192 Essay on Caerphilly Castle. 



three short clustered columns, connected by their posterior half, and sepa- 

 rated by a fillet and bold hollow ; above, they are crowned with a neat cap 

 moulding, and below, they rest upon three projecting busts, of which the 

 central is the lowest and largest. It should be mentioned, that a fillet 

 runs up the centre of each of these columns, which, ceasing at the abacus, 

 is continued up the capital, and finally dies into the astragal. Corbels, of 

 somewhat earlier date, but in general appearance resembling these, may be 

 seen in the keep at Chepstow. 



There are no decorations remaining about the fire-place. A plain string 

 runs along the east end of the hall, returned from the corbel of the door 

 canopy, and a base tablet is seen at the west end of the north side, though 

 destroyed along its length. 



A long window in one of the state rooms deserves mention. It resem- 

 bles, though on a much larger scale, the windows of the oratory already 

 described. It appears, however, to have been cinque-foiled, with a quater- 

 foil above the head. 



There are two small polygonal apartments on either side of the inner 

 western gate, that should be noticed. In these a plain diagonal rib rises 

 from a corbel on each side, and meets its fellow in the centre. The corbels 

 present three flat faces, and terminate in a point, which rests upon some 

 animal, in every case wantonly defaced. So very little is really known of 

 the appropriation of the different apartments in castles, that it would be 

 idle to guess at the uses of these. 



Caerphilly presents as little architectural decoration in proportion to its 

 extent, as any castellated building in Britain. 



Its plan, its series of concentric defences, and the general disposition of 

 its constituent parts, resemble those of Conway, Harlech, and other struc- 

 tures known to have been erected either by Edward the first, or some of 

 his barons. The plan of these Edwardian castles is very peculiar. It is 

 unlike the eai'Iier Norman castles, in which the keep was every thing, its 

 walls inordinately thick, and in which comfort was entirely sacrificed to 

 safety ; and it is also unlike the later castles, in which the walls were 

 not remarkably thick, and which possess not only large interior, but large 

 exterior windows, as in the later alterations at Portchester, and in which 

 there is often no building to which the name of keep could be attached, as 

 for instance at Coity. 



Nor is the style of architecture employed at Caerphilly less decisive ; 

 the drop arch, the perfectly plain rib, the general absence of decorations 

 and armorial bearings, the plain battlements, and the absence of machico- 

 lations, indicate generally the same period. 



The disengaged columns of the hall door-way, and their concave pedes- 

 tals, the triple cluster of columns forming the corbels of the roof, their 

 bell capitals, and light cap moulding, are due to the early English style 

 (that of Salisbury), which prevailed from 1189 to 1307. 



