page_title: St Briavels Castle
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: St Briavels Castle / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: St Briavels Castle. This is the 12th Century gatehouse of the original castle that collapsed in the 18th Century. It is now used as a Youth Hostel
context_page_description: St Briavels Castle is a moated Norman castle at St Briavels in the English county of Gloucestershire. The castle is noted for its huge Edwardian gatehouse that guards the entrance.
  St Briavels Castle was originally built between 1075 and 1129 as a royal administrative centre for the Forest of Dean. During the 13th century the castle became first a favourite hunting lodge of King John, and then the primary centre in England for the manufacture of quarrels, large numbers of which were required for crossbows in medieval warfare. The castle was transferred many times between royal favourites in the 14th and 15th centuries and slowly declined in appearance and importance. St Briavels Castle became used primarily as a court and as a notorious debtors' prison, conditions being documented by the prison reformer John Howard in 1775. Following local riots and a parliamentary investigation in the 1830s, reforms in the 19th century brought an end to the castle's use as a prison.
  Extensive renovation at the turn of the 20th century allowed St Briavels Castle to be taken over as a Youth Hostel in 1948. It remains in this role today, owned by English Heritage and open to the public.
context_section_description: St Briavels Castle is located on a spur dominating a position above the River Wye, on the western edge of the Forest of Dean. The castle is predominantly built of local old red sandstone and limestone. The castle site is surrounded by an in-filled moat; now a garden, the moat was originally wet and fed by a spring underneath the moat itself.
  The castle keep, which collapsed and was demolished in the 18th century, was originally a square Norman design, 15.6 m by 13.9 m (51 ft by 45 ft) in size, built on a motte of clay and stone. Intact, it would have been approximately 20 m (66 ft) tall, and would have resembled the keeps at Goodrich Castle and White Castle, both of a similar period and design in the region.
  The keep was protected by the stone curtain wall that still survives today, forming the castle bailey. Its irregular polygonal plan suggests that it was built on the site of an earlier earthwork. It originally had a small round tower protecting the south-east corner and probably a gateway in the south wall alongside the keep. Other demolished buildings included a forge and assorted buildings along the north-east of the bailey. A set of medieval domestic buildings still stand along the north-west side of the bailey, however, including a hall, solar and chapel, originally providing accommodation for the castle constable and the King. These buildings were restored in the 19th century to their current condition. Some features, including the hall range, fireplace and capitals appear to date from the 13th century.  The hall and solar form a two-storey building 23 m by 10 m (75 ft by 33 ft) wide, alongside the 14th century chapel, which still incorporates later 17th century adjustments and windows.  At one end of the domestic range is the famous "Forester's Horn" chimney, crested with the forest warden's horn, a symbol of Forest Law and the castle's authority.  The buildings include a sunken pit prison; graffiti dated 1671 show that it was still in use for that purpose at that time.
  The gatehouse of St Briavels Castle is described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "magnificent... a very fine example of the royal masons' work of the period." It is a massive structure of two large D-shaped towers flanking a wide gate passage 14.8 m (48 ft) long, and linked above by a large room. This sort of gatehouse is sometimes termed a keep-gatehouse or gatehouse-keep because of the massive size and defences on both the inner and outer sides of the building. The first gatehouse of this sort was built at Caerphilly Castle; other examples exist in North Wales and at Tonbridge Castle. Uniquely, St Briavels' gatehouse is protected with three sets of portcullises – although some gatehouses, such as Harlech and Beaumaris Castle were built for slots for three, they were only installed with two. A notable feature is the existence of smaller portcullises to defend the doorways from the passage to the porters' lodges. The gatehouse was originally taller than it is today and the entrance would also have included a drawbridge, removed during the 20th century.
  The base of the gatehouse is defended from undermining by large "spurs". This design feature is characteristic of castles in the Welsh Marches, including Goodrich and Tonbridge Castle, but unlike these castles depends on a solid octagonal, rather than square, based interacting with the form of the circular towers. The gatehouse is well defended, except for the upper windows at the rear; the upper floors were designed for high status guests and these windows would have provided adequate light for the chambers. The south-east of the gatehouse is relatively modern, however, having been rebuilt after a past collapse.
caption: The Edwardian castle gatehouse.
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