ARCHITECTURAL NOTES ON KILKENNY CASTLE. COMMUNICATED BY JAMES G. ROBERTSON, ESQ., ARCHITECT. ANY record of the plan and appearance of Kilkenny Castle, as it existed before the late alterations, being likely to prove of interest to the members of the Kilkenny Archæological Society, I shall make no apology for laying before them some notes made during the progress of the demolition and re-edification of the structure, by the architect, the late William Robertson, Esq., of Rose Hill, and which are illustrated by lithographs of some of the pen-and-ink sketches accompanying my late relative's manuscript. The tinted lithograph of the courtyard of the castle as it appeared before the year 1825 (which accompanies this paper) is copied from a drawing made for the late Mr. Robertson, in order to illustrate his intended work on the antiquities of Kilkenny, and completes a series of four views of the castle taken for that purpose. The other three had been engraved by that gentleman, and they have been lately published by me, from the plates left by him. The following are the notes above alluded to: "In March, 1825, on accidentally viewing the castle with the countess of Ormonde, I observed that the massive buttress which had been applied to the centre of the then court front was very considerably protruded from the inclined line of direction which its summit had. The singularity of the circumstance attracted my attention, and on examination I found the wall to which it was applied in a loose and bad state, the buttress itself consisting of a mere shell of cut stone, the core principally of dry rubble. On applying plumb lines to the front wall, I found the summit overhanging about fourteen inches, particularly adjoining the buttress, diminishing as you receded to the right and left of it. The interior also exhibited marked proofs of derangement. "Lord Ormonde's friends having suggested to him the propriety of getting other opinions besides mine, Mr. Semple, architect, of Dublin, was called in by his lordship, and after examination he not only fully concurred in my opinions, but went considerably farther. Shortly after this, I was directed to take measures to watch the state of the building, and to report if I should observe any farther tendency to dilapidation. The fissures were immediately filled by my orders, and wooden wedges inserted loosely in several of the open joints, so that if there should be any farther increase of these, the wedges would fall out. In the course of about a month, it was apparent to the eye that the progress of dilapidation was proceeding, and in another month it appeared to increase so rapidly, that on a representation of these circumstances, orders were given to take down the roof, walls, &c., of 1 Antiquities and Scenery of the County of Kilkenny, edited and published by James George Robertson. Kilkenny, 1851; oblong folio. the centre buildings. Amongst the many circumstances discovered in taking down the old works the following deserve notice: "On relieving the internal front wall from the weight of the roof and heavy slates which had accelerated the dilapidation, it was found that the massive buttress was only so in appearance; the casing of cut stone being only filled with dry rubble, and totally incompetent to afford any resistance to the falling wall. "On removing the old oak stairs, we found under them a portion of the masonry of the original castle, of singular solidity and massiveness, the mortar so indurated and attached to the stones embedded in it, that they were as one substance, and could not be separated without breaking the mass into pieces; and it is very remarkable that this mortar retained quite sharply the traces of tools employed in cutting it, as if it had been stone. "The break in which the butler's room formerly was, and in which the principal stairs now are, was found to be in a most dilapidated and very dangerous state, the traces of many and injudicious changes were very apparent, and this entire angular break was ascertained to have been but a comparatively modern addition, probably of the period of the repairs in 1682, for on taking it down, the inclined foundation of the straight curtain wall, which, certainly, has connected the west and east towers, was found on the level of the hall, and this break was projected beyond the line of this foundation; it was also found that where this break headed' against the east tower, its masonry was not united with that of the tower, but merely built up against it, for the circular work of the tower returned beyond the junction internally, as at A (figure 1, plate of details), the dotted line marks the direction of the old curtain wall. At the point B there was an arched porch, which we took down; it had a roof of stone and stone door jambs with strong iron hooks inserted in them to take the hinges of the door, which had certainly been an external one, from the great strength of the door jambs; and from its height above the level of the ground it must have been approached by stone steps. At C were the old foundations (under the stairs) of some former building, the masonry of extreme solidity, extending in length about twenty feet, in breadth nearly the same, and connected with the tower. "The different floors in the break (A, figure 1) were sustained by very strong beams laid on corbels in the ancient manner, a mode well calculated to preserve the timber (figure 2). "Under the old back door (marked D in figure 1) was found a wide flue or passage descending to the vaults under the castle, to the level of the river. It was four feet in height by two feet in width, and built with stone; it passed obliquely outward under the steps. I arched in the mouth of it. The inclined foundation of the curtain wall descends, I suppose, to the level of the back lawn, or deeper; under the terraces I followed it about seven feet (figure 3). |