castle
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Tower of the Romanesque castle of Piacenza, Italy. The tower, with its massive stonework and tiny openings, is typical of 12th-century fortified construction. The crenellations of the battlements provided protection for archers, while machicolations (projecting galleries) enabled missiles or hot lead to be dropped on attacking troops.
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Cawdor Castle, in the heart of the Scottish Highlands, is one of the most magnificent and well-preserved strongholds in Scotland. The keep dates to the early 14th century, with the parapet and upper works being added in 1454. Though little is known about the early Thanes of Cawdor, there is no evidence to suggest that Shakespeare's Macbeth was one of them, or that he murdered King Duncan I here.
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The motte and bailey castle first appeared in the 11th century and the art of castle building reached a peak in the 13th century.
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Dolbadarn castle in Snowdonia, Wales, dates from the early 13th century and was probably built by Llewelyn I, Prince of Wales. Later in the century, Owain Goch was kept prisoner in the castle for 20 years, following his unsuccessful attempt to overturn his brother Llewelyn II. Set strategically on a knoll commanding the entrance to Llanberis Pass, the remains of the castle's main circular tower are almost 15 m/50 ft high.
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Stokesay castle in Shropshire, situated on the border between England and Wales, is one of the finest fortified manor houses in England. The half-timbered gatehouse (left) was built in the 16th century, but the stone towers pre-date it by 300 years.
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Sherborne Old Castle, near Castleton in Dorset, was built between 1107 and 1139 by Bishop Roger of Salisbury, and was later leased to Sir Walter Raleigh by Elizabeth I. Raleigh built another property, originally known as Sherborne Lodge, on adjoining parkland. The Old Castle was subsequently reduced to a ruin during the English Civil War, and Raleigh's lodge became known as Sherborne Castle.
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The 15th-century château at Josselin in Brittany. It stands on the banks of the River Oust, and was originally surrounded by a moat. The town is even older, founded in the 11th century by Guéthenoc, viscount of Pohoêt.
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Tintagel Castle, in Cornwall, was the legendary site of King Arthur's Court. In reality, the site's original buildings included a Celtic monastery, probably founded by St Juliot in about 500. The original house was built much later: from the mid-12th century it was a Norman stronghold. It was also the residence of the earls of Cornwall.
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Henry VIII of England built St Mawes Castle, in Cornwall, as part of his coastal defence strategy against a possible French invasion. Its three circular bastions give views across to Pendennis Castle, which was built in the same period at Falmouth, on the other side of the River Fal estuary.
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Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, England. The castle, originally built in the 11th century, was the medieval stronghold of the Percy family and the dukes of Northumberland. The outer walls (seen left) were strengthened by the addition of towers in the 14th century. Many of the buildings within the castle were restored in the mid 19th-century.
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Warkworth Castle, Northumberland. Building began in the 12th century, although the curtain wall and much of the rest of the castle was constructed during the 13th century. The seat of the Percy family, the castle stands on a hill above the River Coquet.
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Charlottenburg Castle in west Berlin, Germany. This is the only remaining Hohenzollern palace in Berlin, and is now a history and art museum. The decorative interiors and collections date from 1695. Art from Brandenburg-Prussia at the time of the Great Elector (1620–1688) forms a particularly strong component of the collections.
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Dublin Castle stands on high ground, looking northwards towards the River Liffey. Forming the nucleus of the old city of Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland, the castle was used by the English as a centre of government and control until 1922.
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The city of Dublin in the Republic of Ireland developed around its castle, the tower of which was built in the 13th century. Late 18th-century growth produced many fine Georgian buildings in Dublin, including this corner of the castle itself.
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The ruins of Aughanure Castle stand on Lough Corrib, a lake lying 3 km/2 mi west of Oughterard, Galway. In the 11th century the castle was the stronghold of the O'Flaherty family. The tower in the foreground was once a lookout tower and formed a bastion in the walls.
Fortified building or group of buildings, characteristic of medieval Europe. The castle was originally designed as a defensive fortification, but it also functioned as a residence for the royalty and nobility, an administrative centre, and a place of safety for local people in times of invasion. In England castles were always designed as a fortified home. In 13th-century Wales, Edward I built a string of castles as military centres to keep control of the country. The castle underwent many changes, its size, design, and construction being largely determined by changes in siege tactics and the development of artillery. Outstanding examples are the 12th-century Krak des Chevaliers, Syria (built by crusaders); the 13th-century Caernarfon Castle, Wales; and the 15th-century Manzanares el Real, Spain.
Structure
Although there was no such thing as a typical castle throughout the era of castle-building, by the 12th century certain features began to appear more frequently. These might include a keep, a large central tower containing store rooms, soldiers' quarters, and a hall for the lord and his family; an inner bailey, or walled courtyard, surrounding the keep; an outer bailey, or second courtyard, separated from the inner bailey by a wall. Crenellated embattlements (raised projections alternating with gaps on the top of castle walls) provided shelter to the defenders, while giving a good view and freedom to fire on the attacking enemy. Towers, providing stairway access and sometimes living space, often projected from the walls. The corners of square towers could be battered or undermined; round towers did not have this problem. The entrance to the castle was sometimes protected by a portcullis, a heavy grating which could be let down to close the main gate; and a drawbridge that crossed a ditch or moat surrounding the castle. Sometimes a tower called a barbican was constructed over a gateway as an additional defensive measure.| Early castles (11th century) consisted of an earthen hill (motte) surrounded by wooden palisades enclosing a courtyard (bailey). |
| The motte supported a wooden keep. Later developments substituted stone for wood and utilized more elaborate defensive architectural detail. After introduction of gunpowder in the 14th century, castles became less defensible and increases in civil order led to their replacement by unfortified manor houses by the 16th century. |
| Large stone fortifications became popular again in the 18th century, particularly those modelled after the principles of fortification introduced by the French architect Vauban, and were built as late as the first half of the 19th century. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, castlelike buildings were built as residences for the wealthy as part of the Romantic revival in Europe and America, Castle Drogo in Devon, England, being a notable example. |
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