Castle Fortifications Transformed to Stone
Castle Defense Improvements Offered Better Protection
Hunting for animals, fishing, and gathering nuts and berries continued for thousands of years until people began planting seeds and farming. Then they settled in one place rather than moving about as they had to stay for at least a season to harvest their crops in the Fall.
Early Fortifications
They settled close to a stream or river to have a source of drinking water, later to use the water to operate mills and travel by boat to other villages. But living on these transportation routes required protection. Castle expert and historian, Brian Adams described the early fortifications. To protect themselves from people invading from other regions, at first people built a “ringwork: an enclosure surrounded by a ditch with an earth rampart inside it.” This ringwork consisted of a piled-up mound of dirt (motte) surrounded by a strong wooden fence.
These defenses could be built in about one year although William the Conqueror had enough men and supplies to build a ringwork in two weeks. A wooden tower called a keep or donjon built on top of the motte allowed sentries to see anyone who might be approaching from greater distances.
Strengthening Castles
Later, stonemasons fitted stones to the walls of the fence and filled the space between the stones with dirt, gravel, and rubble. Inside the walls, a stone tower replaced the wooden tower. This sometimes collapsed if the motte was not strong enough to hold the weight. A better design built the castle on top of a rock foundation. Eventually, tower additions or castles were built inside the walls and a second ring of walls surrounded the entire fortress.
Outside the outer wall a moat (dry or filled with water or a thorny thicket) offered additional protection as attackers had to construct a boat or bridge to get to the walls. To get across the moat, during peaceful times, a gate and bridge over the moat allowed people to come and go. The gate usually remained locked at night to prevent invaders from slipping in unseen.
Castle walls had various shaped holes built into them to allow archers, spear throwers and other defenders shelter while firing off their missiles. Sometimes holes in the floor of an overhanging addition to the wall allowed defenders to pour sewage, hot sand, or hot water on their attackers.
At first, individual families and small communities banded together inside a fortress. As kings emerged by conquering more land, these rulers commanded several castles in their territories, demanding allegiance and offering protection.
Source: Adams, Brian. Medieval Castles. Mankato, MN: Stargazer, 2007.
