Vetusta Monumenta: Ancient Monuments, a Digital Edition

Plates 3.40-3.44: Five Plates of Hedingham Castle (Original Explanatory Account)

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VOL. III. Plates XL, XLI, XLII, XLIII, XLIV.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF LEICESTER, PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, &. &c. &c.

Hedingham Castle, Essex, March 25th, 1796.
MY LORD,

THE study and history of antient structures are so entirely within the province of Antiquaries, and have so frequently been the subjects of their attention, that I trust I need offer no apology for troubling your Lordship with the following Memoir and Drawings; together with my request, that you would be pleased to submit them to the learned Society, over which your Lordship so ably presides.

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In treating this subject, I mean to advance nothing which credible authority, added to my own knowledge and repeated inspection of the building, will not warrant; avoiding all observations and opinions of a visionary or uncertain nature; and I am the more disposed to this precision, from an idea that very few memoranda concerning this Castle can absolutely be relied on; for, having been erected now so many years since, and not being a royal or public edifice, but the residence of a private family, all records concerning the precise time of its construction, the names of the architects, its various repairs, the disasters befalling it during so long a period, with other anecdotes of a similar and not less interesting nature, are probably lost for ever; at least they have escaped a very diligent search on my part, in places from which elucidation might have been reasonably expected.

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An Antiquary, of considerable eminence in the last Century1, has observed that, after very diligent search by the most inquisitive in such matters, no coin, medal, or any thing Roman has ever been found in, or about this castle, or village, though this people generally left such tokens in all places of their residence; nor any memorial whatsoever, British, Saxon, or Dane, but only English, of which many have been found; for which reasons, and because, the practice of building strong-holds prevailed so generally in those days, he concludes this castle to have been built in, or soon after, the Conqueror’s time2.

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The ashler of many buildings of this aera was of stone from quarries in the vicinity of Caen in Normandy1, to which a decided preference was given by the Norman workmen2; but, after a very attentive examination into this matter, it appeared to me, that the ashler of Hedingham castle was more probably drawn from the quarries of Northamptonshire (a county more abundantly stored with quarry stone than perhaps any other in England3) than from abroad.

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him the crown of England as a reward1. A force was accordingly embarked2, which was soon after followed by the Dauphin himself; but before his landing we are informed that King John, A. D. 1216, besieged and took Colchester castle, which was surrendered to him by the French garrison then in it3; “after which he took Hidingham or Hyemingham castle belonging to Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford4.”

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restoration of his deposed sovereign; in which he, with the friends of that unfortunate monarch, succeeded for a short time, during which he was restored to his honours1. A letter from the earl to his brother, Sir Thomas de Vere, communicating his plan of operations for the service of Henry VI. and to prevent the landing of Edward IV. whose fleet was supposed to be on the Eastern coast, is dated from this castle, on the 14th of March, 14702.

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thanked them for his good chear, said unto him, that the report of hospitality came short of the truth; but that he could not suffer his laws to be broken in his presence without resenting it; and that his Attorney General should talk with him about it. The Lords were then to give but a certain number of liveries, or blue coats; which law, whether it stills stands in force or no I know not[.]

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for red deer, which came down to the antient pound, at the entrance of the parish from London), were parted, and let to several tenants in allotments1.

The earl’s second countess was Elizabeth daughter of Thomas Trentham of Roucester, in the county of Stafford. She was one of the maids of honour to queen Elizabeth2; by her he had a son Henry, who, after his father’s death, became the 18th earl of Oxford3.

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P. S. In Symonds’s Collections, relative to the county of Essex, now remaining in the College of Arms, at London, are preserved the epitaphs of two constables of this castle, in the following words.

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A P P E N D I X,

Containing a Description of the Five Plates of Hedingham Castle, in the County of Essex.

Plate XL.

PLAN of the ballium or inner court of the castle, in which the castle stands. At a a are two openings forcibly made with great labour and want of taste about the year 1720, by the then proprietor, in order to convert the ground floor of the castle (which before was not accessible but by descending the stairs within the grand entrance in the West front) into an outhouse for the convenience of the mansion then recently built. At b is the dungeon.

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Plate XLI.

THIS plate represents the plan of five of the stories, with several of the apertures of the castle.

The first story, after ascending the stairs a a, is entered on the right hand through the principal door at b, on the West side of the castle. This story is drawn to the same scale with the grand section, Pl. XLIII: At c c, the groove wherein the portcullis used to slide is distinctly visible. In this, and other plans of the stories, may be observed a variety of recesses near the loop holes and windows, as at d d d d d d, seemingly contrived for the purpose of retiring from danger, after the discharge of any sort of offensive weapon from within.

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Plate XLII.

Fig. 1. THE geometrical elevation of the South front of the castle, with the stairs leading to the principal entrance, and the remains of the dungeon on the West side.—In this figure the windows and loop-holes, given in Plate XLI. may be distinctly observed.

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Plate XLIII.

IN this Plate we are presented with a complete section of the castle by the removal of the North front. The several apartments are exposed to our view, and our attention will be naturally taken up in contemplating the singularity and solidity of this antient structure, and in contrasting the difference between the present and former modes of security against an enemy.

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Plate XLIV.

THE South West view of Hedingham castle, taken nearly from that part of the hill where the foundations of the tower, marked f. Plate XL. are described.

This view presents the South and the West fronts, exhibiting in the most distinct manner the situation of the dungeon, the chief entrance, and the various other apertures of the building. In the West wall, immediately under the windows of the armory, may be traced the form and situation of the roof, which formerly extended from thence over the dungeon and stairs leading to the chief entrance. And in the wall of the North West turret are seen the situation of the antient embattlements.

Translation of the Longer Passage:

Page 9, lines 17-39: Henry Bellingham, arms-bearer, leases by indenture of the noble Edward de Veer, count of Oxford, great lord chamberlain of England, a vivarium, viz. the lord’s park, called Castle Park, in which there is a mound which, so it is supposed, was topped and raised with human effort and industry; this mound is the site and seat of said manor, viz. of the honour of Hedingham Castle, and lies on an east-west axis, on the east end of which mound there is an atrium, called the inner court, enclosed and surrounded by a brick wall. In the middle of this atrium is situated above a four-sided tower, lead-roofed, and having four little towers on each corner at their highest points. Below the perimeter of this tower, viz. at its base, is situated a four-sided kitchen with a well in it. And near there, viz. on the west side of the said kitchen, is situated a latomia, in English a dungeon, and in the center (lit. “navel”) of the tower there are two rooms. And on the upper part of the said tower is a four-sided armory. And near the said tower, viz, on its west side, is situated a forecourt, made of brick and mortar, and having on its western end two bakeries and two rooms above [them]. And under the said forecourt is situated two vaults or cellars; and near the southern end of the said forecourt is situated a four-sided tower, made of solid brick, [which] a while ago [had been] divided into different rooms but [whose] rooms [were] recently demolished by warrant of the said count. There are, besides, in the said atrium two other towers also made of solid brick. And at the entrance of the said atrium is situated another tower above. These three towers had been divided a while ago into different rooms, but recently [these rooms] were also demolished by warrant of the said count. Finally, in the said atrium is situated a large and deep well, etc., etc., etc.