Introduction

From the most remote past man’s building efforts and resources have been devoted to meeting his most important needs, such as accommodation (houses), worship (temples), and burial (tombs), as well as defense, which has occupied a prominent place in all periods of the history of mankind. Indeed, one of man’s first needs is security and its pursuit is among the most ancient of human endeavors. An area of protection for the family hearth, tribe and social group has always been necessary to preserve survival, food stores, stored goods, institutions, language and culture. Aggression, by an opposite if not always equal reaction, stimulates defense.

A strategic position, a convenient anchorage or harbor, the availability of water, the arability of land and mineral deposits all added to the value of certain locations and made them worth the extra effort to defend and attack. Fortifications appeared in the earliest stage of urbanization at Jericho in Palestine in c. 7000 b. c., and ever since have been recorded in all areas of the world.

Many countries have experienced internal unrest at some time in their past, and Great Britain is certainly no exception. Its turbulent history has seen battles between the Irish and the English, the House of York and the House of Lancaster, the Royalists and the Parliamentarians, and Jacobites and Hanoverians. To internal unrest has been added the danger of foreign invasion. From the time the Romans first landed on British shores the islands have lived with the constant threat of invasion, although the last successful invader was William the Conqueror in 1066 (some would argue William of Orange in 1689, but he was formally “invited”). Since that time, varying types of fortification have been created around the coasts to repel further invasions from the Spanish, French, Dutch and, most recently, Germans. The British Isles cannot claim the full span of more than 9000 years, but they have participated fully in the history of fortifications. Defensive works were needed because the waters around Britain, the Channel and the North Sea far from being a protective moat, were invasion highways tempting intruders to penetrate to the very vitals of the nation. This had been the case for thousands of years before the Norman invasion of 1066. Ever since Julius Caesar first set foot on England’s shore in 55 B. C., a constant stream of invaders has inexorably followed. The Romans returned in A. D. 43, followed by north German barbarian tribes after A. D. 400, and lastly the Vikings from the 8th century. The physical memorials to these ancient invaders are still numerous and architecturally significant, embracing such varied structures as Iron Age hill forts, Roman

Castra and Hadrian’s Wall, and Anglo-Saxon burhs. Eventually Norman castles, as well as Edwardian castles, Irish tower houses and many more, were erected when the fragile notions of nationhood and national identity were established.

The purpose of this book is to present the rather complex issue of British fortifications to a wider public in an accessible form. The focus is on England, but attention is also paid to Irish and Scottish castles, as well as to medieval fortifications built by the English in France. The book covers the development of British fortifications from the Iron Age until the end of the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485), and the reign of Richard III (1483-1485), the last Plantagenet king. This period marked the decline of the classical medieval castle, soon replaced with elaborate forts adapted to artillery and firearms built by the new Tudor dynasty.

The word castle has become a generic term used to describe many types of fortification. Unlike most other buildings, such as churches, houses or temples, castles served more than one purpose. It is now admitted that a medieval proper castle was a home for its owner and family, a place where guests could be received and entertained, and the local center for administration and justice. A castle was naturally built strong enough to defend its occupants from aggression while acting as a base from which attacks on neighbours or more distant enemies could be launched. Originating from a private initiative directly connected to feudalism, castles played a central role in medieval history. They were living structures that evolved over time, according to political situations, military conditions and social evolution. They were besieged, destroyed, and eventually rebuilt and re-occupied, and as techniques of siege warfare improved, they grew in size, height and strength to meet the increased threats from attacks. No two castles are the same; they are all different depending on the natural site and material used, the period, and the rank, fortune and ambitions of those who built them. The thought of castles conjures up images of adventure, romance and intrigue, a majestic castle standing on top of a sunny hill or cliff. We are apt to think of the medieval castles as bustling with glamorous life, with armored knights at every merlon and archers at each loophole, and blaring trumpets and colorful heraldic insignias spattered everywhere. In reality, most castles presented a rather different kind of picture, with the stench from garde-robes and sewage, stagnant water in a moat half-filled with decaying refuse, the strong smell of farm, the discomfort of the cold rooms and drafty hall, window-slits boarded up, the harsh clank of iron on stone, and the wind sweeping along the walls. Because by their very nature defensive works needed to be strong, and they tend to survive in greater number than other types of structures, and medieval castles are very familiar to us. Although exact numbers are hard to come by, there are thousands of fortifications of all types still visible in the British Isles, even if not all of them are as prominent and as easy to find as the Castles at Dover, Kidwelly, Conway, Harlech, Rhuddlan, Beaumaris, or the White Tower in London. Although many have not withstood the violence of war and the attrition of time, Britain is indeed strewn with castles either well preserved or in ruins, rubble from the centuries of her existence. Castles are tangible relics of a remarkable past, a lengthy heritage etched in stone, and stained with the blood and sweat of those who built, labored, fought, and died in their shadows. Ruins stir up in us a profound awareness of those past lives. Castles have a timelessness that is awe-inspiring. That they have endured centuries of warfare and the effects of weather is a testimony to the creativite skill and power of their medieval builders and owners.