Castles are often pictured as enormous, magnificent stone buildings that are home to kings and queens. However, castles did not start out that way. The first castles were known as motte and bailey castles. They first appeared in England after the Norman Conquest in 1066, and they were popular in England by 1087, when William the Conqueror died. Motte and bailey castles created the basis for the hundreds of castles built in England and Wales. In the motte and bailey castles, the main building was on top of a man-made hill, which usually contained “22,000 tons of soil,” called the motte (Trueman). They were very difficult to make because there were alternating layers of soil and stone so that the structure would be stronger. However, one castle …show more content…
Concentric castles were made of stone and had “at least two rings of outer walls, one inside the other” (“Concentric”). These two walls were constructed so that any invaders would have to pass an additional obstacle. Unlike the common idea that concentric means circular, most of the castles were rectangular, and the designs were perfectly symmetrical. In the mid 1200s, the construction of concentric castles began, and the “best examples” of the design were built in the 1290s and early 1300s. One advantage of concentric castles is that they were so strong that they were almost impossible to successfully invade. Also, the inner wall was high, so it was a good firing point for archers, allowing them to easily see all of their enemies. This high wall paired with the symmetrical shape of the castle meant that less men were required to defend the castle since they had a “better view across the surrounding countryside” (“Concentric”). However, there were also many disadvantages. They were extremely expensive to construct; the castle Caernarfon alone cost 22,000 euros. Additionally, they took several years to build, instead of “just weeks for basic motte-and-bailey castles”