CASTLES OF BRITAIN

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 3716, 26 October 1926, Page 7

CASTLES OF BRITAIN

WHAT IS TO BECOME OF THEM ? in recent months attention lias been drawn on various occasions and in various ways to the measures adopted for the preservation of the nation’s ancient houses, etc. (states a writer in the ‘Observer’). The problem lias many aspects of interest, but recent events have focussed attention particularly on ihe ancient castles of the country. Several of these have come into the national possession or guardianship within the last year or two. Pevensey, one of the most interesting ruins in the country, with Roman and Norman remains and memories, is undergoing careful preservative repairs, as innumerable visitors to Susses this summer will have seen; and thousands of tourists must have followed the way pointed out by Professor Sir Charles Oman in his recent handsome new hook on the castles of Western England. These things unite in suggesting consideration of the country’s own castles and the provision lor their preservation. How many castles there may be m the country 1 suppose no man knows, not even the Chief Inspector o) Ancient Monuments, nor the editor of the ■ Victoria County Histories.’ Some day wc shall know, indeed, for some day—perhaps, at its present, rate, a hundred rears hence—the Royal Commissions on Historical Monuments will have finished their work of recording all these ancient relics, and then, by the simple process of laboriously counting up all the castles, ruined or still occupied, which figure in all the volumes descriptive of all the counties of England, Scotland, and Wales, our successors will be able to learn how many figure in that noble inventory. WHAT IS A “CASTLE”?

Even then, however, there will be uncertainty unless a strict classification is adopted, because the term x ‘ castle covers so many different things, and so many different states of preservation, from such wonderful piles as Windsor, Arundel, Dover, Warwick, in continuous or present use or occupation, down by way of masonry remains, great or small, such as keeps, outer walls, or gateways, to castle mounds or moats, and inner or outer baileys in which all that now remains of former strength and glory is the insentient earth that was once piled high/by man to receive its burden of masonry or to form in itself a stout defence. OT this range, let the County ot Essex be evidence. In the sumptuous Reports of the Ancient Monuments Commission for this county there figuic seven castles with masonry but fourteen more of which there remain but mounds, mounts and baileys, or rings and baileys. These figures do not include the remnant of the Roman fort at Bradwell —Othona, one ol the forts of the Saxon .shore —the Roman walls at Colchester, or such a building as Laver Marney, with its great guarding gatehouse; and they illustrate how difficult it would be, without ' > sen mi nation .to compile an exact ! I ol the “castles” of Great Britan . THE NATIONAL TRUST’S CHARGES.

l»uL everyone who lias travelled tins j country knows that the castles arc ex- ( ccedingly numerous. They are to be counted not by dozens or by scores, but actually by hundreds. Nearly 200 names appear in the lists of ancient monu- ! nlents already issued by the Commissioner of Works in pursuance of section 12 of the Ancient Monuments Act, j (The effect of thus listing an | ancient monument is that the owner may not, without notice to the Com- ; missioners, demolish, remove, altei, or, mid to the existing remains which eon- 1 stitute the monument.) 'l'he names of castles appearing in these lists arc (liosc onlv of castles unoccupied. lo these must be added Ibo numerous buildings which have continued to serve i,. whole or part as the residences of their owners or some part in defence oi usefulness, as well as many unoccupied but not yet scheduled. We come to the question ol how many of these are the country’s castles m the sense that they definitely belong to the nation or that under some guardianship or other they are open to visitation and inspection by the public. There are various ways in which tins national proprietorship may be brought about or bo effective. There is, for instance, the way of a r/ift to the National Trust. Although The properties in the ownership of the trust are mainly areas of scenic beauty, this bodv owns numerous buddings, and before Lord Cumin’s noble bequest ol Tattersall and Bodiam, bad already under its charge two castles or caste remains—to wit, Duffield Castle, the remains of the Norman keep of the Kcrrars, and Kantnrk Castle, m Count j Cork

MUNICIPAL CASTLES. Vain local authorities may be, and in uTaiiv cases are, the owners or guardians of castles, and particularly, ot course, of castles which are now in the heart of some town that has spread itself far around the original stronghold. The Ancient Monuments Act. 19 ] j expressl v empowered local authorities to purchase, or to accept the guardianship of, any ancient monument hi. or in the vicinity of, their area. I am not aware that any local authority lias moved under these particular powers, but. they previously had. and in various cases have exercised, the power independently of the provision to acquire their own town castle, though in the nature of things this applies almost wliollv to mined buildings. Tims, though Lord Rote still maintains Cardill' Castle for occupation iu the heart of that citv, other cities and towns have ensured through their local authority the preservation of their own town castle, which in such cases usually forms the centre of municipal gardens, or is UM'd as a museum. Instances familiar to the Southerner are Guildford Castle, (lit l grounds of which are beantilully maintained hv the Town Council; Rei,r.,te Castle, the seat of the famous Do Warennes, of which little but mounds ;) n, | cellars remain; Rongemont Castle, Exeter, whoso grounds are also beauti- ! imiy preserved; Colchester, maintained | as a museum ; and Rochester, whose square keep dominates the gardens by I the Medway. Lewes Castle, with its I line Kdwardian gateway, is not quite analocoiis, for this is now in the ownership "of the Sussex Arehieological Societv, but it is as surely a. control (bat preserves ownership and access to the public. MODERN USES. There is another mol hod by which rowu and city castles are preserved by the ownership of local authorities.

■ county or municipal. They may ho I used, or have been used,' wholly or I partly as, or form the site of, county l halls, assize courts, or prisons. Ex- • amples arc Lincoln, Leicester, Chester, ; and Oxford. At Lincoln the old city j prison is not now used; Chester con--1 tains but little of the Norman castle; i but at Oxford it gaunt, battered tower still rears itself from among the modern prison buildings and above the clustering houses by the canal, as all visitors know. Norwich was for live centuries a prison, but now houses the museum. I But there is it more direct form of 1 public ownership or guardianship than those vet mentioned. It is that of the State ownership or guardianship, exercised either in respect to Crown property or of properties which have come under the charge of the Commissioners of Works in virtue of the powers conferred upon them by the legislation relating to ancient monuments in general. '’Already, though the legislation on this subject is quite recent, the Commissioners control in ono or other of these ways a considerable number of the ■ castles of the kingdom. From the point of view of the public interest, .statutory “guardianship” is proving to be : as effective as actual State ownership.