Mr. Tate on Harbottle Castle. 435 



the mother of the future sovereigns of Britain was born ; 

 " ther must " it is said, " be two new dormontes of vi yards 

 longe for a chalmere caTlyed the qioennes chambere, will cost 

 for makynge and caryage from Brenborne Wode xijs." The 

 most prominent remains of the keep are two great masses of 

 masonry, one of which seems to have slidden down the hill 

 out of its place, and the other hangs out of the perpendicular 

 on the hill side. The masonry is in courses of rough ashler 

 work, without marked characters, but approximating more to 

 the Edwardian than to the Norman period. At the base, 

 however, of the slidden down mass are alternate courses with 

 a chamfer, similar, as Hartshorne states, to what appears in 

 Northampton Castle and Peverel's Castle in the Peak, which 

 are known to have been erected in the early part of the reign 

 of Henry II. ; and this architectural feature is confirmatory 

 of the historical evidence as to the time when Harbottle 

 Castle was erected. 



The two baileys are overlooked by the keep, the inner one 

 lying towards the north-west, and the outer one to the north- 

 east, and they are still divided from each other by a wall, 

 partially ruined, running from the keep to the outer curtain 

 wall. The gatehouse and the walls of the inner ward, were, 

 in 1537, rent and decayed, and wanted much of the battle- 

 ment ; and the cost of repairs would amount to £60. In 

 this part were a round tower and the chapel chamber, and 

 the great chamber, all of which must have leaden roofs, 

 *' caste newe, for they are verry evylle, and raynes in many 

 places." Here, too, were the good draw-Avell, the kitchen, 

 the brew-house, the bakehouse, and the horse mill. The 

 good draw well remains, and some portions of the curtain 

 wall are standing on the south and west sides, and the foun- 

 dations of the whole are traceable. Fragments there are of 

 a tower on the north side, where, probably, the postern was 

 situated, which required an iron gate, 6 feet 9 inches high, 

 and 3 feet 9 inches broad, and which would cost £6. A 

 mound of debris, connected with the dividing wall, a little 

 northward of the keep, may be the ruins of the gatehouse. 

 Green sward covers the foundations of all the other ancient 

 structures within this ward. 



Fewer remains there are of the outer ward. On the east 

 side stood the barbican, or entrance gateway, which, in 1537, 

 was covered with slate, and had the roof and battlement of 

 the wall much destroyed ; iron gates were required for it, 10 

 feet 3 inches high, and 9 feet 9 inches broad, to make whicl^, 



3l 



