A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



the north arcade the capitals of the first two 

 pillars from the east show grotesques, serpents, 

 conventional flowers and animals. The capital 

 of the third pillar represents a stag hunt. On 

 the west face a stag is held at bay by two hounds ; 

 on the south-west angle, under the volute, is a 

 conventional representation of a tree, behind 

 which on the south face a man is approaching 

 and in the act of releasing two more hounds. 

 On the east face is apparently a horse from which 

 the man has just dismounted ; and on the north, 

 a rude hairy-headed and bearded face. In the 

 south arcade the capital of the eastern respond 

 has a human head at each angle in place of the 

 volute, and immediately under the abacus is a 

 line of sunk star ornament, a Tau cross being 

 centrally placed under the line of star ornament. 

 The capital of the first pillar from the east has 

 rude figures with exaggerated heads, in place 

 of the angle volutes, with a design of flowers 

 or plants between. The capital of the second 

 pillar has three rude volutes, the fourth taking 

 the form of an animal's head with two bodies, 

 one on either face. The animals, from the 

 stripes, are apparently intended for leopards, 

 the hnes representing some form of hairy beast. 

 The capital of the third pillar is probably the 

 finest of all and is covered with a sunk star 

 ornament, a volute at each angle and a small 

 human head, or 'mulberry ' ornament, centrally 

 on each side. The capitals at the east end of 

 the north arcade and the two corbels of the west 

 wall are much decayed and undecipherable. 



The vaulting is divided into twelve bays by 

 slightly stilted semicircular arches of square 

 section, i ft. 8 in. wide on the soffit. The 

 springers are apparently worked with square 

 projections on the same stones, which form the 

 springing of the groins, and appear to be gener- 

 ally three or possibly four courses in height, 

 judging from the abrupt alteration in the curve 

 of the groin. The cells are of rubble plastered, 

 and are distinctly stilted for a considerable 

 distance above the abaci, immediately above 

 which they present a face of 3 in. The curve 

 of the cells and transverse arches do not coin- 

 cide, the latter presenting a face of about i in. 

 at the springing, increasing to 5 in. or 7 in. at 

 the crown. 



The chapel has been built with a local stone, 

 which is strongly veined and marked with quite 

 brilliant colouring. Nothing can be said of the 

 outside of the chapel, as it is so completely built 

 in all round and above. That it formed a por- 

 tion of Waltheof's building there is little doubt, 

 possibly a projecting wing within the outer 

 defensive wall. It is doubtful whether it was 

 originally more than one story in height. 

 The sinking of the exterior walls, together with 

 the distortion of the arches, points to the fact 

 that the foundations were not prepared to carry 



the great additional weight added to them in 

 later years.'* 



The old approach to the keep from Pudsey's 

 hall, including the group of buildings above the 

 ancient chapel, and extending along the inner 

 side of the great north wall, is now called the 

 Junction on account of the modern staircase 

 and corridor connecting the keep with the rest 

 of the castle. The exterior of the north wall in 

 this part has been so much cut about that no 

 original work is visible except a portion of the 

 round arch of a Norman window, high up and 

 almost hidden by more modern facing. In the 

 core of the wall, however, there is doubtless old 

 work, and the lower part of the wall contains 

 probably the oldest existing masonry in the 

 castle. 



The buttresses show that at one time the 

 wall had a serious bulge or overhang which has 

 been partly rectified from time to time by cutting 

 back the masonry and refacing it. Windows 

 of all sorts and sizes have been inserted, making 

 it almost impossible to determine the true line 

 of the north face. 



Projecting from the north wall between the 

 modern areas in front of the chapel windows 

 is a square turret of unknown date and purpose, 

 but possibly of Bishop Fox's time (1494-1501). 

 This turret is locally called the ' Hanging Tower,' 

 from which criminals are thought to have been 

 executed. In support of this tradition a hollow 

 resembling a putlog hole, about 7 in. by 5 in. 

 by 3 in. deep, is shown inside about the middle 

 of the west wall, and a similar hole may be seen 

 on the opposite side. These holes are thought 

 to have held a beam to which the halter was 

 attached. There is, however, no record of any 

 such use of this turret nor any execution at the 

 castle since the turret was built. The turret 

 rises to the parapets of the north wall, and has 

 an average projection of 4 ft. on the east side 

 and 4 ft. 5 in. on the west, with a face measure- 

 ment on the north of 5 ft. 9 in. The inside 

 measurements are 4 ft. from east to west and 

 4 ft. 6 in. from north to south. In the north 

 face there is a square-headed opening in the 

 wall, measuring 2 ft. 6 in. wide and 9 ft. 11 in. 

 high from the stone head, down to the top of 

 a modern wall that has been put in to close up 

 what appears from the outside to be the remains 

 of an old loop. There is a floor 6 ft. below this 

 opening, but whether it is old cannot be said. 



The roof of the chamber is formed with a 

 course of wide splayed corbel stones on each 

 east and west wall on a^level with the corbel of 

 the opening, but longer in both splay and pro- 

 jection. The west wall has a return 7J in.'deep, 



'* This is shown by the difference in level of their 

 abaci compared with the level of the abaci of the 

 independent columns. 



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