' 138 ANCIENT CASTLES OF DEVON. 



it really was so, will appear from the following very 

 brief description of the most common form and 

 structure of a royal castle, or of that of a great earl, 

 baron, or prelate of that time : and, as these castles 

 served both for residence and defence, this descrip- 

 tion will serve both for an account of the domestic 

 and military architecture, then adopted, as this 

 two- fold purpose cannot well be separated. 



The situation of the castles of the Anglo-Norman 

 kings and barons was most commonly on an emi- 

 nence, and near a river, a position, on several 

 accounts, eligible. The whole site of the castle was 

 surrounded by a deep and broad ditch, sometimes 

 filled with water, and sometimes dry, called the 

 "fosse;'' before the great gate was an outwork, 

 called a " barbacan,'' or " antemural," which was a 

 strong and high wall, with turrets upon it, designed 

 for the defence of the gate and draw-bridge. On 

 the inside of the ditch stood the wall of the castle, 

 about eight or ten feet thick, and between twenty 

 and thirty feet high, with a parapet, and a kind of 

 embrasures, called " crennels,'* on the top. On this 

 wall, at proper distances, square towers, of two or 

 three stories high, were built, which served for lodg- 

 ing some of the principal officers of the proprietor of 

 the castle, and for other purposes ; and on the in- 

 side were erected lodgings for the common servants 

 or retainers, granaries, storehouses, and other menial 

 offices. On the top of this wall, and on the flat 

 roofs of these buildings, stood the defenders of the 

 castle, when it was besieged, and thence discharged 

 arrows, darts, and stones, on the besiegers. The 

 great gate of the castle stood in the course of this 

 wall, and was strongly fortified with a tower on each 

 side, and rooms over the passage, which was closed 

 with thick folding-doors of oak, often plated with 

 iron, and with an iron portcullis or grate let down 

 from above. Within this outward wall was a large 

 open space or court, called, in the largest and most 

 perfect castles, the "outer bayle, or ballium," in 



