Page 25 - John Barber's Oakham Castle and its archaeology

4. The west wall
Some years ago I noticed between the obscuring horseshoes on this western wall a kind of raised cross-
hatching, forming a pattern of adjacent lozenges with sides of approximately eight inches. This is even more
clearly visible now (November/December 1979) that most of the horseshoes have been temporarily removed
for cleaning. I imagine that it must have been some kind of plaster or stucco decoration, perhaps picked out in
colour, and possibly in imitation of woollen tapestries hung against the western wall behind the dais. No clear
traces remain of any windows in the west end of the hall (unless breaks in the continuity of the cross-hatching
are indicative of openings), but it is just possible that there might once have been small apertures to enable the
hall to be viewed from the solar. The recent cleaning of the hall has also thrown up one new and previously
unnoticed feature – the outline of a pointed arch (see under ‘The roof’ above with reference to ‘arch’. This
work is of similar character – comment by Tim Clough). There can be no doubt that this was the important end
of the hall and that the dais stood here close to the solar and as far removed as possible from the screens and
service doors on the east end, in the normal medieval manner.

5. The east wall
[Viewed from the inside] This wall has, besides the blocked up late 16th
century window already mentioned, four blocked up doorways, three at
ground level and one above the northernmost of these three. Two of the
four doorways have rounded Norman arches (matching the big unblocked
window in the gable end), but the two nearest to the south aisle have
pointed arches – even though they appear on the exterior as rounded
arches.
The two doors nearest to the south aisle presumably led to the service
areas, whilst the third must have taken one via a staircase (spiral?) and via
the blocked up upper doorway to the minstrel gallery (though Holland
Walker writes: ‘Tradition points to the lower of these doors as being the
entrance to the chapel, while the upper one led to the priest’s room’).
Whatever the purpose of the two doors under discussion, the ledge on the
north wall of the hall between the east wall and the easternmost window
(blocked up) of the north aisle, makes it virtually certain that there must
have been a gallery, and presumably below it, the wooden screens
separating the hall from the service areas. Holland Walker finds some
difficulty with the idea of a gallery because there is no corresponding
ledge in the south aisle to support it. Indeed there never could have been,
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as originally the main door was there.

Fig. 27 (above). The two blocked-up
doorways to the north of the
east elevation of the Hall.

Fig. 28 (right). All four blocked-up
doorways on the inside of the east
wall of the Hall.

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See Holland Walker 1924.
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