When the Normans erected their first simple wooden castles, they built them on the tops of small hills. These hills were sometimes constructed by digging a moat and throwing the earth to the centre to form a hill. The keep was situated on the mound or motte and surrounded by a long fence or stockade which enclosed a large area called the bailey. These simple castles are known as 'motte and bailey' castles.
The first permanent castles were an improvement on the 'motte and bailey' type. They were made of stone and built with thick massive walls. The keep was usually a great central strongpoint or fortress and this was surrounded by walls which overlooked the moat.
Entrance to the castle was usually over a drawbridge across the moat leading to the main gatehouse.
The drawbridge could be raised or lowered and an iron grille or portcullis could be lowered to shut off the entrance to the gatehouse.
As time went on, the castle builders became more advanced in their techniques. Instead of building a strong central Keep and surrounding it with walls of lesser strength, they hit upon the idea of surrounding a central area with massive walls which could themselves contain all the principal rooms of the castle. These walls usually had massive towers and these towers were really a series of Keeps strung out along the perimeter of the castle walls. In building these castles they used hill sites whenever possible in order to give the castle a commanding position. Because the outside world was shut off by a barrier or curtain of defences, they are called 'curtain wall' castles.
With the passing of time there was less need to build strong fortifications and nobles built fortified manor houses. These manor houses often had battlements and moats, but they were built more for comfort and included many of the conveniences and luxuries of the large houses which were being built in the towns. But some fortification was still needed.
By 1085 there were approximately 100 well defended fortifications built both by the king and his Barons. Wood was readily available across most of the country but is not the ideal defence because of its flammability so existing structures were rebuilt in stone over the next 100 years.
Many English castles were damaged or destroyed completely during the Civil Wars of the 1600s. Cromwellian forces, using gunpowder and artillery, destroyed centuries of medieval architecture in their attempt to erase royal influences from the landscape
Discuss everything related to English Castles on The United Kingdom Forum
1. What type of castle do you usually see on a beach at the seaside?
2. How is the sandcastle at the seaside similar to the 'motte and bailey' castle?
3. What great castles can be found in Wales, Scotland and Ireland?
4. Why do you think the 'motte and bailey' castles have long since disappeared?
History of the English Castles written by Monique Barb for FamousWhy.com
FamousWhy.com - Famous People ... Famous Regions, a Lot Of Articles and Free Software Downloads
History of the English Castles Image Source : website.lineone.net
No related sites found. If you are the webmaster of a website, blog or forum that contains related information to this page, we invite you to submit it for inclusion here.
Please add a link to our website before submitting your link(s).
Your link will be validated by our editors in about 48 hours.
by Monique Barb -