, was the chapel. It was lighted by an eastern window of three lights, now in a fractured condition, and much obscured by ivy: one of the mullions is broken out.24 In the south wall to the right of the spot where the altar stood, there remains a small piscina with a plain pointed arch. Facing this on the north side is an aperture, which is so constructed opposite to a window in the northeast tower as to afford the occupant of an apartment there a view of the ministering priest at the elevation of the host. To the south-east of the chapel is the small sacristy, over which there was formerly an apartment for the priest, and the pointed doorway by which the latter was approached still remains on the west side. The apartment immediately southward of the chapel, and communicating with the eastern square tower, is traditionally known as the Bower, or ladies' apartment, and on the first floor above was probably a great state bedroom. Still further south, and connected with the south-east tower, was a large oblong room, supposed to have been the Armoury.

The apartments on the south side of the quadrangle were the Great Hall, the Buttery, and the Kitchen. The Hall, which abutted the armoury on the east, was lighted by a lofty two-light window still remaining in the south wall, and indicating the situation of the dais, and by two looking into the court, which have disappeared. At the lower or west end of the apartment there was formerly a minstrels' gallery, beneath which three pointed arches opened into the Buttery. These

24 See View opposite.

OXFORD

UBEU

arches still remain, as shewn in the accompanying view from a drawing kindly contributed by Mrs. Wrench, of Salehurst parsonage. The hall was of course open to the roof without the superposition of any other apartment, and it must have

been a finely proportioned room. The Buttery led westward to the Kitchen, which communicated with the south-west angle tower, and was furnished with two vast fire-places, twelve feet in width, one of which had an oven, still partly remaining, attached to it. The chimneys, here and elsewhere throughout the building, are of graceful proportions. They are of stone, octagonal in shape, the shafts being formed of courses each composed of two stones hollowed internally. The coping stones in some instances were ornamented with mimic battlements now much corroded by the weather, as shewn in the annexed cut. Of the range of apartments on the western side of the quadrangle the appropriation is not very clear. They were probably however of an inferior kind—perhaps affording accommodation for stores of various sorts, and for such horses, cattle, and other animals, as had their lodging within the walls. Such were the main apartments-it now only remains to describe the towers which strengthen and adorn the angles and side walls, and which formerly gave much additional accommodation to the garrison.

A narrow arched doorway leads from the first groined apartment of the gateway into the basement of the right-hand flanking tower, which measures internally eleven feet by ten, and is lighted by narrow loops. Over it were two stories with fire-places. On the left, a doorway conducts to the basement of the opposite flanking tower, which is of similar size, with like apartments with fire-places above. More inwardly a newell staircase forms the communication from the groundfloor to the upper stories. There were rooms over the entrance gateway as well as over the towers. Over the inner division of the entrance was a parapet overlooking the quadrangle, and access to it was gained by a second stone staircase opening into the court.

The circular angle towers, according to Mr. Cotton's measurements, are twenty-eight feet nine inches in exterior diameter. Internally they are hexagonal, and measure fifteen feet two inches. Their several stories are lighted with lancet-shaped windows, of rather elegant proportions. Their external appearance may be inferred from the accompanying cut. The walls are 6 feet in thickness. Each tower had three stories, furnished with fire-places, and reached by a newell staircase. The southeastern tower is distinguished from the others by having had a groined ceiling to its basement story. This was evidently the grand tower, as its newell staircase communicated with the princi

pal apartments of the first floor, occupied by the lord of the castle and his family.

The eastern and western square towers, also, contained three stories or apartments, measuring about eleven feet by ten feet six, with fire-places, and with necessaria constructed in the thickness of the walls.

The southern or postern tower has its basement groined like the grand entrance, with like perforations through the bosses. The exterior gateway was defended by a portcullis, and over the portal still remain three shields, two of which are plain. The third, which is recumbent, is carved with three roses upon a chevron, and surmounted with a helmet and lambrequin, and the crest of a ram's head-the armorial ensigns of Sir Robert Knollys, K.G., the chieftain and patron of Sir Edward Dalyngruge, the founder of the castle. A quadrangular platform projects some feet in advance into the moat, on the opposite side of which remain some traces of a landing-place for communication by means of boats.

Mr. Cotton has given a ground-plan of the Castle and some measurements, and the Burrell MSS. furnish the latter more in detail, but there are some discrepancies between these two authorities. Burrell makes the length of the building, mensured from the centre of the angle towers from north to south,