Dr Marc Morris answers questions about the origins of the structures and their development over the centuries
Q: How would you define a castle?
A: Well, the dictionary definition of a castle is fairly limited, describing them as fortresses or strongholds. Now, of course, the primary function of many castles was defence. But they also had to be domestic, a combination of aristocratic residence and fortification. So that’s the working definition of a castle, if you like. In more recent decades, more nuanced academic interpretation has argued that not all castles were defensive. Some castles, particularly towards the end of the Middle Ages, were built more for show than for practical, defensive purposes. So the definition then becomes a bit problematic. I subscribe to the idea that if it was called a castle at the time, then it’s probably a castle.
I think you can start to be dismissive of castles if they are Iron Age hillforts, such as Maiden Castle in Dorset, or 19th-century baronial pads. They might look good, but I wouldn’t add them to my big book of castles. In essence, a castle can broadly be defined as a residential fortress or a fortified residence.
Q: When do we first see castles in Britain?
A: I tend to go with the traditional argument, which is that castles came to England with the Norman Conquest, in 1066. It’s a little bit more nuanced than that, of course, in that there are a handful of castles that pre-date the Conquest by 15–20 years. In fact, it’s actually useful to take this question back a step and look at when we first see castles in Europe. As I’ve said, there is a very strong argument that castles were introduced in a tidal wave from 1066, but they were quite novel in western Europe as a whole. It’s hard to precisely identify their origins, but in c1000, in western Francia (what later becomes France), you would find castles being built along the Loire Valley and in Normandy. New principalities were emerging at this time and they were becoming very powerful, with wealthy people able to carve out little lordships for themselves. And their weapon of choice was the castle. And what differentiates castles, by my definition, from what came before is that these were private, and they were smaller than old-school fortifications.
Compared with early fortifications – Iron Age hillforts, Roman forts, or indeed the burhs of Anglo-Saxon England [large communal fortifications that covered many ac
