Page 26 - John Barber's Oakham Castle and its archaeology

It is worth noting the difference
in the fenestration of the two aisles,
those in the northern aisle being so
arranged as to accommodate the
ledge for the gallery floor, and those
in the southern being placed closer
together to allow spaces for the main
doorway. My own thinking still
tends to favour a gallery above the
screens, but it must have stopped
short of the main doorway, where
perhaps there was a small vestibule
to the width of the southern aisle.
More about these blocked doorways
will be discussed later in Para 7.

Fig. 29. The interior of the north wall of the Great Hall.
The ledge to which JLB refers is to the right of the doorway,
with the upper row of horseshoes resting their feet on it.

6. The columns
These are in such an excellent state of preservation that they might have been carved but yesterday. It is a great
pity that most of their bases are hidden, and that the unnatural level of the floor detracts from their well planned
proportions. The capitals are very much in the same style as those at Canterbury Cathedral and at nearby
Twyford Church, and they must have been carved by the same school of craftsmen. Each line of columns
supports four rounded arches, but there are no
responds on the east and west walls. Instead we
find corbels, presumably as these saved space at
both dais and screens ends. The heads on the
corbels at the eastern end (south side) have been
tentatively identified as those of Henry II and his
Queen, Eleanor of Castile, and those on the north
side as those of Walkelin de Ferrers (the builder of
the Castle) and his wife. In the spandrels
immediately above the columns are the decapitated
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figures, either human or animal, of six musicians.

Fig. 30 (above). One of the six column capitals
which support the rounded arches.

Fig. 31 (right). Heads on the corbels at the eastern end
(north side) have been tentatively identified as those of
Walkelin de Ferrers (the builder of the Castle) and his wife.

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See Appendix C and Emmerson 1981 for discussion of the sculpture.
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