A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



outer archway and portcullis groove, and a seven- 

 teenth-century lengthening, making up the total pro- 

 jection from the curtain wall to 67 ft. This latter 

 consists merely of two parallel walls, in the western 

 of which is a recess for the porter's seat. There were 

 apparently two towers over the gate, one over the 

 twelfth-century part, and one probably over the late 

 fourteenth-century addition, known as the Portcullis 

 Tower. 



In 1338 a further set of accounts" deals with re- 

 roofing the queen's chamber and the knights' chamber 

 and for repairs to the keep, a big crack (crevesce) 

 having formed in the latter, perhaps a predecessor of 

 the present crack at the south-west angle. The 

 barbican is mentioned in this account, and was evi- 

 dently not new at the time, as an old doorway was 

 now walled up in it ; a further mention of the two 

 barbicans goes to show that they were connected with 

 the east and west gates in the outer bailey, otherwise 

 the Roman fort. The ' Brokene Tour ' at which a 

 stockade was made was probably one of the Roman 

 turrets which have now disappeared ; perhaps that at 

 the south-east angle. There are also provisions for a 

 ' false wall ' against a sudden attack from seaward, 

 contra Insidias Ga/iarum. Twelve of the Roman turrets 

 were fitted with wattled boards, and a weak part of 

 the wall was similarly defended. This must mean 

 that a part of the masonry breastwork which ran 

 round the tops of the Roman walls had been destroyed 

 and was now replaced by wattled defences. The 

 roof of the king's hall in the inner bailey having been 

 damaged by a great wind was now repaired. 



In 1362 is another list of repairs, 80 mostly to roofs, 

 the hall, kitchen, larder, &c., being mentioned. A 

 second tower besides the keep is mentioned, probably the 

 south-east tower, and there is an entry about a new 

 water channel between the larder and the kitchen. 

 A number of payments are made, exclusively to car- 

 penters, about the making of a hall, a camera, and a 

 chapel, but there is nothing to show that the hall and 

 chapel were other than timber buildings, and they are 

 not to be confused with the great hall and chapel then 

 in existence. In the Pipe Roll for the same year, 81 how- 

 ever, the size of the new camera is given as 1 04. ft. by 

 25 ft., and it evidently had masonry walls ; its length is 

 rather too great for a position on the north or east of 

 the inner ward as at present arranged, but as the 

 north-east tower was not built at this time the diffi- 

 culty is not insuperable. The rooms mentioned as 

 repaired are : three king's chambers, the queen's 

 chamber, the chamber next the hall, the kitchen, 

 bake-house, and lead-house. 



The sea-gate, or east gate of the fort, now received 

 a portcullis ; the existing gate seems to have been re- 

 built about 1397."* It projects beyond the line of 

 the Roman walls and has diagonal angle buttresses 

 and a rather narrow entrance, but has lost much of 

 its wrought stonework. It is set in front of a rectan- 

 gular gatehouse built within the walls, the lower 

 parts of which, with its eastern arch, are apparently 

 of Roman date, the arch being semicircular, of one 

 square order, with ironstone and Binstead voussoirs 

 and jambs. 



In i 3 84-6 M a great deal of work was going on. 

 'Ashtonestour,' at the north-east of the inner bailey, was 

 being fitted with hinges, bolts, &c., and its roof leaded ; 



7Exch. K.R. 479, No. 18. 

 80 Ibid. Nos 19, 20. 



l Pipe, 36 Edw. Ill, 41. 

 8 Exch. K.R. 479, No. 23. 



I 5 6 



Sir Robert Assheton was constable in 1376, and this 

 probably gives the year when it was begun. It con- 

 tains the latrines, its lower part being divided into 

 several wide shoots, the general arrangement of which 

 is still clear, though much of the masonry has been 

 removed. It has an entrance on the west from the 

 now destroyed vaulted ground story of the northern 

 range, and the rampart walk is continued through it 

 at a higher level. 



The great quantities of materials accounted for by 

 the returns of 13969 show the Lirge extent of work 

 then being carried out. The camera between the 

 keep and Ashton's Tower, although called new in the 

 account, and probably being that built in 1362, was 

 in a ruinous state, and was repaired, or rather rebuilt, 

 the masons working on it through practically the 

 whole of 1396. It is now again completely ruined 

 and destroyed to the foundations. 



A list of the stone used is interesting ; freestone 

 from Bonchurch, and ragstone or ragplatener stone 

 from Bembridge for the walling, and Beer stone from 

 Devonshire for the details of doors and windows and 

 fire-places. A thousand cart-loads of flints were used, 

 and 1,000 white tiles of Flanders were brought 

 for the fire-backs lei reredoses caminorum being 

 shipped at Billingsgate in London and taken to the 

 Pool and thence by sea to Portchester. Hearth-tiles 

 were also bought for the fire-places, and a great lime 

 kiln was made at the foot of Portsdown, 14 ft. wide 

 and 1 1 ft. deep, and filled and burnt six times, pro- 

 ducing 800 quarters or 87 cartloads of lime. Chalk 

 was also quarried at Portsdown for the fillings of 

 vaulting and walls. ' Plastureston de Purbik ' was 

 used for the plastered partitions between the various 

 rooms. 



There was much renewing of leaden roofs, and a 

 lead downpipe was made to carry the water from the 

 roof of the keep. Lead from the dismantled Mere 

 Castle in Wiltshire was brought to be used at Port- 

 chester. 



The most important entry is that mentioning the 

 setting out and beginning of the present south-west 

 range, containing the hall, kitchen with buttery and 

 pantry, and the rooms adjoining. In the western 

 range most of what exists dates also from this time or 

 a little earlier, as it seems that the fitting up of the 

 chapel east of the keep, and the king's apartments in 

 the west range, preceded the rebuilding of the hall 

 and offices. The south gateway and its vault were 

 repaired at this time, and the second addition to the 

 original gate, already mentioned, probably dates from 

 this repair. The vault here is called ' duplex,' and 

 as the same term is used in speaking of the great outer 

 gate on the west, where both the ground and first 

 story were vaulted, this may have been the case in the 

 south gate also. The vault of the basement in the 

 keep is said to be cum duplici pmdente ; in this case 

 it may mean ' in two spans.' 



In 1398 the hall was far advanced, as oaks for its 

 rafters and for the kitchen are mentioned. An item 

 of oil for preserving its timbers against sun and wind 

 points to the existence of a wooden louvre on the 

 roof, and a later entry shows that there was one over 

 the kitchen. They are called femoralli, fumerels, and 

 were covered with lead, like the roofs. In 1399 

 glass was being made and painted with shields, 



* Ibid. No. 22. 



