Castle Design Through the Ages

We now look back to England after the Norman Conquest in 1066. Many castles were built quickly using earth and wood. A motte was a mound with a tower on top. A bailey was an enclosed yard beside it. Wooden towers and fences could be built quickly, but wood could burn or rot. These were not the only kind of early castle.

A stone keep was a strong tower with thick walls. Stone usually took more time and money to build with than wood. Stone walls did not burn or rot like wood. Wooden floors and roofs could still burn. Wooden and stone castles existed at the same time.

The great hall was used for meals, feasts, and meetings. Cooks prepared food in a kitchen. A chapel was used for prayer. Guards could use a guardroom, and storerooms held supplies. Rooms and their positions varied between castles.

Some later castles had concentric defences: one ring of walls inside another. If attackers crossed the outer wall, another wall remained. A moat or ditch could stop a wheeled siege tower from reaching the wall. Narrow arrow slits let defenders shoot while exposing less of their bodies. These features added protection, but did not make castles impossible to capture.