Note 363 — Chapter XII · THE AGE OF TRANSITION: THE FORTIFIED DWELLING-HOUSE

The three principal features of the strong tower at Stokesay are (1) its isolation from the range of buildings adjoining it, its only entrances being from the outside, in the basement and on the first floor; (2) the division of its face towards the field into two small half-octagons; (3) the stairs carried from floor to floor in the thickness of the wall. The stair from the basement to the first and second floors crosses the entrance-lobby on the first floor; but, in order to reach the roof, the second-floor chamber has to be passed through, and a new stair entered in the embrasure of a window. This was planned partly, as at Richmond and Conisbrough, to give the defenders complete control of the stair, and partly to keep the stair within the wall of the tower which was least open to attack, and could therefore be lightened most safely.