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Lancaster - The Gatehouse Revealed

Fig. 1. Gatehouse from the south (west). It is over 20 metres (65 ft) in height. out and of large size are left The Lancaster Gatehouse between them and the wall. In a corner of each The gatehouse is not well documented. Writ- of the flanking towers rises a , the interi- ing in 1912, A Hamilton Thompson noted or of which apparently served as a magazine (Military Architecture in in the Mid- for ammunition. The interior of this gatehouse, dle Ages, p. 327) that Lancaster was ‘one of although the space is ample, is fully in keeping the greatest of English (fig. 1) It with its sombre exterior. Each of the two upper was known to have been built as late as about floors contains three rooms, one in the central 1405, for the arms of Henry V, as Prince of block of the gatehouse, the others in the towers , appear on a shield above the gateway. at the sides. These rooms are large and lofty It is therefore one of the latest military works and their wooden ceilings still retain traces of in the of the and the last of a colour; but they are gloomy and ill-lighted to series of gatehouses which owed their origin the last degree. The apartments on the first to lords of the , and in- floor communicate directly with one another, cludes the noble structures at Dunstanburgh, but those on the second floor are entered from Tutbury and …. Flanked by an outer passage which passes between them two huge octagonal towers, this gatehouse is and the inner, or west wall of the gatehouse. the perfection of the type which is seen at The guardrooms on the ground floor are ap- and within the at Alnwick. The proached in the usual way by doorways near window openings towards the field are few the inner entrance. The main stair is a vice in and small; the are boldly corbelled the south-west corner of the building’.

1 Lancaster Gatehouse - The Gatehouse Revealed

Fig. 2. Gatehouse from the courtyard. C13 newel stair to the far left. Three floors to roof level.

In Anthony Emery’s ‘Greater Medieval Hous- John Champness ( - A brief es,’ 1996, Vol. 1, p. 173, he adds a note about history, 1993, pp. 9-10), discusses the precise the gatehouse that moderates Hamilton Thomp- dating of the gatehouse, now seen as being son’s understandably (1912) military view of completed between 1403-1413. Duchy ac- the ’s function. Emery notes: ‘The town of counts show that the Lancaster castle staff were Lancaster had been badly damaged by the Scots authorised to spend 200 marks (£133) per year in 1389, and it is assumed that fear of renewed on building work between 1402 and 1422, attack was the initial reason for Henry IV’s when Henry V died. At that point they had building such a formidable machicolated block. spent £2500, and much must also have been It was also an ostentatious symbol of the new spent on the Norman keep. He sees the apart- king’s power, in a town from which the Duchy ment on the first floor as being used used by the took it name. In addition it provided badly need- constable. This floor also contains the mecha- ed accommodation for the constable, and was nism for the in the forward part of the used by Henry IV when he received the king of central room. After the Civil War the gatehouse Scotland and the French ambassadors there. The rooms were occupied by debtors. [The statue of three-room plan of lofty central and side cham- above the entrance was only bers is repeated on the uppermost floor with a placed in the canopied niche in 1822. It origi- more private outer-passage approach’. nally contained the statue of a saint] (fig. 3).

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Fig. 3. Niche with statue (of John of Gaunt, inserted in 1822,) between the two shields of Henry IV. England quartered with France.

Figs. 4 (left) & 5 The shields on either side are the royal arms of (below). The heral- England quartered with France modern,with the dic arms of Henry lions of England in the first and fourth quarters. IV and below, the These were the arms adopted by Henry IV c. 1418 sculpture, (1399-1413) in 1406 except that when displayed with coat of arms in England (as here at Lancaster) the three fleur- on the English de-lys of France are always in the first and Tower, Bodrum. fourth quarters. The shield is surmounted by a helm on which rests a cap of maintenance; on this stands the crest of a lion statant guardant (at gaze) and the helm is surrounded by mantling (fig. 4). Whilst the shields have been identified as the arms of Henry IV, they could equally well be for his son Henry V or even his grandson Henry VI. Two similar shields are seen at the English Tower at Bodrum Castle, Turkey, where the quarters are reversed (fig. 5). These may have been erected c. 1418-20. See ‘The on the English Tower at Bodrum Castle’ (CSGJ 29, 2015-6 forthcoming)..

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Fig. 6. Lancaster Castle gatehouse. The top 2nd floor rear windows, giving direct light to the three most prestigious rectangular chambers that run parallel and on axis with the gate-passage. Designed in a rather muscular late-perpendicular the straight-headed two-window lights with heavy drip-mould and supermullioned drop tracery has four-light demi-panels above. Each window is trefoiled. It is difficult to parallel, but flat-headed windows of this kind are usually seen in church clerestories. Compare the similar light in the upper storey of Thornton c. 1380 or a series at the church at Wortham, Suffolk.

John Goodall (The English Castle, 2011) de- The (brief) Listing Description scribes Henry IV’s activity and the gatehouse ‘The Gatehouse, of three storeys and with two thus: ‘As of Lancaster and almost irre- towers which have projections of semi-octago- spective of his difficulties as a king, Henry was nal plan, linked by a passageway arch which the pre-eminent castle builder of the kingdom. dies into the reveals, and have machicolations In 1402 he initiated a substantial program of and embattled parapets. To each side square works at Lancaster castle which continued into , with taller stair turrets, rise above the his son’s reign. By 1422, a total of more than parapets. Above the gateway a niche contains a £2,500 had been laid out in the buildings there. statue of John of Gaunt by Claud Nimmo, in- As part of the operation, the existing castle stalled in 1822, flanked by shields of arms of gatehouse was subsumed inside a new building Henry V when (1407 - 1413). with a twin-towered façade. Ornamented with Gatehouse Internal Rooms: the upper rooms of the king’s arms and those of Henry of Mon- the towers contain cambered roof beams carried mouth as Prince of Wales, the building was on corbelled wall posts. A corridor above the probably completed before the latter’s acces- entrance passage contains the following graffito sion in 1413’… ‘The busily detailed array of incised into the stone: 'John Committed turrets and battlements gives a fantastical finish April ye 15th, 1741 by Brindle, for kissing', beloved in castle architecture of this period. together with a drawing of a fiddle’. (Fig. 7 Notice that the tallest turrets in this composition below). [It is the work of an 18th century prison- align with the inside face of of the gate-passage er incarcerated in the gatehouse at the time]. below [see fig. 1]. There are also turrets on the outer corners of the building to the rear. This arrangement echoes the distinctive design of the great gate at Dunstanburgh, begun in 1313. [See fig. 31] Such points of similarity are likely to indicate that the masons had access to a working collection of architec- tural drawings similar to those preserved in the Fig. 7 king’s works’ (p. 242, and caption to fig. 261).

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1

3.1 2

A 3.2 3.3

3

B

Fig. 8. Lancaster Castle gatehouse 1402-13. Ground-floor survey plan. North at the top. © English Heritage. Room 1: Guardroom with access to forward turret marked A. 2: Gate- passage. 3: Guardroom with access to Forward turret B. 3.1. Entry to the newel stair that ascends directly to the 2nd floor. 3.2: Original entry to 3 but now rises through an open stairwell to the 1st floor..

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Fig. 9. Robert Freebairn c. 1800. The view of the inner courtyard looking toward the rear of the gatehouse. One of his many watercolours showing the changes (before and after). As well as the gatehouse, it shows, from right to left: The Tower (demolished in 1818), The Gatehouse, The Well Tower (visitable), and the Bowling Green. The curtain walls that butt up against the gatehouse have since been moved forward. (Courtesy of Lancaster City Museums).

The ground floor view of the gatehouse from parallel with the gate-passage (plan, fig. 8, the courtyard. Room 1). There is no ascending stair from this The ground-floor view from the rear is particu- chamber. This space is the current area used by larly interesting for the way that the 1400s gate- security staff and contains storage, plant and house utilises a pre-existing building to its left equipment. It has been compartmentalised. The (east). This is a stair turret that contains a C13 gatehouse entry-passage (Area 2) is dealt with vice or spiral stair that probably continued up to separately (below). To the right is another origi- the height of the curtain wall-walk that ran east- nal shouldered-arch door (with iron gate and up ward (figs. 2, 9). The north corner of the new four steps) which originally gave direct access to build sits, perhaps a little awkwardly, on the top the second (top) floor corridor bypassing access of this without mediating a rounded corner to a to the first floor (fig. 8, marked 3.1); it is the square. The stair turret is entered through a plain wider guest stair. To the right again, another chamfered pointed-arch door (c. 1250s?) and shouldered-arch door leads to a straight flight of ascends linking both first and second floors up stairs that turns left via a quarter space turn up to to the second floor corridor; it is a service stair the first floor and no further (fig. 8, marked 3.2). and continues up to the battlemented turret. The Entry into the west ground floor chamber off the second-floor corridor is indicated by the three gate-passage is through a pointed-arch door at small rectangular lights below the larger flat- the near end of the passage (3.3). The first three headed twin-light windows that light the three doors each give sole and independent access to long axial chambers. The building now adjacent each floor level. However, there have been to this spiral stair to the left is part of the Gover- many interventions in this area - for example the nor’s (or Gaoler’s) House. The doorway to its insertion of a metal newel stair (see fig. 11 plan), right with the shouldered-arched head allows and the straight stair with the quarter landing access to the vaulted ground-floor (guard)-room turns must be a post-medieval addition.

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Fig. 10. Lancaster Castle, gate-passage, 55 ft in length, looking south. Decorative corbel (inset).

Gate-passage English period in its transition stage. These run The gate-passage is not totally 15th century up as short round shafts on the wall’. Cox felt work (fig. 10). The side walls near the that the capitals/abaci had been ingeniously re- look early, but the passage was lengthened to- placed by those of a later style - the semi-octag- ward the rear in the C15 building campaign, onal, suggesting that the stone was of a different with one original (1250s?) side entrance possi- type. There is a rebate for the two-leaved in- bly re-used (right) and one included in the new ward-closing doors, but no clear evidence for build (left). In addition the roof may have been any further doors to seal the rear of the gate- heightened or reinforced with transverse rib passage (although the Buck bro’s (1728) draw- vaulting supported by inserted decorative cor- ing hints at one (see CSGJ 28 p. 145). Forward bels, though the dating is uncertain. Cox (‘Lan- of the doors in the entrance-arch vault is a chase caster castle’ in Transactions of the Historic or slot running up through the archivolt to the Society of and Vol. 48, first floor with side grooves for a portcullis. This 1896, pp. 114-6) describes these: ‘the underside remains in situ (not original). There is a crude of the corbel is rounded and ornamented with niche along the east wall of the passage, perhaps foliage in low relief, characteristic of the Early for a porter to shelter upon opening the doors.

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1 A

2 E F B C

3 D B Now Party wall

A

Fig. 11. Lancaster Castle gatehouse 1402-13. 1st floor plan, north at the top. © English Heritage.. Room 1, A: probably a latrine. B: door to middle Room 2. C: door to portcullis chamber D. The portcullis chase is actually to the right of the door (see below). Room 2: E: Fireplace. F: Door to Room 3: A: light on west wall. B: Modern insertions (spiral stair and services.). The party wall has obscured other features in the NW corner.

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Fig. 12. The first floor, Room 1, looking south. Door to portcullis chamber, right. Inset: The original prestigious exterior frame for this light. There is a suggestion that the south light was once glazed with 4 panels, perhaps with stained glass.

First-floor rooms 2 (centre). The shorter central chamber (Room 2) is lit only from the rear and must have been All the three rooms are similar. All have flat gloomy. A plain room, it contains one small timbered ceilings, the joists supported by origi- fireplace in the spine wall that separates rooms nal beams, stone corbels, and arched bracing. 1 and 2 (figs. 13, 14). There was probably a The rooms run parallel from front to rear on latrine in the thickness of the window reveal to axis with the gate-passage, and access is by the north. A door in the north-west corner leads through room connecting doors. Original access (over some stairs) into Room 3 (figs. 15, 16). to this floor was probably via the ‘service’ spi- This room is now partitioned and the northern ral stair on the east side with a door into Room end has seen some modifications with the inser- 1. In Room 1 there is no obvious fireplace and tion of a metal spiral stair (not shown). There is it may be concealed. At the southern end of this no obvious recess for a latrine (although it may room are two doors to the west (fig. 12). The have been blocked when this outside wall be- first door leads to the portcullis chamber came a party wall, but there is an additional light (marked ‘D’) which has one small light over- source in the south-west section. The first floor looking the entrance. (See Portcullis Chamber appears to be accommodation for the custodian below). The second (not shown) leads to Room or constable controlling access to the castle.

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ABOVE: Fig. 13. Left: First floor - Room 1 looking south toward the field - the polygonal front. Fig. 14. Right: First floor Room 2. Looking south toward the portcullis chamber (behind wall), with fireplace to left & door top left corner. BELOW: Fig. 15. Bottom left: First floor - Room 3. looking south to the field. Fig. 16. Right: Room 3. Looking north toward inserted partition with added prison equipment. Beyond the left window the wall becomes a party wall with additional accommodation blocks added in the C19.

10 Fig. 17. ABOVE. Portcullis chamber to the south of Room 2. View from the east. Fig. 18. Right: Portcullis chamber looking from the west. BELOW: Fig. 19. left: Comparison of portcullis chamber on the first floor of the Bloody Tower, c. 1360s.

The portcullis chamber has the supporting arch to take the weight of the portcullis, some 10 ft to the rear of the south window (figs. 17-18). It is possible that the current lifting pulley wheel is in the same position as the original. If so, the portcullis cannot go any higher. This raises an interesting question. How did they get the port- cullis out for replacement or repair? The port- cullis is probably about 12 ft in height, so it cannot be lifted out at this level without remov- ing the arch and the vault above it. The same problem is apparent at Bodiam. Here the outer portcullis (one of three) was inserted and the superstructure and arch were built up around it. The intention must have been never to replace it. The only way to do it here is to have a chase through the floor above allowing the portcullis to run up to the second floor which has suffi- cient height and clearance to extricate the frame. There is no evidence here that this is the case. Nonetheless, the arrangement seen here, apart from the winding gear, (which itself must be truly antique) is a rare and fine example of the workings / structure of a 15th century portcullis.

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A B

Above: Corridor that links the chambers. A: Guest Stairs. B: Service Stairs

Latrines 3 here? 2 1 A A

B

B A East West

Fire- place C here?

Fig. 20. Lancaster Castle gatehouse 1402-13. 2nd floor plan. © English Heritage. Room 1: A: Entrance from Corridor. B: Recess probably leading to a latrine. C: Fireplace. Room 2: A: Entrance from Corridor. B: Only door to Room 3. Room 3: A: Chimney flue to roof. Does it conceal a large fireplace in central Room 2? There was probably a recess in the NW corner leading to a latrine (now blocked ?) and perhaps a fireplace on the SW corner.

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ABOVE: Fig. 21 Left. Second floor corridor looking west from stair B to Stair A. Nearest door left - Room 1, next door left Room 2 (with bluish light light falling onto the floor). Fig. 22. Right. Corridor looking west near Stair A. Blocked spiral to roof. No door to Room 3. BELOW: Fig. 23. Left: 2nd floor corridor looking east from Stair A to Stair B. Room 2 followed by Room 1 on the right. The winders continue but the stair is blocked. Fig, 24 Right: Entrance into Room 2.

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Fig. 25. Lancaster Castle gatehouse. Second Floor, Room. 1. (East) This was the prison officer’s mess room until 2011. Facing south. Large fireplace to far left. © English Heritage. (1990s).

Second Floor Rooms beams, corbels and braces (fig. 26). There is a Undoubtedly the finest rooms in the gatehouse, large fireplace in the south-east corner with a these three rooms are a little shorter than those monolithic lintel now exposed, and what was below because an exterior north, courtyard-fac- once a latrine in the east wall (now blocked); ing corridor gives access to two of the three hence the room is self-contained. Light came rooms, offering greater privacy. Room 1, to the from two sources, north, above the exterior cor- east (figs. 20, 25), was used by prison officers ridor and south (figs. 26, 27). The rare timber- as their mess room and was equipped and fur- work / carpentry is original to the early 15th nished accordingly. This has now been stripped century and matches that seen in Rooms 2 and out showing the original stonework, roof 3, the hall, and upper storeys of the keep.

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Fig. 26. Second floor. Room 1, looking south, after stripping out. Fireplace left. The view is the same aspect as previous figure 21. Inset: Fireplace with monolithic lintel.

Room 2. This central room is slightly wider; it there is no latrine. This chamber may therefore is distinguished by its having two lights to the have been some kind of assembly room, court- south, facing the field (figs. 28-30). It has a room or official audience chamber for officials connecting door in the north-west corner to and state dignitaries. Determining this room’s Room 3 which is probably original. Additional- function, along with its relationship with Room ly, there is no fireplace unless it is blocked, and 3 is crucial to understanding the use of this floor.

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Fig. 27. Second floor, Room 1, looking north to the corridor. Recess, revealed after stripping out, on the right probably led to a latrine.

Room 3 (figs. 31-32) is again similar in form, exterior wall have been blocked and hidden. but is distinguished by a chimney flue, proud of Likewise with a potential recess and passage to the spine wall, which appears to have been a latrine, which was probably in the NW corner. added. The spine wall on this side is quite thin (See Inset above and CSGJ 28 p. 146, fig. 6). and a fireplace (opening its grate into Room 2 Like Rooms 1, 2, it has windows to the south perhaps) was an afterthought. Room 3 may and north. There are modern prison interven- have served as a private retiring chamber off the tions in the north-west corner concealing medi- central audience chamber (Room 2). Any win- eval work and this could be investigated. There dow lights to the west, which was once an might be a (hidden) fireplace in the SW corner.

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Fig. 28. Second floor. Room 2, central position, with two lights looking south. No obvious fireplace or latrine. Between the two windows, to the exterior, is the niche and statue (of John of Gaunt - of 1822) and the arms of Henry IV and the Prince of Wales, the future Henry V. The niche may have originally contained a statue of Henry IV. This room may have served as a hall, audience chamber or courtroom, with a withdrawing chamber to the right (west) (Room 3).

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Fig. 29. Second floor. Room 2. Central position. Looking south - showing one of the two lights towards the field. Inset: Room 2. Looking north toward the courtyard. The c. 1410 medieval lights above (3 of 4) (see fig. 2. top centre), set back over entrance corridor.

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Fig. 30. Second floor, Room 2, (central position). Roof structure. Rare original C15 cambered roof beams carried on corbelled braces or wall posts.

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ABOVE: Fig. 31. Second floor, Room 3 to the west. Looking north towards the courtyard. Roof structure. Inserted? chimney flue to the right. BELOW: Fig. 32a. Top of spiral stairs B leading to the roof. Fig. 32b. Cap house on the gatehouse roof-top..

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Fig. 33. Lancaster Castle. Gatehouse from within the courtyard. Photogrammetric survey © English Heritage.

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Fig. 34. Lancaster Castle. Exterior of Gatehouse, gate, east facade as far as can be seen with various facets of the polygonal fronted towers. Photogrammetric survey © English Heritage.

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Lancaster Gatehouse - Antecedents can be approached only from the south via exte- The line of descent of the Lancaster gatehouse rior steps into a lobby. Pevsner’s Northumber- probably starts with the duchy of Lancaster’s land (2002, p. 397) considers that this room castle at Dunstanburgh (figs. 35, 36) and many might have been designed as a courthouse. of the motifs are drawn from it. Especially is However, one thing all these have in common is this true of the roofscape with its busy skyline that the gatehouse is the dominant architectural of battlements, turrets and chimneys, which feature. Whilst at Lancaster the Norman keep’s likewise grace Lancaster. It may also be true of footprint is actually larger, and the ground level the very wide segmental openings for niches is higher, the gatehouse dominates the approach. and windows on each floor. John Goodall is The gatehouse-cum-tower-house concept finds surely correct in suggesting that the duchy its origins in Norman castles; its later medieval maintained a skilled team of masons that could appearance in possibly starts call on an archive of drawings rather like the with Bothal, then Dunstanburgh with its conver- king’s works team in London (Goodall, 2011). sion to a donjon in the 1380s continuing with Morpeth and , each having their varying The D-shaped twin-towers preferred at - degrees of comfort and defensive attributes, the tanburgh are here replaced by semi-octagonal latter often minimal. But all probably had open towers, a feature well established in the 14th and full-width halls or spaces on the top floors and 15th centuries; Alnwick (1350s), Maxstoke all are characterised by their wide spacious (1350s), Warkworth (1380s) etc. Whilst the rooms on a cross-axis to the gate-passage. aesthetic and outward appearance of Kidwelly’s gatehouse-keep is a long way from Lancaster, it However, Lancaster does not conform to these was a building started by John of Gaunt in 1388 formal qualities. It is certainly built to impress. and completed in two further building phases by Its mass is imposing and its defences look im- Henry IV. Again, this generally follows the pressive, although the actuality is different. custom of domestic and service rooms for the Some of its detailing follows the duchy of Lan- constable directly over the gate-passage. There caster’s house-style, but its function seems is also a cross-axis hall and withdrawing cham- unique. On the first and second floors the tripar- tite division of rooms all run on axis with the ber above, which together rise up two floors and gate-passage (compare the hall in the centre of are located behind the portcullis and the Constable Gate, Dover, CSGJ 25, p. 134). chambers along with other rooms to the front of Whilst the first floor, with its portcullis chamber the towers. These can all be accessed without and access to other rooms readily suits accom- crossing the more formal chambers. So whilst modation for the constable, the upper floor is the plan and layout is rather different, like Lan- deliberately designed with privacy in mind with caster, the portcullis and drawbridge chambers, its direct stair approach, and high-status level of at least, are in separate discrete chambers de- accommodation. The top central room, (Room tached from a hall or chapel (see J. R. Kenyon, 2) without latrine and fireplace appears to indi- Kidwelly Castle, 2002, Cadw, pp. 28-32). cate a particular function, perhaps served as a Sir Robert Bertram's handsome gatehouse at courtroom or formal meeting chamber, with a Bothal (1343-50) with its semi-octagonal gate- withdrawing chamber to the west (Room 3). At towers may have influenced the design (figs. the same time, it is obvious that money was also 37- 8), but the floors and room plans follow the spent on the keep, introducing extra floors to Edwardian keep-gatehouse style with a full accommodate Henry IV’s household and it may width cross-axis hall on the second floor. Both be that the first floor of the keep was still fitted Morpeth (figs. 39-40) and Bywell (figs. 41-2) out for the grand formal occasion. Today, with show similar characteristics of form and plan- rooms bare and appearance distorted by institu- ning to Bothal, although whilst both appearing tional use, it is difficult to visualise how com- rugged they are more modest in height, materi- modious, even grand, they must have been. als and in the trappings of defence. However Even though this period in history is not known their interiors are cleverly composed to suit their for its high quality of architecture, Henry IV and unique circumstances. At Morpeth the first floor V certainly had the means and the money.

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Fig. 35. . Gatehouse. c. 1320, and remodelled to become a gatehouse-keep or donjon in the 1380s. Some elements of Dunstanburgh were probably copied at Lancaster (Inset. Example of the wide segmental arches on the inside of the drum towers). Fig. 36. Below: Gatehouse plan from the EH guidebook. © English Heritage. Reproduced with thanks.

Dunstanburgh A licence to crenellate was granted to Thomas, Earl of Lancas- ter in 1315, and the principal buildings were probably complet- ed by 1322, by which time Thomas had been executed. In the 1370s John of Gaunt (1340-99) remodelled the great gatehouse forming a great tower or donjon, and reorganised a new gate- house and entry further to the west. The gatehouse became self-contained. It has a vaulted gate-passage, with large transverse ribs, murder holes and a rear half-round portcullis slot. It was three-storeyed. On the first floor were rooms of uncertain function, with two-light windows, and on the second floor lay the hall with the kitchen at one end and the dais and great chamber at the other. Above the three storeys the semi- circular or D-shaped twin-towers were carried up in two further storeys,still curved at the front but square at the rear. On the inner side the square towers were taken even higher, and one still stands at full height. There were mirrored spiral stairs at the corners. At second-floor level, the chambers in the towers opened onto the principal apartments by wide segmental arches; one of these survives (inset). (See the EH Dunstanburgh Guide- book, by Alastair Oswald and Jeremy Ashbee, 2007).

24 Lancaster Gatehouse - The Gatehouse Revealed - Comparative Gatehouses

ABOVE: Fig. 37. gate- house. c. 1343. Possibly by S H Grimm. This view of the castle near Bothal shows the huge crenellated gatehouse decorated with heraldic crests. It was built by Robert Bertram, obtaining his licence to crenellate in 1343. The gate- way is shouldered by two semi-octago- nal towers. On the roof there is an embattled parapet with two stone fight- ing figures. RIGHT: Fig. 38. Plan of the ground floor (left) and second floor of the gatehouse.

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Fig. 39. by S H Grimm, 1780s. Gatehouse. Late C14 or early C15 (Emery). Three floors. First floor with fireplace. Second floor not shown on the plan but it was also originally open plan on a cross-axis to the entrance as per floor below. No portcullis. 3 stepped .

Morpeth The gatehouse was built in the late 14th or early 15th century, probably more for show than defence but once within the curtain wall, you could be in- Ground floor side the most remote First floor Border stronghold. In 1271 the castle itself passed from its first owners, the de Merlays to the Greystoke fami- ly, who chose to use it as a centre of adminis- tration for all their oth- er castles. The castle Fig. 40 started the 16th century in grand style, welcom- ing the likes of the widowed Queen of Scotland Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII. However by the latter years of the century the castle was described as "mightily decayed." By 1988 extensive work was required, especially to the roof, at which point the Landmark Trust stepped in, and the property is now available for holiday lets. Anthony Emery, in GMH Vol. 1 favours a late C14 or early C15 date. The Landmark Trust’s literature suggests c. 1300.

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Fig. 41. gatehouse. S H Grimm, 1786. Built by Ralph Neville early in the 1420s. A flat-fronted rectangular gatehouse with ground-floor barrel vaults. Floors above may have single-space rooms. Reproduced courtesy of the British Library. Shelfmark: Additional MS 15543.

Bywell A large flat-fronted rectangular gatehouse tower, 59 ft x 38 ft, (18 m x 11.6 m) c. 1420s, built by Ralph Neville. The gatehouse was probably intended to be part of a bigger enclosure which was never completed. Total of three floors. The centre section of the embattled parapet is set forward on 3-step, four-slot machicolation (and is re- peated to the rear). It is protected by a portcullis forward of the two leaved gate as is noted by the grooves. The gate-passage is 10 ft 8 inches wide (3.25m), with only one set of two-leaved doors and not Fig. 42. Bywell. Ground-floor plan, showing portcullis, sealed at the rear. The corner turrets rebated two-leaved gate and vaults. have octagonal corbelled out tops (like Lumley). The whole of the ground floor is vaulted. The first floor has been divided by a later C15 cross-wall towards the east end, whilst the top floor seems to have been a single large room.

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TOP: Fig. 43. The Henry VIII gate at Windsor Castle, 1509-11. BELOW: Left: Fig 44. Detail from a bird's-eye view of Windsor Castle in 1658, by Wenceslas Hollar. Right: Fig. 45 Ground-plan of the Henry VIII gate from HKW, Plan IV. © HMSO. Reproduced with thanks.

The Lancaster-style gatehouse design continued only nod towards more peaceful conditions was into the sixteenth century with the Henry VIII it lack of a portcullis. Even 100 years after its gate at Windsor, built in 1509-11. It is much completion at Lancaster, its gatehouse had be- altered externally today, but the Hollar drawing come an immutable stylistic iconic design, highlights its tripartite axial design, its semi- much imitated, even with courtyard country octagonal twin-towered front, narrow rectangu- houses of the period edging toward a Renais- lar lights, machicolation and crenellated para- sance aesthetic. It had became an enduring ar- pet. It even had a functioning drawbridge. The chitectural symbol of royal power and authority.

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