button to main menu   West's Guide to the Lakes, 1778/1821

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Page 15:-
Green Caer; the British construction being changed, and Werid translated into English.
  Lancaster Castle
The green mount on which the castle stands appears to be an artefactum of the Romans. In digging into it a few years ago, a Roman silver denarius was found at a great depth. The eminence has been surrounded with a great moat.
The present structure is generally supposed to have been built by Edward III. but some parts seem to be of a higher date. There are three styles of architecture very evident in the present castle [1]. 1. Round Towers, distant from each other about 26 paces, and joined by a wall and open gallery. On the western side there remain two entire, and from their distance, and the visible foundation of others, it appears they have been in number seven, and that the form of the castle was then a polygon. One of the towers is called Adrian's tower, probably from something formerly standing there dedicated to that emperor. They are two stages high; the lights are narrow slits: the hanging gallery is supported by a single row of corbels, and the lower stages communicate by a close gallery in the wall. Each stage was vaulted with a plain pyramidal vault of great height. Those in the more southern towers are entire, and called John of Gaunt's ovens; but the calling them so is as ridiculous as groundless.
[1] In 1778.
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gazetteer links
button -- Lancaster Castle
button -- "Longovicum" -- (roman fort, Lancaster)

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