Castles

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Castle Development
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The Normans built the first proper castles in
England as they needed bases from which to
control the countryside and strongholds to
protect them from Saxon attack. They had to be
built in a hurry, so they were originally built
of timber on an earth mound (motte)

• Why were the castle built out of timber?
• What were the disadvantages of this?

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Early Castles
Keep - safest part of the castle
Motte - defensive mound of earth
Bridge - from the Motte to the Bailey
Bailey - large walled area where the soldiers and
animals lived
Moat - this made it harder to reach the walls
Palisade - these were made of wood
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How much do you remember?
Keep
Motte
Bailey
Moat
Which do you think are the weakest parts of
the castle and why?
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(No Transcript)
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Dover Castle

• These two castles (Dover, top and Framlington,
  bottom) were started at the same time.
• What are the differences between them?
• Which do you think continued to have improvements
  added to it?

Framlington Castle
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Inside the Keep
Lavatories Some of the small rooms inside the
walls were used as latrines. They either emptied
into a pit below or into the moat. Attackers
sometimes climbed these to get into the castle.
Fireplaces had short chimneys which go through
the wall.
Spiral Staircase These helped defend the tower.
An attacker climbing up would find it very
difficult to use his sword.
Great Hall
Vaulted basement store rooms
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What would it be like in the Great Hall?
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How did Castles Develop?
Look at the following pictures and try to match
them to the text
1154-1216 Keeps began to be built with rounded
corners. The bailey defences increased in
strength. The stone bailey wall was called a
curtain wall.
1066-1087 Motte and Bailey castles were the first
type built. A wooden tower stood on a manmade
hill. At the bottom of the hill was the bailey.
1087-1154 Stone towers became more common. The
motte couldnt support them, so most were
abandoned. The bailey walls were also of stone,
and were higher.
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Try matching these ones up
1216-1277 Gateways were protected by drawbridges
portcullises, and heavy doorways. Sections on top
of the castle walls jutted out.
1330-1550 Comfort was more important as there was
less violence. Some castles were simply fortified
stately homes. The last castles were forts built
to prevent French invasion.
1277-1330 Concentric castles were built and
encircled by more than one wall, the inner walls
being higher than the outer ones. There were
round towers on the walls
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Why did Castles Develop?
As castles were frequently under attack, they had
to be as strong as possible. The attackers
improved their methods of attack, so the castle
builders had to improve the castles ability to
defend.
How do you think the Battering Ram was used to
attack the castle?
Battering Ram
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Castle Attack
What are the advantages of this method of
attack?
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Here the attackers are tunnelling
Catapult

• How would this catapult have worked?
• Do you think it would have been very effective?
  Why?

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Castle Attack
These Siege Towers had a drawbridge at the top.
The soldiers would climb up the tower and rush
across the drawbridge onto the castle hoarding
(bit jutting out at the top of the castle). The
were often covered in animal skins to provide
further protection from arrows.
What do you think were the main disadvantages
with this method of attack?
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• Which of the previous methods of attack do you
  think would have been the most effective and why?
• Can you suggest any other methods they might have
  used?

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Castle Defence
Castles were often built near rivers.
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Why do you think they did this?
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Castle Defence
Lulworth Castle
Richmond Castle
Why do you think castle designers changed from a
square Keep to round towers?
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Castle Defence

• Castles were often under siege (surrounded by
  soldiers so no one could get in or out).
• Why do you think it was so important that the
  storerooms in the bottom of the Keep were kept
  full?
• Why did many Keeps have a well in them, rather
  than having them in the courtyard?
• Why were the windows smaller at the bottom of the
  Keep and larger at the top?

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Castle Defence
There was a range of features which could be
added to the basic castle to make it stronger.
Most castles had round towers in their walls.
This was so soldiers could fire in all directions
along the front walls.
Plan of round towers
Holes in the bottom allowed objects to be dropped
on those below
The Battlements jutted out from the top of the
wall so that soldiers could drop heavy stones and
pour boiling tar onto the enemy below.
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The Castle Entrance
The castle entrance often had a Barbican
attached. This is an extra gatehouse. Having this
protects the weakest part of the castle. There
would be extra soldiers, and several heavy oak
doors and portcullises to get past.
Gatehouse
Barbican
Three entrance gates to get through
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The Main Entrance
Holes in roof of passage known as Murder Holes
where boiling oil could be dropped on intruders
Drawbridge
Portcullis
Rings go through holes in the floor and are
bolted in when bridge is open
Moat
Pit to store drawbridge in when it is up
Why do you think the main entrance had so much
defence?
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Life in the Castle
We get up around 6am. It is cold and damp by
then and my limbs are stiff from sleeping on the
floor, I have to remember to remove any strands
of hay which get stuck in my clothes as I sleep
on them. While the men make the fires, I go down
to the stores to get food for the Lord and Ladys
breakfast. I open the shutters in the Lords
bedroom and help Lady Jane get dressed. I send
for one of the castle boys as the guardrobe is
smelling terribly and the pit needs clearing. by
Mary Smith 1115

• Is this account reliable? Why?
• Does it add anything useful to your knowledge of
  castle life?

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Castles The first castles were made of earth and
__________. These were called _________ and
___________ castles. The problem with wooden
castles was that attackers could set __________
to them easily. The Barons started to build
castles from _________. They built a large strong
stone tower called a ________. Keeps were too
________ to stand on the motte so they were
usually built inside the __________. The walls of
the keep were very ________. The Baron and his
family lived in room built on the ______ floor.
These were reached by a stone ________ staircase.
The curtain wall replaced the wooden __________
around the bailey. It was made of _________.
Barons began to build ___________ in the curtain
walls to make them stronger. People came into the
castle through the ___________. This often had a
_________ or a big metal gate called a
________________. Square towers were eventually
replaced by ___________ towers, which were harder
to attack.
wood drawbridge bailey battlements keep stone spir
al motte towers fire portcullis thick heavy
fence one gatehouse round windows top stone
bailey
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You have got one hundred men, one week and all
the equipment used at the time, to attack this
castle. Write notes on the diagram to show how
you would plan your attack.
Activity
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Here is a suggested plan of attackdo you agree?

• From high on the side of the
• motte, ten men tunnel
• under the main keep to
• collapse the walls

2. Once the bailey (outer castle) is secured,
soldiers attention turns to the keep
bailey
4. When the tunnel is ready and fires are lit to
burn the roof supports, five men fire the
catapult on the Keep walls, the rest prepare to
storm through. The battering ram could be used
again, if it could be hauled up the steep
slope of the motte

• Ten men attempt to break
• main gate with battering ram
• another forty men prepare to
• Storm into the bailey.

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Write down why these things could make your
attack fail

• The moat
• The steepness of the motte (keep mound)
• The thickness of the keep walls
• Soldiers defending the castle

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The thickness of the keep walls

• The battering ram and the catapults may not break
  through.

Soldiers defending the castle

• Skilled archers can easily fire down on their
• attackers from safe points in the keep walls
• As the attackers get close to the walls of the
• keep, or pass through the gate, boiling oil
• can be poured down on them from above
• through murder holes.

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The moat

• If the drawbridge is raised, it may be difficult
  or impossible to get the battering ram to the
  gate of the bailey
• It will be difficult to get onto the motte (mound
  which the keep is built on) especially with
  equipment, such as for tunneling, and soldiers
  may come under heavy fire from archers, or
  catapults in doing so.

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The steepness of the motte

• This makes it slow and difficult to move toward
  the keep, and soldiers may be easy targets as
  they do so
• Moving equipment is difficult, such as the
  battering ram
• Some equipment, such as a siege tower, cannot be
  used on the steep slope

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Castles Multiple Choice Questions
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1. What is the name of these attacking weapons
(in the order in which they appear?)

1. Battering ram, catapult, siege tower
2. Battering ram, siege tower, catapult
3. Tunneler, catapult, siege tower
4. Tunneler, siege tower, catapult

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2. Why was the motte (mound) abandoned in later
castles?

• A) Moats took their place
• B) Catapults made them useless as a defence
• C) Stone towers were too heavy for the motte to
  support.
• D) The motte was too easily climbed by larger
  armies.

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3. Who built the first proper castles in England?

• A) The Normans
• B) The Vikings
• C) The Saxons
• D) The Romans

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4) Which of the following statements is false?

• A) Life for most people in the castle was cold
  and damp
• B) Lavatories had to empty into sealed pits, to
  prevent the drinking water supply from being
  contaminated.
• C) The narrow spiral staircases in the towers
  helped prevent attackers from using their swords
• D) Attackers sometimes used the lavatories as
  means of entry to the castle.

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5) Which is the most appropriate statement of
castle development?

• A) Castles became stronger (1087-1330), then they
  became less strong (1330-1550) because there was
  less violence in Britain.
• B) Castles became steadily stronger (1087-1550)
  as the methods of attack became more effective.
• C) The first castles (1066-1087) were built to
  prevent attack from the French. Later castles
  were built to secure against rival lords in the
  country.
• D) The most important development in castle
  design was the motte which allowed easy defence
  from above. The second most important was the
  use of stone instead of wood.