NORWICH. 
who then poffeffed this fortrefs, rebuilt, or gonaiers | altered, 
the caftle, and that as prefent keep-tower is part of the work 
then ereGted. ame authors obferve, that the caftle was 
now rendered impregnable, but this is evidently a mis-ftate- 
Bigod was eX- 
rced to capitulate. 
- Edward I., obtained the honor and cuftody of it from 
the Bigods. In the time of Edward II. the honor con- 
fifted of one hundred and twenty knights’ fees ; which were 
equal to eighty-five thoufand acres of land. e power of 
the earls appears foon after this to have been abridged, for 
the fheriff of the oy was ‘authorized by the king to ufe 
the caltle for a prifon, to keep perfons charged with crimes 
in fafe cuftody, till the itinerant juitices fhould hold their 
urts of oyer and terminer 1s authority of the fheriffs 
was repeatedly refifted by the earls, which eer gee an - 
to be paffed in the fourteenth year o 
powering the form 
and prifons as they formerly 
Of the Are bts, ance pa 1 prfet ne ee the Caftle.— 
the prefent 
or ey king pane ; nd Mr Wilkin, in 
the * Archzo slogiay” remarks, that * although the build- 
ing is of Dani/b workmanfhip, itis, notwithftanding, inthe 
tafte of archite€ture prattifed by the Saxons, long before 
ngland became fubject to the Danes; and i ie the beft ex- 
terior of this kind of architecture extant.’? Blomefield 
conceives that the peel ftru€ture was sredied by Roger 
Bigod, in the time of iam Rufus, and that it occupies 
the {cite of a brick pains, which was raifed by Canute. 
He alfo thinks it was confider ay! ieee and oe by 
Thomas de Brotherton, in the e of Edwa 
tower to 
the keep, or mafter tower,’’ he obferves, ‘“¢ the only confider- 
able part now ftanding, the ftyle of its architeCture is, in 
many refpects, fo different from that of the towers ereGted 
in the reigns of William Rufus, and, Henry I. and IT. “ and 
the ornaments are fo different i thofe which were in ufe 
in the reign of Edward II., when pointed arches had been 
long introduced, and were elteemed the moft elegant of any, 
that I ramet but think — bui muc 
quity (#. e han the tim Bi 
completely Saxon, hough : is pote the ftaircafe ight 
or rebui y Thomas de Brotherton, 
In fhort, as 
r 
were Saxon. And I am the more induced to form this con- 
clufion, becaufe I can find no authentic account whatever of 
the deftruction of the caftle built in Canute’s time, either by 
war or by accident, or of its being taken down, in order to 
ere&t the prefent ftru€ture, as is fuppofed by fome.’ 
The promontory on which the keep is built, appears to be 
a natural elevation, excepting fome little addition which may 
have been ba ee b , by throwing out the earth from the 
9 
° 
aa) 
(ee 
cf 
ws 
3 
Qa 
te 
a 
w 
c 
oO 
23 
‘ 
wards the river on the eaft. 
oe its outer works, contained about twenty-three 
acres, the whole of which was {urrounded by a wall. This 
e Barbican 
doubt, wh 
be- 
by a fimilar wall h er 
caufe its altitude far exceeded the o 
the cita The walls, according to Grofe, “* were commo 
ly flanked with towers, ha 
e 
nellated, or garreted ; 
flights of fteps at convenient diftances, and the parapet 
often had the merlons pierced with long chinks, ending in 
round holes, called ceilets 
The walls of the city, ‘built in the year 1294, were thus 
formed; but it does not follow that thofe of the caftle, 
ereted at a more remote period, were fo conftruéted. 
They have long been down, the outer and inner valla levelled, 
and the foffa filled up for building, and other purpofes. 
Near the fouth-weft angle of the inner ballium is the {quare 
keep-tower, the antiquity and architecture of which have 
afforded a very fertile theme for difputation. 
from eaft to weft, including a {m 
ornament, except two arches on the weft fi e 
bafement ftory upwards, the whole Sune confifts of three 
ftories, each ftrengthened by {mall projeGting buttrefles, b 
tween which the walls are ornamented with ne ie 
arches, refting upon fmall three-quarter columns. The 
backs of fome of thefe arcades are decorated with a kind of 
y 
fpacious apartments. 
been vaulted over with ftone, fom 
to be traced. It is conjeCtured, that the well was fituated 
nearly 
