THE MIRROR
OF
LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.
| Vol. XIII, No. 357. | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1829. | [PRICE 2d. |
WARWICK CASTLE.WARWICK CASTLE.
The history of a fabric, so intimatelyconnected with some of the most importantevents recorded in the chronicles ofour country, as that of Warwick Castle,cannot fail to be alike interesting to theantiquary, the historian, and the man ofletters. This noble edifice is also renderedthe more attractive, as being oneof the very few that have escaped the ravagesof war, or have defied the moulderinghand of time; it having been inhabitedfrom its first foundation up to the presenttime, a period of nearly one thousandyears. Before, however, noticing thecastle, it will be necessary to make a fewremarks on the antiquity of the town ofwhich it is the chief ornament.
The town of Warwick is delightfullysituated on the banks of the river Avon,nearly in the centre of the county to whichit has given its name, and of which it isthe principal town. Much diversity ofopinion exists among antiquaries, as towhether it be of Roman or Saxon origin;but it is the opinion of Rous, as well asthat of the learned Dugdale,1 that itsfoundation is as remote as the earliest periodof the Christian era. These authorsattribute its erection to Gutheline, orKimbeline, a British king, who called itafter his own name, Caer-Guthleon, acompound of the British word Caer,(civitas,) and Gutieon, or Gutheline, whichafterwards, for the sake of brevity, wasusually denominated Caerleon. We arealso informed that Guiderius, the sonand successor of Kimbeline, greatly extendedit, granting thereto numerous privilegesand immunities; but being afterwardsalmost totally destroyed by theincursions of the Picts and Scots, it layin a ruinous condition until it was rebuiltby the renowned Caractacus. This townafterwards greatly suffered from the ravagesof the Danish invaders; but wasagain repaired by the lady Ethelfleda,the daughter of King Alfred, to whom ithad been given, together with the kingdomof Mercia, of which it was the capital,by her father. Camden,2 with whoseopinion several other antiquaries alsoconcur, supposes that Warwick was theancient Præsidium of the Romans, andthe post where the præfect of the[pg 114]Dalmatian horse was stationed by the governorof Britain, as mentioned in the Notitia.
The appearance of this town in thetime of Leland is thus described by thatcelebrated writer:—"The town of Warwickhath been right strongly defendedand waullid, having a compace of a goodmile within the waul. The dike is mostmanifestly perceived from the castelle tothe west gate, and there is a great crestof yearth that the waul stood on. Withinthe precincts of the toune is but one parochechirche, dedicated to St. Mary,standing in the middle of the toune, faireand large. The toune standeth on a mainrokki hill, rising from est to west.