KENILWORTH AND ITS PRIORY—THE STORY AND ROMANCE OF KENILWORTH CASTLE

Kenilworth, which is prettily situated, and lies almost equidistant between Warwick and Coventry, and about five miles direct north of the former town, is reached by the turnpike road passing Guy’s Cliff, the beautiful Blakedown Mill, which existed prior to the reign of Henry II., and Chessford Bridge. Few who visit Kenilworth at the present day would imagine that this quiet, straggling country town, with a population of about four thousand, could ever have played the important part it did in the history and romance of the county and the nation at large.

Kenilworth of to–day at first sight gives the traveller the impression of being merely a sleepy town, with the architecture of its long main street, which is a full mile in length, picturesquely broken up by the interspersing of modern and older buildings. Few, indeed, would suppose that any manufacture of the slightest importance could occupy the thoughts or the energies of its inhabitants; but there are still some carried on amid its rural surroundings.

One of the most interesting buildings in Kenilworth is the old Elizabethan House, standing just beyond the King’s Arms Hotel, at which Sir Walter Scott put up when visiting the place in 1820. Over the door of the house, which is of two stories, is a wooden panel on which is carved a representation of the bear and ragged staff, with the initials R. L., standing for Robert Leicester. The building was in former times one of the lodges of the castle, to which the roadway passing the house leads, thus forming the principal approach. In this house, tradition asserts, Amy Robsart used to stay, and there is at least a tradition that years ago a secret underground passage was discovered leading from the house to the castle.

Although prettily situated, Kenilworth does not nowadays possess any great attractions other than its castle. But on the slope to the east of the latter, and slightly below the level of the Coventry Road, is the church, consisting of a western tower and spire, nave with aisles, transepts, and a chancel with a south aisle or Lady Chapel of considerable interest. The nave and tower date from the fourteenth century, and on the western side of the latter a very beautiful Norman doorway, probably removed from the adjacent priory, has been inserted. This door, which is well worth the study of those interested in architecture, possesses three receding arches, the first fluted, the second beak–headed, and the third embattled, encircled by a nail–headed band, and the whole enclosed in an ornamental square, having a border of diaper–work and cable moulding. There is also a patera in each spandril.

The old entrance to the rood loft may be seen on the north side of the chancel arch, now blocked up. On the south side is a very good example of a lychnoscope. The chancel contains a piscina and a circular font, dating from the middle of the seventeenth century. In the lower belfry is a boat–shaped leaden casting, weighing about a ton, and bearing the seal of one of Henry VIII.’s Commissioners, probably impressed upon it at the time of his visit, with reference to the Dissolution of the priory hard by, amongst the ruins of which the casting was found in 1888.

There would appear to be little doubt that this “pig” forms part of the leaden roof of the priory, for in different accounts relating to the suppression of the religious foundations throughout the country there are many records of the melting down of the lead covering the roofs, in order that it might be turned into cash. The ancient Communion plate belonging to the church is of great interest, and includes a chalice, dating from about 1570, the gift of the Earl of Leicester; a flagon, paten, and chalice given by the Duchess of Dudley in 1638; and another less ornamental chalice given in 1644 by the Countess of Monmouth. The church was somewhat relentlessly and badly restored in 1865.

The priory was a foundation of the Augustinians or Black Canons, the full title of whom was the Canons Regular of St. Augustine. The house was founded about the year 1122 by Geoffrey de Clinton.

As we have before said, the chief attraction of Kenilworth nowadays is its ruined castle, a magnificent and impressive red sandstone pile, now overgrown with ivy and, alas, crumbling yearly into greater decay, which in ancient times saw so much of the stir, pageantry, and circumstance of life. And even if some of the legends and tales connected with this truly wonderful building have little foundation in actual fact, there is still much of unimpeachable history and romance welded into its very fabric.

The glamour of Kenilworth is undeniable, and doubtless has been not a little added to from the fact that so great and vivid a descriptive writer as Sir Walter Scott made it the locale of one of his most popular and perhaps most readable novels. That his history is not entirely accurate has little or nothing to do with the enjoyment of the book by the general reader, nor does it militate against the interest aroused in the fine ruins of the castle which he made the scene of so much pageantry and romance.

The name of Kenilworth is probably derived from the Saxon owner Kenulph or Kenelm, and “worthe,” signifying a dwelling–place; but in the Domesday Book it is called Chenewrd, and in some Charters Chenille Wurda, the “worthe” or manor of Chenil. Whether the original owner of the manor was one named Chenil, or Kenelm the Mercian, there is no satisfactory evidence, but Dugdale associates the name with the latter, and this, indeed, seems the more probable derivation. One thing appears certain, however, namely, that the original founder of Kenilworth was a man of considerable position, because his buhr or keep and its earthworks were both extensive and strong.

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At the period of the Domesday Book the manor of Kenilworth was a portion of the royal manor of Stoneleigh, and was divided into two parts, known as “Opton or Upton, containing three hides, held direct of the King by Albertus Clericus, in pure alms; and Chineworde, held by Ricardus Forestarius. Opton is upper–town or high–town, the rising ground to the north of the present church. Chineworth is Kenilworth proper.” It seems probable that Chineworth is a corruption of the name Kenilworth.

The ancient history of the castle is, owing to the great alterations made by succeeding owners and the absence of records, very difficult to trace, though it is quite certain that the owner of the manor during Saxon times, as was usual, fortified the best position by earthworks, and also probably erected an earthen keep. The exact site of the latter is quite an open question, as is the point as to which of the earthworks now traceable date back to the far remote period of Saxon times. Indeed, until the reign of Henry I. the history of the castle is largely speculative. Some authorities incline to the view that the site of the present buildings was in Roman times that of a fort, temporary or otherwise; which the Saxon chief afterwards selected, adopted, and enlarged, that it might afford shelter and security for his own flocks and herds which roamed the Arden, and even those also of his immediate dependants.

Kenilworth and its several owners during the Middle Ages saw many vicissitudes and several tragic events. In the Barons’ War it changed hands several times, and among its most famous owners was Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who led the Barons against King Henry III.

Many royal visits were paid during the succeeding reigns, and Edward II. was deposed in the Great Hall, and afterwards kept a prisoner in the castle.

In 1563 Kenilworth was granted by Queen Elizabeth to her favourite, Robert Dudley, who in the following year was created Earl of Leicester. Soon after coming into possession of this magnificent fortress dwelling he set about to make radical alterations. We are told that he “gutted the keep and forebuilding, afterwards fitting them up in the Tudor style, and also erected the pile of buildings which are known by his name, and rebuilt the Gallery Tower on the outer end of the dam, and probably added an upper story to the great barn.” One of his finest additions was undoubtedly the great gate–house on the north side, by which means he turned what had formerly been the rear of the castle into the front, approaching it from the road crossing the valley instead of from the side of the fields and lake. It is considered by several authorities, too, that it was probably he who later on filled up the ditch of the inner ward. The building material he used was ashlar, and although the work was not badly done, it was probably carried out too rapidly, and was, therefore, not of a very substantial or lasting character. Afterwards, when the castle was allowed to fall into disrepair, and the roofs and floors disappeared, the walls soon gave way and became unsafe.

Doubtless with a view of entertaining his royal mistress, who visited the castle in 1566, 1568, 1572, and 1575, Robert Dudley spent an immense sum on his alterations, which has been variously estimated from fifty to seventy–five thousand pounds: a sum which in those days, of course, represented a far greater amount than would appear at first sight. Although no doubt Queen Elizabeth was entertained right royally on the occasions of all her visits, it was the last one, which began on Saturday 9th of July, and did not end until the 26th, that is most historically famous by reason of the extraordinarily lavish and interesting character of its entertainments prepared for the Queen.

From contemporary accounts—all the revels were chronicled in detail by Laneham, an attendant on the Queen—we gather at least some idea of what these famous festivities were like. The Queen was met, whilst still distant from the castle several hundred yards, by a person dressed to represent “one of the ten sibills cumly clad in a pall of white sylk, who pronounced a proper poezie in English rime and meeter.” This service “Her Majestie benignly accepted, and passed foorth into the next gate of the Brayz, which, for the length, largenes, and use, they now call the Tylt–yard.”

Immediately on entering the latter the porter, a huge fellow, who is recorded to have been so overcome with a sense of the Queen’s majesty that he scarcely knew what to do, presented the keys to the Queen. This ceremony finished, six trumpeters, dressed in loose, silken garments, who stood upon the wall over the gateway, blew a fanfare of welcome, whilst “her Highness, all along this Tilt–yard, rode into the inner gate, where a person representing the Lady of the Lake (famous in King Arthur’s Book), with two Nymphes waiting upon her, arrayed all in sylks, attended her Highness coming.” These beings appeared suddenly on a floating island in the lake blazing with torches, and made a speech of welcome to the Queen, which ended with music; the speech which was made by the Lady of the Lake narrated the “auncientee of the castle,” and the dignities and titles of the Earls of Leicester, and concluded with the following verse:—

Wherefore, I will attend while you lodge here,
(Most peerless Queene) to Court to make resort;
And as my love to Arthure did appeere,
So shal’t to you in earnest and in sport.

A special road had been made by which the Queen entered the castle, a bridge 20 feet wide and 70 feet long having been constructed across the dry valley leading to the castle gates, for her to pass over. The posts erected on either side bore trays and bowls containing gifts from the gods, which a poet had been engaged especially to present to her. These consisted of rare fruits from Pomona, corn from Ceres, wine from Bacchus, a cage of wild fowl from Silvanus, sea fish from Neptune, weapons from Mars, and musical instruments from Phoebus. Her Majesty then passed into the inner court, and (again quoting the ancient account) “thear set doun from her palfrey was conveied up to a chamber, when after did follo a great peal of Gunz and lightning by Fyr–work.”

One can well imagine that the Queen must have been fatigued by her reception, which seems to have included several recitals in addition to the Latin poem, which was read to her by a poet clad “in a long ceruleous Garment with a Bay Garland on his head and a skrol in his hand.”

The festivities thus inaugurated lasted for seventeen days, and included nearly every conceivable amusement popular in those days. There were hunting parties, dances, and theatrical representations, fireworks on the lake, bear baitings, Italian tumblers, tilting at the Quintain, a country Bride–ale or marriage feast, and Morrice dancing, the performers for the latter entertainment being probably drawn from Long Marston, near Stratford–on–Avon, which in those days was famous for them. Most elaborate aquatic sports were also given on the lake, where a Triton appeared riding on a mermaid 18 feet long, accompanied by Arion on a dolphin, from the interior of each of which proceeded hidden music of a delightful character. In addition to all these things the Coventry players made a special journey to give their ancient play called “Hocks Tuesday,” which depicted scenes from the incidents of the massacre of the Danes in the reign of King Ethelred.

With these latter performances it is recorded the Queen expressed herself as greatly pleased, giving to the players a couple of fat bucks and five marks in money for a feast.

Leicester not only entertained the Queen, but crowds of other folk seem to have enjoyed the open house provided, and we are told by Laneham that “The Clok Bell sang not a Note, all the while her Highness waz thear: the Clok also stood still withall; the handz of both the tablz stood firm and fast, allweys pointing at 2 a’Clok,” this being the usual banqueting hour.

Some idea of the cost of the festivities, which is stated by some authorities to have amounted to at least a thousand a day, may be gained from the fact that no less than 320 hogsheads of beer were drunk. The Queen marked her approval of the entertainment provided by knighting five gentlemen, amongst whom were Sir Thomas Cecil, son and heir to the Lord High Treasurer Sir Henry Cobham, and Sir Francis Stanhope; and it would appear that she also touched for the King’s Evil, as a record exists that “Nyne persons were cured of the peynful and daungerous deseaz called the King’s Evil.” All of the masques were written specially for the occasion; a good number of them by George Gascoigne, and may be found in his well–known account of the festivities, entitled “Princely Pleasures at Kenilworth.”

As is well known, Sir Walter Scott in his novel describes Amy Robsart as being present at Kenilworth in 1575. This idea, however, is entirely erroneous, as indeed are many other incidents recorded in the tale. She died at Cumnor Place fifteen years before this royal pageant, and it seems probable that her death occurred prior to the granting of the castle to Leicester; although she may possibly have passed through Kenilworth on a journey, as there is an old tradition to this effect at Moreton Morrell.

Very briefly, the real facts concerning Amy Robsart are as follows. The only legitimate child of Sir John Robsart of Siderstern, she was born in 1532, and was married at the age of eighteen on 4th June, at the Royal Palace of Sheen, to Lord Dudley, in the presence of Edward VI. and many members of the Court. She lived chiefly in the country during the time that her husband was in attendance on the Court, and ten years after her marriage, in 1560, was residing at Cumnor Place, rented from William Owen, a son of George Owen, who had been one of the physicians to King Henry VIII. At this time there were staying with her a Mrs. Odingsells, sister of Mr. Hyde, and Mrs. Owen, wife of the owner of the house.

It was on Sunday, 8th September, that she was found dead at the foot of a staircase, with her neck broken, by the servants, who had been allowed to visit the fair at Abingdon. In due course an inquest was held, and full inquiry made into the circumstances of her death, but nothing was discovered in the least implicating any one as accessory to it.

Although Robert Dudley was undoubtedly secretly married at the time of his Sovereign’s visit to Kenilworth, it was not to Amy Robsart. Four years previous to the Queen’s visit he had engaged himself to Lady Douglas Sheffield, whom he had privately married in May two years later, a son, Robert, being shortly afterwards born to them. This marriage (concerning the legality of which there seems to be some doubt) he ultimately endeavoured to repudiate, and at the time of the festivities at Kenilworth he was actually carrying on a clandestine intrigue with Lettice, Countess of Essex, whose husband died in the following year.

In 1578, although Lady Douglas Sheffield was alive, he married Lady Lettice, who was a daughter of Sir Francis Knollys, and a son was born to them, who, however, died in 1584. On Leicester’s death it was found that he had bequeathed the castle for life to his brother Ambrose, Earl of Warwick, and after him to his son by Lady Douglas Sheffield, whom he termed Sir Robert Dudley.

The only portion now habitable of what was anciently one of the finest baronial fortress homes in the kingdom is Leicester’s magnificent gate–house, which many authorities are agreed equals in its size and beauty of architecture many a manor–house itself. The old–time entrance passage of this gate–house nowadays forms two rooms and small additions. The magnificent fireplace in one of the rooms of the house is said to be a relic brought from the castle, probably at the time of its dismantlement by the Parliamentarians.

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The entrance to the castle is through a small gateway, a few yards distant from the gate–house; and after passing through a strip of garden the outer court of the castle is reached, and an impressive and fairly extensive view of the whole building is obtained.

On the right–hand side are the remains of the buildings which in former times formed the northern side of the inner court, with the once extensive stables, just visible on the left through a small shrubbery, with the circular Lunn’s Tower some forty feet in height close to them, and projecting from the curtain. The tower has two upper floors with fireplaces, and to one of these has been given (why it is not discoverable) the title of the King’s Chamber. The loopholes are all splayed on the inside, to assist in the discharge of arrows, and on the outside wall are holes, in which were placed beams to support the wooden galleries, called “hoards,” which enabled the defenders to have a command of the walls, and thus make it impossible for the attacking force to obtain shelter by keeping close to them. The entrance to the tower was blown up during the Civil War in the reign of Charles I.

The stabling, which is on the ground floor, of stone, and the upper part mostly of timber and brick, has in the centre a large porch and a wide entrance, as though this part of the building was once used for the purpose of a barn. The work is chiefly in the Late Perpendicular style, although traditionally of a much earlier date.

Mortimer’s Tower lies at the other end of the stable buildings, past the warder’s chamber, and is at the castle end of the tilt–yard or dam. Why called Mortimer’s Tower has never been satisfactorily settled, as although Scott and some other writers believe that it took its name from the Earl of March, who played the principal part in the great tournament in the reign of Edward I., and may possibly have lodged in it, others incline to the view that it derived it from the circumstance of a Sir John Mortimer having been imprisoned in it during the reign of Henry V. As a fact, the tower is more properly to be considered a strong double gateway, leading into the tilt–yard, and formerly provided with two portcullises and a double set of gates. Remains of chambers on either side are discoverable, the one on the left hand possessing a garderobe; the outer entrance is defended by two half–round towers, which are pierced with loopholes for repelling attack. The tower gateway leads out upon the high bank, which was originally a portion of the dam of the great lake, and was used as a tilt–yard. It extends for a distance of about eighty yards to the Gallery Tower placed at the end of this isthmus–like strip of land, which in ancient times separated the lower lake from the great lake. The Gallery Tower, however, cannot now be reached from the tilt–yard, owing to the fact that a deep cutting was made through the dam for the purpose of draining off the waters from the lake, but it can be seen embowered in trees from the castle side of the cutting. This name was probably derived from the fact that in ancient times it was furnished with “a broad and fair gallery, set aside for the use of the ladies, who were thus able to witness in comfort the jousts and feats of chivalry which took place in the tilting–yard,” and also a “spacious and noble room” for the same purpose. It was through this gate that Queen Elizabeth made her entry into the castle, and from it to the other gate the special bridge had been constructed across the lake.

The “Brayz,” which are huge mounds of earth, once forming formidable outworks to the castle, now overgrown by trees and underwood, probably derived the name from the Norman–French braie, meaning a low rampart; although another authority seems to think that the word was derived from “brayda,” a suburban field or broad place.

Near the Water Tower, which is situated almost midway between Lunn’s Tower and Mortimer’s Tower, can be traced the foundations of the castle chapel, built by John of Gaunt. The tower is an interesting example of architecture, in the ground–floor room of which, possibly originally a kitchen, is a fine fireplace. The upper chamber, from which a good view of Lunn’s Tower is obtained across the long, picturesque, and weather–stained roof of the stables, is known as the Queen’s Chamber; why, there is no record to tell, and it is, therefore, probable that the name is a fanciful one. The Warder’s Room, which contains a fireplace, and a large stone aumbry or recess, with a broken shelf, and also a garderobe, is principally constructed in the thickness of the wall, but projects to a slight extent on its outer face. It is situated almost exactly midway between the Water Tower and Mortimer’s.

The great lake, mention of which has already been made, was upwards of a hundred acres in extent, about a hundred yards in width, ten or twelve feet in depth, and extended round the castle on its southern and western sides for a distance of nearly half a mile. The second or smaller lake, which existed in medieval times on the southern and eastern sides of the castle, was drained by Leicester and converted by him into an orchard.

Entering the castle buildings themselves from the outer ward into the inner court, the huge impressive pile of CÆsar’s Tower rises above one on the right, with the ruins of Leicester’s buildings opposite, on the left. Once the inner court is entered, one has on the left the Privy Chamber, Presence Chamber, and the ruins of the suite of rooms used by Queen Elizabeth.

Immediately opposite the entrance to the inner court are the ruined walls of the great hall, under which is the postern leading out on to the ramparts by which, in Walter Scott’s Kenilworth, Wayland Smith was ejected by Michael Lambourne. The outer path to this postern cuts through the great bank on which the hall is placed, and which was the inner boundary of the moat of the older castle, the moat of which was what is now a hollow space between it and the garden wall. It seems probable that this great mound of earth was the buhr of the original Saxon owner. Other authorities, however, suppose that the mound was the site occupied by the keep.

The postern is a square–headed doorway, and formerly had a portcullis, but this must have been rather more for show than as able to afford any special security, as the huge windows of the hall above would have made the defence of this particular side of the castle a matter of considerable difficulty.

CÆsar’s Tower, and the block of buildings contiguous to it, are well seen from the point where the postern gate and passage running under the Banqueting Hall open upon the inner court.

From the summit of the Strong Tower one has a fine view of the surrounding country, and also of the gardens, pleasance, and the remains of the Swan Tower, now almost hidden in ivy and trees, the bottom stage of which used probably to be anciently used for the purposes of housing or feeding the swans in the moat.

Immediately next to the Strong Tower is the Great Hall, a magnificent though sadly ruined example of domestic architecture of the period, measuring 90 feet by 45 feet. It was originally approached by a broad straight staircase on its north–eastern side, which led to the portal or porch resting upon a vault. In this porch, which is vaulted and groined and beautifully panelled, with the hollows of the mouldings of the doorway filled with exquisite foliated work, there is a small recess for the warder or usher. The floor of the hall rested upon the vaulted roof of a magnificent cellar; the vaulting springing from ten piers arranged in double rows at equal distances from the walls, and having corresponding half–pillars against the walls themselves and in the angles. The lighting of the hall above was from large windows set in deep splayed recesses, with wide stone window seats, three on the eastern and four on the western side, each of two lights, divided by two transoms and richly carved. There are the remains of two large fireplaces, one on either side of the hall, situated at about one–third of its length, measuring from the south end; and on the side next to the inner court is a magnificent oriel, constructed of five sides of an octagon, and formerly communicating with the dais by an arch, and containing three large windows of two lights, and a small one.

The roof of this fine hall was of open timbered work, supported by five hammer beams on each side, the holes for which are still visible between the windows, the whole building forming a beautiful and very pure specimen of Early Perpendicular work.

Such is a brief description of all that remains of this once splendid medieval fortress, which was at the same time a dwelling notable for its luxurious fittings and the splendid entertainments that so frequently took place within its walls. Situated almost ideally, it possesses a wide prospect of fertile lands and wooded vales, over which in ancient times the Lord of Kenilworth held sway. It is, indeed, lamentable that this fine castle should have aroused the destructive propensities of the Cromwellians, and should not have been preserved, as have happily so many other medieval buildings in the fair county of Warwick, much as it was when knights and ladies trod its halls in stately measure or revelry, and strolled on its terraces and through its pleasances.