Castles in England

Castles were an entirely new phenomenon in England before the Normans arrived but this is not to say that they didn’t appear until after the Norman Conquest. Edward the Confessor was particularly Norman in his habits and had allowed a number of Normans to settle in the country prior to 1066.

England was home to four castles that were built before the Norman Conquest and these were at Clavering in Essex, and Ewyas Harold, Hereford and Richard’s Castle all of which are in Herefordshire, although Richard’s Castle is very close to the Shropshire border.

The Normans organised their life around a structure called ‘Feudalism’. This was a system of legal and military obligations given different levels of society. It centred on three elements; lords, vassals and fiefs. Lords were nobles who owned their own land, vassals were people who were granted land by the lord and the land itself was known as a fief. In exchange for the land the vassal would normally do military service for the lord. The vassal may also have been required to provide a certain amount of his farm's produce to his lord. The vassal was also sometimes required to grind his wheat and bake his bread in the mills and ovens owned and taxed by his lord.

There could be more than one level of vassals. A lord could grant land to a vassal who in turn could pass some of it to someone lower down the social scale, who in turn would become a vassal. As the land was on loan it was partly the responsibility of the original owner not only to maintain it but also to keep it, and the vassal, safe.

One way to safeguard your territory was to build a castle. A castle (from the Latin word castellum, meaning ‘fortified place’) was a defensive measure, an offensive weapon and a home. It created a base from which to launch attacks and a secure place to retreat to in times of trouble. In times of peace it was where the lord and his family would live. It was also an ideal centre from which to control surrounding territory.

Castles had first appeared in the 10th or early 11th centuries in Northern France and were built by the Normans. As castles were a new phenomenon to the English, those built after the Conquest would have also been used to demonstrate the power of the new ruling society.

With the Normans introducing a completely new form of government to England it was important that they subdued any uprisings at a local level. William the Conqueror could not be everywhere at once and so he spread his administration responsibilities between loyal followers of his and allow them a level of power within smaller areas in the hope that they could instil Norman values and laws within a community.

Design

The earliest castles were built to a simple design and are often referred to as ‘motte and bailey’ castles. These consisted of a central wooden tower (also called a ‘keep’) built upon a mound, or motte. This mound was usually surrounded by dry or wet ditch and a wooden wall (palisade) for further protection. The wall could also encircle an additional (often lower lying ) area, forming a court, which was known as the bailey.

Shrewsbury Castle started out its life as a motte and bailey castle.

Within the bailey there would be storage sheds, workshops and space to keep livestock.

These motte and bailey castles were quick and easy to construct and so were favoured by the Normans as an efficient way to consolidate newly conquered territory in England.

Most of the motte and bailey castles were redundant by the 1220’s and those which were not later re-fortified in stone in the 13th century soon fell into decay. Once the environment along the Welsh Border was more settled there was less need for defensive structures and many lords chose to build smaller and more comfortable manor houses as their residences. It was quite a financial undertaking to convert to stone so sometimes only the palisade wall was rebuilt. Some of the stone castles remained sturdy enough to be garrisoned by the troops during the English Civil War in the 17th century.