92 Mr. Tate on Dunstanburgh Castle. 



and they continued in the possession of her descendants till 

 they were sold by the present earl Tankerville in June, 1869, 

 to "The Eyres' trustees" of Leeds, for £155,000. 



We shall now look more particularly at the site and at the 

 ruins ; and after a general survey we find that, with little 

 exception, all that remains of the castle belongs to one period, 

 and presents the architectural characters of the early part of 

 the fourteenth century : but the general arrangements differ 

 from those of the Norman castles of the preceding age, and in 

 some respects also from those of the Edwardian period. There 

 was no great keep, nor was the area enclosed within the walls 

 divided into separate wards or baileys ; an inner ward is 

 referred to in the survey of 1538, but this had included the 

 space enclosed by the walls ; while the outer bailey had been 

 outside of the walls to the southward. 



The hill on which the castle stands is washed by the sea, 

 on the north and on the east ; and it is cut off on the west 

 and south-west by low, swampy ground, from which it rises 

 more or less steeply. Probably the sea, at a period subsequent 

 to the Boulder Clay era, flowed through this swamp and con- 

 verted the hill into an island. Only the northern part of the 

 hill is occupied by the castle ; and the southern portion had 

 been an outer bailey or barmakyn, partly defended by the 

 escarpment of rocks, and partly by a rampier, of which there 

 are traces, and probably, too, by a stockade ; thus enclosing 

 a protected area of about fifteen acres for cattle and the growth 

 of corn. 



The ground plan of the castle {Plate III.) is somewhat 

 rectangular, and includes an area of lOac. Or. 25p. Securely 

 defended on the north by high perpendicular cliffs, there was 

 no wall on the north side ; but on the east, where the rock 

 slopes into the sea, there was a wall about six feet thick, of 

 which there are yet some remains. On the west side, where 

 the escarpment is steep but somewhat sloping from the fall 

 of debris, there were not only a wall and towers, but also a 

 ditch, which in some parts was 18 feet deep and 80 feet 

 broad. On the south side, which was the weakest, besides 

 the wall and towers and great gateway, there was a ditch, 

 traces of which, cut into the basalt, are yet to be seen. 



The chief mass of building left is the entrance gate-house 

 (Plate IV.), with its two great semicircular towers, which, 

 at the height of about thirty feet, are converted by means of 

 skilful corbelling into square towers, and which, when com- 



