Chap. VIII.

BRITAIN.

405

Monk Bar is the en-trance from the Scarbo-rough road ; the lowerarches are circular, andbuilt of a hard grit-stone,probably at a very earlyperiod ; the upper por-tions with the pointedarch, and the picturesquetowers at the angles, areof the time of EdwardIII. , and bear the shieldof France and England.In this tower are twostories of vaulted cham-bers.

The plan shows itsgeneral arrangement: A,is the bar, 13, the bar-bican, C, the groove ofthe portcullis, I), the citywalls, E, the guard room,F, the stairs, G, the gates,II, the sally port : theclear width between thewalls is about 25 feet;the thickness of thewalls 6 feet 3 inches, andthe total length about50 feet; the thickness ofthe two walls equals halfthe clear opening, andthe entire length isdouble the entire width.

The view of this bartowards the city showsthe room over the gate-way, which has a stonearch of considerablestrength ; there is a se-cond room, similarlyarched, containing theportcullis and windlass.

Such entrances gracedand adorned all our largetowns, and Leland de-scribes the walls of New-castle-on-Tyne as havingthe pre-eminence. “ Thestrength and magnifi-cence of the wauling ofthis towne far passeth allthe wauls of the cities ofEngland, and of most ofthe touns of Europe .”

General Roy, in the“ Military Antiquities ofthe Romans in Britain,”and Mr. King, in his“ Munimenta Antiqua,”have shown a great va-riety of examples of thefortifications of themiddle ages; and it willbe found that the wholewere designed and ex-ecuted after the models

Fig. 103. MONK BAR.

Fig 404. monk bar, inside.

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