The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-20 00:00:00

BARBICANS OF CASTLES.

In a paper read at the Lancaster meeting of archoeo-
-B'4'3on
:2,11 If Barbican, ak ni, nit no
lconnexionegis t by
iftrh. Georgeour c
Castles,"
dictionary fur the meaning of the word barbacan, or
barbican, we shall find it called a narrow opening left
s Glcad,"w hein'
in the walls of buildings liable to be overflowed, for the
water to come in and go out at, or to drain the water
from off a terrace; or an outer defence or fortification
to a city; a kind of watch-tower; any outwork at a short
distance from the main works; and a cleft made in the
walls of a fortress to fire through upon the enemy.' We
do nut from this get a very clear idea of what a barbican
really was. The etymology of the word is doubtful. It
has teen sought in barbacana, low Latin and Spanish;
barbacane, French; lock-in-einermarcr, German, tk,e.
Spelrnan, the antiquary, derives it from the Saxon burgh
and hem a place to view or ken from. There is a street
in London, near Redcross-street, in Cripplegate, still
called Barbican,' from a watch-tower, and where, by
the way, Spclinan died in 1640. John Milton lived also
at cne time in Barbican. Camden, in his ' Britannia,'
(published 1586), says, when describing London, The
suburb also which runs out on the north-west side of
London is large, and had formerly a watch-tower or mili-
tary fence, from whence it came to be calltd by an
Arabic name—Barbacan.' Stow writes at the same
place—' On the west side of the Ittd Cross' (whence
ited Cross-street) is a street called the Barbican, because
some time there stood on the north side thereof a burgh
henin, or watch-tower of the city, called in some language
a barbican, as a bikeniny is called a beacon.' As early
as 1232, according to Britton's 'Architectural Dictionary,'
we find in a charter,' Antemurali qui dicitur barbacana,
qui e.t murus brevis ante murum nostri orti.' Spenser,
in the Facile Qucene' (b. ii.), has—

'Within the kubican a porter sate,
Day and night duly keeping watch and ward.'

And Ben Jonson used the term in his qithalamion,'—
' That far all-seeing eye could soon espy
What kind of waking man He had so highly set, and in what
barbican.'
The extracts I have quoted refer to the barbican mainly
as a watch-tower or outwork of defence, and this is the
idea which generally attaches to it. In a letter, however,
addressed (June, 1837) to the Society of Antiquaries,
Mr. Planebe states that Oliver de la Marche says, that
at the siege of Oudenarde, A.D. 1452, Anthony bore a
great white standard embroidered with a barbacan; and
at the Pas de l'Arbre d'Or, sixteen years afterwards, the
same author describes him as issuing from his pavilion,
on a horse trapped with tawny velvet, embroidered with
large barbacones, with flames issuing out of. them, and
letters of his device, all worked in gold thread. Re-
membering that barbican was explained by Roquefort
to mean not only a tower but a loop-hole, and any sort
of outwork, and that Cotgrave, under the same word,
says,—' Somo bold it to be a scutrie, scout house, or
hole;' ho suggested it as probable tbat the figure
before us was intended to represent. not a tent, but the
barbican described by Oliver de la Marche. with flames
coming through the centre. Mr. Planci 6 afterwards
went to the ruins, of the Castle of Tournehetn, in Artois,
the residence of Anthony, and there he found the same
badge on various portions of the building, notien
which he communicated to the Gentteman's Magazine.—
Builder.

MOFFAT SHEI.P SHOW AM) PAH7L--,ThiL4 long-
-established and most prosperous annual gathering of the
ruralists of Upper Annandale was held on Friday last. The
competing stock, Cheviots of course especially, were the
great object of attraction; and the high character of the
show was this year, no easy matter now, fully sustained.
The animals were in splendid order, and looked all the bet-
ter that sunshine, in place of rain, played upon their fleecy
backs. In cattle the, competition was very keen, and the
stock shown superior. The show of tups for sale was also
very good, though the number were not so great as last
year. There would be about 7LO tups on the ground, chiefly
Cheviots ; for these there was a fair ready sale, and the
principal portion found buyers. The quality was excellent,
•and prices ranged from 2/. to 41. Ina few instances higher
sums were given for particular animals, but the general
rate for a good one was from 3/. to 31.3 e. Some Cheviot
Dinmonts made 21, M., and top lambs about 2Ql.—.Dum•
fries Courier. .