Living on the Level: Horizontally-planned Lodgings in Fifteenth- and Early Sixteenth-Century Scotland (original) (raw)
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The Courtyard and The Tower: Contexts and Symbols in the Development of Late Medieval Great Houses
Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 1993
The final two centuries of the Middle Ages are conventionally considered a period in which castles and castle-building were in decline. 'The Decline of the Castle'and 'Decline 3 are the titles of chapters dealing with this period in books written by Allen Brown. 1 In each case the contrast with what went before is strongly emphasised: the previous chapters are named 'The Perfected Castle 3 and 'Apogee 3. 2 In the same vein, these final centuries after c. 1300 have been described as 'the period of decline in use but survival in fantasy 3 in a recent authoritative account, significantly entitled The Decline of the Castle. 3 Our view of this period is different. We consider that the castles of the later Middle Ages show a steady development, not a decline, and the main elements of that development can already be traced in buildings of the'Golden Age 3. 4 OUR THEMES, the symbols of the courtyard and the tower, are visible in the arrangements of 1283 at Caernarvon. 5 The King's Gate of this castle was a novel and complex affair placed to divide the interior of the castle into two halves. The entrance passageway beyond the central polygonal chamber directed traffic at right angles westwards into a lower courtyard. 6 This contained the principal hall and its services, and a series of accommodation lodges in mural towers. All this is a conventional arrangement: what is much odder is that this lower courtyard contained also the visual focus of the castle, the Eagle Tower, emphasised particularly from the outside by its greater size and by its termination in a triple crown of turrets, originally given additional importance by the placing of sculptures of eagles on its battlements. The purpose of this striking design is a strong statement of the fulfilment of the Dream of Macsen Wledig in the person of Edward I and his son, a statement whose propaganda must have been obvious to the defeated Welsh aristocrats. The symbolism of all this has been examined by Dr Arnold Taylor, 7 who further identified the Eagle Tower as the intended residence of the king's Justiciar of Wales and first constable of the castle, Edward's loyal supporter Otto de Grandson, and his conclusions seem now to be accepted. However, what has not been explained is why this significant element of the symbolism of the castle was placed in the lower ward, and not (where one might expect) in the inner bailey. While the Justiciar was provided for in the Eagle Tower, accommodation for the constable or his military deputy was arranged around the hall on the top floor of the King's Gate. 8 The two royal officials-keeper of Caernarvon and viceroy of the principality-were thus catered for at the main entrance and in the lower courtyard. The third household, to be accommodated in the unfinished ranges in the upper ward, must thus be that of the king himself. The arrangement closely resembles the bipartite design of Conway. 9 Here the hall and lodgings occupy the lower courtyard entered from the town, while the more remote eastern bailey formed a tiny courtyard house for the king and queen, with an external gate to the waterside similar to the placing of the Queen's Gate at Caernarvon. The additional element in this comparison is the placing of the Eagle Tower in the lower bailey at Caernarvon.
The Tower-house in Ireland: Origins, Dating & Function
Irish tower-houses, which are typically dated between c.1400 and c.1600 , are amongst the most common of upstanding archaeological monuments in Ireland, yet many points of contention persist amongst scholars as to their origin, date and function. One particular definition describes the tower-house as ‘a compact fortified house in which the hall is raised above the ground with one or more storeys above it’ . On a considerably smaller scale than the large curtain-walled castles of the thirteenth century, the tower-house was to provide the typical abode of the Gaelic and Anglo-Irish gentry of the fifteenth and sixteenth century . In construction the tower-house, in its simplest guise, was rectangular in plan and was up to six storeys in height with various defensive features including a vaulted roof over the ground floor, which was to theoretically guard against fire spreading to the upper reaches of castle. The ground floor was typically used for storing supplies and was often the first line of defence should the main door be breached, while the second storey provided the main hall, with the remaining storeys usually consisting of the private quarters. For further protection murder-holes were often present between the ground and first floors. The tower-house was sometimes protected by a walled-courtyard (Figs. 2 and 3), though this latter feature does not appear to have been universally constructed of stone and does not often survive into modern times. The study of bawn walls is very limited, as very little archaeological excavation has taken place outside of tower-houses. Significantly, the Civil Survey of the 1650’s mentions bawn walls at only 20% of the towers it lists . Although often regarded, not as true castles but rather as mere fortified houses, the type also includes examples on a very large scale such as those great tower-houses found in Counties Limerick, Clare, Galway and Cork . However, as Colm Donnelly points out, the term ‘tower-house’ is itself of nineteenth century origin and that contemporary historical sources regard these structures simply as ‘castles’ Although the subjects of demographic ethnicity and typology by regional distribution are touched upon in places, they are not specifically treated in this study.
AN EXAMINATION OF THE ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES OF TOWER HOUSES IN THE GOWRAN BARONY
Old Kilkenny Review, 2018
In their simplest form tower houses can be described as self-contained buildings, generally rectilinear in plan, extending to four or five storeys, with a battered base. Tower houses have distinct features, such as machicolations, garderobes and crenellated parapets. Despite sharing an assemblage of features no two tower houses replicate each other. Yet some researchers maintain that some tower houses are more similar than others, and often local traditions in tower house construction can be identified. This study seeks to investigate this claim with regards the tower houses in the barony of Gowran, Co. Kilkenny, and determines if a distinct typology can be discerned. The study is based on both fieldwork, where feasible, and archival research.
Architecture and Élite Culture in the United Provinces, England and Ireland, 1500-1700
This book juxtaposes perceptions of castles in past and present times in The Netherlands, England and Ireland. The first half of the book queries how scholars (mainly archaeologists), tourists and museum curators read and present castles and country houses. A second part moves into the past, the 16th and 17th centuries, and looks at both the architectural heritage itself, and at contemporary references in diaries, letters and poetry to these houses. Drawing on a variety of sources and based within archaeology, heritage studies, art-history, literary studies and anthropology, this study examines themes as wide-ranging as architecture and the Classical culture of friendship, Romantic ruin sensibility, past senses of privacy, and ‘God in the house’.
The Antiquaries Journal, 2008
Academic study of eleventh to thirteenth century high status residence in Scotland has been largely bypassed by the English debates over origin, function and symbolism. Archaeologists have also been slow to engage with three decades of historical revision of traditional socioeconomic, cultural and political models upon which their interpretations of royal and lordly residence have drawn. Scottish castle-studies of the pre-1250 era continue to be framed by a 'military architecture' historiographical tradition and a view of the castle as an alien artefact imposed on the land by foreign adventurers and a 'modernising' monarchy and native Gaelic nobility. Knowledge and understanding of pre-twelfth century native high status sites is rudimentary and derived primarily from often inappropriate analogy with English examples. Discussion of native responses to the imported castle-building culture is founded upon retrospective projection of inappropriate later medieval social and economic models and anachronistic perceptions of military colonialism. Cultural and socio-economic difference is rarely recognised in archaeological modelling and cultural determinism has distorted perceptions of structural form, social status and material values. A programme of interdisciplinary studies focused on specific sites is necessary to provide a corrective to this current situation. report prepared for Historic Scotland by Headland Archaeology); Alcock 1981. 15 The royal residence on record at Cadzow in the reign of David I appears to have lain in the low-lying ground later occupied by Hamilton Palace rather than on the cliff-top site above the Avon gorge to which the name now applies.
An early medieval tradition of building in Britain
Arqueologia de la Arquitectura, 2012
Early medieval houses in Britain were largely constructed of timber. Various approaches have been adopted for interpreting the character of these buildings, since no standing structure survives. These include the study of water-logged timber, the reproduction of methods of working and the reconstruction of buildings, as well as the conventional analysis of the plans of excavations. The problems of identifying the ethnic affiliations of houses in Britain are particularly acute because the structural features which define the building traditions in England and Scotland have rarely been identified. However, it is argued that it is possible to identify a distinctive tradition of building in timber which persists from the fifth to the eleventh or even twelfth century, and is found throughout England and into southern Scotland.