Coventry Castle

On 12th May 2017 1:40pm, AD said: I've got a bit of an issue with the description of "chapel of St Michael in the Bailey, later to become the old cathedral" If the same structure were to become the old cathedral then either the ditch around the bailey is in the wrong place and needs to be further north for it to be within the bailey or, more likely, the chapel mentioned is a completely different structure and in a slightly different place to that which we know as the old cathedral.

It was not unknown for medieval buildings to have square stone towers. Caesar's Tower is, however, different; apart from the fact that it appears to pre-date the medieval building it is attached to, it is wedge-shaped, not square. It was also originally four storied with battlements; these battlements were already ruinous in 1471 when they were repaired. So we originally had a tower nearly fifty foot high with battlements and bow apertures. This was facing towards the ditch and exactly in line with the top of Broadgate, the site of the portam. If we mirror this wedge-shaped tower we create a funnel entrance, a killing zone; incidentally during the 1900 excavation two skeletons were found within this killing zone. The tower has the lower part of a wall possibly part of the original curtain wall running underneath the Prince's Chamber, everything above is later infill. This wall appears to have lost half of its original thickness. Assuming this was the line of the curtain, which, by the way, mirrors the line of the ditch in Hay Lane, its position would show some relevance to the door arrangement in the tower. The tower doors are exactly where one would expect them to be on a castle tower. The first at the base of the curtain, the second, left of it originally approached by an exterior stair and the third in line with the curtain wall. This third door is very important for it is very low and was recorded as being so in the 14th century. This is a defensive doorway made low, for if the battlements are breeched anyone entering this room would have to bend down putting them at a disadvantage and making them vulnerable. The fourth story would be entered from the third floor through an opening in the ceiling. There was, up until the late 19th century, remains of a massive wall still attached to the kitchens of the hall, behind Caeser's Tower. This was of uncertain date, and by its size, being at least 6 feet thick suggest some connection to the castle site. During renovation work in 1914 on the south-east corner of the kitchen, due to a large crack the foundations were exposed with the intention to underpin it. Underneath was 'revealed an enormous mass of masonry'; workmen tried to find the bottom of this masonry and gave up at 12 feet. Considering that the kitchen is supposed to be one of the oldest parts of the building, does it conceal remains of the castle or did the builders use castle stone simply for its foundations. Lastly, in the undercroft of the hall are two wells, these could of course have originally supplied the castle. More stonework to this building is mentioned by the excellent Victorian historian T.W. Whitley, who stated in 1884 that somewhere around Bayley Lane was unearthed 'a large stone wall of great strength... with much fallen stone around it.' He also noted that this wall followed the line of an intricate circular boundary stretching from Bayley Lane to Broadgate. Some buildings along this boundary were marked with the letter T for Trinity parish. This self-contained circular boundary Whitley believed may have been the boundary of the castle and he noted that it left the castle area heading down to the Sherbourne. This is of course as it was also described on the forged boundary charter of Hugh Keviloc. The point where this boundary passed into Broadgate was at number 18, near top of Broadgate where the castle entrance is believed to have been.