THE SHELL KEEP, c. 1100-1200

The Shell Keep represents the second development of the Norman Castle, and consists of a circular or polygonal ring of stone walling erected upon the motte in the position formerly occupied by the wooden palisading. The substitution of masonry for perishable material was a natural and logical sequence, but in the hurried rush of events immediately following upon the Conquest there was no time for erecting such a defence. A hastily thrown-up mound also would not bear the weight, and it was necessary to allow the earth to consolidate before imposing it. As the country became more settled, and economic and other upheavals less frequent, the Norman barons found time and means to devote to the strengthening of their feudal homes.Of the precise date of the first Shell Keep erected in these islands we have no definite record; it is very doubtful if any saw the light during the reign of William the Conqueror or Rufus, although many examples could be found at that time upon the Continent. We know that certain Castles, such as Carisbrooke, Lincoln, and Totnes, had developed Shell Keeps prior to the termination of the reign of Stephen, and that Windsor, Berkeley, Arundel, and a number of others were furnished with the same not very long after, so that the age of the Shell Keep may roughly be ascribed to the twelfth century. One must not infer, however, that every example of a Shell Keep dates inexorably from that age, because, having proved its efficiency, it became a recognised method of defence, and Lewes and Durham were endowed with Shells as late as the reign of Edward III.

The Shell Keep is always placed upon a mound, either natural, structural at the time of erection, or a pre-existing motte, but by far the greater number of mounds are artificial. The configuration of the earthwork suggested the shape of the Shell, being either circular, oval, or, as in the case of York and probably Warwick, that of a quatrefoil. The majority are polygonal, the sides not necessarily of equal length, and few of them exceeding the duodecagon in number. The diameter varied from 100 feet to 30, seldom more or less; the thickness of the wall was from 10 feet to 12 feet, and the foundations were carried from 4 feet to 6 feet into the soil. This wall was not built upon the extreme edge of the plateau, but generally a few feet from it and carried upwards to a height of between 20 feet and 30 feet, steps of wood or stone upon the interior face giving access to the rampart.

Being essentially in one compact mass, without vertical breaks of any great extent, and homogeneous in construction, the Shell Keep was specially adapted to crown the summit of an artificial mound. The interior area was occupied by buildings, generally abutting upon the Keep walls; in early examples these were constructed of wood, but subsequently almost entirely of stone to lessen the danger of conflagration.

The substitution of masonry for palisading upon the mound suggested a similar course for the defence of the bailey, and the twelfth century witnessed the erection of many of those gigantic walls surrounding them which excite our admiration at the present day by their massiveness and strength. They followed the scarp of the original mounds, and in many examples the water of the external fosse lapped their bases. The addition of a barbican or ravelin to defend the chief entrance to the castle, which invariably opened into the bailey, was now adopted, while the former wooden ladders or bridges giving from the motte to the bailey were superseded by causeways of stone, defended on either side by a continuation of the bailey enceinte up the slope of the mound. Stone steps instead of wood led from the inner surface of the curtain walls to the ramparts above; stone buildings were erected for the domestic offices, barracks, etc., while the wooden planks and ladders by which the moats had formerly been crossed gave place to masonry arches.

These improvements in the majority of examples did not occur at the same time, hence the presence of a twelfth-century Shell Keep is no guarantee that the curtain walls are of the same age. The introduction of flanking towers, generally semicircular, into the curtain wall, and of rectangular towers, astride it, as a rule, occurred in this century. There are examples in our island, however, which prove that only partial adoption of these improvements took place in many castles, and that, for example, the baron and his family were quite content to dwell within the wooden bretasche upon the motte, at the same time strengthening the weaker bailey defences by the erection of a substantial curtain wall.

Alnwick.—The magnificent Castle of Alnwick is an excellent example of a Shell Keep fortress; it stands upon elevated ground on the south bank of the Aln river and about 5 miles from the sea. At the Conquest the site, which probably had an earlier defence upon it, was granted to Ivo de Vescy, whose daughter married Eustace Fitz-John. The constant inroads of the Scots necessitated a stronger fortress at this point, and, about 1140, Fitz-John began the building of which some splendid remains are still visible, chiefly in the innermost gateway and the outer curtain wall. His son, who took his mother's name of de Vescy, placed the Castle in the custody of the Empress Maud's uncle, King David of Scotland. In 1174, William the Lion invaded England and besieged the Castle, but a coalition of the northern barons captured the king and took him to Richmond, thus raising the siege. The de Vescy family died out in 1297, and after a temporary occupation by Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham, was purchased by Sir Henry de Percy, a name which is associated with everything that is brave, chivalrous, and martial in the county of Northumberland. The Percy who fought through the wars of Edward III. and was present at Halidon Hill and Neville's Cross was considered as second only to the king in importance, while the marriage of his son to Mary Plantagenet, daughter of Henry, Earl of Lancaster, proved that it was worthy of alliance with the blood-royal.

In 1405 Alnwick was besieged, and yielded to Henry IV., following upon the battle of Shrewsbury and the defection and death of Hotspur; Henry V., however, restored the heir to his possessions, and created him Earl of Northumberland. He was killed at the first Battle of St. Albans, 1455, while his son fell at Towton in 1461. The Castle saw much fighting in the latter part of the fifteenth century. The long line of the Percies came to an end in 1670; it was probably the most historic of our great English families, and eight bearers of the title met with violent deaths, chiefly on the battlefield. The daughter of the last Earl married Charles Seymour, Duke of Somerset, and their daughter married Sir William Wyndham, thus conveying to him the estates of Petworth, Egremont, and Leconfield. In the next century a Duke of Somerset left a daughter who inherited Alnwick and married Sir Hugh Smithson, who was created Earl Percy and became the ancestor of the present owner.

The Castle is cut off from the town of Alnwick by a deep combe, which has been much scarped; it is a matter for doubt whether the battlemented walls of the town were ever joined to those of the Castle, the same as at Conway and elsewhere. The Shell Keep was erected in 1140, but is so surrounded by subsidiary towers as to almost lose the characteristic. It lies in the centre of the great enclosure, and dual defences run east and west to the enceinte, thus making two wards, or baileys. The knoll upon which the Shell rests may either be a natural feature or the artificial motte of a previous castle. The great gateway and the barbican present excellent examples of military architecture of the fourteenth century. In the middle of the eighteenth century repairs and restorations took place in the execrable taste then prevalent, some of which remain to the present time to mar the aspect of an otherwise superb relic of the past.

Arundel.—The Manor of Arundel is one of the most ancient in the kingdom, being specifically mentioned in the time of Alfred the Great, while, respecting the Castle standing there, it is unique in being the only one mentioned in Domesday as being in existence before the accession of William I. That king granted it to the great Montgomery family, who were succeeded in its possession by King Henry I., through the rebellion of Robert de Belesme. It afterwards passed in succession through the families of D'Albini, Fitz-Alan, and Howard for seven centuries to its present owner, the Duke of Norfolk.

Many important events have linked this great military structure indissolubly to the history of England. Here the Empress Maud was received with her brother, the Earl of Gloucester, in 1139, which precipitated an attack by King Stephen, but the most famous event connected with it was the siege of 1643, when Sir William Waller, first overcoming the defences of the Town, placed his guns on the top of the Church Tower and proceeded to batter the Castle. It capitulated after seventeen days' siege, and the domestic buildings were levelled to the ground.

The Castle is constructed upon the end of a ridge of Chalk extending from the South Downs, with a natural escarpment upon the east and south. It is an excellent example of masonry superseding earthwork defences without obliterating their original lines. The position is such as to suggest a prehistoric camp of the promontory type. The chief original defence was the great moated mount, which is over 200 feet in diameter; on the south side the height from the summit to the bottom of the ditch is 70 feet, being altogether but a little smaller than Windsor. Like the latter it possesses two baileys, occupying over 5 acres in extent, and together forming an oblong enclosure. The mount stands near the centre of the western side upon the enceinte, the ditch forming part of the outer ditch of the Castle in one place. This outer fosse has been much strengthened by artificial means, but is in many places natural.

Upon the motte a Shell Keep was erected in the late Norman Period; it is about 20 feet high, with walls nearly 10 feet thick, and is almost 70 feet in diameter. The walls are faced with Caen stone covering a core of Sussex stone and Chalk. The barbican, called the Bevis Tower, and a portion of the great gatehouse, were built in 1295 by Richard Fitz-Alan, who also erected four towers at equal distances round the enceinte. After the last siege the place remained a heap of ruins for many years, but about 1786 the tenth Duke of Norfolk began to rebuild it, and expended vast sums upon the fabric. The result was the practical re-erection of the present magnificent structure, a typical example of the stately homes of England, and an appropriate dwelling-place for our premier Duke, who has in comparatively recent years erected a sumptuous Cathedral as a fitting companion to the ancient baronial Castle.

Carisbrooke.—Carisbrooke stands upon a site which was undoubtedly a fortress occupied by the Jutes, who conquered the island; William Fitz-Osborne, Earl of Hereford, obtained possession from the Conqueror and reared a motte and bailey castle there. His son, who was imprisoned for life, forfeited the estates, which came into possession of Richard de Redvers, whose heir became Earl of Devon. Piers Gaveston held the Castle in the fourteenth century, and also the Earl of Rutland, son of Edmund of Langley; it was in the occupation of a number of persons subsequently but fell to the Crown in the fifteenth century. It is intimately associated with the unfortunate Charles I., who made three distinct attempts to escape from its confinement.

The mound of the Norman Castle was enclosed by a Shell Keep by Richard de Redvers; it is an irregular polygon of eleven faces and sixty feet in diameter, the walls being of enormous strength and thickness. Entrance is gained by a long flight of steps leading to a passage defended by a portcullis and double gates. The Keep encloses one of the two Castle wells.

Very extensive additions were made by Anthony, Lord Scales, who was Lord of the Castle in 1474. The majestic gateway dates from his time; it is a fine and impressive entrance, flanked by two lofty cylindrical towers with a good example of machicolation between the towers, added late in the fifteenth century. The ruins of the apartments occupied by the royal prisoner lie to the north of the enclosure. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth an elaborate system of fortification was carried out by an Italian engineer, in view of the advent of the Spanish Armada, but was never put to use. After the Restoration many regrettable alterations and additions were made by Lord Cutts, with a view to modernising it, but some of these have been modified recently by the Crown. The picturesqueness of the ruins and their surroundings are an acknowledged feature of the island, and few visit the latter without seeing this venerable relic of the past.