The Castle of Bm^nard Castle. 21 1 the curtain has a flat Norman pilaster strip, but of three stages. It is 4 feet broad, and diminishes from i8 inches to 6 inches projec- tion. It also dies into the wall near the top. It is not unlikely, from the aspect of the inner ward, that this was a fortress of the tenth century, composed of a cliff on two sides, a ditch on the other two, and a centre more or less nearly circular, and artificially scarped ; in fact, a motte, upon which stood the original stronghold. The outer ditches may be of the same date, but from their figure and plan they are more Hkely to have been a later, probably a Norman, addition. Their contents are thrown in- ward so as to form a ramp behind the wall. It is evident that the whole area of the castle, as it now stands, was inclosed by the Normans, and the walls throughout and nearly all the towers are latish in that style. Here and there, spread over the whole enceinte^ are remains of Norman work. The pilaster strips on the inner curtain, the arches in the several ditches, the square tower and gate on the north curtain, Brackenbury's Tower, and much of the wall towards the town are original. In the inner ward the base of Mortham Tower, and the half-round mural tower near the north gate, are probably Early English. The keep, the fragments of the hall, the south-east tower of the inner ward, and most of the remains of other buildings are evidently Decorated. The original walls were mostly of sound rubble, with ashlar dressings. In the Decorated work ashlar was more freely used. The castle must have undergone almost a rebuilding in the Decorated period. The Norman architect evidently treated the whole inner ward as a shell keep. His successors added part of Mortham Tower, and the Decorated artist, more ambitious, raised the round tower as a keep, added- — probably rebuilding — the hall, and completed Mortham Tower, and strengthened or restored the curtain in various places. Here, as was much the practice in the North, the round-headed arch and the fiat lintel were largely employed in the Decorated period. The general style of the work is much to be admired. Strong, sound, massive, very plain, of excellent execution, it is in admirable taste, and in good keeping with a military structure. The keep, though not one of the largest, is one of the finest round towers in England. Its proportions are good, its materials of proper size and rich colour, and its very plainness is indicative of strength. There is but little Perpendicular work ; probably it was of a lighter character, and has fallen and been removed. Whatever may be regarded as the value of the material evidence of its earthworks, the notion of Bernard Castle occupying the site of an earlier stronghold is unsupported by records. The present town is thought to have risen on the fall of Marwood, a place the very site of which is now forgotten ; neither is it a parish, being included in the vast parish of Gainford, the church of which is eight miles distant. From Domesday no aid is to be derived, seeing that this valuable record does not include Durham, nor is P 2
