DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6913#0265
caernarvon castle, north wales.
137
10 inches from north to south, Its height to the top of the merlons of the battle-
ments 69 feet 6 inches ; the height of the basement floor is about 24 feet, the out-
side of which is faced with flints, and has no external ornament, except two arches
on the west side. These arches, Mr. King observes, were originally intended as a
deception to an enemy, giving an idea of weakness externally, where indeed was
the greatest strength and security; for the wall is not only 13 feet in thickness in
this place, but within it was additionally barricadoed with two oblique walls, which
have been recently taken down. From the basement floor upwards, the whole
building is faced with stone, and is subdivided into three stories, flanked with small
projecting buttresses, enriched between with semi-circular arches, supported by
small columns in alto relievo, and between some of the upper arches is faced with
what was called by the Romans, reticulatum, or net-work, from the stones being laid
diagonally, the joints representing the meshes of a net; and to give the work a
richer appearance, each stone was subdivided (by two cross lines pretty deeply
chased) into four equal parts, the upper point receding so as to receive a shadow
from the work above, giving it the appearance of Mosaic. On the east side of the
Castle is a tower projecting 14 feet by 27 feet, of a richer style of architecture, which
I have ventured to call Bigod's tower."*
Caernarvon Castle, or Caer^n^rfon,
CAERNARVONSHIRE, NORTH WALES.
The town of Caernarvon, according to Pennant, " is justly the boast of North Wales
for the beauty of situation, goodness of the buildings, regularity of the plan, and,
above all, the grandeur of the Castle, the most magnificent badge of our super-
stition."! I* ^s a^so n°ted as a scion of the ancient Roman station, Segontium,
which was in the immediate vicinity, and which was the only town formed and
occupied by the Romans in this part of Cambria. After their abdication of the
island, this post appears to have been gradually deserted, and Caernarvon pro-
* Archseologia, vol. xii. p. 162, &c. t Tour in Wales, vol. ii. p. 214.
T. VOL. IV.
137
10 inches from north to south, Its height to the top of the merlons of the battle-
ments 69 feet 6 inches ; the height of the basement floor is about 24 feet, the out-
side of which is faced with flints, and has no external ornament, except two arches
on the west side. These arches, Mr. King observes, were originally intended as a
deception to an enemy, giving an idea of weakness externally, where indeed was
the greatest strength and security; for the wall is not only 13 feet in thickness in
this place, but within it was additionally barricadoed with two oblique walls, which
have been recently taken down. From the basement floor upwards, the whole
building is faced with stone, and is subdivided into three stories, flanked with small
projecting buttresses, enriched between with semi-circular arches, supported by
small columns in alto relievo, and between some of the upper arches is faced with
what was called by the Romans, reticulatum, or net-work, from the stones being laid
diagonally, the joints representing the meshes of a net; and to give the work a
richer appearance, each stone was subdivided (by two cross lines pretty deeply
chased) into four equal parts, the upper point receding so as to receive a shadow
from the work above, giving it the appearance of Mosaic. On the east side of the
Castle is a tower projecting 14 feet by 27 feet, of a richer style of architecture, which
I have ventured to call Bigod's tower."*
Caernarvon Castle, or Caer^n^rfon,
CAERNARVONSHIRE, NORTH WALES.
The town of Caernarvon, according to Pennant, " is justly the boast of North Wales
for the beauty of situation, goodness of the buildings, regularity of the plan, and,
above all, the grandeur of the Castle, the most magnificent badge of our super-
stition."! I* ^s a^so n°ted as a scion of the ancient Roman station, Segontium,
which was in the immediate vicinity, and which was the only town formed and
occupied by the Romans in this part of Cambria. After their abdication of the
island, this post appears to have been gradually deserted, and Caernarvon pro-
* Archseologia, vol. xii. p. 162, &c. t Tour in Wales, vol. ii. p. 214.
T. VOL. IV.