DUFFIELD CASTI.E. 1 67 



moulding of this character, though not so highly finished, at 

 Oxford cathedral." 



This last example of moulding has undoubtedly a late look 

 about it, and probably pertains to some later repairs or embellish- 

 ments. The other mouldings are not of the character that one 

 would expect to find previous to 1100, but they are somewhat 

 rudely treated, and, for our own part, we think it quite possible 

 that they may be of that date, t But supposing that these mould- 

 ings are all of the next century, it merely proves that certain 

 additions and improvements, such as we have already indicated 

 as taking place with the roof, were brought about after the castle 

 had been standing for many years. There is not a single known 

 instance of an early rectangular Norman keep, still standing, that 

 was not repaired and altered, sometimes most materially, later on, 

 but yet within the Norman period. 



One or two critics have thought that the masonry was too 

 closely jointed for early Norman days, but they seem to have 

 been only guided by the well-known and often-drawn example of 

 the widely-jointed masonry of the White Tower, London. The 

 baronial architect and masons employed at Duffield would not be 

 at all likely to be the same as the royal ones in London ; and it 

 is not well to criticise (nor to theorise) until more than one 

 example of a particular date has come under observation. 

 Masonry joints depended then, as now, very much upon the 

 nature of the stone and the nature of the mortar. A comparative 

 study of eleventh century masonry at Mailing, Guildford, Carlisle, 

 Chepstow, etc., establishes beyond all doubt the possibility, at all 

 events, of the Duffield masonry being of the date that on historical 

 evidence we are inclined to assign to it. 



VII. — Masons' Marks. 



On several of the best dressed stones, chiefly those obtained 

 from the well, a variety of well preserved Masons' Marks have 



* Parker's Glossary of Architecture, vol. iii., plate 80. 



+ One out of three experts in early architectural mouldings whom we have 

 consulted confirms our own view ; the other two believe them to be of the 

 time of Stephen or Henry II. 



