Chester Castle CASTLE STUDIES GROUP Newsletter Number 7 1993-1994 Exeter, November 1993 Dear Member The end of 1993 marks another year in which castle studies in all forms have flourished. Our own conference at Chester was well attended, publications contin­ ued to pour forth and fascinating research was pursued in many quarters. Some of it is reported below as news items. Activities of individual CSG members are reported here, and the usual entry on CSG in general was submitted for publication in Medieval Archaeology. Two CSG members are to be congratulated on being elected to prestigious posts - Andrew Saunders as President of the Royal Archaeological Institute and Derek Renn as Treasurer of the Society of Antiquaries of London. The burden of CSG administration has been spread: David Sweetman, of the Office of Public Works in the Republic of Ireland, has taken on the recording of membership data. This will make the task of mailing Newsletters easier, and the Secretary and Treasurer are very grateful to him. At the 1992 AGM in Kilkenny, the services of an internal auditor were sought. Gordon Fordyce volunteered his services, and CSG is duly grateful for his efforts. 1993 has seen the appearance of two issues of a new magazine - "Postern" - providing news items about castle matters. Aimed at the amateur enthusiast, this new venture is available from Peter Presford,B 1994 will be a bumper year for castle conferences. In addition to the CSG meeting in Northumberland, the seventeenth international Chateau Gaillard conference will be meeting in Abergavenny in late August-early September. And we hope to have also the first of CSG's further-flung ventures, to the Crusader castles, though details are no t yet finalised. Members will notice an unfortunate overlap of date between our own Northumberland conference and the Society for Medieval Archaeology's con­ ference in Northern Ireland. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find free weekends in either of the two popular conference seasons - around Easter and in Autumn - and unfortunately we did not know about the Northern Ireland event until the planning of our own meeting was well advanced. Hopefully, not too many members will be faced with a difficult decision: those who go to Northern Ireland will also receivea good selection of castles; those who go to Northumberland may already have seen some of the Northern Irish castles on the CSG trip there in 1990. Your secretary promised to pursue two matters, following the Chester AGM, to which he has still to attend: group insurance, via CBA, to cover us at conferences and their site meetings, and a new leaflet for CSG advertisement and recruitment purposes. Unfortunately, these remain in his in-tray, but action is promised in the near future! Too late for effective advertisement in this issue is another conference hosted by Oxford's Department for Continuing Education. "The Impact of the Normans" will take place on 10-12 December 1993. Speakers include the CSG secretary on British castle origins and Matthew Bennett on the Normans at war. STEERING COMMITTEE 1. Secretary: Dr.R,A.Higham, Department of History & Archaeology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QH. Mr.A.Burt,| | 3 Membership Secretary: Mr. D.Sweetman, Office of Public Works, 51 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2. 5. Wales: Mr. J.Kenyon, National Museum of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF1 3NP Scotland: Dt.V.?ringLe,^^^gggg^^^^gg^//^^ggg/g^ 7. Northern Ireland: Dr. T.McNeill, The Queen's University of Belfast, School of Geography, Department of Archaeology, Belfast BT7 INN 8. Republic of Ireland: Mr. D.Johnson,^^^^HHH^^^^^^^^^H CONFERENCES SEVENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE, 1993 The Castles of Cheshire and North Wales For the seventh year in succession, CSG gathered to enjoy good weather, good company and good castling. About 40 members attended, coming from all over the UK and Ireland. The organization was carried by CSG treasurer Tony Burt, to whom many thanks aredue. His wife, Sue, organized catering for the opening reception and AGM. Richard Avent provided free access to CADW monuments, as well as giving a lecture on "Recent Research on Welsh Castles". Rhys Williams, former County Archaeologist for Cheshire, lectured on the Cheshire landscape. Lawrence Butler, John Cole, Richard Avent and Tony Burt gave on-site talks during the field visits. Thanks are due to all these, as well as to the proprietors of the Castle Bookshop, Holt, who provided afternoon tea during the Saturday excursion. Members were able to enjoy a more elevated view of the landscape than usual, as transport was provided in the form of a double-decker Crosville bus! The evening events took place in the St Mary Cen tre, created as an educational resource centre from one of the nine parish churches within the city, and which was made redundant in 1972. The first day-trip started at Beeston Castle, the thirteenth century hilltop castle of the earldom of Chester. The main points discussed were the defences of the massive outer enclosure, whose details provided food for thought, and the planning of the inner ward with its formidable drum-towers. Tony Burt explained the results of the excavations which had been recently published as an English Heritage monograph. The itinerary took us thence to Peckf orton, built in the mid-nineteenth century by the architect Salvin. On an enormous scale he attempted to recreate the atmosphere and appearance of a medieval castle, but CSG members varied in their responses to how successful he had been. Perhaps the most obvious problem at Peckforton is not, however, its architectural interpretation: some of the fabric reveals pressing needs of maintenance, a vivid reminder of how daunting is the task assumed by its new owners. After a light outdoor lunch, CSG proceeded to Holt Castle, where Lawrence Butler explained how pictorial evidence could be used to reconstruct the former glory of this Dee-side site, whose field remains consist largely of its prominent building platform. A welcome tea-break followed at the Castle Bookshop, Holt, where members browsed through an excellent array of archaeological and antiquar­ ian volumes, and cheque-books were given an airing. The final visit of the day was to Aldford, where, in the absence of a resident expert, the CSG secretary attempted an impromptu commentary of this fine castle earthwork. The true form of the site, as well as its likely date (no references until the thirteenth century) gave rise to much discussion. The second day-trip started in Chester itself under Tony Burf s guidance, with a visit to the castle situated between the Roman fortress (and Anglo-Scandinavian burh) and the river Dee. Norman in origin, the site owed much of its later develop­ ment to Edward I, who used Chester as the base for his campaigns in North Wales. Eighteenth century views and plans show an extensive castle, whose inner ward lay on the site of the earlier motte. The main survival today is the late twelfth century "Agricola tower", in which a chapel was built in the early fourteenth century. From Chester, CSG moved to Caergwrle, between Mold and Wrexham, built around 1278 by Dafydd,brother of therecentlydefea ted LlywelynapGrufydd. Here the recent excavation and fabric study was explained by John Cole. It was financed by Edward I of England and was the last castle to be built by a Welsh leader. Its prematurely ruinous condition arose from a disastrous fire during English occupa­ tion in 1283. At Rhuddlan, Richard A vent discussed not only the circumstances of the Edwardian castle but also the recent consolidation work carried out by CADW. The visit took us also to the earlier Norman motte, and there was much discussion of the topographical problems of identifying the Norman and Edwardian borough enclosures. The day concluded, suitably, with one of the glories of medieval military architecture, the Edwardian castle at Conwy and its recently consolidated borough defences. Here Lawrence Butler explained the history of excavation and other research at this world-famous site and guided us around its impressive remains. Here, too, formal thanks of the group were expressed to the conference organiser, Tony Burt. Chester itself, the conference base, provided a wealth of archaeological, architec­ tural and historic interest which kept several members on for a further day's exploration: Roman legionary fortress, Anglo-Scandinavian burh, medieval walled city with cathedral and the famous "rows" and much else. EIGHTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE 1994 CASTLES OF NORTHUMBERLAND At the 1993 Chester meeting, Pamela Marshall generously offered to organize the next meeting in north-east England. The programme details are given below, and, as in some previous years, the conference will be fully residential, using Ford Castle as its base. At first sight, the booking fee may seem expensive in comparison with the last couple of years, but note that it is all-inclusive, from the collection point in Newcastle on Thursday, up to the drop-off in Newcastle late on Sunday afternoon (packed lunch on Sunday will be thelastmeal provided). Newcastle is easilyreached by train or airline. Those attending will be given a separately printed programme and other materials on arrival. PROGRAMME THURSDAY 7TH APRIL Meet in Newcastle at 1.30pm. for tour of the Great Tower and possibly the city walls led by John Nolan of the City Archaeological Unit. Rendezvous at Great Tower luggage storage arrangements are being explored. By coach to Ford. Dinner and lecture "English Heritage's Castles in Nor thumbria" by Dr. Chris Young, Regional Director of English Heritage. FRIDAY 8TH APRIL Etal, Norham and Bamburgh castles. Preston Tower & Hepburn Bastle (fortified houses). Back to Ford. Dinner & lecture: "Living upstairs: the bastles, peles and tower houses of Northumberland" by Peter Ryder; followed by AGM of Castle Studies Group.