OLD WALLED TOWNS

<< THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ENGLAND

IN STREETS AND LANES >>

CHAPTER III

OLD WALLED TOWNS

The destruction of ancient buildings always causes grief and distress to those who

love antiquity. It is much to be deplored, but in some cases is perhaps inevitable.

Old-fashioned half-timbered shops with small diamond-paned windows are not the

most convenient for the display of the elegant fashionable costumes effectively

draped on modelled forms. Motor-cars cannot be displayed in antiquated old shops.

Hence in modern up-to-date towns these old buildings are doomed, and have to

give place to grand emporiums with large plate-glass windows and the refinements

of luxurious display. We hope to visit presently some of the old towns and cities

which happily retain their ancient beauties, where quaint houses with oversailing

upper stories still exist, and with the artist's aid to describe many of their

attractions.

Although much of the destruction is, as I have said, inevitable, a vast amount is

simply the result of ignorance and wilful perversity. Ignorant persons get elected on

town councils--worthy men doubtless, and able men of business, who can attend to

and regulate the financial affairs of the town, look after its supply of gas and water,

its drainage and tramways; but they are absolutely ignorant of its history, its

associations, of architectural beauty, of anything that is not modern and utilitarian.

Unhappily, into the care of such men as these is often confided the custody of

historic buildings and priceless treasures, of ruined abbey and ancient walls, of

objects consecrated by the lapse of centuries and by the associations of hundreds of

years of corporate life; and it is not surprising that in many cases they betray their

trust. They are not interested in such things. "Let bygones be bygones," they say.

"We care not for old rubbish." Moreover, they frequently resent interference and

instruction. Hence they destroy wholesale what should be preserved, and England

is the poorer.

Not long ago the Edwardian wall of Berwick-on-Tweed was threatened with

demolition at the hands of those who ought to be its guardians--the Corporation of

the town. An official from the Office of Works, when he saw the begrimed,

neglected appearance of the two fragments of this wall near the Bell Tower, with a

stagnant pool in the fosse, bestrewed with broken pitchers and rubbish, reported

that the Elizabethan walls of the town which were under the direction of the War

Department were in excellent condition, whereas the Edwardian masonry was

utterly neglected. And why was this relic of the town's former greatness to be

pulled down? Simply to clear the site for the erection of modern dwelling-houses.

A very strong protest was made against this act of municipal barbarism by learned

societies, the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings, and others, and we

hope that the hand of the destroyer has been stayed.

Most of the principal towns in England were protected by walls, and the citizens

regarded it as a duty to build them and keep them in repair. When we look at some

of these fortifications, their strength, their height, their thickness, we are struck by

the fact that they were very great achievements, and that they must have been

raised with immense labour and gigantic cost. In turbulent and warlike times they

were absolutely necessary. Look at some of these triumphs of medieval engineering

skill, so strong, so massive, able to defy the attacks of lance and arrow, ram or

catapult, and to withstand ages of neglect and the storms of a tempestuous clime.

Towers and bastions stood at intervals against the wall at convenient distances, in

order that bowmen stationed in them could shoot down any who attempted to scale

the wall with ladders anywhere within the distance between the towers. All along

the wall there was a protected pathway for the defenders to stand, and

machicolations through which boiling oil or lead, or heated sand could be poured

on the heads of the attacking force. The gateways were carefully constructed,

flanked by defending towers with a portcullis, and a guard-room overhead with

holes in the vaulted roof of the gateway for pouring down inconvenient substances

upon the heads of the besiegers. There were several gates, the usual number being

four; but Coventry had twelve, Canterbury six, and Newcastle-on-Tyne seven,

besides posterns.

Old Houses built on the Town Wall, Rye

Berwick-upon-Tweed, York, Chester, and Conway have maintained their walls in

good condition. Berwick has three out of its four gates still standing. They are

called Scotchgate, Shoregate, and Cowgate, and in the last two still remain the

original massive wooden gates with their bolts and hinges. The remaining fourth

gate, named Bridgate, has vanished. We have alluded to the neglect of the

Edwardian wall and its threatened destruction. Conway has a wall a mile and a

quarter in length, with twenty-one semicircular towers along its course and three

great gateways besides posterns. Edward I built this wall in order to subjugate the

Welsh, and also the walls round Carnarvon, some of which survive, and Beaumaris.

The name of his master-mason has been preserved, one Henry le Elreton. The

muniments of the Corporation of Alnwick prove that often great difficulties arose

in the matter of wall-building. Its closeness to the Scottish border rendered a wall

necessary. The town was frequently attacked and burnt. The inhabitants obtained a

licence to build a wall in 1433, but they did not at once proceed with the work. In

1448 the Scots came and pillaged the town, and the poor burgesses were so robbed

and despoiled that they could not afford to proceed with the wall and petitioned the

King for aid. Then Letters Patent were issued for a collection to be made for the

object, and at last, forty years after the licence was granted, Alnwick got its wall,

and a very good wall it was--a mile in circumference, twenty feet in height and six

in thickness; "it had four gateways--Bondgate, Clayport, Pottergate, and

Narrowgate. Only the first-named of these is standing. It is three stories in height.

Over the central archway is a panel on which was carved the Brabant lion, now

almost obliterated. On either side is a semi-octagonal tower. The masonry is

composed of huge blocks to which time and weather have given dusky tints. On the

front facing the expected foes the openings are but little more than arrow-slits; on

that within, facing the town, are well-proportioned mullioned and transomed

windows. The great ribbed archway is grooved for a portcullis, now removed, and a

low doorway on either side gives entrance to the chambers in the towers. Pottergate

was rebuilt in the eighteenth century and crowns a steep street; only four corner-

stones marked T indicate the site of Clayport. No trace of Narrowgate remains."4

As the destruction of many of our castles is due to the action of Cromwell and the

Parliament, who caused them to be "slighted" partly out of revenge upon the loyal

owners who had defended them, so several of our town-walls were thrown down by

order of Charles II at the Restoration on account of the active assistance which the

townspeople had given to the rebels. The heads of rebels were often placed on

gateways. London Bridge, Lincoln, Newcastle, York, Berwick, Canterbury, Temple

Bar, and other gates have often been adorned with these gruesome relics of

barbarous punishments.

How were these strong walls ever taken in the days before gunpowder was

extensively used or cannon discharged their devastating shells? Imagine you are

present at a siege. You would see the attacking force advancing a huge wooden

tower, covered with hides and placed on wheels, towards the walls. Inside this

tower were ladders, and when the "sow" had been pushed towards the wall the

soldiers rushed up these ladders and were able to fight on a level with the garrison.

Perhaps they were repulsed, and then a shed-like structure would be advanced

towards the wall, so as to enable the men to get close enough to dig a hole beneath

the walls in order to bring them down. The besieged would not be inactive, but

would cast heavy stones on the roof of the shed. Molten lead and burning flax were

favourite means of defence to alarm and frighten away the enemy, who retaliated

by casting heavy stones by means of a catapult into the town.

Bootham Bar, York

Amongst the fragments of walls still standing, those at Newcastle are very massive,

sooty, and impressive. Southampton has some grand walls left and a gateway,

which show how strongly the town was fortified. The old Cinque Port, Sandwich,

formerly a great and important town, lately decayed, but somewhat renovated by

golf, has two gates left, and Rochester and Canterbury have some fragments of

their walls standing. The repair of the walls of towns was sometimes undertaken by

guilds. Generous benefactors, like Sir Richard Whittington, frequently contributed

to the cost, and sometimes a tax called murage was levied for the purpose which

was collected by officers named muragers.

The city of York has lost many of its treasures, and the City Fathers seem to find it

difficult to keep their hands off such relics of antiquity as are left to them. There are

few cities in England more deeply marked with the impress of the storied past than

York--the long and moving story of its gates and walls, of the historical

associations of the city through century after century of English history. About

eighty years ago the Corporation destroyed the picturesque old barbicans of the

Bootham, Micklegate, and Monk Bars, and only one, Walmgate, was suffered to

retain this interesting feature. It is a wonder they spared those curious stone half-

length figures of men, sculptured in a menacing attitude in the act of hurling large

stones downwards, which vaunt themselves on the summit of Monk Bar--probably

intended to deceive invaders--or that interesting stone platform only twenty-two

inches wide, which was the only foothold available for the martial burghers who

guarded the city wall at Tower Place. A year or two ago the City Fathers decided,

in order to provide work for the unemployed, to interfere with the city moats by

laying them out as flower-beds and by planting shrubs and making playgrounds of

the banks. The protest of the Yorks Archæological Society, we believe, stayed their

hands.

The same story can be told of far too many towns and cities. A few years ago

several old houses were demolished in the High Street of the city of Rochester to

make room for electric tramways. Among these was the old White Hart Inn, built in

1396, the sign being a badge of Richard II, where Samuel Pepys stayed. He found

that "the beds were corded, and we had no sheets to our beds, only linen to our

mouths" (a narrow strip of linen to prevent the contact of the blanket with the face).

With regard to the disappearance of old inns, we must wait until we arrive at

another chapter.

We will now visit some old towns where we hope to discover some buildings that

are ancient and where all is not distressingly new, hideous, and commonplace. First

we will travel to the old-world town of Lynn--"Lynn Regis, vulgarly called King's

Lynn," as the royal charter of Henry VIII terms it. On the land side the town was

defended by a fosse, and there are still considerable remains of the old wall,

including the fine Gothic South Gates. In the days of its ancient glory it was known

as Bishop's Lynn, the town being in the hands of the Bishop of Norwich. Bishop

Herbert de Losinga built the church of St. Margaret at the beginning of the twelfth

century, and gave it with many privileges to the monks of Norwich, who held a

priory at Lynn; and Bishop Turbus did a wonderfully good stroke of business,

reclaimed a large tract of land about 1150 A.D., and amassed wealth for his see

from his markets, fairs, and mills. Another bishop, Bishop Grey, induced or

compelled King John to grant a free charter to the town, but astutely managed to

keep all the power in his own hands. Lynn was always a very religious place, and

most of the orders--Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelite and

Augustinian Friars, and the Sack Friars--were represented at Lynn, and there were

numerous hospitals, a lazar-house, a college of secular canons, and other religious

institutions, until they were all swept away by the greed of a rapacious king. There

is not much left to-day of all these religious foundations. The latest authority on the

history of Lynn, Mr. H.J. Hillen, well says: "Time's unpitying plough-share has

spared few vestiges of their architectural grandeur." A cemetery cross in the

museum, the name "Paradise" that keeps up the remembrance of the cool, verdant

cloister-garth, a brick arch upon the east bank of the Nar, and a similar gateway in

"Austin" Street are all the relics that remain of the old monastic life, save the

slender hexagonal "Old Tower," the graceful lantern of the convent of the grey-

robed Franciscans. The above writer also points out the beautifully carved door in

Queen Street, sole relic of the College of Secular Canons, from which the chisel of

the ruthless iconoclast has chipped off the obnoxious Orate pro anima.

The quiet, narrow, almost deserted streets of Lynn, its port and quays have another

story to tell. They proclaim its former greatness as one of the chief ports in England

and the centre of vast mercantile activity. A thirteenth-century historian, Friar

William Newburg, described Lynn as "a noble city noted for its trade." It was the

key of Norfolk. Through it flowed all the traffic to and from northern East Anglia,

and from its harbour crowds of ships carried English produce, mainly wool, to the

Netherlands, Norway, and the Rhine Provinces. Who would have thought that this

decayed harbour ranked fourth among the ports of the kingdom? But its glories

have departed. Decay set in. Its prosperity began to decline.

Railways have been the ruin of King's Lynn. The merchant princes who once

abounded in the town exist here no longer. The last of the long race died quite

recently. Some ancient ledgers still exist in the town, which exhibit for one firm

alone a turnover of something like a million and a half sterling per annum.

Although possessed of a similarly splendid waterway, unlike Ipswich, the trade of

the town seems to have quite decayed. Few signs of commerce are visible, except

where the advent of branch stations of enterprising "Cash" firms has resulted in the

squaring up of odd projections and consequent overthrow of certain ancient

buildings. There is one act of vandalism which the town has never ceased to regret

and which should serve as a warning for the future. This is the demolition of the

house of Walter Coney, merchant, an unequalled specimen of fifteenth-century

domestic architecture, which formerly stood at the corner of the Saturday Market

Place and High Street. So strongly was this edifice constructed that it was with the

utmost difficulty that it was taken to pieces, in order to make room for the ugly

range of white brick buildings which now stands upon its site. But Lynn had an era

of much prosperity during the rise of the Townshends, when the agricultural

improvements brought about by the second Viscount introduced much wealth to

Norfolk. Such buildings as the Duke's Head Hotel belong to the second Viscount's

time, and are indicative of the influx of visitors which the town enjoyed. In the

present day this hotel, though still a good-sized establishment, occupies only half

the building which it formerly did. An interesting oak staircase of fine proportions,

though now much warped, may be seen here.

Half-timbered House with early Fifteenth-century Doorway, King's Lynn, Norfolk

In olden days the Hanseatic League had an office here. The Jews were plentiful and

supplied capital--you can find their traces in the name of the "Jews' Lane Ward"--

and then came the industrious Flemings, who brought with them the art of weaving

cloth and peculiar modes of building houses, so that Lynn looks almost like a little

Dutch town. The old guild life of Lynn was strong and vigorous, from its Merchant

Guild to the humbler craft guilds, of which we are told that there have been no less

than seventy-five. Part of the old Guildhall, erected in 1421, with its chequered flint

and stone gable still stands facing the market of St. Margaret with its Renaissance

porch, and a bit of the guild hall of St. George the Martyr remains in King Street.

The custom-house, which was originally built as an exchange for the Lynn

merchants, is a notable building, and has a statue of Charles II placed in a niche.

This was the earliest work of a local architect, Henry Bell, who is almost unknown.

He was mayor of King's Lynn, and died in 1717, and his memory has been saved

from oblivion by Mr. Beloe of that town, and is enshrined in Mr. Blomfield's

History of Renaissance Architecture:--

"This admirable little building originally consisted of an open loggia

about 40 feet by 32 feet outside, with four columns down the centre,

supporting the first floor, and an attic storey above. The walls are of

Portland stone, with a Doric order to the ground storey supporting an

Ionic order to the first floor. The cornice is of wood, and above this is a

steep-pitched tile roof with dormers, surmounted by a balustrade

inclosing a flat, from which rises a most picturesque wooden cupola.

The details are extremely refined, and the technical knowledge and

delicate sense of scale and proportion shown in this building are

surprising in a designer who was under thirty, and is not known to have

done any previous work."5

A building which the town should make an effort to preserve is the old "Greenland

Fishery House," a tenement dating from the commencement of the seventeenth

century.

The Duke's Head Inn, erected in 1689, now spoilt by its coating of plaster, a house

in Queen's Street, the old market cross, destroyed in 1831 and sold for old

materials, and the altarpieces of the churches of St. Margaret and St. Nicholas,

destroyed during "restoration," and North Runcton church, three miles from Lynn,

are other works of this very able artist.

Until the Reformation Lynn was known as Bishop's Lynn, and galled itself under

the yoke of the Bishop of Norwich; but Henry freed the townsfolk from their

bondage and ordered the name to be changed to Lynn Regis. Whether the good

people throve better under the control of the tyrant who crushed all their guilds and

appropriated the spoil than under the episcopal yoke may be doubtful; but the

change pleased them, and with satisfaction they placed the royal arms on their East

Gate, which, after the manner of gates and walls, has been pulled down. If you

doubt the former greatness of this old seaport you must examine its civic plate. It

possesses the oldest and most important and most beautiful specimen of municipal

plate in England, a grand, massive silver-gilt cup of exquisite workmanship. It is

called "King John's Cup," but it cannot be earlier than the reign of Edward III. In

addition to this there is a superb sword of state of the time of Henry VIII, another

cup, four silver maces, and other treasures. Moreover, the town had a famous

goldsmiths' company, and several specimens of their handicraft remain. The

defences of the town were sorely tried in the Civil War, when for three weeks it

sustained the attacks of the rebels. The town was forced to surrender, and the poor

folk were obliged to pay ten shillings a head, besides a month's pay to the soldiers,

in order to save their homes from plunder. Lynn has many memories. It sheltered

King John when fleeing from the revolting barons, and kept his treasures until he

took them away and left them in a still more secure place buried in the sands of the

Wash. It welcomed Queen Isabella during her retirement at Castle Rising,

entertained Edward IV when he was hotly pursued by the Earl of Warwick, and has

been worthy of its name as a loyal king's town.

Another walled town on the Norfolk coast attracts the attention of all who love the

relics of ancient times, Great Yarmouth, with its wonderful record of triumphant

industry and its associations with many great events in history. Henry III,

recognizing the important strategical position of the town in 1260, granted a charter

to the townsfolk empowering them to fortify the place with a wall and a moat, but

more than a century elapsed before the fortifications were completed. This was

partly owing to the Black Death, which left few men in Yarmouth to carry on the

work. The walls were built of cut flint and Caen stone, and extended from the north

-east tower in St. Nicholas Churchyard, called King Henry's Tower, to Blackfriars

Tower at the south end, and from the same King Henry's Tower to the north-west

tower on the bank of the Bure. Only a few years ago a large portion of this, north of

Ramp Row, now called Rampart Road, was taken down, much to the regret of

many. And here I may mention a grand movement which might be with advantage

imitated in every historic town. A small private company has been formed called

the "Great Yarmouth Historical Buildings, Limited." Its object is to acquire and

preserve the relics of ancient Yarmouth. The founders deserve the highest praise for

their public spirit and patriotism. How many cherished objects in Vanishing

England might have been preserved if each town or county possessed such a

valuable association! This Yarmouth society owns the remains of the cloisters of

Grey Friars and other remains of ancient buildings. It is only to be regretted that it

was not formed earlier. There were nine gates in the walls of the town, but none of

them are left, and of the sixteen towers which protected the walls only a very few

remain.

The "Bone Tower", Town walls, Great Yarmouth

These walls guard much that is important. The ecclesiastical buildings are very

fine, including the largest parish church in England, founded by the same Herbert

de Losinga whose good work we saw at King's Lynn. The church of St. Nicholas

has had many vicissitudes, and is now one of the finest in the country. It was in

medieval times the church of a Benedictine Priory; a cell of the monastery at

Norwich and the Priory Hall remains, and is now restored and used as a school.

Royal guests have been entertained there, but part of the buildings were turned into

cottages and the great hall into stables. As we have said, part of the Grey Friars

Monastery remains, and also part of the house of the Augustine Friars. The

Yarmouth rows are a great feature of the town. They are not like the Chester rows,

but are long, narrow streets crossing the town from east to west, only six feet wide,

and one row called Kitty-witches only measures at one end two feet three inches. It

has been suggested that this plan of the town arose from the fishermen hanging out

their nets to dry and leaving a narrow passage between each other's nets, and that in

course of time these narrow passages became defined and were permanently

retained. In former days rich merchants and traders lived in the houses that line

these rows, and had large gardens behind their dwellings; and sometimes you can

see relics of former greatness--a panelled room or a richly decorated ceiling. But

the ancient glory of the rows is past, and the houses are occupied now by fishermen

or labourers. These rows are so narrow that no ordinary vehicle could be driven

along them. Hence there arose special Yarmouth carts about three and a half feet

wide and twelve feet long with wheels underneath the body. Very brave and gallant

have always been the fishermen of Yarmouth, not only in fighting the elements, but

in defeating the enemies of England. History tells of many a sea-fight in which they

did good service to their king and country. They gallantly helped to win the battle

of Sluys, and sent forty-three ships and one thousand men to help with the siege of

Calais in the time of Edward III. They captured and burned the town and harbour of

Cherbourg in the time of Edward I, and performed many other acts of daring.

Row No. 83, Great Yarmouth

One of the most interesting houses in the town is the Tolhouse, the centre of the

civic life of Yarmouth. It is said to be six hundred years old, having been erected in

the time of Henry III, though some of the windows are decorated, but may have

been inserted later. Here the customs or tolls were collected, and the Corporation

held its meetings. There is a curious open external staircase leading to the first

floor, where the great hall is situated. Under the hall is a gaol, a wretched prison

wherein the miserable captives were chained to a beam that ran down the centre.

Nothing in the town bears stronger witness to the industry and perseverance of the

Yarmouth men than the harbour. They have scoured the sea for a thousand years to

fill their nets with its spoil, and made their trade of world-wide fame, but their port

speaks louder in their praise. Again and again has the fickle sea played havoc with

their harbour, silting it up with sand and deserting the town as if in revenge for the

harvest they reap from her. They have had to cut out no less than seven harbours in

the course of the town's existence, and royally have they triumphed over all

difficulties and made Yarmouth a great and prosperous port.

Near Yarmouth is the little port of Gorleston with its old jetty-head, of which we

give an illustration. It was once the rival of Yarmouth. The old magnificent church

of the Augustine Friars stood in this village and had a lofty, square, embattled

tower which was a landmark to sailors. But the church was unroofed and despoiled

at the Reformation, and its remains were pulled down in 1760, only a small portion

of the tower remaining, and this fell a victim to a violent storm at the beginning of

the last century. The grand parish church was much plundered at the Reformation,

and left piteously bare by the despoilers.

The Old Jetty, Gorleston

The town, now incorporated with Yarmouth, has a proud boast:--

Gorleston was Gorleston ere Yarmouth begun,

And will be Gorleston when Yarmouth is done.

Another leading East Anglian port in former days was the county town of Suffolk,

Ipswich. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries ships from most of the

countries of Western Europe disembarked their cargoes on its quays--wines from

Spain, timber from Norway, cloth from Flanders, salt from France, and "mercerie"

from Italy left its crowded wharves to be offered for sale in the narrow, busy streets

of the borough. Stores of fish from Iceland, bales of wool, loads of untanned hides,

as well as the varied agricultural produce of the district, were exposed twice in the

week on the market stalls.6 The learned editor of the Memorials of Old Suffolk, who

knows the old town so well, tells us that the stalls of the numerous markets lay

within a narrow limit of space near the principal churches of the town--St. Mary-le

-Tower, St. Mildred, and St. Lawrence. The Tavern Street of to-day was the site of

the flesh market or cowerye. A narrow street leading thence to the Tower Church

was the Poultry, and Cooks' Row, Butter Market, Cheese and Fish markets were in

the vicinity. The manufacture of leather was the leading industry of old Ipswich,

and there was a goodly company of skinners, barkers, and tanners employed in the

trade. Tavern Street had, as its name implies, many taverns, and was called the

Vintry, from the large number of opulent vintners who carried on their trade with

London and Bordeaux. Many of these men were not merely peaceful merchants,

but fought with Edward III in his wars with France and were knighted for their

feats of arms. Ipswich once boasted of a castle which was destroyed in Stephen's

reign. In Saxon times it was fortified by a ditch and a rampart which were

destroyed by the Danes, but the fortifications were renewed in the time of King

John, when a wall was built round the town with four gates which took their names

from the points of the compass. Portions of these remain to bear witness to the

importance of this ancient town. We give views of an old building near the custom-

house in College Street and Fore Street, examples of the narrow, tortuous

thoroughfares which modern improvements have not swept away.

Tudor House, Ipswich, near the Custom House

Three-gabled House, Fore Street, Ipswich

We cannot give accounts of all the old fortified towns in England and can only

make selections. We have alluded to the ancient walls of York. Few cities can rival

it in interest and architectural beauty, its relics of Roman times, its stately and

magnificent cathedral, the beautiful ruins of St. Mary's Abbey, the numerous

churches exhibiting all the grandeur of the various styles of Gothic architecture, the

old merchants' hall, and the quaint old narrow streets with gabled houses and

widely projecting storeys. And then there is the varied history of the place dating

from far-off Roman times. Not the least interesting feature of York are its gates and

walls. Some parts of the walls are Roman, that curious thirteen-sided building

called the multangular tower forming part of it, and also the lower part of the wall

leading from this tower to Bootham Bar, the upper part being of later origin. These

walls have witnessed much fighting, and the cannons in the Civil War during the

siege in 1644 battered down some portions of them and sorely tried their hearts.

But they have been kept in good preservation and repaired at times, and the part on

the west of the Ouse is especially well preserved. You can see some Norman and

Early English work, but the bulk of it belongs to Edwardian times, when York

played a great part in the history of England, and King Edward I made it his capital

during the war with Scotland, and all the great nobles of England sojourned there.

Edward II spent much time there, and the minster saw the marriage of his son.

These walls were often sorely needed to check the inroads of the Scots. After

Bannockburn fifteen thousand of these northern warriors advanced to the gates of

York. The four gates of the city are very remarkable. Micklegate Bar consists of a

square tower built over a circular arch of Norman date with embattled turrets at the

angles. On it the heads of traitors were formerly exposed. It bears on its front the

arms of France as well as those of England.

"Melia's Passage," York

Bootham Bar is the main entrance from the north, and has a Norman arch with later

additions and turrets with narrow slits for the discharge of arrows. It saw the

burning of the suburb of Bootham in 1265 and much bloodshed, when a mighty

quarrel raged between the citizens and the monks of the Abbey of St. Mary owing

to the abuse of the privilege of sanctuary possessed by the monastery. Monk Bar

has nothing to do with monks. Its former name was Goodramgate, and after the

Restoration it was changed to Monk Bar in honour of General Monk. The present

structure was probably built in the fourteenth century. Walmgate Bar, a strong,

formidable structure, was built in the reign of Edward I, and as we have said, it is

the only gate that retains its curious barbican, originally built in the time of Edward

III and rebuilt in 1648. The inner front of the gate has been altered from its original

form in order to secure more accommodation within. The remains of the Clifford's

Tower, which played an important part in the siege, tell of the destruction caused

by the blowing up of the magazine in 1683, an event which had more the

appearance of design than accident. York abounds with quaint houses and narrow

streets. We give an illustration of the curious Melia's Passage; the origin of the

name I am at a loss to conjecture.

Chester is, we believe, the only city in England which has retained the entire circuit

of its walls complete. According to old unreliable legends, Marius, or Marcius,

King of the British, grandson of Cymbeline, who began his reign A.D. 73, first

surrounded Chester with a wall, a mysterious person who must be classed with

Leon Gawr, or Vawr, a mighty strong giant who founded Chester, digging caverns

in the rocks for habitations, and with the story of King Leir, who first made human

habitations in the future city. Possibly there was here a British camp. It was

certainly a Roman city, and has preserved the form and plan which the Romans

were accustomed to affect; its four principal streets diverging at right angles from a

common centre, and extending north, east, south, and west, and terminating in a

gate, the other streets forming insulæ as at Silchester. There is every reason to

believe that the Romans surrounded the city with a wall. Its strength was often

tried. Hither the Saxons came under Ethelfrith and pillaged the city, but left it to the

Britons, who were not again dislodged until Egbert came in 828 and recovered it.

The Danish pirates came here and were besieged by Alfred, who slew all within its

walls. These walls were standing but ruinous when the noble daughter of Alfred,

Ethelfleda, restored them in 907. A volume would be needed to give a full account

of Chester's varied history, and our main concern is with the treasures that remain.

The circumference of the walls is nearly two miles, and there are four principal

gates besides posterns--the North, East, Bridge-gate, and Water-gate. The North

Gate was in the charge of the citizens; the others were held by persons who had that

office by serjeanty under the Earls of Chester, and were entitled to certain tolls,

which, with the custody of the gates, were frequently purchased by the Corporation.

The custody of the Bridge-gate belonged to the Raby family in the reign of Edward

III. It had two round towers, on the westernmost of which was an octagonal water-

tower. These were all taken down in 1710-81 and the gate rebuilt. The East Gate

was given by Edward I to Henry Bradford, who was bound to find a crannoc and a

bushel for measuring the salt that might be brought in. Needless to say, the old gate

has vanished. It was of Roman architecture, and consisted of two arches formed by

large stones. Between the tops of the arches, which were cased with Norman

masonry, was the whole-length figure of a Roman soldier. This gate was a porta

principalis, the termination of the great Watling Street that led from Dover through

London to Chester. It was destroyed in 1768, and the present gate erected by Earl

Grosvenor. The custody of the Water-gate belonged to the Earls of Derby. It also

was destroyed, and the present arch erected in 1788. A new North Gate was built in

1809 by Robert, Earl Grosvenor. The principal postern-gates were Cale Yard Gate,

made by the abbot and convent in the reign of Edward I as a passage to their

kitchen garden; New-gate, formerly Woolfield or Wolf-gate, repaired in 1608, also

called Pepper-gate;7 and Ship-gate, or Hole-in-the-wall, which alone retains its

Roman arch, and leads to a ferry across the Dee.

The walls are strengthened by round towers so placed as not to be beyond bowshot

of each other, in order that their arrows might reach the enemy who should attempt

to scale the walls in the intervals. At the north-east corner is Newton's Tower,

better known as the Phoenix from a sculptured figure, the ensign of one of the city

guilds, appearing over its door. From this tower Charles I saw the battle of Rowton

Heath and the defeat of his troops during the famous siege of Chester. This was one

of the most prolonged and deadly in the whole history of the Civil War. It would

take many pages to describe the varied fortunes of the gallant Chester men, who

were at length constrained to feed on horses, dogs, and cats. There is much in the

city to delight the antiquary and the artist--the famous rows, the three-gabled old

timber mansion of the Stanleys with its massive staircase, oaken floors, and

panelled walls, built in 1591, Bishop Lloyd's house in Water-gate with its timber

front sculptured with Scripture subjects, and God's Providence House with its

motto "God's Providence is mine inheritance," the inhabitants of which are said to

have escaped one of the terrible plagues that used to rage frequently in old Chester.

Detail of Half-timbered House in High Street, Shrewsbury

Journeying southwards we come to Shrewsbury, another walled town, abounding

with delightful half-timbered houses, less spoiled than any town we know. It was

never a Roman town, though six miles away, at Uriconium, the Romans had a

flourishing city with a great basilica, baths, shops, and villas, and the usual

accessories of luxury. Tradition says that its earliest Celtic name was Pengwern,

where a British prince had his palace; but the town Scrobbesbyrig came into

existence under Offa's rule in Mercia, and with the Normans came Roger de

Montgomery, Shrewsbury's first Earl, and a castle and the stately abbey of SS.

Peter and Paul. A little later the town took to itself walls, which were abundantly

necessary on account of the constant inroads of the wild Welsh.

For the barbican's massy and high,

Bloudie Jacke!

And the oak-door is heavy and brown;

And with iron it's plated and machicolated,

To pour boiling oil and lead down;

How you'd frown

Should a ladle-full fall on your crown!

The rock that it stands on is steep,

Bloudie Jacke!

To gain it one's forced for to creep;

The Portcullis is strong, and the Drawbridge is long,

And the water runs all round the Keep;

At a peep

You can see that the moat's very deep!

So rhymed the author of the Ingoldsby Legends, when in his "Legend of

Shropshire" he described the red stone fortress that towers over the loop of the

Severn enclosing the picturesque old town of Shrewsbury. The castle, or rather its

keep, for the outworks have disappeared, has been modernized past antiquarian

value now. Memories of its importance as the key of the Northern Marches, and of

the ancient custom of girding the knights of the shire with their swords by the

sheriffs on the grass plot of its inner court, still remain. The town now stands on a

peninsula girt by the Severn. On the high ground between the narrow neck stood

the castle, and under its shelter most of the houses of the inhabitants. Around this

was erected the first wall. The latest historian of Shrewsbury8 tells us that it started

from the gate of the castle, passed along the ridge at the back of Pride Hill, at the

bottom of which it turned along the line of High Street, past St. Julian's Church

which overhung it, to the top of Wyle Cop, when it followed the ridge back to the

castle. Of the part extending from Pride Hill to Wyle Cop only scant traces exist at

the back of more modern buildings.

The town continued to grow and more extensive defences were needed, and in the

time of Henry III, Mr. Auden states that this followed the old line at the back of

Pride Hill, but as the ground began to slope downwards, another wall branched

from it in the direction of Roushill and extended to the Welsh Bridge. This became

the main defence, leaving the old wall as an inner rampart. From the Welsh Bridge

the new wall turned up Claremont Bank to where St. Chad's Church now stands,

and where one of the original towers stood. Then it passed along Murivance, where

the only existing tower is to be seen, and so along the still remaining portion of the

wall to English Bridge, where it turned up the hill at the back of what is now

Dogpole, and passing the Watergate, again joined the fortifications of the castle.9

The castle itself was reconstructed by Prince Edward, the son of Henry III, at the

end of the thirteenth century, and is of the Edwardian type of concentric castle. The

Norman keep was incorporated within a larger circle of tower and wall, forming an

inner bailey; besides this there was formerly an outer bailey, in which were various

buildings, including the chapel of St. Nicholas. Only part of the buildings on one

side of the inner bailey remains in its original form, but the massive character of the

whole may be judged from the fragments now visible.

These walls guarded a noble town full of churches and monasteries, merchants'

houses, guild halls, and much else. We will glance at the beauties that remain: St.

Mary's, containing specimens of every style of architecture from Norman

downward, with its curious foreign glass; St. Julian's, mainly rebuilt in 1748,

though the old tower remains; St. Alkmund's; the Church of St. Chad; St. Giles's

Church; and the nave and refectory pulpit of the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul. It

is distressing to see this interesting gem of fourteenth-century architecture amid the

incongruous surroundings of a coalyard. You can find considerable remains of the

domestic buildings of the Grey Friars' Monastery near the footbridge across the

Severn, and also of the home of the Austin Friars in a builder's yard at the end of

Baker Street.

Tower on the Town Wall, Shrewsbury

In many towns we find here and there an old half-timbered dwelling, but in

Shrewsbury there is a surprising wealth of them--streets full of them, bearing such

strange medieval names as "Mardel" or "Wyle Cop." Shrewsbury is second to no

other town in England in the interest of its ancient domestic buildings. There is the

gatehouse of the old Council House, bearing the date 1620, with its high gable and

carved barge-boards, its panelled front, the square spaces between the upright and

horizontal timbers being ornamented with cut timber. The old buildings of the

famous Shrewsbury School are now used as a Free Library and Museum and

abound in interest. The house remains in which Prince Rupert stayed during his

sojourn in 1644, then owned by "Master Jones the lawyer," at the west end of St.

Mary's Church, with its fine old staircase. Whitehall, a fine mansion of red

sandstone, was built by Richard Prince, a lawyer, in 1578-82, "to his great chardge

with fame to hym and hys posterite for ever." The Old Market Hall in the

Renaissance style, with its mixture of debased Gothic and classic details, is worthy

of study. Even in Shrewsbury we have to record the work of the demon of

destruction. The erection of the New Market Hall entailed the disappearance of

several old picturesque houses. Bellstone House, erected in 1582, is incorporated in

the National Provincial Bank. The old mansion known as Vaughan's Place is

swallowed up by the music-hall, though part of the ancient dwelling-place remains.

St. Peter's Abbey Church in the commencement of the nineteenth century had an

extraordinary annexe of timber and plaster, probably used at one time as parsonage

house, which, with several buttressed remains of the adjacent conventual buildings,

have long ago been squared up and "improved" out of existence. Rowley's mansion,

in Hill's Lane, built of brick in 1618 by William Rowley, is now a warehouse.

Butcher Row has some old houses with projecting storeys, including a fine

specimen of a medieval shop. Some of the houses in Grope Lane lean together from

opposite sides of the road, so that people in the highest storey can almost shake

hands with their neighbours across the way. You can see the "Olde House" in

which Mary Tudor is said to have stayed, and the mansion of the Owens, built in

1592 as an inscription tells us, and that of the Irelands, with its range of bow-

windows, four storeys high, and terminating in gables, erected about 1579. The half

-timbered hall of the Drapers' Guild, some old houses in Frankwell, including the

inn with the quaint sign--the String of Horses, the ancient hostels--the Lion,

famous in the coaching age, the Ship, and the Raven--Bennett's Hall, which was

the mint when Shrewsbury played its part in the Civil War, and last, but not least,

the house in Wyle Cop, one of the finest in the town, where Henry Earl of

Richmond stayed on his way to Bosworth field to win the English Crown. Such are

some of the beauties of old Shrewsbury which happily have not yet vanished.

House that the Earl of Richmond stayed in before the Battle of Bosworth,

Shrewsbury

Not far removed from Shrewsbury is Coventry, which at one time could boast of a

city wall and a castle. In the reign of Richard II this wall was built, strengthened by

towers. Leland, writing in the time of Henry VIII, states that the city was begun to

be walled in when Edward II reigned, and that it had six gates, many fair towers,

and streets well built with timber. Other writers speak of thirty-two towers and

twelve gates. But few traces of these remain. The citizens of Coventry took an

active part in the Civil War in favour of the Parliamentary army, and when Charles

II came to the throne he ordered these defences to be demolished. The gates were

left, but most of them have since been destroyed. Coventry is a city of fine old

timber-framed fifteenth-century houses with gables and carved barge-boards and

projecting storeys, though many of them are decayed and may not last many years.

The city has had a fortunate immunity from serious fires. We give an illustration of

one of the old Coventry streets called Spon Street, with its picturesque houses.

These old streets are numerous, tortuous and irregular. One of the richest and most

interesting examples of domestic architecture in England is St. Mary's Hall, erected

in the time of Henry VI. Its origin is connected with ancient guilds of the city, and

in it were stored their books and archives. The grotesquely carved roof, minstrels'

gallery, armoury, state-chair, great painted window, and a fine specimen of

fifteenth-century tapestry are interesting features of this famous hall, which

furnishes a vivid idea of the manners and civic customs of the age when Coventry

was the favourite resort of kings and princes. It has several fine churches, though

the cathedral was levelled with the ground by that arch-destroyer Henry VIII.

Coventry remains one of the most interesting towns in England.

One other walled town we will single out for especial notice in this chapter--the

quaint, picturesque, peaceful, placid town of Rye on the Sussex coast. It was once

wooed by the sea, which surrounded the rocky island on which it stands, but the

fickle sea has retired and left it lonely on its hill with a long stretch of marshland

between it and the waves. This must have taken place about the fifteenth century.

Our illustration of a disused mooring-post (p. 24) is a symbol of the departed

greatness of the town as a naval station. The River Rother connects it with the sea,

and the few barges and humble craft and a few small shipbuilding yards remind it

of its palmy days when it was a member of the Cinque Ports, a rich and prosperous

town that sent forth its ships to fight the naval battles of England and win honour

for Rye and St. George. During the French wars English vessels often visited

French ports and towns along the coast and burned and pillaged them. The French

sailors retaliated with equal zest, and many of our southern towns have suffered

from fire and sword during those adventurous days.

Old Houses formerly standing in Spon Street Coventry

Rye was strongly fortified by a wall with gates and towers and a fosse, but the

defences suffered grievously from the attacks of the French, and the folk of Rye

were obliged to send a moving petition to King Richard II, praying him "to have

consideration of the poor town of Rye, inasmuch as it had been several times taken,

and is unable further to repair the walls, wherefore the town is, on the sea-side,

open to enemies." I am afraid that the King did not at once grant their petition, as

two years later, in 1380, the French came again and set fire to the town. With the

departure of the sea and the diminishing of the harbour, the population decreased

and the prosperity of Rye declined. Refugees from France have on two notable

occasions added to the number of its inhabitants. After the Massacre of St.

Bartholomew seven hundred scared and frightened Protestants arrived at Rye and

brought with them their industry, and later on, after the Revocation of the Edict of

Nantes, many Huguenots settled here and made it almost a French town. We need

not record all the royal visits, the alarms of attack, the plagues, and other incidents

that have diversified the life of Rye. We will glance at the relics that remain. The

walls seem never to have recovered from the attack of the French, but one gate is

standing--the Landgate on the north-east of the town, built in 1360, and consisting

of a broad arch flanked by two massive towers with chambers above for archers

and defenders. Formerly there were two other gates, but these have vanished save

only the sculptured arms of the Cinque Ports that once adorned the Strand Gate.

The Ypres tower is a memorial of the ancient strength of the town, and was

originally built by William de Ypres, Earl of Kent, in the twelfth century, but has

received later additions. It has a stern, gaunt appearance, and until recent times was

used as a jail. The church possesses many points of unique interest. The builders

began in the twelfth century to build the tower and transepts, which are Norman;

then they proceeded with the nave, which is Transitional; and when they reached

the choir, which is very large and fine, the style had merged into the Early English.

Later windows were inserted in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The church

has suffered with the town at the hands of the French invaders, who did much

damage. The old clock, with its huge swinging pendulum, is curious. The church

has a collection of old books, including some old Bibles, including a Vinegar and a

Breeches Bible, and some stone cannon-balls, mementoes of the French invasion of

1448.

West Street, Rye

Near the church is the Town Hall, which contains several relics of olden days. The

list of mayors extends from the time of Edward I, and we notice the long

continuance of the office in families. Thus the Lambs held office from 1723 to

1832, and the Grebells from 1631 to 1741. A great tragedy happened in the

churchyard. A man named Breedes had a grudge against one of the Lambs, and

intended to kill him. He saw, as he thought, his victim walking along the dark path

through the shrubs in the churchyard, attacked and murdered him. But he had made

a mistake; his victim was Mr. Grebell. The murderer was hanged and quartered.

The Town Hall contains the ancient pillory, which was described as a very handy

affair, handcuffs, leg-irons, special constables' staves, which were always much

needed for the usual riots on Gunpowder Plot Day, and the old primitive fire-engine

dated 1745. The town has some remarkable plate. There is the mayor's handbell

with the inscription:--

O MATER DEI

MEMENTO MEI.

1566.

PETRUS GHEINEUS

ME FECIT.

The maces of Queen Elizabeth with the date 1570 and bearing the fleur-de-lis and

the Tudor rose are interesting, and the two silver maces presented by George III,

bearing the arms of Rye and weighing 962 oz., are said to be the finest in Europe.

Monogram and Inscription in the Mermaid Inn, Rye

The chief charm of Rye is to walk along the narrow streets and lanes, and see the

picturesque rows and groups of old fifteenth-and sixteenth-century houses with

their tiled roofs and gables, weather-boarded or tile-hung after the manner of

Sussex cottages, graceful bay-windows--altogether pleasing. Wherever one

wanders one meets with these charming dwellings, especially in West Street and

Pump Street; the oldest house in Rye being at the corner of the churchyard. The

Mermaid Inn is delightful both outside and inside, with its low panelled rooms,

immense fire-places and dog-grates. We see the monogram and names and dates

carved on the stone fire-places, 1643, 1646, the name Loffelholtz seeming to

indicate some foreign refugee or settler. It is pleasant to find at least in one town in

England so much that has been left unaltered and so little spoilt.

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