A HISTORY OF SURREY 



Through the east end of the north wall a passage 

 has been cut, 20 feet long, to the ' dungeons ' 

 before described ; the jamb of a fifteenth century 

 doorway shows at its south-west angle. The 

 ' dungeons ' have at some time been cut in two 

 by a wall parallel to the diagonal archway, and 

 now broken through ; it contains pieces of tivelfth 

 century mouldings, and may be mediaeval. 



The great chamber probably took up the whole 

 of the first floor of this block, being entered from 

 the vice at its south-west angle, and from the 

 stairs to the keep at the north-east. In its south 

 wall, towards the west end, is a blocked fifteenth 

 century window of two lights. Its east wall con- 

 tains a large modern semi-circular opening filled 

 with glazed casements, giving access to a balcony 

 from which wooden steps descend to the garden. 



Adjoining this room to the north, on the same 

 level, is the chapel fitted up by Bishop Morley, and 

 now in use. It has been planned without any 

 reference to the walls of the ' dungeons ' and 

 passage below, which it crosses at an angle, and its 

 east end has been obtained by continuing the line 

 of the east wall of the great chamber 22 feet north- 

 wards, adding a triangular block of masonry to 

 the face of the older wall. The added work as 

 seen from the garden on the east is of brick, con- 

 trasting with the stone facing of the walls of the 

 great chamber block to the south. The only clue 

 to the date of this stone facing is given by the 

 springing of a sixteenth century four-centred arch 

 above the large semicircular arch opening to the 

 balcony before noticed. The chapel is entered 

 from the west through a carved and pierced door 

 in a screen against which the stalls, which run along 

 the north and south walls, are returned. All 

 woodwork details are excellent, and the seats are 

 backed vnth high carved and moulded panelling, 

 capped by a large cornice. A pulpit with reading 

 desk below is contrived in the north wall, being 

 approached by a staircase in the wall masked by 

 panelling. In the east wall is a wide round- 

 headed virindow flanked by two narrower square- 

 headed lights. 



Bishop Morley did much to bring the east wing 

 of the castle to its present form, inserting large 

 two-light windows with wooden arched heads and 

 muUions at both east and west ends of the great 

 chamber block, on the ground floor, building 

 three sides of the small courtyard east of the hall, 

 and putting in the great and other staircases, and 

 much of the woodwork of the rooms and passages. 

 All his woodwork is on a large scale vrith heavy 

 newels and balusters to the staircases, and projecting 

 cornices and doorheads, excellent specimens of 

 their kind. 



In the north-east angle of the main courtyard, 

 and west of the stairs from the keep, is a small 

 block of building entered from the courtyard by a 

 doorway with a four-centred arched head and 

 splayed jambs in brickwork ; it seems to be of late 

 sixteenth century date, but older than the wall 

 and arch at the west end of the diagonal passage. 



It is now used as domestic offices, and at iti north 

 end is a dairy. 



The alterations entailed by the fitting up of Bishop 

 Motley's chapel have made the history of this 

 corner of the castle very difficult to read. The 

 inner arch at the west end of the diagonal passage, 

 and part of its south wall, seem to be of the fifteenth 

 century, and there is evidence that this wall ran 

 on to join the north-west angle of the great 

 chamber block. This points to the addition of 

 rooms on the west side of the stair to the keep, 

 and as this work completely closed the twelfth 

 century passage from the courtyard to the area 

 within the outer walls, the present passage would 

 then have become necessary, its angle with the rest 

 of the buildings being determined by the existing 

 twelfth century wall on the south. The exterior 

 of the castle is not very effective ; the south front, 

 from its length, height, and commanding position, 

 has a certain dignity ; but sash windows and cement 

 plastering effectually hide any advantages of colour 

 and detail which it might otherwise possess. 

 Bishop Fox's entrance tower is, however, a fine 

 and stately building, its machicolations and cornice 

 of trefoiled arches being very good of their kind, 

 but it has suffered greatly by the loss of its original 

 windows and their replacement by sash windows 

 of more than ordinary dulness. 



Of the boundary walls of the castle little can be 

 said. The entrance gateway at their south-west 

 angle contains a good deal of its original fourteenth 

 century masonry, including several windows, but 

 has lost its archways, which are replaced at the 

 west by a wooden lintel carrying a plastered cove 

 of late seventeenth or eighteenth century date, 

 and at the east by a four-centred brick arch. In 

 the portion of wall north-west of the keep are two 

 rectangular bastions, one having an inner wall with 

 an entrance doorway, and a small window, ap- 

 parently of the fifteenth century, the other forming 

 a recess 12 feet square, with no inner wall. At the 

 south-east angle is another bastion, whose walls 

 rise only a few feet above the level of the terrace. 



The stables, south-west of the keep, form a 

 picturesque block of building of early eighteenth 

 century date, with simple and effective details. 



The castle was the important centre round which 

 the subsequent military history of Farnham 

 gathered. In 1216, when the faithlessness of 

 John had driven the barons to offer the crown to 

 Louis, the son of the French king and the husband 

 of Henry II. '3 granddaughter, Farnham fell into 

 Louis' hands.' John retired from the coast of 

 Kent past Farnham to Winchester, and probably 

 abandoned the Surrey castles. No siege is recorded. 

 Early in the next year, when John was dead, and the 

 Earl of Pembroke was recovering England for 

 Henry III., Farnham was retaken.* It apparently 

 capitulated, for on 12 March 1 217 a safe-conduct 

 was granted to the garrison, ' senienUs equius el 

 ■pedites, qui fuerunt in castro Farnham^ to retire 

 to London which was still French and baronial.' 

 It was given at Farnham, so that the place was 



3 V.C.H. Surr. i. 343. from 7 to 13 March 1216-7 (»« Co/. 



* Ibid. The earl wai at Farnham of Pat. 1216-25, PP- 35-7i no). 



602 



» Pat. I Hen. III. m. II. 



