138 Essay on Caerphilly Castle. 



the north postern, upon a plot of ground and causeway, separating the two 

 outer moats. This postern seems to have been contrived for the exit of 

 cavalry. 



Behind and parallel to the curtain, at a distance of nineteen 

 Postern feet, was a slighter wall, four feet thick, and rising to nearly 



Gallery. the height of the curtain, with which it was connected by a 



timber roof. By this means a broad walk was formed for the 

 defence of the rampart above, and a convenient and safe gallery below. 

 To this walk access was obtained from the gate-house, over the abyss be- 

 fore-mentioned, and into the gallery, by the draw-bridge described as 

 crossing the covered way of the grand postern. 



The general disposition of this curtain is irregular} it passes 



Southern off south-east from the gate-house, then makes a bold sweep 



Curtain. eastwards, and then westwards, forming a large semi-circle. 



Semi-circular From thence the wall passes off straight westwards, and then 



Bastion, changing its direction at a right angle, finally crosses the bed 



of the river in a southerly direction, and terminates in a tete 



Mural du pont. This wall contains a chamber and sewers at its in- 



Chamler. ternal angle, is supported exteriorly by seven quadrangular. 



Buttresses, solid buttresses, and is perforated at one end obliquely for the 



Sluices. discharge of the mill stream, and at the other for the passage 



of the nanty-gledyr, being at that part, where it is subject 



to great pressure, fifteen feet thick. The rampart is accessible from the 



t6te du pont, and at the internal angle, here as below, is a mural chamber, 



serving as a place d'armes : the face of the wall, between the buttresses, 



is wrought into a concave arc, the chord and sine of which increase towards 



the summit, so that any heavy missive dropped from the rampart, would 



be projected outwards by the conical slope of the wall. The soil rises 



twenty-four feet higher on the inside than on the outside of this curtain. 



The terre plein is a large surface of sward behind the southern 

 TerrkPlein. curtain, and bounded posteriorly by the counterscarp of the 

 Mill. inner moat. Upon it stood the mill, and from its inner boun- 

 dary dropped the inner draw-bridge. It varies in breadth 

 from its commencement at the gorge, to the dividing wall, where it mea- 

 sures ninety-four feet. 



The tete du pont terminates the southern, as the double towers 

 Tete DU Pont, the northern curtain ; it consists of a curve of the wall westward 

 MuralTower. into a semi-circle upon which rises a mural tower, and a gate 

 Sout/tPostern.tower, with a regular postern, beyond which the wall bifur- 

 cates, one limb defending a sort of causeway towards the 

 Flanking south-west,and another running towards the river, north-west; 

 Wall. these seem designed further to prevent the curtain from being 



out-flanked. 

 Such is the principal line of defence, and upon ground nearly level 



