Essay on Caerphilly Castle. 187 



end by a bridge, are so no longer ; nor have tlie most careful researches 

 above ground been able to detect any ruins. 



The flanking towers of the middle gate-house are destroyed, that on the 

 south completely, and that on the north very nearly so, the ruins of the 

 singular building attached to it having prevented its entire destruction. 



At the opposite or western extremity of this ballium, the gate-house is in 

 rather better condition. The portal has been broken away below, but the 

 hollow semi-piers, connecting it with the horn-work, remain. The front 

 of this gate-house, of great thickness, still remains, and is garnished with 

 a pair of chimneys j its inner part, however, has been destroyed. The 

 windows in the front are the only vestiges of the upper story. 



On the north front of this ballium, the curtain is much shattered by the 

 fall of the inner towers, and as all the bastions have been ruined and blown 

 up, their exact line of boundary is scarcely traceable. 



Upon the southern side, the wide lake, and the strength of the outbuild- 

 ings, have in some degree preserved the curtain, but the door of the water 

 gate is much injured. A few feet below its sill, a long black stain marks 

 the height of the water in former times, and gives about twelve feet as the 

 average depth of the lake. 



The gallery, kitchens, etc., which occupy this side, are much injured : 

 but in front of the great oven a portion of the ancient parapet remains, 

 here about twelve feet high, and furnished with a loop. 



The tank is still extant, though nearly choked up with stones and bram- 

 bles. 



Ascending from the eastern gatehouse, across a mass of almost un- 

 traceable ruins, we enter the central ballium of the castle, once perhaps the 

 most magnificent court in England, though now defaced and shattered. 



With the exception of a partial breach on the northern side, the curtains 

 of this inner ballium have suffered but little, and the height of the parapet 

 and rerc-wall may still be inferred, by the projections at its junction with 

 the towers. 



The eastern gate-house has been separated by a blast, into two portions; 

 of which the inner, towering to a prodigious height, still remains tolerably 

 perfect, while the outer, absolutely broken into fragments, has crushed the 

 lower gate-house ber.eath its weight, and still encumbers it with its ruins. 



The western gate-house has been more fortunate ; the staircases, how- 

 ever, are broken and irregular, and the vaulting of the upper story des- 

 troyed. Through the floor of its central apartment, a hole has been broken 

 into the vault of the portal beneath. 



In the floor of the triforial gallery are two large holes, which open upon 

 a staircase and passage below. 



The buildings within the court have suffered severely. The hall, seventy- 

 two feet long, by thirty-three wide, is roofless, although the structure of 

 its roof is apparent from the remaining corbels, and the pavement has 



