Chap. VIII.

BRITAIN

411

there is a fireplace, closet, chapel, and other conveniences, hollowed out of the buttressesand walls.

The chapel, with an inner room adjoining, remains in a very perfect state, and thearchitecture which decorates it is in the pure Norman style; the zig-zag is peculiar, andthe ornaments comprised in the plain faces have a truly Greek character. The light isadmitted by quatrefoil openings of a very early date; the whole is vaulted, with the ribsresting on very enriched capitals attached to the walls. There are several niches workedout of the walls in various places; some contain stone sinks or troughs, and a water-closetat the end of a winding passage in this floor is contrived with admirable skill.

Tlie clear width of the fireplace on this floor is only 5 feet 4 inches, and height about thesame ; the weight of the breast of the chimney is discharged by a flat arch of eight stones,constructed like that below. The corbels around the walls remain, on which the timbersrested which carried the oak floor.

The light in this apartment is nearly sufficient for any modern building. The conve-niences attached, and easy access to the rooms above and below, give an excellent idea ofwhat the barons considered essential to their wants ; and a family at the present daywould have no difficulty in finding accommodation in a structure so arranged.

Fig. 411. CONINGSBUBGH CASTLE, YORKSHIRE .

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The upper floor has within one of the buttresses an oven, sufficiently large to have cookedall the provisions for the entire garrison; the other five buttresses have recesses withinthem, for the protection of the guard, who were constantly on the watch to announce theapproach of an enemy, and prepare for defence against an attack. The battlements andmachicolations around, which must have greatly added to the effect of the upper portion,have long disappeared.

The thickness of the main wall is here 12 feet 4 inches and the outer face is perpendicularfrom the level of the ground floor, the diminution in thickness being always caused bygiving an addition to the internal diameter.

The village of Coningsburgli, situated a short distance from this beautiful remain, is 5\miles from Doncaster, on the road to Sheffield; it was no doubt a British station, as the sitewas called Caer Conan, or the Royal Town. By the Saxons it was known as Cyningor ConanByrgh, and it very probably formed the stronghold of Hengist when he was defeated in487 by Ambrosius. The tumulus near the entrance has been supposed to cover the bodyof the Saxon chieftain.

SaUwood Castle , Kent. This entrance gateway is in a very perfect state, and shows thestyle of architecture adopted for such edifices in the 14th century. ArchbishopCourtenay resided here, and under his directions the castle received many additionsand embellishments; his arms are quartered on the shields over the gateway, whence wemay infer that it was built during the time he possessed it.

The gateways of cities, religious houses, and castles, during this epoch, combinedarchitectural beauty with defence. The lofty towers, which flanked the entrance, werecarried up high above the battlements of the curtain walls that shut in the court-yards;