Gatehouse To Hertford Castle (Hertford Castle Demolished)

This castle gatehouse, now serving as local authority offices, dates from around 1460–65, with alterations and extensions in the late 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The interior was restored between 1967 and 1971 by Donald Insall and Partners. The original floors were framed by Thomas Norman, carpenter, in 1464, and the original mason was William Hull.

Materials and Construction

The building is constructed of red brick in English bond, locally manufactured by Cornelius Gyles at 21 pence per thousand for the initial build. Later extensions and alterations used both Flemish and English bonds. Stone dressings are of Mertsham (Surrey) stone and Kentish stone, with Ashwell clunch used for interior chimneypieces. The roofs are Welsh slated with lead roll ridges, hips, and lead valley gutters. Lead flats are recessed behind castellated brick parapets with Portland stone copings. A moulded stone string course runs around the building, and a corbelled arcaded Lombardic frieze sits below the parapet around the original gatehouse block.

Form and Layout

The gatehouse has massive walls with half-octagonal turrets flanking the central gateway, which was infilled between 1789 and 1792. Two upper floors each contain one major and one minor chamber, with studded partition walls and beamed roofs still in place. A two-bay south wing and single-bay north wing were added in 1937. An octagonal stair turret with castellated roof rises above the main parapet level in the south-east corner.

West Elevation

The west elevation rises two and three storeys above a basement. The gatehouse sits left of centre. Although restored, the brickwork retains traces of lattice-pattern diaperwork in black overburnt headers. Late 18th-century windows throughout are of Gothick style, with stone mullions, moulded lancet heads, stone surrounds and dripmoulds, and divided glazing. Most are two-light, except for a three-light window centrally placed on the second floor. Many were installed in original embrasures that were widened as necessary.

On the first floor above the infilled arch sits a weathered carved stone panel bearing the Royal Arms of Edward IV, carved by the London mason Reginald Langley and coloured by John Payntour of Ware. On the ground floor, set against the original archway (whose chamfered stone jambs remain visible at either side), is a panelled door recessed within a stone porch. This has a panelled wood lining, moulded stone Tudor arch, panelled pilasters and raised spandrel panels, with a castellated parapet above the string course.

To the left (north) of the gatehouse is the 1937 wing in Flemish bond brickwork, with one three-light Gothick window with lancet heads and dripmould on the first and ground floors.

To the right (south) is the residential wing, constructed between 1789 and 1792 by the Marquess of Downshire, brother-in-law of the Marquess of Salisbury. This replaced an earlier timber-framed, gabled, plastered building of around 1600. Built of red brick in English bond, it rises three storeys, lower than the gatehouse, in a simplified version of its general style, and is two bays wide. The second floor has one two-light and one three-light window, each with square four-pane sashes, moulded stone mullions and surrounds. The first and ground floors each have one two-light and one three-light window with narrow sashes recessed in moulded stone mullioned surrounds with lancet heads and dripmoulds above. Each sash has six panes on the first floor and eight panes on the ground floor.

South Elevation

The south elevation features the Lombardic frieze below the parapet, with traces of diaper patterns and external render. The ground floor has a projecting three-bay mid-19th-century conservatory with multi-pane windows and glazed doors, moulded major mullions and transoms, and a fascia with cornice gutter, topped by three glazed gables.

East Elevation

The east elevation shows the original gatehouse right of centre, with brickwork and general features as described on the west elevation. An early 19th-century doorway on the ground floor infills the original gateway arch. This has twin-leaf half-glazed doors with a traceried fanlight in a stone surround with roll-moulded Tudor-style arch, a panelled outer surround with lancet sidelights and a raised moulded quatrefoil above the centre of the arch, all recessed within the chamfered jambs and intrados of the original gateway. Above sits an early 19th-century hollow spandrel panel with raised dripmould. An offset plinth runs at ground-floor level.

To the right (north) is the 1937 wing. To the left (south) is the residential wing constructed between 1789 and 1792. This has two projecting bays—canted on the left, rectangular on the right—each with three-light windows on each floor, all with stone moulded mullions, surrounds and dripmoulds. The second floor has four-pane sashes, the first floor has lancet-headed six-pane sashes, and the ground floor has eight-pane sashes. Below the plinth level are three-light basement windows with four-pane sashes.

Interior

The interior of the gatehouse was altered and embellished in Gothick style by the Marquess of Downshire between 1789 and 1792. A new spiral stair was installed in the south-east turret, which was heightened to give access to the roof. Original fabric was covered over, window embrasures were enlarged, and original fabric was often destroyed. However, on the upper two floors a great deal of medieval structure remained and much was uncovered and restored between 1967 and 1971.

Ground Floor

The entrance hall runs through the building within the line of the original gateway and has a five-bay groined plaster vault above a scotia and bead cornice. To the left is the stair hall with similar treatment. The lower flight of stairs projects and features a Gothick-style clustered shaft newel post, arcaded traceried iron balustrades with matching dado, open string with bracketed hardwood treads, and moulded hardwood handrail with trefoil ends, ramped to a quarter landing which leads into the turret and spiral stair. This is of cantilevered construction with bracketed treads, arcaded iron balustrades, continuous moulded handrail, and arcaded iron traceried dado, rising to the second floor. Above is a circular ceiling with dentil cornice and Adam-style fan pattern centrepiece.

Beyond the ground-floor stair hall, a barred vaulted corridor leads into the south wing of 1789–92. This has a corridor with plaster groined sexpartite vaulting, moulded dado rail, panelled window surrounds, and at the end twin-leaf glazed doors with lancet fanlights above. Doors to the two main rooms are six-panel, Gothick style with lancet-headed panels.

The Clerk's room has an elaborate late 19th-century fireplace with stone inner grate with four-centred arch, shouldered wood architrave, foliated fascia and keyblock carved with a harvest scene with putti. The conservatory has a timber and glass ridge and furrow roof, cast-iron staging with pierced quatrefoils, and star-pattern ceramic and encaustic tile floor.

First Floor

The first floor has the Mayor's Robing Room in the gatehouse, occupying two-thirds of the area. With its moulded timbers, this was clearly a room of high status, while the room beyond, possibly with a service function, has plainer and cruder carpentry. The partition is of heavy close studding with brick-nogged infill of various patterns. A central post with cavetto chamfer supports a central longitudinal binder with double cavetto, into which are morticed heavy joists with cavetto, stop and tongue. The wall plate is also moulded. The post has a cut-back jowl with mortices for a no longer extant brace. During restoration in 1971, the upper faces of the beams were exposed and the carpenters' marks were recorded. The Royal accounts for 1463–64 indicate that Thomas Norman, carpenter, was framing the floors, and the class of work in the two major rooms appears to indicate the involvement of a skilled craftsman.

The carpentry in the small service room is inferior, with a chamfered beam and plain rectangular joists. On opening up the floor above in 1971, the carpenters' marks were observed to be cruder. The stonework was also exposed in 1971, revealing the cutting back of jambs and heads. A fragment of a damaged moulded cusped quatrefoil light was discovered in a splayed recess in the north-west angle turret. In the south-west turret, a doorway with a four-centred chamfered clunch arch and three-plank oak door with strap hinges was found in the return flank of the chimneybreast, blocked behind by later masonry. Also on the east wall, a lancet embrasure with an original splayed clunch jamb shows evidence of painting and a raised five-pointed star on a recessed circular ground.

Access to the south wing is through an arched Gothick opening lined with a pilaster with recessed lancet panels.

Second Floor

The second floor has the Mayor's Parlour in the principal chamber, again divided from the north room by a heavy studded and brick-nogged partition. An original doorway in the north-west corner has a chamfered reveal, cavetto moulded jamb, and restored Tudor arched heads, left jamb and door. The beamed ceiling has two original cantilevered tie beams with new sections scarfed in, with moulded braces and indications of truncated posts below, moulded ridge and chamfered purlins, with plain plaster ceiling panels between. Three bays of roof span the Robing Room, with two bays beyond the partition, approximately eight metres in span. Original clunch stonework is exposed in window embrasures: two two-light windows on the east, a central three-light window on the west, and a cut-back, originally moulded, jamb visible in the turrets.

Roof

Late 18th-century king post trussed roofs cover the gatehouse and south wing.

Basement

Flint rubble, possibly from an earlier structure, is used as foundations. Plastered barrel vaults and 18th-century vaulted structures extend beyond the curtilage of the south wing and beneath the north wing. The basement of the gatehouse has been converted to modern strong rooms and the structure is concealed. Two basement rooms below the south wing served as the former kitchen and servants' hall.

Historical Background

Hertford Castle reputedly originated as a Saxon fort built by order of King Alfred against the Danes encamped at Ware. The castle was built (or reconstructed) by William I shortly after 1066 as a motte and bailey. The motte mount, 22 feet high, remains in the north angle of the castle precinct overlooking the river.

In 1304, the castle and honour of Hertford were granted by Edward I to his wife, Queen Margaret, and the castle became a royal palace and a prison where David II and James I of Scotland and King John of France were held. In 1360, the castle was granted to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and remained property of the Duchy until 1627.

From 1805 to 1818, the castle was used by the East India Company College. From 1822 to 1832, the Dispensary which preceded the General Infirmary (County Hospital) was held there, and it was also used as judges' lodging.

In 1911, Hertford Corporation approached Lord Salisbury to purchase the castle, and a lease of 75 years at a peppercorn rent of two shillings and sixpence per annum was granted. The grounds were laid out as public gardens, and the entrance gates leading from The Wash were donated by Osmond Henry McMullen in 1912. Hertford Castle was used as the Borough Council offices until 1974 and has since been occupied by the Hertford Town Council and Property Division of the successor East Hertfordshire District Council.

Hertford Castle Gate House, curtain walls, motte and bailey and precinct are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.