Medieval Castles of Britain and Ireland from the 11th to the 15th Century

The study of this subject has a long pedigree, from the late 18th and 19th centuries, although material of this date has varying degrees of authority in the light of more recent work since the 1960s. The first castles in England appear in the 1050s, built by Norman favorites of King Edward the Confessor (r. 1042–1066) and were few in numbered and mainly in the English county of Herefordshire, on the border with Wales. Following the Norman Conquest of 1066, earth-and-timber castles of both the motte and bailey and the ringwork forms were built throughout England, in towns and in the countryside, and where the Normans moved into Wales and Scotland. The first castles in Ireland appear after the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169; the matter of medieval private fortifications in pre-Norman areas is not discussed here. Some of the first castles were built in stone from the beginning, examples being the Tower of London, Chepstow in Monmouthshire and Richmond in Yorkshire. The development of the masonry castle as fortification, home, and administrative center is a feature of the history of medieval architecture. The great tower or keep is a dominant feature of the 12th- and 13th-century castle, although these towers can be found as late as the 15th century. Strong defenses through twin-towered gatehouses and mural towers along the curtain walls are hallmarks of defenses, but these towers also provided accommodation. Domestic features such as halls, private chambers, kitchens, stables, and other ancillary buildings would be found in the interiors, while gardens either inside the walls or immediately outside are known from documentary sources. The later Middle Ages, from the 14th century, witnessed few new castles built, apart from the tower houses of Ireland and Scotland, but in England in particular there was a growing sophistication in the domestic ranges built both by the monarch and the great lords of the land. While several of the major castles remain occupied as homes, many earth and timber structures had a limited life, particularly in England, with examples of longer use elsewhere, while others suffered in the British civil wars between king and parliament of the 1640s.