Hawarden, however, bears no marks of the Norman style though the Keep is
unusually substantial. It appears, according to the best authorities,
{14} to be the work of one period, and that, probably, the close of the
reign of Henry III. or the early part of that of Edward I. Hence Roger
Fitzvalence, the first possessor after the Conquest, and the Montalts,
who held it by Seneschalship to Hugh Lupus, must have been content to
allow the old defences to remain, as any masonry constructed by them
could scarcely have been so entirely removed as to show no trace of the
style prevalent at the time.
The Keep is circular, 61 feet in diameter, and originally about 40 feet
high. The wall is 15 feet thick at the base, and 13 feet at the level of
the rampart walk--dimensions of unusual solidity even at the Norman
period, and rare indeed in England under Henry III. or the Edwards. The
battlements have been replaced by a modern wall, but the junction with
the old work may be readily detected. In the Keep were two floors--the
lower, no doubt, a store room without fire-place or seat--the upper a
state room lighted from three recesses and entered from the portcullis
chamber.
Next to this last is the Chapel, or rather _Sacrarium_, with a cinquefoil-
headed doorway, and a small recess for a piscina, with a projecting
bracket and fluted foot.
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