Chapter 9

The Castle buildings

Cockermouth Castle was built with two aims in view -. the first, like other Norman castles, to overawe the surrounding countryside and subdue the inhabitants to their new Norman overlords; the second, to control one of the invasion routes from the north. The approach from Scotland lay across the wild country of Nichol Forest, avoiding Carlisle Castle on one side and Bewcastle on the other, after which invaders were converged by the Pennines and the Cumbrian mountains into the Lune Gorge, through the Stainmore pass or down the West Cumbrian plain. William 11 (Rufus, 1087-1100) ordered a chain of castles to be built to obstruct these approaches to the heart of England, Cockermouth and Egremont controlling the way down the coast to the sands crossing of Morecambe Bay.

There is no evidence that the site of the present castle was used before Norman times. If the assumption is correct that Waldeof moved the caput of the barony from Papcastle to the new site then there must have been a building here by the middle of the twelfth century. Some say it was erected in the 1130’s, contemporary with Windsor, but evidence is difficult to obtain. Certainly the twelfth century was a period of intense castle building, some 740 being erected in the years 1066 to 1215.

Early Norman castles were of the “motte and bailey” type. Because of the need for speed the buildings were at first of wood, only later replaced by stone, and wooden buildings leave little evidence.

An alternative opinion is that, since there is no specific reference to a castle in King John’s restoration of the manor to William de Fortibus 11 in 1215, it did not then exist. [1] The record refers to “the manor of Cockermua with its appurtenances“. If this all-embracing term means there was nothing so important as a castle, then the first Cockermouth building must have been erected in the period 1215-1221, for there was definitely a castle here in 1221 when William de Fortibus was in trouble with the Crown.

The first building would be a typical Norman fortress on the extreme tip of the promontory, 36 feet above river level, defended by a dry ditch and raised, as is the inner bailey at the present time, some six or seven feet higher than the outer bailey. William de Fortibus Ill, the owner from 1241 to 1259, was probably responsible for the stone-built spherical triangle, its sides some 42 yards long, with the western tower and two circular bastions at the three corners. The outer bailey would be surrounded by a timber palisade.

Remains of this early building are still visible. The round tower in the western apex of the triangle is one of only three round towers in Cumberland. [2] The lower part of this tower, including the archers’ seats and the loops for firing through, is original thirteenth century. From such round towers archers could cover about 2700 without any blind spots. Also of this building are the bottom fourteen feet of the south curtain wall, the footings of the eastern wall of the present inner bailey and lower parts of the Bell Tower. The present upper walls, such as the top ten feet of the south curtain, are of ashlar added later. The original gate was in the south-east corner, near the Bell Tower, and one of the door jambs may be seen. A postern gave access from the outer bailey to what is now Wyndham Row. Living quarters would probably be of timber, placed along the inside of the curtain walls.

The castle is built mostly of freestone from the quarries at Brigham and Broughton Beck, the source of the stone used for the Roman fort at Papcastle. In the mid-nineteenth century Brigham quarrymen often found the wedge marks of their Roman counterparts, like small harrow teeth. Much of the Papcastle stone was removed to build the present castle, probably dragged along the river (Derwent or Cocker) which is said to have frozen for two or three months in the winters of those days.[3] There are recognisable Roman stones to be seen in the castle.

There is a tradition that the Derwent originally flowed in a straight line from below Woodhall along the foot of Mickle Brow to join the Cocker at Low Gote, it once being the Cocker that flowed behind the town and round Sandair. The diversion was made to further protect the castle.

Thomas de Lucy (in possession 1343-1365) probably built the upper part of the four-storeyed round tower on the early base. Though round outside it is hexagonal inside. Each floor had a single trefoil-headed window and was reached by a newel staircase (stairs spiralling round a central column). On the second floor a door on the northern side opened into a garderobe.

(There are several of these smaller rooms within the walls of the castle, usually wardrobes or lavatories, but sometimes larger private rooms.) Thomas de Lucy also built about 1360 the range of rooms along the inside of the north wall, notably the great hall 52 feet long and 32 wide. The north wall itself, in which the hall had three windows, would be rebuilt on de Fortibus’s foundations. In addition to these early windows three large Tudor windows were later inserted in this wall. Sufficient stone-work remains for their original designs to be appreciated. The three massive external buttresses to the same wall were added much later in the eighteenth century. Only the base of the south side of the hall remains. The shape of the original ridged roof may be traced high on the wall of the kitchen tower. This would be an open timber roof and some of the corbels which supported it remain in the north wall. The cellars below were about ten feet high – the original floor level of the hall may be judged from the floor supports in the north wall and the level of the window seats. The castle well against the south wall of the hall goes down 61 feet, far below river level, to comparatively hard water.

At the western end of the hall would be a dais. Beyond it was a solar or withdrawing room for the lord and lady, then other apartments, linking the hall with the round tower.

The next owner, Anthony de Lucy, had the castle for only three years before his death in Palestine, but he may have inaugurated improvements leading to greater comfort for the occupants. It was his successor Gilbert de Umfraville (l368-l381), husband to Lucy’s sister, who really started in earnest. Although the lord would continue to dine with his retainers in the great hall, a need was apparently felt for better accommodation than that provided to the west of the hall or in the cellars beneath – not only better state rooms and bedrooms, but improved cooking facilities.

Gilbert built the foundations of the present range between the two baileys in the eighteen feet deep ditch which de Fortibus had made, replacing this with a ditch further out on the eastern side. (This was filled in level with the outer bailey in 1649.) His unfinished work was completed by his widow’s second husband, Henry Percy, the first Earl of Northumberland. The Earl completed the massive inner gatehouse with its many interesting features. It contained a number of rooms, from cellar level upwards, the largest being 29 by 21 feet. Of particular interest are the guard-rooms on either side of the entrance passage and the dungeons below them.

The guard-rooms are entered by narrow doorways on the inner bailey side, the dungeons by trap doors in the floors of these rooms. A prisoner was lowered into the oubliette-type dungeon by a rope tied to a beam resting in holes in the walls of the rooms above, holes which may still be seen. One dungeon is eighteen feet deep, the other appreciably less. Lighting and ventilation were through a slit in the outer wall of each dungeon, as the floor openings would normally be covered. The same slits are sometimes said to have been the means by which food was passed to the prisoners, [4] but their narrowness and their height above the level of the outer bailey (even greater when there was a ditch) make this doubtful.

The gatehouse passage was vaulted. It contained two pairs of doors, also a machecoule or bretesche-hole in the ceiling of the passage through which invaders could be attacked by dropping stones, firing arrows, etc. Access from the outer bailey was by a drawbridge over the new ditch end of this range of buildings. Henry Percy also completed the kitchen tower (sometimes mistakenly described as a keep) at the other end of this range of buildings. The kitchen was on the same level as the hall and had an open timber roof, the corbels for which remain. It had two large fireplaces on the south side, windows (including two narrow ones 24 feet high in the east wall) and storage recesses. An interesting feature was a wooden gallery seven and a half feet above floor level along the north wall, from which the chef would supervise activities below. The gallery was reached by a staircase within the wall in the NE corner. Access to the hall from the kitchen was through a door in the original hall. The great pointed arch was made in the nineteenth century to prevent further deterioration of this wall, most of which had already fallen. Near the former door, on the hall side, is a trefoil-headed recess with stones to support a shelf.

The basement of the kitchen tower is known as the Mirk Kirk, the dark church, indicating that this was probably the chapel for the castle community. There is a piscina in one wall. Entered by steps from the inner bailey, it was originally lighter, having two deep splayed openings on the east wall until these were blocked by further building. The structure of this 30 feet square room is attractive, eight vaulting ribs radiating from a central octagonal pillar formed of two stones to each course.

Between the gatehouse and the kitchen tower were apartments, with cellars below. The floor levels, hooded fireplaces and communicating stairs may be clearly traced. There are here a number of passages, staircases and even rooms within the thickness of the walls. Between the new state rooms and the kitchen is a newel stair which gave access to the roof.

(Stairs spiralled in the direction which enabled a defender, descending to meet invaders, to have room to use his sword in his right hand and were sufficiently narrow to prevent people passing, so that invaders were unable to storm up them.) A doorway half way up leads into a room 9V2 by 5 feet [2.9 x 1.5 m], beautifully vaulted and with a small rose window. This was probably a small oratory for prayer and meditation, possibly the chantry referred to later.

In the light of the experience of the Scottish raid in 1387 Henry Percy strengthened the outer bailey, building the flag tower, the outer gatehouse and the upper part of the bell tower. The gatehouse was erected in or soon after 1400.

Henry’s first wife Maud died in 1398 and the family arms of his second wife, Margaret Neville, appear on the outer wall, so, as he himself died in 1408, the date of the building may be stated within fairly narrow limits. From outside the castle the gatehouse was approached between flanking defensive walls, a barbican (Plate 4). These walls, 18 feet long, 15 high and 7 thick, had protected walks on top, reached by stairs within the walls. The outer ends were square pillars supporting a cross-arch, also protected and useful in defence. The 1790 Universal British Directory says “Approach has been kept by a drawbridge over a deep ditch.” This draw bridge, raised by chains and weights, would serve as a door when up and in the walls there are 12 inch recesses into which it fitted. The moat it spanned may have had water in it, filled by a small stream now culverted in the garden to the north-east, but it was probably dry – the 1578 survey refers to it as “a trench or dry ditch”. A small door on one side gave access to the foot of the eastern curtain wall, above the moat.

The gatehouse measures 52 by 32 feet and has three floors. The passageway through it is vaulted and had three doors, the outside one replacing a portcullis (from the French port-coulis, a sliding door), the groove for which may be seen. The doors were of two leaves, massive wood studded with iron bolts and encased in iron. When closed they were secured by one or two stout oak beams which slid into cavities in the walls. The upper part of the gatehouse has had some rebuilding and the windows have been enlarged.

The flag tower at the SE corner now houses the extensive castle records. The tower has stepping of the kind often seen on Scottish buildings, where French influence was strong. In this tower the steward held his Court of Audit twice a Year and at one time the Quarter Sessions used it. Bulmer in 1777 referred to it as ‘the court house’.

The south curtain wall of the outer bailey has been strengthened by two external buttresses. Part of it collapsed early on Good Friday in 1975 but was rebuilt two years later.

Above the entrance to the outer gateway are five coats-of-arms, weathered and without colour but still sufficiently clear for the designs to be seen. In the centre is the shield of the Lucies three silver pikes or lucies on a gold ground, hauriant, that is upright as though they are being drawn out of the water. To the right of centre is first the lion rampant of the Percies -. azure on a gold ground; then the silver saltire (St. Andrew’s cross) on a blood-red field, the arms of the Nevilles. Left of the centre are the Multon’s three silver bars on a red background; and further the cinquefoil and crosses of the Umfraville family.

A door near the gatehouse (Fig 29) gave access to a path below the north wall to a postern in the round tower, the latter secured by a beam resting in slots. Posterns on the least frequented sides of castles were used by messengers during siege.

There are a number of 14th century references to the chapel or chantry of Cockermouth Castle, where priests, paid by the castle owner, said mass for the souls of deceased members of the family. In 1330 there was an agreement regarding the oblations of the chapel and the tithes of a water-mill and in 1395 an inquiry was held in Carlisle regarding a proposal to endow two chantries founded by Henry Percy and his wife Maud with a messuage in Carlisle for the upkeep of a chaplain saying service daily in the chapel of All Saints in Cockermouth Castle. Four years later royal approval was obtained for an endowment of two closes of land and Maud’s first husband was now included in the list of those for whom mass was said. By 1446 an annual salary of £6-13s-4d. was being paid from the revenues of the Honour to each of the two chaplains.

In surveys of chantries, churches, etc., made in the 1540s by Henry VIII and Edward VI, there are records of this salary having been paid to William Lamplugh and Peter Hudson for saying service in two chantries. The entries are almost identical in wording. The second one reads:

• “Chaunterie within the said kinges majestie castell of Cockermouthe. Sur Peter Hudson, clerk, chaunterie preste saing devyne service within the forsaid castell, receyveth yerlie for his stipende vj ii. xiij s.iiij d. by thandes of the said Henry Whitreson, the said kinges recyvor, (Total) vj ii. xijj s- iiij d. “[£6-13s-4d] [5]

After 1547 William Lamplugh, now aged 60, and Peter Hudson, 46 years old, received pensions of £6 per annum. A further entry in the royal survey reads:

• “Plaite and omementtes apperteining to the said castell of Cokennouth. Furst one chales of sylver parcel! gylte (xxvj s. viij d.), one pyxy of sylver (xx d.), one vestemente of grene sylke floured (iij s. iiij d.), one vestemente tawney sylke (ij s.), one of domex (xx d.), two corporax with cases (ij s.), iiij alterclothes (xx d.), ii towels (iiij d.), ij messes bookes (ij s.), one graile and one salter (ij s.). (Total) xliij s. jiij d. [43s 4d] [6]

There are references to the salaries of various chaplains in the Castle Muniment Rolls for 1446, 1477 and 1485 and in that for 1477 there are also records of a payment of 21d. to John Thomas for 3 Ibs. of wax for wax lights to burn before the images of the Holy Saviour and the Blessed Mary; 2d. for one hair rope for the bell; 6s.8d. to William Hall for making and fixing a new candelabrum and 6s. to William Glazier (note the name) for repairing glass windows in the chapel.

The only work done on the castle premises for the three or four hundred years after the completion about 1400 of the extensions consisted of repairs, maintenance and some slight modifications. We find, for example, that in 1477 the fourth Earl, concerned about the state of the Duilding, paid Thomas Walker for 900 shingles (wooden roofing ’tiles’), at 3s per 100, for re-roofing the kitchen tower.

Henry Percy inspected the castle in September 1567 and reported that “in dyverse places of the same ther ys some neade of reparciones, as fyl1eting the leades in the wall and in some places the hye leades to be new cast. And the kytchen being a faire square tower ys in the roofe in utter decay and rewyne. .. Ten years later the great survey reported “The saide castle is now in great decaie as well in the stoneworke as timberworke thereof’ [7] and three years after that a survey found “This house or castle…ptly decayed and for divers good consideracons thought meete to be repayred”.[8]

In 1645 the then Earl did not consider it worth garrisoning, but it must have been repaired almost immediately to be manned for Parliament. In 1669 repairs were made by a mason, William Sherwen, costing £104 – .presumably to the gatehouse and flag tower, as these were the only parts left intact by the dismantling after the Civil War. A few years later, 1676, the gatehouse and a small part next to it on the north wall were reported habitable, with four bedrooms, a dining room and a kitchen. At the same date there were stables and a bakehouse in the outer bailey and courts were held periodically in the flag tower. There were small repairs in 1682-3 and it was probably about this date that the octagonal summer-house or gazebo was built in the garden. It has some architectural interest stone quoins at the corners and a broken pediment above the door.

“An inventory of the Goods in Cockermouth Castle belonging to his Grace the Duke of Somerset” made about 1689 listed the contents of the living room, three bedchambers, hall, chamber above the hall, kitchen chamber, kitchen, larder, bakehouse, cellar and stable -. obviously very limited accommodation. It is significant that there was no harness, etc., in the stable, merely “One Oat barrall Rackes and mangers Lock and Kay”. Space allows mention of the contents of only one room.

• “In Mr Brooker Chamber one Standing bedsted with Curtains valIance and head pene (?) and tester one ffeather bed one boulster one pelIow 3 blancats one Red Rugg one trundell bed stead one tfeather bed one boulster one pellow to blancats one head Rugg one Chare thre Stoles one tabell one iwon Grate one tfender one ffire Shoull one pear of tongs one poww(!) one Cloce Stoole with pott one lock and kay to the Chamber Dowe.”

In 1751 John Dobinson surveyed the castle and reported that the south wall was in danger of collapse and the north curtain even worse. It was in the following year that the great buttresses on the north wall were erected and three years later there was made “a Water Wear to Prevent the River Derwent from undermining and washing away the Castle Hill”. [9] It may have been now that the north wall of the outer bailey was changed. The upper portion is certainly later than 1739, when Buck’s view shows it lower than at present. (Plate 2)

Undermining was a recurring problem. In 1765 there is record [10] of payment “for the water works at the Castle Lands to secure the same from the River Derwent” and, undated but by comparing writing probably about 1800, a reference [11] to “cradles” and loads of stone to secure the castle and lands.

In 1755 the Earl of Egremont came to stay in the spring with the intention of winning for his family the two Parliamentary seats in the 1756 election. He tried to buy votes but when the election came lost heavily to the Lowthers. Disgusted, he never paid another visit, but is said to have commented frequently on the intractability and unpleasantness of the inhabitants of Cockermouth! However, his visit left its mark. The outer gatehouse, in which he must have stayed, was reroofed and the rooms repaired – walls replastered, ceilings renewed and windows replaced. He brought with him his bedroom and dining furniture, including twenty “mahogany chairs with Spanish lether bottems“, and presumably took them away again. Furniture transport could have been no easy matter in those days. Whitehaven benefitted too, for the Earl was a great eater and spent large sums on oysters, salmon and lobsters from that port.

Grose wrote in 1775

• “the present Earl has caused the outer walls to be newly pointed and the rubbish to be removed from the inner court” [12],

but according to Bulmer the gatehouse was still the only habitable part, with two rooms on each floor, in 1777. Then in 1802 the third earl decided to come up in the late summer every year from his usual residence at Petworth and he had built a new house by the north wall of the outer bailey. [13] It was completed in the spring of 1805. The only portion surviving unaltered is the entrance hall with the staircase. The present stable block was probably built at the same time.

With more frequent use the castle was better cared for and the Earl’s entertainment there of artists and others brought it to the notice of a wider public. With the ruins tidied up and further deterioration halted, for it was probably now that the great arch in the kitchen tower was made, the castle became a feature to be seen by the increasing number of visitors to the Lake District. Wordsworth, who had played amongst the ruins when a young boy, and Turner were both inspired by the grandeur of the ruins and in their work they gave it publicity.

Wordsworth, revisiting in 1833 the scenes of his boyhood, wrote the sonnet:

“Thou look’st upon me, and dost fondly think

Poet! that, stricken as both are by years,

We, differing once so much, are now Compeers,

Prepared, when each has stood his time, to sink

Into the dust. Erewhile a stemer link

United us; when thou, in boyish play,

Entering my dungeon, didst become a prey

To soul-appalling darkness. Not a blink

Oflight was there; and thus did I, thy Tutor,

Make thy young thoughts acquainted with the grave;

While thou wert chasing the wing’d butterfly

Through my green courts; or climbing, a bold suitor,

Up to the flowers whose golden progeny

Still round my shattered brow in beauty wave.”

In 1847 Sir Henry Wyndham replaced the 1805 buildings along the north wall, except for the hall and staircase, at the same time filling a gap which had been left to allow light into the Mirk Kirk through windows which now became blocked. The portion filling the gap was a mock baronial hall, open to the roof with bare stone walls on which skins were hung. A later Wyndham inserted an upper floor around 1900.

The extent of the restoration and use of the castle in the middle of 19th century is shown by an inventory of the contents dated 1860.[14J 16 rooms were in use, in addition to the domestic and servants’ quarters. There were nine horses, total value £291, and under “Carriages” were entered “Four Horse Drag, Omnibus, Dog Cart, Light Cart and Stable Utensils”. Two 4-Horse Whips and two 2 Horse Whips had a value of only £3, but “1 Whip presented to Sir H. Wyndham by the Cabmen of London” was valued at £21. Hip baths, taper stands, wash stands, cases of stuffed birds, stag horns, etc., are a reminder of life 100 years ago. All rooms were liberally furnished and from the list of contents it is possible to imagine their appearance.

We give No. 3 Bed Room as an example:

• Wardrobe and Drawers 2 Drefsing Tables 1 Coat Stand I Shower bath 2 Towel Rails Carpet and Hearth Rug Bedstead and Curtains 2 looking Glasses I Hip bath I Night Commode 4 Chairs Large Jug and basin 2 Wash Stands 1 Large Looking Glass I Foot bath Fender irons and Guard 2 Sets of Chamber Service

Sir Henry was also well provided for. Under ‘Wearing Apparel’ we have.

• 22 Coats 20 pairs of Trousers 27 Pocket Handkershiefs 2 Night Caps I Pair of Silk Stockings 35 Shirts 2 White Vests 2 pairs of Low Shoes 2 Hair Brushes and Comb Stud Case Carpet bag 27 Vests 1 Dressing Gown 27 Neck Ties 2 pairs of Braces 5 pairs ofGloves 22 pairs of Drawers 4 Hats 2 pairs of Slippers 2 Tooth brushes Portmanteau 21 Scarfs 9 Silk Neck Ties 1 Vest piece 27 pairs of Socks 1 pair of Muffatees 15 Under Shirts 15 pairs of Boots 7 Razors and Case I Nail brush 3 Red Shirts

The assessor, John Thwaite, who was a licenced auctioneer in Cockermouth, gave the total value of the castle contents as £2028 4s.

The mock baronial hall was changed by the third Lord Leconfield, who lowered the ceiling from the two-storey height and panelled the walls in oak. An interesting feature then introduced is that the room may be enlarged for special occasions by pushing back the complete wall on the kitchen tower side. The whole wall is on rollers and access to the back of it is gained from the roof loft.

With the erection in 1904 of a further office block on the eastern side of the outer bailey, next to the flag tower, the buildings as we see them today were completed.

In front of the outer gateway, across the ditch, stood in 1578 “two barnes and other buildings and also a parcell of land called the greens without the Castell gate” In 1668 the Duke of Somerset made a bowling green on part of this area which was used thereafter by the people of the town, although a later earl complained in 1777 about the uprooting of cabbages and thorns alongside the green. The site is clearly seen inside the main gate. A number of sites in this area were considered for the new office block.

Rumours abound regarding underground passages between the castle, the old hall, the churchyard, the brewery area, etc. There were certainly drains from the castle to the rivers people still living played in them when children. Larger passageways, now blocked, appear to have gone from a property in Wyndham Row under the road to the castle grounds and from 28 Market Place under Castlegate towards the castle, Are there others?

Wordsworth wrote of the ruins and their history, but made the common mistake regarding the Civil War:

Proud old castle, in thy ruined grandeur

Thou yet doth stand, a record of the past:

Where Derwent’s wave still rippling, doth meander,

That once a well filled moat around thee cast.

Behold the pile which foreign hands once raised,

When Norman Will reigned monarch of this land:

And let the eye regard its walls amazed,

That works of this rude age so long should stand.

Look on that tower, – behold that deep sunk well,

Yon rootless hall, and narrow donjon keep;

Ah, these could each a varied story tell!

To cause a smile, or make the tearless weep.

Those high stout walls once mocked proud Cromwell’s power,

When he his shot against the ramparts hurled;

But famine, not the iron tempest’s shower,

Left Cromwell’s flag upon the walls unfurled

To appreciate the significance of the ruins amongst which we move on trim lawns it is necessary to make a real effort to picture them as they must once have been. First the buildings walls complete, floors inserted, roofed over, chimneys projecting upwards. Then the life within them. The lord with his family and friends eating in the great hall, a roaring log fire, tapestries on the walls, dogs foraging for scraps, and all the related bustle in the kitchen, the cellars and the yard outside. At other times arrows landing from besieging Scots; cannon balls striking from Royalist batteries; sentries patrolling the ramparts. Tenants or petitioners making their way to the flag tower corner. And over all the smell of wood smoke and horses, the shouting of orders and the general background noise of a vigorous, active community.