DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6913#0211
stoke-say castle, shropshire.
115
Description of the Castle, by the Rev. Hugh Owen.—Stoke-Say Castle is
situated a little on the right hand of the road leading from Shrewsbury to Ludlow,
seven miles from the latter, in a pleasant valley, watered by a clear stream called
the Onny, and backed by a well-wooded eminence. The structure, though not
large, is a very complete specimen of the castellated or embattled mansions of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. A deep square moat encompasses the house, the
walls of which rise immediately out of it. The sole entrance is by a half-timbered
gate-house on the eastern side, in the style of Queen Elizabeth's days, or perhaps
somewhat later, consisting of two stories, with pointed gables at the ends and centre,
the upper of which, as is usual in that kind of building, projects considerably beyond
the lower. The arch, weather boards, and principal timbers, are elaborately adorned
with grotesque carvings of busts, animals, and foliage. This gate leads to a square
court about 130 feet by 70, three sides of which contain the house, offices, tower,
and gate ; the fourth seems never to have had any other building than the rampart,
of which there are some embattled remains. Within the area on the left is the well,
still in its original state, canopied by an antique roof, resting on thick oak timbers
worked into trefoil arches; the old wheel and windlass lie neglected and decayed on
the margin.
Fronting the gate-house are the hall and tower, both exhibiting considerable
grandeur, united with no small degree of the architectural beauty for which the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were so remarkable. The hall is 54 feet by 32 ;
its only entrance is by a pointed arched door from the court. On the west side are
four large pointed windows, and three of similar form opposite; the heads are filled
with plain circles, and each is divided by a single mullion, with a trefoil arch. These
windows are now surmounted outwardly by pointed gables, but were probably not
so originally. The roof, rising to a sharp pitch, is formed of massy rafters with
cross springers, open to the tiles, and without ornament: though lofty, it reposes on
brackets of unusual length, which stand on stone corbels not more than six feet from
the floor. These corbels, of which there are four on each side, are worked into
horizontal mouldings of various patterns, particularly the flat rib, so common in the
reigns of Edward I. II. and III. There is no fire-place, and this large room could
have received no other warmth than what arose from the reredoss, or brazier of
burning charcoal in the middle, the smoke of which has completely blackened the
timbers. At the north end is a door which opened to the buttery, and above are
115
Description of the Castle, by the Rev. Hugh Owen.—Stoke-Say Castle is
situated a little on the right hand of the road leading from Shrewsbury to Ludlow,
seven miles from the latter, in a pleasant valley, watered by a clear stream called
the Onny, and backed by a well-wooded eminence. The structure, though not
large, is a very complete specimen of the castellated or embattled mansions of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. A deep square moat encompasses the house, the
walls of which rise immediately out of it. The sole entrance is by a half-timbered
gate-house on the eastern side, in the style of Queen Elizabeth's days, or perhaps
somewhat later, consisting of two stories, with pointed gables at the ends and centre,
the upper of which, as is usual in that kind of building, projects considerably beyond
the lower. The arch, weather boards, and principal timbers, are elaborately adorned
with grotesque carvings of busts, animals, and foliage. This gate leads to a square
court about 130 feet by 70, three sides of which contain the house, offices, tower,
and gate ; the fourth seems never to have had any other building than the rampart,
of which there are some embattled remains. Within the area on the left is the well,
still in its original state, canopied by an antique roof, resting on thick oak timbers
worked into trefoil arches; the old wheel and windlass lie neglected and decayed on
the margin.
Fronting the gate-house are the hall and tower, both exhibiting considerable
grandeur, united with no small degree of the architectural beauty for which the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were so remarkable. The hall is 54 feet by 32 ;
its only entrance is by a pointed arched door from the court. On the west side are
four large pointed windows, and three of similar form opposite; the heads are filled
with plain circles, and each is divided by a single mullion, with a trefoil arch. These
windows are now surmounted outwardly by pointed gables, but were probably not
so originally. The roof, rising to a sharp pitch, is formed of massy rafters with
cross springers, open to the tiles, and without ornament: though lofty, it reposes on
brackets of unusual length, which stand on stone corbels not more than six feet from
the floor. These corbels, of which there are four on each side, are worked into
horizontal mouldings of various patterns, particularly the flat rib, so common in the
reigns of Edward I. II. and III. There is no fire-place, and this large room could
have received no other warmth than what arose from the reredoss, or brazier of
burning charcoal in the middle, the smoke of which has completely blackened the
timbers. At the north end is a door which opened to the buttery, and above are