evidently rebuilt with old materials, and thus created a confusion betwixt what is old and what is really modern. There are, however, some features that cannot be mistaken, especially those most interesting; such, for instance, as the earliest remains of all, which present appearances totally different from Edwardian or any later kind of masonry.

Notwithstanding the altered aspect of the present building, it may be taken as an almost unquestionable fact, that its outline and extent have undergone scarcely the least change since the period of its first erection. Towers, with various domestic and other buildings, have fallen, or have been swept away, to make room in some instances for others; but the general configuration continues the same that it was when Eustace de Vesci superintended the original works. There are several places where this is easy to be pointed out, particularly in the west and north curtainwall in the outer baly,* and in the south curtain-wall in the second baly, which the engraving at page 113 shows.

These marks of the earliest period are conclusive evidence in the masonry alone that the boundary of De Vesci's castle took that exact direction, even were there not the additional proof that the external fosse ran parallel to it. This, therefore, establishes the fact that in two different and opposite parts there are vestiges of the ancient enceinte, though much of the intervening portion is destroyed.

In the same way the archway of the keep is referable to the same age; and the general figure of this portion of the castle, as it is exhibited by the oldest plan, adds weight to the assumption. It was upon these old foundations that the Percies subsequently built; and their labours have characteristic features quite as clear as the operations of their first predecessor.

When Eustace de Vesci died, in 1157, we may conceive that he left his castle of Alnwick in extent just as the oldest portions now exist; that its area was precisely the same, and the walls of its configuration identical with the present ones; that there were mural towers, though not so numerous, and that the keep was formed of concentric ones united by a curtain-wall, not very dissimilar to its appearance before the later additions were made. We are bounded in

The word occurs in the sheriff's accounts for Nottingham, 31 Hen. II., ad

claudendum ballium: it is of French extraction.

Beyond a certain degree of resemblance in the outline of the present donjon, and with the exception of the Norman arches just alluded to, there is nothing more in this

The dates of the visits of John and Henry III. have been given in a previous note, p. 120. The Patent and Clause Rolls show that when Edward I. was in Northumberland he visited in

1291. Chatton, 14th and 15th August. Alnwick, April 30, May 1, August 16 and 17.

1292. Alnwick, August 16, December 13 and 18; when his expenses are accounted for at 25l. 188. 8d.

1296. Alnwick, September 20, 23, 24,

25, 26, 27.

1298. Alnwick, June 26, 29.

1303. Chatton, May 14.

Edward II. was at Alnwick July 27, 1311; and in 1322, August 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19.

1335. Edward III. on November 3, 8, 9, when a truce was agreed to with the Scots. About 1470 Henry IV. ordered a diet to be kept at Alnwick for the reformation of attempts against the truce with Scotland. Acts of Council, p. 212.

part of the structure ascribable to its original builder. We are justified by the common practice of the age in supposing that, after De Vesci had once erected his castle, both he and his descendants allowed it to remain without repairs or further consideration. This, indeed, is pretty certain, since it was necessary to put it into a complete state of renovation when the barony was transferred, in 1312, to Henry Percy, first lord of Alnwick.

Judging from the extensive works he carried out as soon as the transfer was made by Antony Bek in 1310, he may be said to have re-erected the castle, since he built, commencing with the entrance, the following towers from their foundation: the barbican,* and gate-house of approach, the western garret, the Abbot's Tower, the Falconer's Tower, the Armourer's Tower, the Postern Tower or Sallyport, the Constable's Tower, the Ravine Tower, the tower or gateway betwixt the outer and middle baly, great portion of the east side of the keep, the well, and in all probability a tower standing on the foundations of the present Record Tower, as well as all the intermediate ones westwards up to the barbican. There are marks of his work more or less numerous throughout the whole building in this direction. Obliterated in some places by modern reparation, then again apparent for a few feet, mingled with earlier and disfigured

* The barbecan,-avantbarium, ambarium; Lat. barbecana, barbecanus; Fr. and Ital. barbacane, the outwork of defence beyond the chief gate of entrance into a castle. Its etymology seems uncertain; though it was a word in constant use in the middle ages. It occurs on the Pipe Rolls, 21 Hen. II. In operacione unius portæ et unius barbekan in castro de Scardeburc, 40s. And 5 Ric. I.: Et operaciones castelli de Winton pro fossatis reparandis, pro 1 barbekan, pro 1 mangunello, et pro 1 porta facienda et aluris circa castrum, 167. 4s. 2d. And in the 15th of John, at the king's house at Marlborough: In operacione palicii et pontis tornatilis castri de Merleberg, et in rogo faciendo et cingulo circa motam et barbekanam ante portam turris, et pro magna camera cooperienda et alia camera plumbata discoperienda et recoperienda et in magna coquina cooperienda, et pro muro castri reparando et fenestris ante reparatis et in domibus castri reficiendis, 721. 5s. 6d.

Mandatum est Johanni de Kilmyngton

custodi castri regis et honoris de Pickering, quoddam barbicanum ante portam castri regis prædicti muro lapideo, et in eodem barbicano quandam portam cum ponte versatili de novo facere. Rot. Claus. 17 Edw. II. m. 39.

The Liberate Roll mentions the kitchen within the barbecan at Bridgnorth, 17 Hen. III.; and in 34 Hen. III. the constable is ordered to build a new barbecan at Marlborough.

In describing the siege of Prudhoe, Jordan Fantosme speaks of the efforts the besieged made to retain the barbecan: "Lur barbecan tenir e chalengier."

v. 657.

The term is recognised in the following entry: In operacione pontis castri de Bedford et posticii usque aquam, 41. 6s. 9d. Magn. Rot. Pip. 34 Hen. II.; and also in the sheriff's account for the county of Nottingham, under postern: In operacione unius posternæ in mota. Magn. Rot. Pip. 6 Ric. I.