A BRIEF HISTORY OF CASTLE BUILDING

SINCE THE LAST MILLENNIUM

 

The First Norman Castles

The first castles to be built in England for eight centuries (since the Roman Saxon Shore Forts) were constructed in the middle of the 11th century by Edward the Confessor and followed the pattern being developed by the Normans who has conquered France. A mound, or motte, was raised up to one hundred feet in height. These could be a natural feature, a man made mound of earth or a combination of the two. A wooden fortification, a keep, protected the top of the motte and another surrounded the motte and some adjacent land forming a bailey where most of the inhabitants lived. A ditch outside the bailey was an additional defence. An example of one of the first castles of this design is Richard's Castle in Herefordshire.

The Norman Invasion

Immediately after the invasion in 1066, the Normans commenced a massive programme of castle building to protect themselves and local supporters while they advanced across the rest of the country. These initially followed the same motte and bailey design, and were predominantly constructed of wood, but some later ones such as Totnes Castle (pictured left) are believed to have been started with stone defences. The earliest keeps were generally circular, but rectangular or square ones became more popular as it was easier to construct living accommodation inside. Some of these early castles still remain but many were abandoned as the invasion progressed. Those that did survive have been extended over the years but the remainder either have vanished altogether or just a motte still stands.

The motte & bailey design was the standard defence of the 11th and 12th century, but the shell keep, a much larger keep on a lower motte into which most of the accommodation could be fitted became more common in the 12th century.

After the invasion was complete there was time for more extensive defences to be built up in the most important cities. 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.

Initially some were simple rebuilds, but from the last quarter of the 11th century (until the middle of the 14th century) larger, more powerful square stone keeps, protected by an outer stone wall, were designed, for example the White Tower at the Tower of London and at Rochester Castle. Circular keeps came into use from the middle of the 12th century as they had no weak corner spots that could be undermined. The disadvantage was the difficulty of building living space inside, but to overcome this a few were circular on the inside but square on the inside.

There was an outbreak of castle building during the Civil War between 1135 and 1154 when eleven hundred and fifteen fortifications were built. Almost all were demolished after hostilities ended and little remains of them.

Enlargement and Strengthening

Towards the end of the 12th century castle building became a royal prerogative as the Barons had lost much of their earlier power. The designs slowly evolved with the emphasis towards high walls which were well fortified with towers. The keep lost its importance and was often replaced by a tall strong gatehouse - a barbican. The towers then were placed closer together and were more numerous. For additional protection some were built on a hill or a rocky crag and outer baileys with additional walls and towers were added to provide a concentric structure where a breach in the outer wall could still be defended from an inner defensive structure e.g. Pembroke & Beeston castles. Additional baileys protected with walls were also added to existing castles such as Corfe and Chepstow.


The most highly refined concentric castles date from the early 14th century during the invasion of Wales when a string of purpose built structures was erected across North Wales e.g. Caernarvon, Harlech castles. These were the last of the massive residential castles to be built by the monarchs and all are still in good condition, due mainly to the strength of their construction.

Whilst renovation of the existing major castles continued, new developments in England between 1350 and 1450 were limited to smaller structures such as fortified manor houses built with strong walls and towers, and tower houses, like stand alone keeps. These were built mainly by rich landowners rather than the nobility and were often constructed of brick, rather than stone. Tower houses are most commonly found in the north and east of the country.

A New Design

During the next hundred years, the changing political climate meant that there was little need for new castles and fortifications. This continued until 1540, Tudor times, when the threat from abroad re-emerged. To defend the coast new, extremely strong and well armed gun batteries with a low profile and a central keep were constructed close to the shore such as Calshot and St Mawes castles.

The Civil War

This period, from 1642 to 1660, caused the downfall of so many of the once splendid castles of England and Wales. Sieges and cannon bombardment caused massive damage, and towards the end of the war many were punished by slighting or destruction of the major defences to prevent them being used for future conflicts. Following such damage the most common outcome was that the castle was abandoned and its stone was removed for building local houses. Castles that were spared this damage were mainly those held by the Parliamentary troops, which is why those like Windsor and Dover castles are still in such good condition today.

Modern Warfare

The final stage in the development of English fortifications started in the 17th century, but only fully flourished in the period 1860 to 1880, in both cases as a response to invasion. In general the low profile of the Tudor batteries was maintained, but the construction now was of earth and brick with moat surrounds. The exception to this were the 103 early 19th century tall Martello towers protecting the coast of East Anglia, Sussex and Kent.

The most extensive, and final, construction of major fortifications was that of the 79 Palmeston forts of the 19th century defending the Thames and the south coast naval bases of Plymouth, Chatham, Milford Haven and Portsmouth. These were a mainly land based forts but six additional structures were built in the shallow waters approaching three of the ports.