There were, however, exceptions to this pattern – survivors among the general carnage. In the period between the end of the first Civil War and the restoration of Charles II, when the worst cases of destruction occurred, a distinction was observed between coastal castles and those in land-locked counties. The fear of invasion persuaded even the most extreme hard-liners to preserve those buildings that might prove useful in the defence of the nation. In the South-East, castles were left intact at Dover and Rochester, Bodiam and Arundel, Hedingham and Orford. Elsewhere, castles survived because they were simply too strong. The efforts made to pull down Edward I’s great Welsh castles fortunately came to very little, because demolishing their stone fabric was uneconomical.
In Scotland, castles fared far better than elsewhere during and immediately after the Civil War. Several tower houses suffered during Cromwell’s invasion of Scotland in 1650, including Borthwick,
where
the effects of the Parliamentary barrage can still be seen on the rear of the tower. Others, like Castle Urquhart, suffered as a result of later wars. Overall, however, Scottish castles were left far less scarred by the experiences of the seventeenth century than their counterparts in England and Wales. Yet while this may have protected them from total extermination, continuous occupation into the modern age has wrought its own change on these buildings. Very often they have had to endure radical customization and reconstruction by later owners, whose desire to modernize and improve their homes has altered many tower houses beyond all recognition.
Throughout the eighteenth century, castles continued to be dismantled, sold for scrap and plundered for stone. Where preservation occurred, it was down to individual eccentricities. In 1766, a noble twelfth-century tower at Bungay in Suffolk was destroyed in order to provide rubble for new roads. What remained of the gatehouse, however, was acquired by the wife of a local solicitor, and converted into a home. But even the best intentions could have regrettable side-effects. In Colchester, the great keep of William the Conqueror had been reduced to half its height thanks to the assiduousness of a local ironmonger. The surviving portion was purchased in the early eighteenth century and ‘restored’, but unfortunately the new owner believed he had acquired a Roman ruin rather than a Norman one. His new terracotta tiled roof, cupola and weathervane complete the catalogue of indignities inflicted on an already much-maligned building.
It was only really at the end of the eighteenth century, and into the nineteenth, that indifference to castles started to give way to genuine affection. The thirst for a forgotten, Romantic British past, encouraged by writers like Sir Walter Scott, made castles desirable places to visit. Picturesque painters like Turner made them identifiable. Railways made them accessible. Once again they became treasured possessions, not just for the handful of people who had once owned them, but for everybody in the country. Men, women and
children
of all degrees could now visit the great homes of the Middle Ages and contemplate a vanished world.
And now, almost a thousand years after their introduction to Britain, castles continue to exert a powerful hold on the public’s affection. We, however, can get nearer to them than our Victorian forebears. They preferred them as Nature had left them, all ivy-covered archways and crumbling walls. But in the course of the last century, the majority of ruined castles have been taken into the care of the state. Their walls have been shored up, their moats repaired and refilled, the trees and the bracken that had enveloped them have been cut back. Today castles stand closer in appearance to their original selves than they have done for centuries. It only requires us to visit them and use our imaginations, and their restoration is complete.
INTRODUCTION
The standard introduction to the subject of castles in England and Wales remains R.A. Brown,
English Castles
(3rd edn, London, 1976). Also useful are M.W. Thompson,
The Rise of the Castle
(Cambridge, 1991) and
The Decline of the Castle
(Cambridge, 1987). For a fresh perspective, see M. Johnson,
Behind the Castle Gate: From Medieval to Renaissance
(London, 2002). For Scotland, see the section on Chapter Five below.
CHAPTER ONE
Justice has finally been done to early castles in R. Higham and P. Barker,
Timber Castles
(London, 1992). See the early sections of
The History of the King’s Works
, ed. R.A. Brown, H.M. Colvin, A.J. Taylor (6 vols, London, 1963) for the castle-building of William the Conqueror. For Hen Domen, see
Hen Domen: A Timber Castle on the English-Welsh Border
(Exeter, 2000) by Barker and Higham. R. Eales, ‘Royal Power and castles in Norman England’,
Ideals and Practice of Medieval Knighthood III
(Woodbridge, 1990) is a very important and useful essay. For fortified homes in England before 1066, see A. Williams, ‘A Bell-house and a Burh-geat: Lordly Residences in England before the Norman Conquest’,
Medieval Knighthood IV
(Woodbridge, 1992). For the politics of the period before 1066 in England and
Normandy
, see F. Barlow,
Edward the Confessor
(3rd edn, London, 1997) and D. Bates,
Normandy before 1066
(London, 1982). The career of an early castle-builder in England is dealt with in A. Williams, ‘The King’s Nephew: The Family and Career of Ralph, Earl of Hereford’,
Studies in Medieval History presented to R. Allen Brown
, eds. C. Harper-Bill, C.J. Holdsworth, J.L. Nelson (Woodbridge, 1989). For a biographical treatment of the Norman ducal dynasty before and after 1066, see D. Crouch,
The Normans
(London, 2002). Politics in England after the Conquest are fully explored in R. Bartlett,
England under the Norman and Angevin Kings
(Oxford, 2000) and M.T. Clanchy,
England and its Rulers
(2nd edn, Oxford, 1998). Compare the vehemently pro-Norman account in R.A. Brown,
The Normans and the Norman Conquest
(2nd edn, Woodbridge, 1985) with the version of events in A. Williams,
The English and the Norman Conquest
(Woodbridge, 1995). The best biography of William the Conqueror is D. Bates,
William the Conqueror
(London, 1989), although D.C. Douglas,
William the Conqueror
(London, 1964) contains much useful information. The purpose of Domesday Book continues to be debated, but I still adhere to the view set out in J.C. Holt, ‘1086’,
Domesday Studies
, ed. Holt (Woodbridge, 1987). For the difference in military tactics between the English and the Normans, see M. Bennett, ‘The Medieval Warhorse Reconsidered’,
Medieval Knighthood V
, ed. S. Church and R. Harvey (Woodbridge, 1995) and ‘The Myth of the Military Supremacy of Knightly Cavalry’, in
Armies, Chivalry and Warfare in Medieval France and Britain
, ed. M. Strickland (Stamford, 1995), as well as M. Strickland, ‘Military Technology and Conquest: the Anomaly of Anglo-Saxon England’,
Anglo-Norman Studies XIX
(Woodbridge, 1997). The principal primary sources for the history of this period are
Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis
, ed. and trans. M. Chibnall (6 vols, Oxford, 1969–1980) and
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
, ed. and trans. G. N. Garmonsway (2nd edn, London, 1972).
CHAPTER TWO
An excellent up-to-date introduction to stone castles in the century after the Conquest is given in E. Fernie,
The Architecture of Norman England
(Oxford, 2000). For a more detailed view,
The History of the King’s Works
, ed. R.A. Brown, H.M. Colvin, A.J. Taylor (6 vols, London, 1963) is still in most respects unsurpassed. A revisionist perspective can be found in C. Coulson, ‘Peaceable Power in English Castles’,
Anglo-Norman Studies XXIII
(Woodbridge, 2001). P. Dixon, ‘Design in Castle-Building: the controlling of access to the Lord’,
Chateau Gaillard
, 18 (1998) explores a similar theme. For the two main castles discussed in this chapter, see R.A. Brown,
Rochester Castle
(2nd edn, London, 1986) and P. Dixon and P. Marshall, ‘Hedingham Castle: A Reassessment’,
Fortress
, 18 (1993). The politics of the twelfth century are covered by Clanchy, Bartlett and Crouch (see above), but see also C. Warren Hollister,
Henry I
(London, 2001) and W.L. Warren,
Henry II
(London, 1973). For John’s reign, W.L. Warren,
King John
(3rd edn, London, 1997) is still a rip-roaring read, but should be tempered with the views expressed in
King John: New Interpretations
, ed. S.D. Church (Woodbridge, 1999). S. Painter,
The Reign of King John
(Baltimore, 1949) and K. Norgate,
John Lackland
(London, 1902) can still be read with profit. For early thirteenth-century politics, see D.A. Carpenter,
The Minority of Henry III
(London, 1990) and J. Gillingham, ‘Magna Carta and Royal Government’,
Richard Coeur de Lion
(London, 1994). I also referred to I.W. Rowlands, ‘King John, Stephen Langton and Rochester Castle, 1213–15’,
Studies in Medieval History presented to R. Allen Brown
, eds. C. Harper-Bill, C.J. Holdsworth, J.L. Nelson (Woodbridge, 1989) and R. Eales, ‘Castles and Politics in England, 1215–1224’,
Thirteenth Century England II
(Woodbridge, 1988). For siege warfare, see
Medieval Warfare: A History
, ed. M. Keen (Oxford, 1999), J. Bradbury,
The Medieval Siege
(Woodbridge, 1992) and M. Prestwich,
Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience
(Yale, 1996).
CHAPTER THREE
Arnold Taylor made Edward I’s Welsh castles his own. Above anything else, see his guidebooks for Rhuddlan, Harlech, Conway, Caernarfon and Beaumaris, all published by CADW: Welsh Historic Monuments. For more detailed expositions, his sections of
The History of the King’s Works
, ed. R.A. Brown, H.M. Colvin, A.J. Taylor (6 vols, London, 1963), and his own
Studies in Castles and Castle-Building
(London, 1985) are the places to look. For Caerphilly, see D. Renn,
Caerphilly Castle
(CADW, 1997).
M.T. Clanchy,
England and its Rulers
(2nd edn, Oxford, 1998) is excellent for thirteenth-century politics, all the more so now it includes an epilogue on Edward I. The king has been given an expansive biography by M. Prestwich,
Edward I
(London, 1988). For a less sympathetic portrait, and an exploration of English imperialism in this period, see R.R. Davies,
Domination and Conquest
(Cambridge, 1990) and more recently
The First English Empire
(Oxford, 2000). The same author has written the definitive history of medieval Wales in
Conquest, Coexistence and Change: Wales 1063–1415
(Oxford, 1987), reprinted as
The Age of Conquest
(Oxford, 1991), superseding the previous standard work, J.E. Lloyd,
A History of Wales, from the earliest times to the Edwardian conquest
, (2 vols, London, 1911). For a blow-by-blow account of the conquest, see J.E. Morris,
The Welsh Wars of Edward I
(Oxford, 1901). Edward’s interest in the legendary British past is examined in R. Morris, ‘The Architecture of Edwardian Enthusiasm: Castle Symbolism in the Reigns of Edward I and his Successors’,
Armies, Chivalry and Warfare in Medieval France and Britain
, ed. M. Strickland (Stamford, 1995), building on the earlier work of R.S. Loomis, ‘Edward I, Arthurian Enthusiast’,
Speculum
, 28 (1953). For an introduction to medieval building practices, look no further than N. Coldstream,
Masons and Sculptors
(London, 1991).
CHAPTER FOUR
For later medieval English castles, see in general M. Johnson,
Behind the Castle Gate: From Medieval to Renaissance
(London, 2002) and M.W. Thompson,
The Decline of the Castle
(Cambridge, 1987). M.C. Prestwich, ‘English Castles in the Reign of Edward II’,
Journal of Medieval History
, 8 (1982) is important for the early fourteenth century. For Bodiam in particular, there are dozens of articles, debating the question posed by D.J. Turner, ‘Bodiam, Sussex: True Castle or Old Soldier’s Dream House?’,
England in the Fourteenth Century
(1986). The castle’s military reputation, however, has been blown clean out of the water by C. Coulson, ‘Some Analysis of the Castle of Bodiam, East Sussex’,
Medieval Knighthood IV
, eds. C. Harper-Bill and R. Harvey (Woodbridge, 1992). See also his ‘Structural Symbolism in Medieval Castle Architecture’,
Journal of the British Archaeological Association
, 132 (1979). The castle’s environs are examined in P. Everson, ‘Bodiam Castle, East Sussex: castle and its designed landscape’,
Chateau Gaillard
, 17 (1996). The early Dallingridges have been exhaustively studied by N. Saul, ‘The Rise of the Dallingridge Family’,
Sussex Archaeological Collections
, 136 (1998), while there is biographical material on Sir Edward himself in
The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1386–1421
, ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe (4 vols, Stroud, 1992). For Edward’s run-in with John of Gaunt, see S. Walker, ‘Lancaster v. Dallingridge: A Franchisal Dispute in Fourteenth-Century Sussex’,
Sussex Archaeological Collections
, 121 (1983). For the Hundred Years War, see C. Allmand,
The Hundred Years War: England and France at War, c. 1300 – c.1450
(Cambridge, 1988) and D. Seward,
The Hundred Years’ War: The English in France
(London, 1978). J. Sumption,
Trial By Fire: The Hundred Years’ War II
(London, 1999) covers the campaigns in which Dallingridge participated early in his career. Richard II’s reign is dealt with comprehensively in N. Saul,
Richard II
(London, 1997). For Arundel’s rebellion, see A.
Goodman
,
The Loyal Conspiracy: The Lords Appellant under Richard II
(London, 1971). For English knighthood in general, see P. Coss,
The Knight in Medieval England, 1000–1400
(Stroud, 1993) and M. Keen,
Chivalry
(Yale, 1984). As to what people thought about knights in Dallingridge’s day, compare the contrary views of T. Jones,
Chaucer’s Knight: The Portrait of a Medieval Mercenary
(3rd edn, London, 1994) and M. Keen, ‘Chaucer’s Knight, the English Aristocracy and the Crusade’,
Nobles, Knights and Men-at-Arms in the Middle Ages
(London, 1996). For the lifestyle of people like Edward and Elizabeth, see C. Dyer,
Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages: Social Change in England, 1200–1520
(Cambridge, 1989), J. Catto, ‘Religion and the English Nobility in the Later Fourteenth Century’,
History and Imagination
(London, 1981), and P. Coss,
The Lady in Medieval England, 1000–1500
(Stroud, 1998). N. Saul,
Scenes from Provincial Life: knightly families in Sussex, 1280–1400
(Oxford, 1986) provides some charming tableaux, but the comments on the Dallingridges have been superseded.