A History of Fortification from 3000 BC to AD 1700 by Sidney Toy

Author:Sidney Toy
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783460670
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2013-05-28T16:00:00+00:00

Plan of Sherborne Castle

CHAPELS

The chapel held an important place in the life of the castle. In many cases it was included within the keep, as described above. When not in the keep it generally stood in the bailey, as at Durham and Gisors. At Richmond, Yorks., the chapel, dating from the eleventh century, is in one of the wall-towers of the curtain; and in each of the castles at Bamborough, Castle Rising and Ludlow, all dating from the twelfth century, it stood isolated in the bailey. The circular nave of the chapel at Ludlow is embellished with wall arcades and elaborately moulded arches.

The old chapel of Durham Castle, built in 1072 against the north wall of the bailey, is a particularly beautiful little structure. It consists of a nave, with an arcade of four arches on either side, and two aisles. The round arches of the arcades are supported on tall circular pillars with capitals carved in grotesque figures, and moulded bases. The stone paving is original. It is laid in herringbone pattern, except for a path down the centre of the chapel, where the stones are set square.

The small chapel at Gisors was built about 1175 in the inner bailey, with its apse against the curtain wall and its nave standing out into the bailey. It was dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket. All but the apse has been destroyed, but that fragment indicates a very pleasing structure of dressed stone, the walls being of two tiers, separated by a string course, the lower tier with plain walls divided into bays by wall-shafts and the upper tier pierced by windows with moulded jambs and arches.

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