#castles

Building a Castle: The Bailey

The courtyard enclosed by a curtain wall

Building a Castle: Concentric Castles

Walls around castles

Building a Castle: Curtain Wall Defences

Crenellations, mural passages, hoardings, machicolations, guttering

Building a Castle: The Curtain Wall

The first line of defence

Building a Castle: Defences

Drawbridge, portcullis, murder holes

Building a Castle: Defensive Towers

Better than just a wall

Building a Castle: Mortar

You need mortar makers as well as well as quarrymen and stonecutters

Building a Castle: Gatehouses

Building a Castle: Stone

Not just any stone and not all the same kind either

Building a Castle: Ditches, Moats and Tunnels

Some defences took a lot of digging

Building a Castle: Outer Fortifications

Building a Castle: The Evolution of a Castle

The earliest castles were made from timber and earthworks, known as motte-and-bailey castles