7. Peak Castle, Derbyshiredetails

Plan of the Keep

Peak Castle is more commonly known as Peveril Castle. See also Fig. 8.

“Above the upper chamber was the roof, originally of steep pitch (see section, Fig. 9). but which may have been raised and flattened so as at once to form a third chamber and to give more convenience for the purposes of watching and defence.

At its best, at any rate, the keep can only have contained four rooms, and it is quite possible that it only had two. The upper and better of these was that into which the entrance door opened (at D, Fig. 8), a door some 6 or 8 ft. from the ground, and doubtless approached by a wood ladder. Near this door a circular staircase of about 5 ft. in diameter led up to the roof and down to the lower room (Fig. 9), which was dimly lighted by two small windows, but otherwise was devoid of any feature whatever. The floors were of wood.

The upper room, about 22 by 19 ft. in size, was also lighted by two small windows; in one wall was a garde-robe (G) with a shoot corbelled out from the wall; in another was a small mural chamber (M) occupying one corner of the building and lighted by a very small window on two of its sides.

So far, this keep is just like many others, although on a small scale; but here there is no sign of fireplace or flue. Some means of warming the place, and, on occasion, of cooking, there must have been; and the probability is that a fire was contrived on the floor, and that the smoke was carried away by a flue of wood and plaster. It would not have been beyond the ingenuity of the time to provide a hearth to carry the fire” (p. 18).