Portal (architecture)

“ Here the towers are the true terminations of the aisles, and the three internal divisions are marked externally by continuous, though shallow buttresses. There is a low central portal and two lesser portals, all gathered into the central compartment, and consequently all opening into the nave. This central compartment is crowned by a gable in conformity with the form of the roof, and it is pierced by two tiers of five lancets. The design, as a whole, is therefore appropriate, and in this respect offers a rare exception among early buildings in England. ”

“ It is rectangular, with a portal-vault below and two chambers above; one for the working of the outer, and one for that of the inner portcullis. The rib of the central portal remains, with a drop-arch and a square portcullis groove. In the inner chamber is seen part of a large fireplace with a good Decorated hood. Only one portal-arch remains, but from its position it is pretty clear that there were three. The archway is much choked with rubbish. From the great gatehouse the curtain curves sharply towards the north, enclosing the east face of the ward. ”

“ An Edwardian gatehouse is a very imposing structure. It was usually rectangular in plan, always flanked in front by two drum towers, and sometimes in the rear by two others containing well-staircases. In its centre was the portal arch opening into a long straight passage traversing the building. Three loops in each flanking tower commanded the bridge of approach, raked the lateral curtain, and covered a point immediately outside the gate. ”

“ The walls of these four towers are from 14 feet to 16 feet thick. They are of flint faced with brick.
Between the gate-tower is the gateway, composed of a larger and smaller portal, the latter very narrow. The present work is modern, but no doubt in this double entry represents the earlier openings. The ditch, two detached piers standing in it, and with these any traces of the drawbridge, are concealed by the modern causeway.
In the west curtain, near the south-west tower, a flight of steps beneath hanging arches of brick descends from the ward level in the direction of the foot of the wall. ”

“ A rectangular portal, with square jambs and a cornice, opens into the nave, and an arch reaching to the entablature opens into the lateral compartment on each side, and each of these compartments has a barrel vault with its axis perpendicular to that of the great central one. The entablature of the small order is carried across the front of each lateral bay, dividing it into two stages, and the great order rises through it, embracing both stages, and forming an early instance of the so-called colossal order that became common in the later Renaissance. ”

“ Each has a projection of 20 feet; they are of unequal breadth. The chambers have each a loop in front, and one at the junction of the tower with the wall on either side. They were accessible only from the rampart.
In the curtain itself are six loops, opening in pairs between the buttress towers. The curtain ends, northward, in a pair of towers, connected by the vault of a portal, the north postern, regularly defended, and opening upon a plot of ground and causeway separating the two parts of the outer moat. ”

“ The building, judging from its present remains, is scarcely in keeping with the wealth of its late lords, nor does it appear ever to have been more extensive. Part of the walls may be of Norman date, but the general aspect is of the date of Henry III., and the gateway may be of Edward III.
The most perfect portion is the gateway, a pointed and ribbed arch, which opens between two bold drum towers, placed unusually close together. Above the portal is a slit or chase, about 3 feet wide and 6 inches deep, pointing downwards and outwards, and much resembling a large post-office opening. ”

“ On each of the two outer sides are two broad flat pilasters. The superstructure is lofty, and seems to have contained two stories. Above each portal are two windows, of 2 feet 6 inches opening, divided by a space of about 2 feet. The jambs are square, with a plain Norman cap or abacus. The present covering of each is formed of two inclined stones or lintels, which may be original, but are more probably late insertions. Above each pair is a larger single window. The inner portal opens at the level of the court. Outside, the ground is about 10 feet below that level. ”

“ It is a plain tower 22 feet square, projecting 15 feet in advance of the curtain, but with no internal projection. The outer gate is in the centre of the tower, and had a portcullis, and behind it were folding doors. The entrance passage is 11 feet square, vaulted as the great gateway, but not so lofty. Right and left are loops raking the curtain. A door in the west wall opens into the usual well-stair, contained within the north-west angle. There is no lodge. The inner portal was closed by doors only. ”

“ In the south part of the inner doorway was a door opening into a mural stair leading to the upper floor and to the rampart-walk of the curtain, which seems to have been continued through the gatehouse, over the outer portal. The present staircase is exterior, and modern. This is the whole of the original gatehouse, which, with the adjacent and very thick curtain, is probably the work of Earl Roger. ”

“ In the magnitude of its openings, the attenuation of their dividing shafts, and the general predominance of vertical members, it is more Gothic in expression than any other façade of the thirteenth century in France, and yet its defects are both serious and prominent. Among the most marked of these is the projection of the great portal jambs, with their archivolts, beyond the faces of the buttresses, and the continuation of the splays to the outer faces of the jambs, so that those of the adjoining portals almost meet in a sharp edge. ”

“ Portals, from Serlio, in which the entablature is removed between the ressauts, 117, 118 (cut) ; illogical use of arch and entablature in the portals of north Italy, 144, 145 (cuts) ; illogical Renaissance portal derived from the porch of San Zeno of Verona, 146 (cut) ; unreason of Renaissance portals compared with those of Greek or Gothic art, 156; of cath. of Como, illogical use of arch and entablature, 144, 145 (cut) , 149; Stanway House (England) gatehouse, neo-classic features, 223; Wollaton Hall, England, illustrates Elizabethan neo-classic ornamentation, 224 (cut) ”

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(1) (A) All actions taken by employees or contractors of such agency shall meet professional standards under regulations developed by the Secretary in consultation with the Council, other affected agencies, and the appropriate professional societies of the disciplines involved, specifically archaeology, architecture, conservation, history, landscape architecture, and planning. ”

“ The portal is injured by being thrown into a glare of light, when it was intended to stand in shadow, as you will see in the north and south porches over the transept portals. The towers are hurt by losing relief and shadow; but the old fleche is obliged to suffer the cruellest wrong of all by having its right shoulder hunched up by half of a huge rose and the whole of a row of kings, when it was built to stand free, and to soar above the whole facade from the top of its second storey. ”

“ By the courtesy of those in charge, we may pass within the spacious stone entrance arch of No. 18, and pick our way through the ordered confusion, past the admirable inner façade of the main fabric, with its stately steps and portal and its windows above, topped by tiny hoods, to a distant corner; where, in the gloom, we make out the base of a square tower and the foot of a corkscrew staircase. We mount it, spirally and slowly. ”

“ Seen through a haze or by dim light it is a noble composition, the forms exquisitely balanced, the central tower perfectly well marking its place and its structure. It is not until the building is seen in a brilliant light and its detailed effect begins to tell upon its general masses that any exception can be taken to its merit as a general central tower. That the lack of solidity in appearance may be the more clearly understood, it is well to compare with the church itself the porch which was built long after Richardson’s death, though avowedly according to his general design. ”

“ The enclosure is square, and the entrance, in the centre of the front wall, is by a lofty portal, defended by a heavy outer gate, in which there is a wicket, and an inner gate, and dominated by a tower taller than the others. ”

“ In the north curtain is a half-round mural tower with four loops, and of one story, open at the gorge. The water-table of a double-gable roof is seen within, and the central gutter projects as a spout outside. Further on is a blocked-up arch, probably an early postern, and, still further, the seat and drain of a large garderobe, beneath an arch in the wall, 8 feet broad. Above is a plain corbel, hollowed to receive the wall-plate of a roof, and no doubt one of a series. The country people call it the gallows. ”

“ A flight of steps, so deep and narrow as to be almost precipitous, leads up to a low portal in the south side of the tower, by which the adventurous antiquary may still, or at least could a few years since, gain access to a small stair within the thickness of the main wall of the tower, which leads up to the third story of the building,—the two lower being dungeons or vaults, which neither receive air nor light, save by a square hole in the third story, with which they seem to have communicated by a ladder. ”

“ There remains to be described the gatehouse, or entrance to this inner ward,—a very curious structure, of unusual length, and of three periods. First, approaching from the outside are two parallel walls, 5 feet thick and 9 feet apart, from within the ends of which hung the drawbridge, apparently without any special arch or gateway. In one wall is a squint loop, commanding the approach from the great gateway of the outer ward. ”

“ The stair, which had a timber roof, ascends by the side of the east wall, straight from the ground. There is a gateway at its foot, and another gateway at a landing half-way up. The upper flight of stairs, which was also roofed with timber, passes through a third gateway into the upper floor of a tower, which, as at Rochester and Norwich, covers the main doorway of the keep, and is not placed, as at Dover and Newcastle, beyond the doorway. Each of the doorways of the fore-building has a rounded arch with an edge-roll, and shafts with cushion capitals in the jambs. ”

“ The whole group of buildings stands on a piece of ground, rich with trees, surrounded by a lovely old wall and moat, the single approach being by the bridge and the gate-house, which has Renaissance windows and retains the slit for the portcullis and the drawbridge-chains. ”

“ At the distance of a few hundred feet from this structure, in sight at the same time as we approached it, is an arched gateway, remarkable for its beauty of proportions and grace of ornament The plate opposite represents this gateway. On the right, running off at an angle of thirty degrees, is a long building much fallen, which could not be comprehended in the view. On the left it forms an angle with another building, and on the return of the wall there is a doorway, not shown in the engraving, of good proportions, and more richly ornamented than any other portion of the structure. ”

“ The shaft rose from a sort of plaza, a wide space, rectangular, with avenues dug through the living stone and lined with metal, top and bottom as well as both sides, and with the various compartments that would correspond to our buildings honeycombed out from each avenue, so that there really was no feeling of a city as we know it—only of immense tunnels, intersecting, none of the relief of roofs and chimney pots and varying architectural façades—a triumph of cubism, a nightmare of magnesium that reflected a pale green light from opalescent tubing recessed everywhere into the city's roof. ”

“ The south-east angle of the building is hollow, forming a nook or recess of 18 feet each way, the two outer sides being walls 6 feet thick, and about half the height of the main building. These walls are provided with parapets, front and rear, so as to form a covered way, which communicates with the east curtain. In front of this inclosure is the outer gate, of 11 feet opening, with a drop-pointed arch, placed in a sunk square-headed panel, intended to lodge the drawbridge when lifted. This entrance leads into an open chamber 12 feet square, commanded by its outer walls. ”

“ The entrance gateway was defended with two portcullises,{146} with folding gates and double machicolations. It had originally an advanced work in front, which was replaced in the seventeenth century by a crenellated wall. The appearance of the building, whether it be regarded externally or from the courtyard, is grand and imposing from its vastness and height. The towers and walls are, even in their present crippled condition, most commanding from their magnitude, the former being about 150 feet in height, while the walls rise to about 100 feet. ”