1316.—Johannes de Tynterne, certified in like manner, as holding part of the burgh of Lyme-Regis, in the county of Dorset, in the ninth year of the reign of Edward II.

The following is the original document referred to in various passages of the foregoing articles on Chepstow and Tinterne :

Genealogia Fundatoris (Ex MS. Codice in Bibl. Cottoniana [sub Effigie Vitellii, F. 4], fol. 7).

Gunnora Comitissa Normanniæ duas habuit sorores, una Turulpho de Ponte-Adamaro conjuncta erat in matrimonio, et procreavit Humfridum de Vetulis qui fuit pater Rogerí de Bellomonte, ex quo comites de Warwike et Leicestriæ processerunt.

Turketillus fuit frater istius Turulphi, cujus filius Hasculfus de Harecurt aliam sororem predictæ Comitissæ Gunnoræ con . . . . . erat duos procreavit filios; scilicet Walterum de Giffard, primogenitum, qui alium Walterum procreavit, et dictus fuit Walterius Giffard secundus. Rohesia, una sororum Walteri (duas plures enim habuit) conjuncta in matrimonio Ricardo filio comitis Gíslebertí, qui in re militari, tempore Conquestoris omnes sui temporis magnates præcessit. Prædicta Rohesia supervixit et renupta Eudoní, dapifero Regis Nomanniæ qui construxit castrum Colecestriæ, cum cœnobio, in honore Sancti Johannis, ubi sepultus fuit, cum conjuge sua, tempore Henrící primi. Margareta filia eorum nupta fuit Willielmo de Mandevill, et fuit mater Gaufredi filii comitis Essexiæ et jure matris, Normanniæ dapifer. Prædictus Ricardus apud sanctum Neotum jacet sepultus. Huic rex Willielmus concessit baroniam De Clare, villam verò cum castello de Tunbridge, de Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi, pro aliis terris in Normannia, perquisivit in excambium. Baldwinus, frater istius Ricardi, Willielmum, Robertum, et Ricardum, cum tribus sororibus genuit. Ex prædicta Rohesia hanc sobolem procreavit Ricardus, Rogerus natu secundus terras patris sui in Normannia adeptus est; Walterus dominium Wenciæ inferioris, in Wallia, qui construxit Abbatiam de Tinterna, anno Domini MCXXXI; obiit sine prole.*

The Deed, by which the privileges originally granted by the founders were confirmed and completed by Roger Bigod, after the lapse of a hundred and seven years, is expressed in the following terms:—

Rogerus le Bygod Comes Norfolciæ, et Mareschallus Angliæ, Salutem in

Monast. ii. 724, v. 269.

ABBEY.]

THE CHARTER OF ROGER BIGOD.

121

Domino. Noverit universitas vestra me intuitu Dei et pro salute animæ nostræ, et animarum antecessorum nostrorum, et hæredum nostrorum, concessisse et confirmasse Deo et ecclesiæ beatæ Mariæ de Tinterna, Abbati et monachis et eorum successoribus ibidem Deo servientibus, in liberam puram et perpetuam elemosynam, omnes terras et possessiones, libertates, et liberas consuetudines subscriptas quas habent ex donis antecessorum nostrorum et aliorum fundatorum seu donatorum, sive ex dono nostro-videlicet: Totam hayam de Porcassek, et ex altera parte co opertorium nemoris & omnibus pertinentiis suis in bosco et plano, et quicquid habet in Pentirk de tenementis terris redditibus boscis et planis e aliis libertatibus suis et totam terram de Modisgat & omnibus suis pertinentiis-videlicet: cum pastura ovium et aliorum animalium suorum ubique in chacia nostra de Tudenham, et de Subbosco in dictu chacia quicquid eis necessarium fuerit ad ardendum et ad hayas claudendas, etc. His testibus domino Joanne le Bygod fratre meo: Dom. Joanne le Bygod Stocton: Nicholao de Kingeston, militibus: Elya de Aylbreton, tunc Seneschallo meo de Strugull: Philippo de Mora: Rogero de Sancto Mauro: Willielmo de Dynam: Andreæ de Bellocampo, et aliis.

Datum apud ftlodesgat, quarto die Augusti, anno Domini M.CCCI.

AUTHORITIES quoted or referred to in the preceding article on Tinterne Abbey and its vicinity:-Dugdale's Monasticon and Baronage-Thomas's Tinterne-Camden—Giraldus Cambrensis-Robert of Gloucester-Matthew Paris-William of Worcester-Fosbroke's British Monachism-Dallaway's Arts-Reed-Barber-Mores Catholici-Life of St. Bernard-French Monastic Writers-Annales et Usus Cistercienses-Morton's Monastic Annals-Nicolson's History-West's Furness-Wonders and Traditions of Wales-Bp. Godwin-BurnetPictorial Hist. of Engl.-Sir H. Ellis's Original Letters-Wilkins's Concilia-Macaulay's History-Blunt's Sketch of the Reformation-Latimer's Sermons-Madden's Penalties-Warton-Taylor's Index Monast.— Heraldic Enquiries-Henniker-Cowel-Chronicles of England-Local historians and poets-Gilpin-Heath -Barber-Thomas, whose work on "Tinterne and its Environs" is the best hand-book that has yet appeared on this locality-Notes taken by the Editor during a Tour on the Wye- Hints and Suggestions from Correspondents, etc.

VOL. I.

m

R

On taking leave of Tinterne, we shall here introduce a short notice ofGoodrich Castle, once a stronghold of the Marshalls, whose names have been so often recorded in connection with the abbey. It stands on a finely wooded promontory, round which the river Wye flows in a semicircular direction. By whom it was originally founded is unknown, though the near affinity of its name to that of 'Godricus Dur,' who occurs as a witness to two charters granted by King Canute to the abbey of Hulm, has given birth to a not improbable conjecture that he was the founder. The Keep is evidently of a date antecedent to the Conquest; but the surrounding works are principally Norman, though various additions and alterations may be distinguished as the workmanship of different periods, even down to the time of Henry VI.

In its general outline, this castle forms a parallelogram, with a round tower at each angle, and a square 'keep' standing in the south-west part of the enclosed area. The common thickness of the exterior walls is somewhat more than seven feet; the length of the longest sides-that is, those towards the southeast and north-west, including the projections of the towers-is about 176 feet; and that of the south-west and north-east sides about 152 feet.

The keep stands somewhat in the same manner as those of Porchester, Pevensey, and Castleton, close to the outward wall of the castle; and, like them, it has no window on the outside next the country. It had evidently three rooms or floors, one above the other; all of them, however, were very small,

GOODRICH CASTLE.]

THE KEEP-PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE.

123

being only fourteen feet and a half square; and the room on the first floor had no sort of internal communication with the dungeon beneath-which had not even a single loophole for light and air, but was connected by a very narrow passage to a still smaller dungeon, strongly secured under the platform belonging to the steps of the entrance, and having a very small air-hole on the same side. "The original windows are Saxon; that in the middle of the upper story seems to have remained just as it was from the very first, without any alteration; and the manner in which the two large side columns stand, somewhat within the arch, is consistent with the fashion adopted by the Saxons, and continued even to the time of Edward the Confessor. The large zigzag ornament on each side, between the columns, is in the rude form in which it was generally used by the early Saxons; and so also is that of the zigzag moulding, or band, that is carried by way of ornament quite across the tower, just under the window; and it is very remarkable, that the middle projecting buttress is carried no higher than this ornament."*-See the preceding wood-cut.

The window in the apartment beneath is similar in its general construction; but the columns which support the arch are somewhat higher, and a semicircular moulding of zigzag is carried beneath the arch; the middle part of the window, however, has been altered-a stoné frame for glass having been inserted, of the style and age of Henry the Sixth, and probably in the time of the celebrated Earl Talbot, whom tradition represents as having his own chamber in this tower. In the second apartment is a fire-hearth, and, in an angle of the wall, a circular staircase leads to the upper story. "To this staircase is a most remarkable doorway; it has one large transom stone, as if to aid the arch to support the wall above, and in this respect it resembles several other Saxon structures, in which this singular fashion seems to have been uniformly adopted, until it became gradually altered by the introduction of a flattish under-arch, substituted in the room of the transom stone."t

The principal entrance was by a flight of steps on one side, distinct from the main building, and ascending to a platform before the doorway leading to the second chamber. The entrance to the dungeon, or lower apartment, was under แ a very remarkable sort of pointed arch, formed of flat sides, which seems, from the appearance of the wall around it, and from its peculiar style, to have been inserted many ages after the tower was built, and in the time of Edward III.; a suspicion that appears to be most strongly confirmed, by the circumstance, that about the twenty-second year of Edward the Third, Richard Talbot, its then lord, obtained the royal license‡ for having in his castle a prison for male

Munimenta Antiqua, vol. iii. p. 250.

+ Munimenta Antiqua, vol. iii. p. 252.

Dugdale's Baronage, vol. i. p. 327.

factors, having also the cognizance of pleas of the crown, &c., within his lordship of Irchinfield. The bottom of the keep-tower would undoubtedly, as usual, be the place where such a prison would be established; and on that occasion it should seem that this new and strong door-frame was first constructed, whilst the very annexation of the lordship of Irchinfield, or Urchenfield, to the possession of this keep-tower, both of which his lordship appears to have been possessed of before this license was granted, shows the exceedingly high antiquity of this castle, since Urchenfield was, indeed, the very place where St. Dubricius founded his college of Religious, about A.D. 512, to live, like the original Eastern recluses, by the work of their own hands."* The body of the keep is an exact square of twenty-nine feet.

Six

In describing the additions made to this fortress in the Norman times, and during the successive reigns to the time of Henry the Sixth, we shall follow Mr. King, and begin with the strongly-fortified entrance, which, commencing between two semicircular towers of equal dimensions, near the east angle, was continued under a dark vaulted passage, to an extent of fifty feet. "Immediately before the entrance, and within the space enclosed by the fosse, was a very deep pit, hewn out of the solid rock, formerly crossed by a drawbridge, which is now gone, but which evidently appears to have exactly fitted, and to have closed, when drawn up, the whole front of the gateway between the towers. About eleven feet within the passage was a massive gate, the strong iron hinges of which still remain: this gate and the drawbridge were defended on each side by loopholes, and overhead by rows of machicolations in the vaulting. feet and a half beyond this was a portcullis, and about seven feet further a second portcullis; the space between these was again protected by loopholes and machicolations. About two feet more inward was another strong gate, and five feet and a half beyond this, on the right, a small door leading to a long narrow gallery, only three feet wide, formed in the thickness of the wall, and which was the means of access to the loopholes in the eastern tower, as well as to some others that commanded the brow of the steep precipice towards the north-east." These works appear to have been thought sufficient for general defence; but a resource was ingeniously contrived for greater security, in case they had all been forced: "for a little further on are many stone projections in the wall on each side, like pilasters, manifestly designed for inserting great beams of timber within them, like bars, from one side of the passage, which was about nine feet ten inches wide, to the other, so as to form a strong barricade, with earth or stones between the rows of timber, which would in a short time, and with rapidity,

* Munimenta Antiqua, vol. iii. p. 251.