A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to build with unskilled labour, but still militarily formidable, these castles were built across northern Europe from the 10th century onwards, spreading from Normandy and Anjou in France, into the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the Low Countries it controlled, in the 11th century, when these castles were popularized in the area that became the Netherlands. The Normans introduced the design into England and Wales. Motte-and-bailey castles were adopted in Scotland, Ireland, and Denmark in the 12th and 13th centuries. By the end of the 13th century, the design was largely superseded by alternative forms of fortification, but the earthworks remain a prominent feature in many countries.
Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is a phenomenon with complex motivations and was often used as a tool of control. Slighting spanned cultures and periods, with especially well-known examples from the English Civil War in the 17th century.
Laugharne Castle is in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The castle, located on the estuary of the River Tâf, was originally established in 1116. It was rebuilt as a Norman stronghold. There have been many alterations since then, including becoming a Tudor fortified manor house in the sixteenth century. It changed hands twice during the English Civil War, being eventually captured by Parliamentary forces in 1644.
Montfichet's Tower was a Norman fortress on Ludgate Hill in London, between where St Paul's Cathedral and City Thameslink railway station now stand. First documented in the 1130s, it was probably built in the late 11th century. The defences were strengthened during the revolt of 1173–1174 against Henry II.
Buckton Castle was a medieval enclosure castle near Carrbrook in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, England. It was surrounded by a 2.8-metre-wide (9 ft) stone curtain wall and a ditch 10 metres (33 ft) wide by 6 metres (20 ft) deep. Buckton is one of the earliest stone castles in North West England and only survives as buried remains overgrown with heather and peat. It was most likely built and demolished in the 12th century. The earliest surviving record of the site dates from 1360, by which time it was lying derelict. The few finds retrieved during archaeological investigations indicate that Buckton Castle may not have been completed.
Castle chapels in European architecture are chapels that were built within a castle. They fulfilled the religious requirements of the castle lord and his retinue, while also sometimes serving as a burial site. Because the construction of such church edifices was expensive for the lord of the castle, separate chapels are not found at every seat of the nobility. Often, a secondary room furnished with an altar had to suffice.
A ringwork is a form of fortified defensive structure, usually circular or oval in shape. Ringworks are essentially motte-and-bailey castles without the motte. Defences were usually earthworks in the form of a ditch and bank surrounding the site.
Sauvey Castle is a medieval castle, near Withcote, Leicestershire, England. It was probably built by King John in 1211 as a secluded hunting lodge in Leighfield Forest. It comprised a ringwork or shell keep, with an adjacent bailey; earthwork dams were constructed to flood the area around the castle, creating a large, shallow moat. The castle was occupied by the Count of Aumale in the early reign of Henry III, but it then remained in the control of the Crown and was used by royal foresters until it fell into disuse in the 14th century. By the end of the 17th century, its walls and buildings had been dismantled or destroyed, leaving only the earthworks, which remain in a good condition in the 21st century.
An arrowslit is a narrow vertical aperture in a fortification through which an archer can launch arrows or a crossbowman can launch bolts.
Tower houses appeared on the Islands of Ireland and Great Britain starting from the High Middle Ages. They were constructed in the wilder parts of Great Britain and Ireland, particularly in Scotland, and throughout Ireland, until at least up to the 17th century. The remains of such structures are dotted around the Irish and Scottish countryside, with a particular concentration in the Scottish Borders where they include peel towers and bastle houses. Some are still intact and even inhabited today, while others stand as ruined shells.
The Château de Vaudémont is a ruined 11th-century castle in the commune of Vaudémont in the Meurthe-et-Moselle département of France. At its greatest extent the castle measures about 500 by 250 metres . The castle is one of a group of four castles built around the same time on highland sites along the Moselle valley between Nancy and Metz in northeast France. The other three castles are Dieulouard, Mousson, and Prény; of the four, Château de Vaudémont is the largest and best preserved. It was built as a hill castle in the 11th century for the Counts of Vaudémont, possibly for Gérard I. The architect is unknown. The remains are part of the curtain wall and the keep, the so-called tour Brunehaut constructed with recycled Gallo-Roman remains. It was repaired during the 15th century, dismantled in 1639 on the orders of Louis XIII, and restored in 1930.
Thomas Alexander "Sandy" Heslop,, publishing as T. A. Heslop, is a British academic who specialises in the art and architecture of medieval England. He is Professor of Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia (UEA). He was Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Cambridge for the 1997/1998 academic year.
The Château de Châtillon-Coligny is a castle, later replaced with a smaller château, in the commune of Châtillon-Coligny in the Loiret département of France.
Thomas J. Finan,, is an American medieval historian and archaeologist, and presently Chair of the Department of History at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. He is formerly the Associate Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the Director of the Walter J. Ong, S.J. Center for Digital Humanities and the Director of the Center for International Studies at Saint Louis University. Finan is a specialist in the history and archaeology of medieval Ireland, and has appeared in a number of popular formats as well as an Emmy-nominated documentary, True Gaelic, concerning his archaeological excavations at the moated site near Lough Key, County Roscommon, Ireland, in 2016. He has appeared in local and international media spots. He is a licensed archaeologist in the Republic of Ireland, and is a Registered Professional Archaeologist in the United States. He is a member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2012. In 2019, he was elected to the Comite Permanente de Chateau Gaillard: International Castle Studies Colloque, representing Ireland.
Penelope Dransart is an anthropologist, archaeologist, and historian specialising in South American anthropology and the study of castles. Until 2016 she was a Reader at University of Wales Trinity Saint David. She is Honorary Reader at the University of Aberdeen. Dransart was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1998. She has written or edited several books, including Earth, Water, Fleece and Fabric: An Ethnography and Archaeology of Andean Camelid Herding.
Pamela Marshall is an archaeologist and historian specialising in the study of castles. Marshall was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2007. She worked at the University of Nottingham, teaching in the departments of archaeology and continuing education until her retirement. Marshall's research on castles has examined castles in England and France, as they had a shared castle culture, and is an authority on great towers. Between 2000 and 2014, Marshall was chair/secretary of the Castle Studies Group and is Comité Permanent of the Colloques Château Gaillard, a biannual conference for castellologists.
David James Cathcart King was a British historian, archaeologist, and school-teacher. While working as a teacher he perused his research in his free time, becoming "one of the leading authorities on the medieval castle". King was also president of the Cambrian Archaeological Association. A festschrift dedicated to King was published in 1987, titled Castles in Wales and the Marches.
Rachel Swallow is an archaeologist specialising in the study of landscapes and castles. She was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2018. Swallow studied at Birmingham Polytechnic and the University of Liverpool before completing a PhD at the University of Chester in 2015. She is visiting research fellow and guest lecturer at the University of Chester and honorary fellow at the University of Liverpool.
