349 



would prove a formidable weapon of defence in case of a struggle at the gate itself. 

 A second and a third gateway, each provided with a portcullis continued the 

 defences. In the second court on the right hand a fireplace, in a lofty room used 

 as a kitchen, has upon it the initials E. T!., indicating the period of Queen 

 Elizabeth. Here there is a turnspit's wheel in situ. 



On the floor above is a prison— and amongst other rudely carved writings 

 upon the walls, the following has been deciphered :— "William Bound was taken 

 1677 July 11." This prison was visited by the great philanthropist John Howard 

 on January 31, 1781, as mentioned in his work on the "Lazarettos of Europe." 

 Of the more internal buildings, the state apartment, 40 feet by 20 feet, has the 

 remains of an Early English pointed window of two lights and a large transomed 

 window of Perpendicular date on the west side, overlooking the Monmouthshire 

 hills on the opposite side of the river Wye. This state apartment communicated 

 through an ante-chamber with the chapel. In after years the chapel and ante- 

 chamber were converted into a court room, and a room on the south became the 

 jury room. These alterations were most probably made in the reign of Elizabeth, 

 since formerly there was a text of Scripture and the date MDLXVII., on a beam 

 over the judge's seat. Access to a lar^e cellar was obtained through a pointed 

 archway at the south-east angle, and under the jury room and chapel is a large 

 stable having a narrow-pointed doorway leading to the moat. The jury room, 

 24 feet by 23 feet, with an open roof ceiled between the rafters, has a 15th century 

 four-light window in the south wall, and a lofty transomed window in the west, 

 on which side is an Early English fire place, resting on capitals of different design, 

 supported on shafts apparently inserted during the execution of repairs at a later 

 period, and there are also carved brackets, probably for lamps. This fire place is 

 surmounted by an elegant Early English chimney which has on its apex a horn, 

 the symbol of jurisdiction of the warden of the Forest, the erection of which is 

 assigned by tradition to Henry de Bohun. This chimney was removed from its 

 original site on the eastern side between 1783 and 1824. A somewhat similar 

 chimney, even more elegant in design, is still to be seen at Grosmont Castle in 

 Monmouthshire. These elegant designs of architecture are all represented in the 

 paper " on St. Briavel's Castle," which was read by the Rev. Wm. Taprell Allen, 

 vicar of St. Briavel's, at Gloucester on 5th February, 1879, and printed in the 

 Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archasological Society, Vol. iii. 



As a matter of course there are to bo found the usual underground store- 

 rooms which were so necessary for retaining provisions and ammunition in case of 

 siege, and which are at the pr&sent day so frequently and wrongly assumed to 

 have been dungeons for prisoners. 



Thanks were accorded to the present residents of the Castle, members of 

 the family of Mr. W. H. Hinton, who, in his unavoidable absence, so kindly 

 conducted the members over the buildings of this ancient fortress. Thanks were 

 especially due to the Vicar for a loan of his valuable before-mentioned paper on 

 the Castle, and also of his " Notes on the parish, the Church, and the ancient 

 religious foundations of Ledeneia Parva, or St. Briavel's " jirinted in the Trans- 

 actions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, Voi. ix., part 1, 



