REPORT OF THE MEETINGS FOR 1897 143 



Appendix I. 



Belsay Castle. 



Extracts from the Report of Mr Charles J. Ferguson, 

 Architect, F.S.A., Carlisle. Contributed by the President. 



"The Castle is a rectangle with a length of 47' 0", East 

 to West, and of 57' 7", South to North. Like the majority 

 of Keeps, it is three storeys in height ; but it almost stands 

 alone in the great turrets which crown each corner of it, 

 and the great overhanging battlements, carried sheer out 

 from the face of the walls on three tiers of corbels, an example 

 of battlements and machicoulis which is illustrated and re- 

 ferred to in Mons Viollet le Due's great work on mediaeval 

 architecture.* 



The height from the plinth to the underside of the corbels 

 is about 50' 2", and it may be interesting to note that none of 

 the openings of the machicoulis, or the sizes of the embrasures 

 or merlows are exactly alike. 



The same characteristic of mediaeval work is to be found 

 in Carnarvon Castle. 



The builders in those days took the stone most nearly 

 suited to the end in view, and did not think exact similarity 

 necessary. 



The walls have an average thickness of ten feet on the 

 basement, and of 7 feet on the upper storeys. 



The basement as is usual is on the ground level ; within 

 it is a well, one of the first requirements of a Keep. And as at 

 Bamburgh, and Castle Rising, the well's mouth is at the ground 

 level. 



The basementf consists of a great chamber along its eastern 

 front, about 38 ft. X 18 ft. 6 ins., barrel vaulted, and lighted 

 originally by four loops. The room is now divided into 

 two, by an inserted]: wall; it was in fact, the most invariable 

 custom in mediaeval times to form basements in both ecclesi- 

 astical and domestic buildings, of great extent, and to subdivide 

 them into lesser rooms as occasion required. 



* See Photosrraph reproduced No. 1. 

 t See Plan No. 2 iu Illustrations. 

 J This has now been removed. 



