How can we use castles today

In Early Modern times — so from about the s on — castles began to fade from fashion, and the very wealthy were choosing to build palaces rather than fortifications. Part of the reason for this was the popularity of gunpowder. Stone castles — which had looked so mighty just a couple of hundred years before — were rendered puny by mighty cannons. As defence was now less of a consideration and diplomacy came to the fore the rich and well-regarded in society made the choice to invest in grander palaces and gardens, more befitting of a nobler, gentler, mercantile existence.

In relatively modern times, some eccentric individuals — such as King Ludwig — embarked on vast castle-building sprees. The fantastic, over-the-top castles he built — including Neuschwanstein in Germany — were to commemorate and glorify a past age, and link him to the all-powerful kings and nobles of Medieval times.

Today, people still build castles — but the purpose is most definitely for prestige and aggrandisement of personal homes, rather than for any form of defence! Who knows? But castles have intriguingly found a place in our popular consciousness. Dream with your eyes open — discover some amazing fantasy castle designs.

My book, Exploring English Castles , is filled with stories and more than spectacular photos. Skip to content Skip to footer Home » Castle Designs. Footer Enjoying Exploring Castles? Then Buy My Book! Love discovering the secrets of English castles? Want to own a beautiful piece of English history? It's a gorgeous book for anyone interested in English castles. Click to begin Exploring English Castles Share with friends!

Set cookie preferences. Skip to Main Content. Search our website Search Discovery, our catalogue. View lesson as PDF. View full image. Lesson at a glance. Download: Lesson pack. What was their purpose and significance? Clue: think about what a castle might represent: an intimidating fortress?

An impressive building? An important centre of government? A building to be demolished like any other — all part of the day job? Questions What does Portchester Castle represent for the king? What does Portchester Castle represent for Queen Eleanor? What does the granting of Portchester Castle mean to the bailiffs of Portchester the people who worked at the castle? Questions What does Portchester Castle represent to the king? What does Portchester Castle represent to the constable?

What does Portchester Castle represent to foreign spies? What does Portchester Castle represent for foreign invaders? What does Portchester Castle represent to the masons and carpenters employed to work on the castle?

Questions Compare this document to Document 5. Does this change your impression of what Portchester Castle represented for the masons and carpenters employed to work on the castle? Do you think he wanted to build fortifications around his home? Question What do you think castles represented for William Perheved? Women could not participate fully in the church — for example they were forbidden to touch the altar. However, many women donated their clothes, or made personalised altar clothes for the church or priests.

This meant that clothes that had touched them, that they had owned, made or worn, eventually came to be worn by clergymen or used to wrap the altar — one of the most sacred parts of the church.

Fiona Griffiths and Katherine French have done some excellent work on this. While we cannot say that this was a feminist act it was certainly a way of cleverly avoiding the ban on touching even if by proxy! Another, perhaps more obvious way, was that many women who were married once and became widows chose to stay that way. They elected not to remarry. Widows had a special place in society — they almost operated as men, especially in relation to property and wealth.

Medieval noblewomen had a similar level of power to the lords in the household. The security of the lordship came from the united married couple who produced hiers. She would be seen as the head of the household — with the power to enforce it like the amazing Joan de Valence; a recent book by Linda Mitchell gives a wonderful picture of her life. Lords often spent a great deal of time away from their castles.

They could be on crusade, attending court, at another castle — or dead. During these times it was up to the lady to do the paperwork to run the estate, sealing official documents as you can see on this seal of Margaret Mareschall, Countess of Northfolch or to defend the castle in the rare case of attack. Castles are always depicted as dark and cold and some probably were.

But, in reality, the great hall of castle had a large open hearth to provide heat and light at least until the late 12th century and later it had wall fireplace. The hall would also have had tapestries which would have insulated the room against too much cold. In the chamber — the more private rooms of the castle — there were beds with curtains, giving an extra layer of warmth, and these rooms largely had fireplaces.

When there were no fireplaces rooms were heated with moveable fire stands. Castles have little square apertures in the walls called lamp rests where one could place a candle or lamp throwing out warm light. And further up the social hierarchy one had better, clean-burning candles that smelled more like beeswax that animal fat.

A book by Audrey Thorstad will shortly be published that talks about rooms for servants above the kitchen. These spaces would seem small to us today and lacking in privacy but we can imagine that being above the kitchen was warm, and I would like to think smelled good — of warm bread and roasting meat.

Medieval ideas of privacy were not the same as ours. There were degrees of private and public. So privacy in your bedchamber could involve a number of people! They were not just for sleeping; they often doubled as a seating area when entertaining special guests in the relative privacy of the chamber this is not a euphemism.