SC -cooling Creme' Bastarde

[Alex Wollangk]

Hmmm....

I'm looking at the CADW (Welsh Historic Monuments) booklet on Caernarfon 
and don't see anything that resembles a cooling room such as you 
described...

In fact, the entire excerpt about the kitchens is as follows:

   "To the west (right) of the King's Gate lies the lower ward.  Note the 
foundations of the broad wall which was intended to separate the two wards, 
and of the buildings which formerly occupied the ward, concealing the lower 
parts of the enclosing curtain walls.  As you walk down towards the Eagle 
Tower you will come first, on your right, to the site of the castle 
kitchens, lying between the gatehouse and the Well Tower.  The springer of 
a great arch and bonding for a cross partition, both built as part of the 
curtain wall, show that it was intended to build the whole in stone, but 
the slight foundation walls on the courtyard side suggest that, as built, 
these kitchens may have been relatively flimsy structures.
   To the lift of the range of three rooms are the remains of seatings for 
two copper cauldrons, with fireplaces below them.  Behind them, in the 
thickness of the tower wall, is a cavity which may have been used for 
smoking meat.  At the bottom of the wall on the right-hand side of this 
cavity is a small hole marking the end of a water channel running from a 
tank in the Well Tower, and below it is a drain running off to the left. 
 In the window openings at the back of the range there is the line of a 
second channel, still bearing the remains of its lead piping, running from 
the tower to a stone sink, now much weathered, mounted in a recess in the 
wall about the middle of the range.  In the wall below the great stone 
springer, on the right, is the small opening for a rubbish disposal shaft 
in the wall thickness.  The accomodation at the right-hand end of these 
apartments was of two storeys; a doorway in the curtain wall opens onto a 
stair which served the upper room and the gatehouse."

by Arnold Taylor CBE, DLitt, FBA
(c) Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments
Brunel House, 2 Fitzalan Road, CARDIFF, CF2 1UY

I have also talked to a friend of mine who has been there and to a number 
of other castles in north wales including Beaumaris, and he doesn't 
remember anything like that.

I also checked the Cadw web site in case something had been discovered 
since Jack was there and thus before the booklet he brought back was 
published (http://www.castlewales.com/home.html) but I couldn't find 
anything there either.

I would be interested to know exactly where you are getting this 
information...

Alex Wollangk
(Bran MacDavid would know nothing of this kind of research...  Though he 
may very well have heard of Caernarfon...)