peverel's castle in the peak. 141 



mortar. Both the outside and inside of these concrete walls 

 were faced with fine and well-pointed blocks of gritstone 

 ashlar, which must have been brought from some distant place, 

 as no such stone is found in the immediate neighbourhood. 

 The concrete is of intense hardness, like a Roman wall — it 

 is a solid mass. 



Mr. Addy is of opinion that the keep only contained two 

 rooms — the basement and the hall. Mr. King and Mr. C. E. 

 Hartshorne held different views. According to them, the 

 Peak Castle was built on the same lines as Guildford, Corfe, 

 and other Norman donjons, and contained three storeys, and 

 I was myself disposed to accept their conclusions. But a recent 

 careful investigation of the ruin has satisfied me that Mr. Addy 

 is correct. This is an interesting fact to have established, 

 although it was not unusual in the smaller Norman keeps. 

 As Mr. Clark points out : " In the smaller keeps the roof was 

 a simple ridge with lateral gutters; the original roof having 

 its ridge rather below the parapet, had its side gutters in deep 

 hollows. Where the walls have been raised the roof has been 

 replaced by a floor and an upper storey introduced, with either 

 a flat, or nearly flat, leaded roof." That this was never done 

 at the Peak is a proof of my statement that the Castle was 

 early abandf)ned as a place of residence for more extensive 

 areas. 



The keep was entered, not by the opening broken into 

 the basement on the north-east side at a later date, 

 but by an arched doorway opening into the first floor 

 room on the south-east side, and access to it was obtained 

 by means of a wooden ladder, a staircase which could 

 be drawn up in time of alarm. Mr. Edward King (see 

 Archceologia^ 1782) does not accept this simple means of access. 

 He says: "In the room above" — i.e., the first floor — "was 

 the ancient great entrance, to which it seems exceedingly 

 probable there was a flight of steps that led first to the top 

 of a low wall built across the space from ;^ to / (see plan), 

 and from thence along a platform to the great portal, having 



