border, being about a mile from the river Rhymny, the boundary between Monmouth and Glamorgan, and, since the reign of Henry VIII., between England and the Principality, in this direction.

The castle is placed in the midst of a valley, open on the east towards the Rhymny, and divided on the west from the valley of the Taff by the mountain ridge of Mynydd Mayo. North and north-west, at a greater distance, is the concave crest of Mynydd Eglwsilan, and on the south, the long and well-known elevation which separates the hill-country of Glamorgan from the plain, and is intersected by the ravines of the Taff, the Rhymny, and the Ebbwy. This ridge is locally known as the great Garth and Caerphilly mountains, and, on the road from the castle to the sea, is crowned by the ancient Celtic stronghold of Môr-graig.

Caerphilly stands therefore in a vast basin. The traveller who wishes to see it to advantage, should descend upon it soon after sunrise in autumn, from one of the surrounding heights, when the grey towers of the castle will be seen rising out of an immense sea of mist.

The whole basin is a part of the Glamorganshire coal field. The mineral has long been worked on Caerphilly mountain, where it appears on the surface, and the castle is chiefly constructed of the fissile sandstone of the neighbourhood, which appears to have been quarried from a large excavation by the road side, near ChapelMartin.

Along the base of the mountains, and extending some way up their skirts, here, as in all the vallies in the neighbourhood, lie vast deposits of gravel and sand, composed in part of the debris of the neighbouring rocks, but chiefly of rolled pebbles, supposed to have been brought down from the northern hills by diluvial agency.

I propose, in the following pages, first to describe the position and details of the castle, and afterwards to state its history, as far at least as it is known to me.

First, of the ground on which the castle stands :Near the centre of the basin already described is a

bed of gravel, of considerable extent and thickness, the surface of which has been deeply wrought, by some natural process, into a series of furrows and eminences.

A narrow tongue of slightly elevated ground, the termination of a low peninsula of gravel, projects eastwards, and, by its projection, divides a swampy flat of considerable breadth into two portions. These are contained within irregular gravel banks, similar to, though somewhat higher than, the central peninsula. The southern is shorter, and almost parallel to it; the northern is prolonged, and curves around its point, until it is separated from the southern only by an inconsiderable gorge. The swamp thus assumes something of the figure of a horse-shoe.

South of the peninsula, the Nant-y-Gledyr, a large rivulet, flows from the south-west, across the swamp, through the gorge, to join the Rhymny.

North-east of the peninsula a smaller spring, partly indeed fed by the Nant-y-Gledyr, flows across a part of the northern swamp; and, north of this again, another spring contributes to the same swamp. Naturally, these waters seem to have found their way, by a depression or gorge, to the north-eastward, into the Nant-y-Gledyr, outside of and below the upper gorge already mentioned.

The tongue of land thus guarded was well suited for the purposes of defence, supposing the peninsula to have been converted, by a cross-trench, into an island. Water was abundant, pasturage at hand, and the morass would form a secure front. There is, however, no evidence that the spot was occupied by the Welsh, though it has been thought, with great probability, that the stronghold of Senghennydd was here situated.

Under the Normans, the surface of the ground underwent considerable alteration. The bed of the Nant-yGledyr was dammed up at one gorge, and the northern waters at the other, and the two divisions of the swamp thus formed into lakes.

Advantage was taken of a narrow and curved ridge, which proceeded from the root of the peninsula, to divide

the northern swamp into two parts, of which the one formed the middle, and the other the inner, moat.

The inner moat communicated with the southern swamp by two cross-cuts; one, the old natural termination of the peninsula eastwards, the other, an artificial cut across it on the west; and thus the circuit of the inner moat was completed.

The island which was thus formed, and encircled by this moat, was scarped into curtains and bastions, and faced with stone; and the single cross-cut westward, not being deemed a sufficient defence, the peninsula was divided by a second cross-cut further westward, and the second island, thus formed, was converted into a sort of horn-work or demi-lune, covering the western approach. This also was scarped and revetted.

Thus, then, the principal features of the ground plan are-the end of the peninsula converted into an island, and defended on the north by the inner north moat, on the south by the lake, on the east by the inner east moat, and on the west by the inner cross-cut-the whole making up the inner moat.

Proceeding outwards, we have, as the boundaries of this moat-on the west, the horn-work, prolonged on the north into the curved ridge; on the east, the natural bank occupied by the southern half of the grand front; and on the south, the acclivity of the bank of the lake, rising rather steeply. All these form the outer boundaries of the inner moat. The second, or middle line of defence, is less complete, and is confined to the west and northern sides. It begins with the outer cross-cut, west of the horn-work, which communicates at one end with the lake, and at the other with the middle moat. Beyond this middle line of defence is, upon the north-west, a high knoll, the summit of which has been carved into a redoubt; towards the north by the northern bank, which is turned westwards by the northern brook, and thickened eastwards into a dam wall; and towards the north-east, east, and south-east, by the continuation of this bank, and the northern half of the grand front, built upon it.

These defences are again strengthened-on the north by one division of the outer moat, formed by the passage of the north brook, and on the east by the other division extending in advance of the grand front, and connected with the Nant-y-Gledyr, near the great drawbridge. These moats are divided by a sort of causeway at the north-east angle of the outworks, reserved for the passage of cavalry from a sally-port. A part of the earth excavated from these outer moats seems to have been thrown up outside, so as to form banks, one of which is occupied by the main street of Caerphilly, the other by the NantGarw road.

It is hoped that reference to the plan, or to the ground as seen from the towers or walls, will suffice to render the above description intelligible.

For the purpose of the description of the castle itself, the whole may be considered as composed of six parts, each of which will be further subdivided. These parts

are,

I. The GRAND FRONT. II. The HORN-WORK. III. -The REDOUBT. IV. The MIDDLE WARD. V.-The INNER WARD.

I.—The eastern or GRAND FRONT of Caerphilly is a very fine and complete specimen of a feudal line of defence. It is composed of a long curtain-wall of considerable height and thickness, strengthened on the exterior by buttresses and buttress-towers, rising in the centre into a broad or lofty gate-house, and terminated, at either extremity, by clusters of towers that protect its sally-ports, and prevent it from being out-flanked. Before it is a broad and deep moat, supplied with water, and crossed by a double drawbridge. In its rear is a second moat, also crossed by a drawbridge. The length of the façade is about 250 yards, the height varies from twenty to sixty feet.

It is divided into the great gate-house, the northern curtain and postern, and the southern curtain and postern.

The great gate-house stands a little on the north side

of the centre. Its line of front is not exactly parallel to those of the curtains, the plan being irregular.

The gate-house proper is a lofty oblong building, fifty feet broad by thirty-five deep, and about sixty high. It is perforated below by the portal, but rises above as a broad tower. Its lateral portions project six feet beyond the portal, and form porters' lodges.

The portal, ten feet wide by twenty high, was defended by gates, portcullis, and stockade. It is guarded by loops on each side from the lodges. Those opening from the portal measure twenty feet by ten, have fire places, and were floored with timber. The walls are nine feet thick, and are looped in various directions for defence.

Passing through the gate-house, behind it is a broad platform, which extends behind the southern curtain, and is scarped and revetted towards the inner moat; on the right of this is a prolongation of the gate-house westwards, into the gate-house tower. One of two doors leads up this tower by a hexagonal well-stair, nine feet in mean diameter; this opens upon seven apartments in two stories, and terminates in a lofty quadrangular turret. In the lower story are devices for working the portcullis, and a small fire-place and oven, probably intended to serve the purpose of a cooking place for the porter and his assistants, and possibly, in time of siege, for heating pitch, lead, &c. These rooms are vaulted. From this story a passage opens upon the rampart of the northern curtain, and led, probably by a temporary plank bridge, across an abyss in the thickness of the wall, about twentynine feet deep and five wide, and opening below between the grates of the grand postern. A passage, at the ground level, leads from the platform through the gatehouse tower, across the grand postern, to the northern curtain, and is defended by gates, portcullis, and drawbridge.

From the gate-house a dividing wall, twenty feet high and six thick, extends westward eighty feet to the edge of the inner moat, and thus cuts off the platform and the whole of the northern from the southern curtain.

Its