Gormenghast (castle)
Encyclopedia
Gormenghast is a fictional castle of titanic proportions that features prominently in a series of fantasy works penned by Mervyn Peake
. It is the setting for the first two books in the Gormenghast series
, Titus Groan
and Gormenghast
. It incorporates many of the elements of both mediæval castles and Regency period stately homes, though in practice it operates like a small city-state. It has its own government, a Byzantine system of laws and rituals, a rigid class system, and is seemingly self-sufficient. The castle is home to the ancient House of Groan who have, as the Earls of Groan, ruled for centuries without anything changing.
Ritual plays a large part in the daily life of all characters in the castle, most of all the Earl of Gormenghast, whose days are largely spent adhering to the obscure and esoteric tenets of Gormenghast tradition. Titus' dread and rebellion against the iron letter of Gormenghast Law becomes one of the main themes in the series leading to his preoccupation with freedom.
The castle has become synonymous with large, sprawling buildings and has been used as a reference point in other works of fiction.
climbing across the roofs of the castle sees the castle as an unending and monumentally complex roofscape. In fact, he travels across its expanse for over a day and still does not cover all of it.
It is impossible to give an accurate estimate of the size of the castle and its grounds, but it appears to be at least several square miles in area. For instance, the Bright Carvers must travel three miles (5 km) through the castle grounds from their homes along the north Outer Wall to the Carver's Courtyard in the south west corner of the Outer Walls. It is also stated at one point that the Tower of Flints in the eastern wing of the castle is over a mile away from the rooms of the twin aunts of Titus, Cora and Clarice, in the southern wing. In the second book, Gormenghast
, a flood drowns the lowest levels of the castle and turns the upper regions into stone islands, yet still there is accommodation for the regular inhabitants and an influx of refugees, with very substantial areas still empty.
It is impractical to guess at any kind of precise layout, but a general outline can be given with some confidence. Most of the castle seems to be bordered by a vast outer wall separated by only a small laneway from the shanty-town of the Bright Carvers, while other regions may be unwalled (e.g., the eastern side of the castle). In some places also the walls appear to be close to the buildings of the castle, (e.g., the Carvers' Courtyard), while in other parts they enclose large grounds and formal gardens. Within the grounds, the castle also has a moat around some sections of the castle itself. Broadly speaking, the castle building is divided into four wings named after the cardinal points. Among the countless buildings and rooms in the castle are libraries, a huge kitchen (eighteen men are required just to scrub the walls), an art gallery (specifically carvings), a dining hall, and a school.
In general the west and south of the castle appear to be in better repair and more inhabited than the east and north regions, which appear to contain most of the abandoned and derelict areas.
"Ever since she could remember anything the face of the outer wall had been like the symbol of endlessness, of changelessness, of austerity and of protection. She had known it in so many moods. Baked to dusty whiteness, and alive with basking lizards, she could remember how it flaked in the sun. She had seen it flowering with the tiny pink and blue creeper flowers that spread like fields of coloured smoke in April across acres of its temperate surface. She had seen every protruding ledge of stone, its every jutting irregularity furred with frost, or hanging with icicles. She had seen the snow sitting plumply on those juttings, so that in the darkness when the wall had vanished into the night these patches of snow had seemed to her like huge stars suspended."
Further north of the Outer Wall again are woods and Gormenghast lake. An archway in the outer wall leads into the castle grounds onto an avenue of acacia trees, which head down to what may be the main entrance to the castle. Nannie Slagg has to pass down this avenue of acacia trees to reach the outer wall of the castle when she goes in search of a wet nurse for Titus. Presumably there are lawns or landscaping on either side of the avenue.
, the master of ritual, directly into the moat below) and perhaps enclosing some of the grounds in others (but this has to be inferred as it is not made clear). It is impossible to give an exact layout of the castle, but from various mentions in the text it can be stated in general terms some of what each wing of the castle contains.
When Steerpike
becomes a renegade from the life of the castle, he is finally cornered in an apparently abandoned, northern section of the castle (whether or not it is part of the north wing is unclear). The roofs, buttresses and outcrops of this vast area all appear to have their own names, and the Countess Gertrude lists some of them: namely, the Blackstone Quarter, Stone Dogshead, Angel's Buttress, the Coupée (described as 'the high knife edge'); the North Headstones 'beyond Gory and the Silver Mines'; and the Twin Fingers, 'where Little Sark begins and the Bluff narrows'. Interestingly, the Coupée, Silvermines, Gory and Little Sark
are all placenames from the Channel Island
of Sark
, where Mervyn Peake
lived for a time.
castles and keeps of medieval Europe, such as the walled city of Carcassonne
(pictured), Rochester Castle
in England
or Caernarfon Castle
in Wales
; while the ancient walled Chinese cities of Beijing
and Tientsin where Mervyn Peake
spent his childhood are a major influence.
Its inner buildings owe much to the Gothic
and Regency period
mansions and to the various styles of English country house
. The quadrangles and professors' quarters also owe something to the architecture of Oxford
and Cambridge
and to Eltham College
where Peake was educated as a boy when he returned to England. Finally, the isolated Channel island
of Sark
, which retained a feudal system of government until 2008, may have influenced Peake, who lived there for a time. The references to Gormenghast castle as a rocky island of many promontories and sheer cliffs echoes the geography of Sark.
Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J. R. R...
. It is the setting for the first two books in the Gormenghast series
Gormenghast series
The Gormenghast series comprises three novels by Mervyn Peake, featuring Castle Gormenghast, and Titus Groan, the title character of the first book.-Works in the series:...
, Titus Groan
Titus Groan (novel)
Titus Groan is a novel by Mervyn Peake. It is the first novel in the Gormenghast series.-Plot introduction:The book is set in the huge castle of Gormenghast, a vast landscape of crumbling towers and ivy-filled quadrangles that has for centuries been the hereditary residence of the Groan family and...
and Gormenghast
Gormenghast (novel)
Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake, is the second novel in his Gormenghast series. It is the story of Titus Groan, 77th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast Castle, from age 7 to 17. As the story opens, Titus dreads the pre-ordained life of ritual that stretches before him...
. It incorporates many of the elements of both mediæval castles and Regency period stately homes, though in practice it operates like a small city-state. It has its own government, a Byzantine system of laws and rituals, a rigid class system, and is seemingly self-sufficient. The castle is home to the ancient House of Groan who have, as the Earls of Groan, ruled for centuries without anything changing.
Ritual plays a large part in the daily life of all characters in the castle, most of all the Earl of Gormenghast, whose days are largely spent adhering to the obscure and esoteric tenets of Gormenghast tradition. Titus' dread and rebellion against the iron letter of Gormenghast Law becomes one of the main themes in the series leading to his preoccupation with freedom.
The castle has become synonymous with large, sprawling buildings and has been used as a reference point in other works of fiction.
Overview
The castle is a huge ivy-covered mass, giving the impression more of a semi-deserted city than a single structure. Its immense, rambling outline has been familiar to the inhabitants since time immemorial, who know "every bay, inlet and headland of the great stone island of the Groans, of its sheer cliffs, of its crumbling outcrops, the broken line of the towers.". Apart from the inhabited sections, vast areas of the castle are abandoned and in a dilapidated state, with much of it covered in impenetrable vegetation: "Acres of ivy spread themselves like water over the roofs. Not a head appeared at any of those topmost teeth-like windows that ran along the castle's brow" The further reaches of the castle are dotted with many towers, and the highest of them, the Tower of Flints, is inhabited by great numbers of owls and dominates the landscape of the castle. The Tower is a forbidding, brooding presence: "patched unevenly with black ivy, (it) arose like a mutilated finger from the fists of knuckled masonry". The character SteerpikeSteerpike
Steerpike is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast.In 2000 Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers portrayed Steerpike in the BBC miniseries Gormenghast.-Character:...
climbing across the roofs of the castle sees the castle as an unending and monumentally complex roofscape. In fact, he travels across its expanse for over a day and still does not cover all of it.
It is impossible to give an accurate estimate of the size of the castle and its grounds, but it appears to be at least several square miles in area. For instance, the Bright Carvers must travel three miles (5 km) through the castle grounds from their homes along the north Outer Wall to the Carver's Courtyard in the south west corner of the Outer Walls. It is also stated at one point that the Tower of Flints in the eastern wing of the castle is over a mile away from the rooms of the twin aunts of Titus, Cora and Clarice, in the southern wing. In the second book, Gormenghast
Gormenghast (novel)
Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake, is the second novel in his Gormenghast series. It is the story of Titus Groan, 77th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast Castle, from age 7 to 17. As the story opens, Titus dreads the pre-ordained life of ritual that stretches before him...
, a flood drowns the lowest levels of the castle and turns the upper regions into stone islands, yet still there is accommodation for the regular inhabitants and an influx of refugees, with very substantial areas still empty.
It is impractical to guess at any kind of precise layout, but a general outline can be given with some confidence. Most of the castle seems to be bordered by a vast outer wall separated by only a small laneway from the shanty-town of the Bright Carvers, while other regions may be unwalled (e.g., the eastern side of the castle). In some places also the walls appear to be close to the buildings of the castle, (e.g., the Carvers' Courtyard), while in other parts they enclose large grounds and formal gardens. Within the grounds, the castle also has a moat around some sections of the castle itself. Broadly speaking, the castle building is divided into four wings named after the cardinal points. Among the countless buildings and rooms in the castle are libraries, a huge kitchen (eighteen men are required just to scrub the walls), an art gallery (specifically carvings), a dining hall, and a school.
In general the west and south of the castle appear to be in better repair and more inhabited than the east and north regions, which appear to contain most of the abandoned and derelict areas.
Outer walls and grounds
The castle is surrounded by a huge Outer Wall, which appears to be irregular in shape, but whether it is roughly rectangular or roughly circular is not made clear. It is described as curving, which would suggest a circular shape; but on the other hand the Outer Wall is clearly divided into north, south and west sections (east is not mentioned), suggesting a more rectangular outline. The outer walls are frequently described as immense, sheer and clifflike. Contrary to the general impression that the castle is a only a grey, dusty monolith of stone, a careful reading of the text reveals that the Outer Walls actually enclose quite extensive grounds.North outer wall
The North Outer Wall is described as curving and is separated by only a small lane from the mud hut dwellings of the Bright Carvers which hug its base. The huge outer wall dominates the life of the settlement, overshadowing everything. The feelings of one of the Bright Carvers, Titus' wet nurse Keda, are typical:"Ever since she could remember anything the face of the outer wall had been like the symbol of endlessness, of changelessness, of austerity and of protection. She had known it in so many moods. Baked to dusty whiteness, and alive with basking lizards, she could remember how it flaked in the sun. She had seen it flowering with the tiny pink and blue creeper flowers that spread like fields of coloured smoke in April across acres of its temperate surface. She had seen every protruding ledge of stone, its every jutting irregularity furred with frost, or hanging with icicles. She had seen the snow sitting plumply on those juttings, so that in the darkness when the wall had vanished into the night these patches of snow had seemed to her like huge stars suspended."
Further north of the Outer Wall again are woods and Gormenghast lake. An archway in the outer wall leads into the castle grounds onto an avenue of acacia trees, which head down to what may be the main entrance to the castle. Nannie Slagg has to pass down this avenue of acacia trees to reach the outer wall of the castle when she goes in search of a wet nurse for Titus. Presumably there are lawns or landscaping on either side of the avenue.
East outer wall
An eastern Outer Wall is not mentioned in the text, but presumably exists. However, this may not be so, as a large pine wood surrounds the East Wing of the castle. Bordering the pine wood are fields and overgrown gardens which lie between the East and South wings.South outer wall
The South Outer Wall contains the great ledge which holds the Bright Carvings which are judged on the Day of the Bright Carvers on June 1. The ledge is apparently at the South Wall's far Western corner as it adjoins the Carver's Battlement on the West Outer Wall. The South Wall also encloses grounds which contain the South Spinneys. Titus is allowed to ride his horse for an hour once a week through the grounds along by the South Outer Wall.West outer wall
The West Outer Wall contains the Carver's Battlement, which the Bright Carvers whose carvings have been accepted for keeping are allowed to promenade along on the night of the full moon every alternate month. It appears to be at the far southern end of the Western Wall adjoining the ledge of the Bright Carvings. The Western Outer Wall has an archway almost overgrown with ivy which the servant Flay squeezes through on his way back to the castle in secret. The West Outer Wall also encloses grounds which hold the cedar trees, lawns and Gormenghast terrace, along which the Countess Gertrude promenades every morning with her cats. It also appears to enclose the orchard of Pentecost the gardener, and a nearby hill, lake and stream. A pine wood surrounds the west wing of the castle, but it is not entirely clear if this is within the outer walls or not. To the west of the western outer walls lie marshland, rocky escarpments, Gormenghast river and Gormenghast Mountain.Castle buildings
The castle itself is described as vast and rambling, with many different regions, but in general it is roughly divided into four wings - north, south, east and west. A carp-filled moat surrounds at least some of the castle; directly under the wall of the castle in some places (for example, Steerpike is able to jump from the window of BarquentineBarquentine
A barquentine is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts.-Modern barquentine sailing rig:...
, the master of ritual, directly into the moat below) and perhaps enclosing some of the grounds in others (but this has to be inferred as it is not made clear). It is impossible to give an exact layout of the castle, but from various mentions in the text it can be stated in general terms some of what each wing of the castle contains.
North Wing
The top floor of the North Wing contains the Hall of the Bright Carvings, where the curator Rottcodd spends his days sleeping. It has a single window facing north, out of which Rottcodd observes the entire population of the castle returning from Gormenghast Lake after the 'Earling' of Titus as the 77th Earl of Groan. Keda, Titus' wet nurse, also has her quarters in the north wing.When Steerpike
Steerpike
Steerpike is a character in Mervyn Peake's novels Titus Groan and Gormenghast.In 2000 Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers portrayed Steerpike in the BBC miniseries Gormenghast.-Character:...
becomes a renegade from the life of the castle, he is finally cornered in an apparently abandoned, northern section of the castle (whether or not it is part of the north wing is unclear). The roofs, buttresses and outcrops of this vast area all appear to have their own names, and the Countess Gertrude lists some of them: namely, the Blackstone Quarter, Stone Dogshead, Angel's Buttress, the Coupée (described as 'the high knife edge'); the North Headstones 'beyond Gory and the Silver Mines'; and the Twin Fingers, 'where Little Sark begins and the Bluff narrows'. Interestingly, the Coupée, Silvermines, Gory and Little Sark
Little Sark
Little Sark is a peninsula forming the southern section of the Channel Island of Sark. The island of Brecqhou on the west of Sark, would have been a peninsula like this within recorded history...
are all placenames from the Channel Island
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
of Sark
Sark
Sark is a small island in the Channel Islands in southwestern English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. It is a royal fief, geographically located in the Channel Islands in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It has a population...
, where Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J. R. R...
lived for a time.
East Wing
The East Wing contains the library of Sepulchrave, the Tower of Flints, and various buildings, including an observatory, aviary, museum and pavilions for entertainment. Apart from the library however, all the other buildings have long since been abandoned and fallen into decay.South Wing
The South Wing contains the rooms of the twin sisters of Sepulchrave, the Ladies Cora and Clarice Groan. Their quarters include the Room of Roots and a massive dead tree which protrudes horizontally from the wall of the castle and is large enough for them to walk out on and have tea. Later on, Steerpike moves his quarters there to be closer to the twins. After the death of Nannie Slagg, Titus' sister Fuchsia also moves her quarters there, overlooking the South Spinneys. The south wing also appears to contain the rooms of Lord Groan which overlook the Carver's Courtyard. Although it is stated to be Lord Groan's Western Balcony which overlooks the courtyard, it would have to be in the extreme south of the castle close to the southern outer wall in order to overlook it. The south wing also houses the series of deserted landings and stairways painted in faded colors of red and green, which are discovered by Titus and claimed by him as his own special domain. These landings are home to peculiarly small dove-grey mice, which are found nowhere else. The south wing also seems to contain the castle stables, from where Titus takes his weekly ride along the south Outer Wall.West Wing
The West wing contains the rooms of Titus' sister Fuchsia and her nurse Nannie Slagg. It also contains the servants' quarters, which presumably includes the servants' quadrangle and its thorn tree. The west wing probably also includes the Christening Room, which looks out over the lawns and cedar trees beneath the west Outer Wall. It may also include the rooms of the Master of Ritual Barquentine, whose rooms looks out to Gormenghast Mountain to the west. The Western region of Gormenghast castle is described as having a flat summit, which becomes a favorite place to promenade along during the time when the castle is flooded.Other areas
Various other areas and rooms are mentioned as part of the castle, without it being clear where exactly they are in the castle's layout. These include the great Dining Hall, the kitchens, the central library which houses the books of Gormenghast ritual (not to be confused with Sepulchrave's library in the east wing), the armory, and the schoolrooms and professors' quarters. Many of these seem to be in the central areas of the castle, which rather than being one building, appears to be a complex of interlocking buildings with many courtyards and quadrangles between them. For example, the house of Dr Prunesquallor and his sister is described as "a three storey building made of red sandstone attached to the main building of the castle by a flying buttress." The house has its own front and back gardens and looks out onto a quadrangle. Beneath the castle lies the vast region of endless maze-like corridors of stone and brick called the Silent Halls, Hollow Halls, Lifeless Halls or the Stone Lanes. Only the servant Flay has any idea of their extent.Real life equivalents
Gormenghast castle is an amalgam of different real life castles and buildings. Its massive walls evoke the great NormanNorman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
castles and keeps of medieval Europe, such as the walled city of Carcassonne
Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...
(pictured), Rochester Castle
Rochester Castle
Rochester Castle stands on the east bank of the River Medway in Rochester, Kent, England. The 12th-century keep or stone tower, which is the castle's most prominent feature, is one of the best preserved in England or France. Located along the River Medway and Watling Street, Rochester was a...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
or Caernarfon Castle
Caernarfon Castle
Caernarfon Castle is a medieval building in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. There was a motte-and-bailey castle in the town of Caernarfon from the late 11th century until 1283 when King Edward I of England began replacing it with the current stone structure...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
; while the ancient walled Chinese cities of Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
and Tientsin where Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J. R. R...
spent his childhood are a major influence.
Its inner buildings owe much to the Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
and Regency period
Regency architecture
The Regency style of architecture refers primarily to buildings built in Britain during the period in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to later buildings following the same style...
mansions and to the various styles of English country house
English country house
The English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a London house. This allowed to them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country...
. The quadrangles and professors' quarters also owe something to the architecture of Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
and to Eltham College
Eltham College
This article is about the school in London, England. For the school in Research, Australia see Eltham College of Education.Eltham College is an independent school situated in Mottingham in south-east London...
where Peake was educated as a boy when he returned to England. Finally, the isolated Channel island
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
of Sark
Sark
Sark is a small island in the Channel Islands in southwestern English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. It is a royal fief, geographically located in the Channel Islands in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It has a population...
, which retained a feudal system of government until 2008, may have influenced Peake, who lived there for a time. The references to Gormenghast castle as a rocky island of many promontories and sheer cliffs echoes the geography of Sark.