The Castle. S. Read. 1868. Source: the 1868 Illustrated London News. Click on image to enlarge it
What pompous tournaments have been displayed in the courtyard of Lancaster Castle; and what lordly feasts, enlivened by minstrels and mummers, have gladdened its ancient halls, of which no fragment is left! But in the person of King Honry IV. the duchy of Lancaster came to be an appanage of the Crown, as it has been ever since. The castle was held alternately by both parties in the Wars of the Roses. Under the Kings of the House of York, it was naturally allowed to fall into decay. Queen Elizabeth ordered it to be repaired and strengthened against the Spanish Armada. In the wars of the Commonwealth it was attacked by Cromwell, who battered it with his cannon from Haverbricks Hill, and soon forced an entrance. It was besieged, however, by the Royalists, under Sir Thomas Tyldesley, in 1648; but their defeat at Preston impelled them to withdraw.
Of its original buildings, Lancaster Castle—which was many years ago converted into the county gaol, and fitted up with assize courts—now retains only four—namely, the two towers, Hadrian’s Tower and the Well Tower, which are said to be of Roman origin, but without any obvious reason derived from their construction; the central Norman keep, built in all probability by Roger of Poictou; and the entrance gateway, built originally towards the end of the twelfth century, and re-cased in the time of John of Gaunt. The Norman keep, crowned by a square turret at its western angle, said to have been built by John of Gaunt, and containing a stone seat, still called John o’ Gaunt’s chair, is a very grand mass; and, although surrounded and concealed for two-thirds its height by modern additions, still towers over the entire group, and gives character and massiveness to it, as seen from a distance. This is shown in the view taken from Cable-street, which have engraved. — Illustrated London News
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Bibliography
"Leaves from a Sketchbook: Lancaster." Illustrated London News 53 (1868): 72-74. Hathi Trust online version of a copy in the Princeton University Library. Web. 25 May 2021.
Last modified 26 May 2021