Kenilworth Castle by Esther Singleton

SIR JAMES D. MACKENZIE

Apart from the great historical interest attaching to these magnificent / ruins, they deserve, architecturally, the closest examination and / study, containing, as they do, elaborate specimens of the best / constructions, in both military and domestic branches, during the / different periods of the art in this country. We find first the / massive square Norman keep, which had its protecting moat. This was / the work of the original grantee, Geoffrey de Clinton, the treasurer / and chamberlain of Henry I. Next comes an era, from 1180 to 1187, when / we find entries for building and repairs to walls and fortifications; / and again, from 1212 to 1216, the castle being then in the hands of / King John, vast sums were expended upon the outer line of walls, with / their flanking defences of Lunn's Tower and the Water Tower, and upon / a chamber and other accommodation for the King, most of which still / remains, though the timber constructions inside and against the walls / have, of course, not survived. The next development is in the Late / Decorated or Perpendicular style including the ruins of the great Hall / and some other buildings at the west end of the inner court still / called Lancaster's Buildings, of the Fourteenth Century, rather late in / the reign of Edward III., being some of the additions made by John of / Gaunt, after he obtained Kenilworth by his first wife.