Indicated — Manorland (1st Division)

The keep (ME036-048004-) is at the centre of a triangular ward (max. dims c. 155m NW-SE; c. 100m NE-SW) defined by a curtain wall that was built in two major phases, although direct archaeological dating for the walls is not available. The earliest phase is represented by the Trim gate in the W wall and the open-backed rectangular towers (numbered) on the river front dating to the later twelfth century and is probably Hugh’s work before his death in 1186. A second phase represented by the Dublin gate and the D-shaped towers (lettered) on the S side, together with their linking wall, which can probably be equated with Walter’s work on the keep c. 1201-07 (Hayden 2011, 188-90). On the river-front the wall was in large part only a stone-facing to a rock outcrop scarp with a levelling up of the ground inside the wall, most of which does not survive (ibid. 150-52). The S tower (1) was barely evident, but the NE wall of tower 2 (ext. dims 9.3m NW-SE; 6.4m NE-SW) survived (H 12.7m) with a base batter. Three levels with a total of three segmental-headed embrasures and simple lights are present in this wall, and there is a larger single window (Wth 0.4m) with seats at the third level. The stubs of the side-walls have evidence of a light at each stage (ibid. 154-8). North of this tower five long arrow loops survive in the wall beneath the floor level of the Great Hall of c. 1300 (ME036-048079-) when the lower loops were closed in. There may have been an upper level of loops that were removed when the SE wall of the hall was built on the same line. South-east of the hall area the curtain wall was breached when a water-gate connected with the hall was inserted (ibid. 155-9). Tower 3 at the N apex of the ward was called the Magdalen Tower. It is a large square tower (ext. dims 13.7m x 13.4m) with a basement (int. dims 5.1m x 4.9m) and evidence of two upper floors. The two upper levels were altered in the fourteenth century (ME036-048080-) when it was converted into a solar, or private chamber attached to the hall by mining back the inner faces of the walls to increase the floor space. The basement had a wooden floor supported on offsets, and it has a cupboard in the NW wall, a single light inside the curtain wall at SE and a stairs to level 1 in the NE wall. Level 1 has blocked or altered long arrow-loops (max. H 2.14m) in the SW (3), NE (3) and SE (1) walls, the embrasures of which were accessed from mural passages. There is evidence of another loop and the original ground level entrance to the tower in the SW wall leading to a newel stairs at the S angle. The only original features at level 2 are two blocked arrow loops in the NW wall. (Hayden 2011, 159-70) From the Magdalen Tower to the Trim Gate the rock base rises and so does the base level of four original arrow-loops. Much of the surviving upper part of the wall is a rebuild of the seventeenth century with shorter gun-loops and there are some putlog holes from an original hoarding. The Trim gatehouse is a rectangular block (ext. dims 11.5m E-W; 10m N-S) with an entrance passage, but its vault was added later. The gate is protected by a portcullis with a murder-hole outside and by a single murder-hole inside. Building scars on the outer wall indicate that there was a protected bridge to a forward barbican. The guardroom on the S side of the passage is now the ticket office, and a stairs from the passage on the N side leads to the room over the vault of the prison (ME036-048085-), which now has two large openings in its W wall. An external stairs from the S leads to the first floor of the gatehouse, which has been re-built with three facets at W that destroy the original loops here. A newel stairs at the centre of the S wall leads to a second floor, which has four blocked loops in its S and W walls, so it underwent alterations at some point also. (Hayden 2011, 171-3) The south line of the curtain wall was built against the scarped edge of the hill or on bedrock. The Dublin gate was built first, and the five D-shaped, open-backed towers, together with the connecting walls were filled in slightly later. The towers, denominated A-F from the west, present a rounded front outside the curtain wall and are more advanced in design than the square towers on the E wall. The lettered towers usually have two to three surviving levels, each of which had a timber floor, but each tower is slightly different. Tower A has two surviving levels with loops only on the upper one covering the outer faces of the curtain wall, which is a fairly modern rebuild between towers A and B. The latter also has two levels, each with long arrow-loops covering the adjacent curtain wall, and there is a sallyport, or minor doorway into the fosse, just E of it. Between towers B and C the wall is built on rock outcrop that was covered by a base-batter and the wall has putlogs for a hoarding near its top. Tower C has two surviving levels, and Sweetman (1978, 149) found an intra-mural stairs leading down to another sallyport just to its E. Tower D has three surviving levels and a stairs rising to the wall-walk. In addition its middle level has an arrow-loop facing into the moat. The wall from D to the Dublin gate has two arrow-loops at internal ground level and the remains of two others at a higher level. The wall itself abuts the section of wall built with the Dublin gate, as does the section from tower F to the gate, which is the most complete section of the wall with two long arrow-loops. Tower F is built over the scarp down to the river bank and has four levels, the lower two with three long arrow-loops, but the upper two levels have no openings. However, these and the parapet with horizontal gun-loops are probably a rebuild of the seventeenth century. Within the ward the remains of many medieval and post-medieval buildings were excavated. Most of these date from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries but a close date for their construction or demise cannot usually be provided. (Hayden 2011, 177-87) The interiors of towers A-D were excavated by Sweetman (1978, 148-52), who uncovered similar sequences in them all of some rubble on top of clay fills retained by backing walls built in the seventeenth century to close off the open backs of the towers. The fill was introduced so that the towers could be converted into platforms for artillery in the middle of that century. The fill was derived from elsewhere within the castle and contained thirteenth or fourteenth century pottery, but sometimes it could overlay an original deposit with thirteenth century wares. The severed heads of young adult males from the seventeenth century were found in tower C, and two adult males were buried at the base of tower D, with a coin of Henry III pre-dating 1247 in the primary deposits of that tower. The outer edge of the partially rock-cut moat (Wth of top c. 12m; D 1.6m plus) adjacent to tower D (L c. 20m) was excavated (E002016) in 2006 (O’Carroll 2009, 441; 2009a, vol. 1, 23-4). The junction with the town fosse (ME036-048055-) was noted in this area also. The Dublin gate is almost perfectly preserved and was designed to be higher than the curtain wall and the towers around it. It is a subcircular structure (ext. diam. c. 11-12m) of three levels with an entrance passage through it that crossed over a wooden bridge to a forework or bartizan. The bartizan had a gateway that could be shut and two levels above the short entrance passage that are well-defended by loops. The lower of these could be reached from the main tower by a wall-walk over the bridge, but the bridge could not be raised. The main tower has gateways at either end of the entrance passage and in addition there are two murder-holes and a portcullis niche. Mural passages accessed four arrow-loops, a garderobe and a newel stairs to the two upper levels, which repeat the pattern of the ground floor with the addition of a fireplace at the first floor and windows with seats over the inner doorway. (M