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1. Introduction to castles

1.1. Why Castles? Britain is strewn with ruins

of castles, rubble from the centuries of her existence.

Castles are tangible relics of a remarkable past, a

lengthy heritage etched in stone, as well as with the

blood and sweat of those who built, labored, fought,

and died in their shadow.

Ruins stir up in us a profound awareness of those past

lives. Castles have a timelessness that is awe-inspiring.

That they have endured centuries of warfare and the

effects of weather is a testimony to the creativity and

power of their medieval owners. How many of us will

have such long-lasting success?

As with gardens castles have had innumerable books written about them quoting

design, styles, ages and so on. I think that one or two notes are helpful in

distinguishing the various types and the logical development.

The castles that we use as our standard are those built between the 11th and 16th

centuries in Great Britain and Northern Europe. The English castle whose design was

imported from Normandy following the Norman invasion of 1066 was essentially

defensive. The Normans had to hold down a belligerent conquered people and their way

was to build a network of castles. William the Conqueror has a ring established around

London, including Rochester, Windsor and Berkampstead. These in conjunction with

the Tower of London - the White Tower then - acted as a screen around the capital.

As it was said these castles were essentially defensive, designed to protect the Norman

families who were granted the land by William. They originally consisted of a mound

of earth thrown up with a tower or 'keep' on top, possibly surrounded by a palisade

around the bottom and in turn frequently surrounded by a moat. The palisade

contained the bailey. The keep was not living quarters normally but a last line of

defense in case of attack and the main living area was the bailey where the Lord had

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a comfortable hall and where there were houses for his soldiers and retainers and their

families, stables for the animals as well as the various necessary service buildings,

blacksmith, farrier, armourer, etc.

In the case of sustained attack the whole countryside include villagers and their beasts

could be taken into the bailey for protection and in dire necessity the whole would be

withdrawn into the keep.

Originally because of the urgency needed to get them erected these structures were of

wood but, as they were vulnerable to fire, quite soon the King insisted that they be

built of stone. One of the first of these was the White Tower in the center of the

Tower of London. Thus castle building became a never ending program of updating to

create defensive protection. England became more settled and by the middle of the

fifteenth century in Southern and Middle England except for the King and

powerful barons the smaller landowner had found that a more peaceful country

made the castle unnecessary. He had had found the castle cold and uncomfortable and

created 'fortified manor house'. This still had strong walls for defense but also had

larger windows and more doors while the interior was of wood, rather than stone, to

make the whole warmer and a less confrontational design. From then on we get the

development of the 'stately home' and palace without any defensive capabilities and

from these in turn produced the great Tudor mansions of which Hatfield House and

Penshurst Place are typical and in which defense has no part. Peace was now assumed

and the history of English castle building reached its end.

In the north of England it was not so easy and until the reign of Henry VIII there were

still border attacks. The castles remained strong and well defended until well into the

sixteenth century. Thus for hundreds of years the Duke of Northumberland remained

influential as much because of the soldiers he could muster as his personality.

1.2. Religion. Christianity was carried to England by the Romans and spread

throughout Britain, until the 5th century when it waned through the departure of the

Romans and the invasion by Saxons. In 597 Pope Gregory sent Augustine as a

missionary from Rome to Canterbury where a church was established and run initially by

secular canons, then Benedictine monks from the late Saxon period until 1540. An

important aspect in the practice of medieval Christianity was the veneration of saints, and

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the associated pilgrimages to places where particular saint's relics were interred and their

tradition honoured. The possession of the relics of a popular saint was a source of funds

to the individual church as the faithful made donations and benefices in the hope that they

might receive spiritual aid, a blessing or a healing from the presence of the physical

remains of the holy person. The Medieval Church played a far greater role in Medieval

England than the Church does today, Church dominated everybody's life. . With it's own

laws, lands and taxes The Catholic church was a very powerful institution which had its

own laws and lands. The Catholic Church also imposed taxes. In addition to collecting

taxes, the Church also accepted gifts of all kinds from individuals who wanted special

favors or wanted to be certain of a place in heaven. The power of the Catholic Church

grew with its wealth. The Catholic Church was then able to influence the kings and rulers

of Europe. Opposition to the Catholic Church would result in excommunication. This

meant that the person who was excommunicated could not attend any church services,

receive the sacraments and would go straight to hell when they died. All Medieval people

believed that God, Heaven and Hell all existed. From the very earliest of ages, the people

were taught that the only way they could get to Heaven was if the Roman Catholic

Church let them. The control the Church had over the people was total. The two largest

religions in medieval England were Roman Catholic and Protestant. The importance of

religion in Medieval life is illustrated with the incorporation of a Chapel within the castle.

1.3. Stained glass. Stained glass windows as we know them, seemed to arise

when substantial church building began. By the 10th century, depictions of Christ and

biblical scenes were found in French and German churches and decorative designs found

in England. The Gothic age produced the great cathedrals of Europe and brought a full

flowering of stained glass windows. Stained glass windows are often viewed as

translucent pictures. Gothic stained glass windows are a complex mosaic of bits of

colored glass joined with lead into an intricate pattern illustrating biblical stories and

saints lives. Viewed from the ground, they appear not as a picture but as a network of

black lines and colored light. Medieval man experienced a window more than he read it.

It made the church that special, sacred dwelling place of an all powerful God.

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English Gardens. The earliest English gardens that we know of were planted by

the Roman conquerors of Britain in the 1st century . The Roman gardens that we know

the most about are those of the large villas and palaces. The best example of the latter is

probably Fishbourne Roman Palace in Sussex, where an early garden has been partly

reconstructed. Fishbourne shows a carefully symmetrical formal planting of low box

hedges split by graveled walks. The hedges are punctuated by small niches which

probably held ornaments like statues, urns, or garden seats. The formal garden near the

house gave way to a landscaped green space leading down to the waterside below. There

is also a small kitchen garden which is planted with fruits and vegetables common in

Roman Britain. We know very little about the gardens of Anglo-Saxon England, which is

another way of

saying that the

warlike Anglo-

Saxons did not

hold gardening to

be important. It

was not until the

Middle Ages that

gardens once

more became

important in

British life. Monasteries had both kitchen gardens and herb gardens to provide the

practicalities of food and medicine. The monastery cloister provided an open green space

surrounded by covered walks, generally with a well, or fountain at the centre. Castles

sometimes made room for small courtyard gardens, with paths through raised flower

beds. Other common features of medieval castle gardens include turf seats and high

mounds, or mounts, which provided a view over the castle walls. As castles gave way to

fortified manor houses in the later medieval period, the garden became a simple green

space surrounded by hedges or fences.

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2. Medieval siege.

There are many myths and legends surrounding castle sieges. Knights in

shining armor riding up to the castle, doing hand to hand combat. Or maybe hundreds of

guards streaming out of the castles to meet their enemy. None of this is true, except in

fairy tales and movies. 

Most of the time, the attacking force would send a messenger to the lord of the castle and

give notice of their intentions to attack. This notice allowed the castle to surrender.

Sometimes the lord surrendered, but most often the castle was restocked and made ready

for the siege. They would restock themselves with food, supplies and drink, and add men

to the garrison. 

There were three ways to take a castle. The first is not to attack the castle at all - just

avoid the castle altogether and seize the lands around it. The second is direct assault, or

laying siege to the castle. The last is besieging. 

Here is an account of a siege. Stone throwing mangonels attack the towers and walls

every day. The walls of the castles would hopefully be

breached, and towers damaged. The enemy erects wooden towers called belfries, taller

than the castle towers, to conceal and enable bow men to shoot arrows down into the

castle. While this is going on, miners would be tunneling under the walls and towers of

the castle in preparation to collapse them. 

The barbican is next assaulted and taken, with a loss of men on both sides. Then the

bailey is attacked, and more men killed. Animals and some supplies would be captured.

The auxiliary buildings containing hay and grain for the castle are burned. By now,

miners have succeeded in collapsing a wall of the castle. The attackers have broken

through and seized the inner bailey. More men on both sides would be lost in this phase

of the attack. 

By this time, the castle defenders would have retreated to the keep. Miners would now be

setting fire to the mine tunnel under the keep. The 

keep. Smoke and fire are rising into the keep, and cracks appearing in the thick walls.

The defenders of the castle are forced to surrender as the castle falls to the enemy . The

third method, called besieging, would require the enemy to wait and starve the castle

garrison into surrender. This method was preferred by an attacking side. Some sieges of

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this type would last from six months to a year. Sometimes, the enemy would hurl dead

animals into the castle grounds in hopes of spreading diseases. And, sometimes the lord

of the castle would toss dead animals outside his castle, to convince the enemy they had

enough supplies to carry on a siege for months.

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3. Castles with ghosts

What story would be complete without a haunted castle. Here is some of the

castles that are reportedly haunted in England.

3.1. Windsor Castle, is without doubt one of the most spectacular castles in

Britain. Since it was built, the Castle has been embroiled in legends of suicide, and

ghosts. The youngest daughter of Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I, haunts the Royal

Library. Her high heels are

heard on bare floorboards and

go across the library and into

an inner room. Her spectre has

also been seen at a window in

Dean's Cloister where she

always wears a black gown

with a black shawl over her

shoulders. Elizabeth is not

buried at Windsor but at

Westminster Abbey.

3.2.Berry Pomeroy Castle is said to be haunted by the White Lady. She haunts

the dungeons, and rises from St. Margaret's Tower to the castle ramparts. Those who

report seeing this figure associate it with feelings of depression, fear and malevolence.

She has been identified as the ghost of Lady Margaret Pomeroy who was imprisoned in

the dungeons by her sister, Lady Eleanor.Eleanor was insanely jealous of her younger

and prettier sister, and is said to have

incarcerated her because of a love

rivalry, after Lord Pomeroy left to go

on a crusade and left Eleanor in

charge. Margaret was imprisoned in

the castle dungeons for nearly two

decades, before Eleanor allowed her a

slow and painful death through

starvation.

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3.3.Featherstone Castle . One well-known ghost story which is attributed to this

fine old Castle concerns Abigail Featherstonehaugh who lived in the late 17th century. 

The story goes that she was in love with a boy from the local Ridley family but that she

was due to marry the son of a neighbouring Baron in a sort of arranged marriage which

was probably at the behest of her father Baron Featherstonehaugh.  Apparently as was the

tradition, the wedding party, all with the exception of Baron Featherstonehaugh who

would oversee the banqueting arrangements, left for a hunt following the wedding. 

Legend has it that as the bridal party was riding through the estate there was an ambush

possibly set by the spurned lover from the Ridley family.  Although the new bridegroom

fought gallantly, all the wedding party were killed in the affray. As midnight passed, the

Baron, sitting alone, heard the sound of horses hooves arriving outside the castle and it is

said that the door opened following which the ghosts of Abigail and the rest of the

wedding party entered making no

sound and passing straight through

solid objects. It is said that the ghostly

wedding party is seen again each year

on the 17th of January on the

anniversary of the tragedy.

3.4.Lowther Castle, in

Westmoreland, was once home to the first Earl of Lonsdale, sir James Lowther. This man

became better known as 'wicked Jimmy', for he was both cruel and miserly. One day,

Lowther's young lover became gravely ill and medics broke the news that she would soon

die. When she finally passed away, the Earl could not bring himself to accept her death,

and kept her rotting body in his castle, treating it as if it still had life within it. After many

weeks, he reluctantly accepted the fact that this lifeless corpse should be cremated. The

Earl was so furious that death had got the

better of him that when he himself died, his

spirit leapt from its coffin and attempted to

strangle the funeral congregation. Wicked

Jimmy's ghost has been seen driving a coach

and horses through the countryside. He has a

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frenzied manner about him as he whips the phantom horses, urging them to gallop faster

and faster.

3.5.Tower of London. There are reports that the headless ghost of Anne Boleyn

meander the eerie corridors of the White Tower. She was one of two wives that were

ordered for execution by husband, Henry VIII; the other being Catherine Howard. Anne

is also spotted in the Chapel of Saint Peter ad Vincula where she watches over her own

grave under the altar. Catherine on the other hand can be heard screaming behind the

door of the room she was kept in before her execution.

4.

Conclusion

In conclusion, after many researches on the internet, and not only, I have

discovered that scientists have difficulty understanding how certain people could possibly

believe that the world could have been created in 7 days. Most of the people I have ever

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talk to about this topic, claim to believe in is the existence of ghosts. According to the

Dictionary a “ghost” is a spirit of a dead person. Ghosts are often depicted as inhabiting

haunted houses, especially houses where murders have occurred. The only explanation as

to why people like to believe in ghosts is because they like to think that there is an after

life, so when they die it isn’t the end, and for this is largely blamed the Church because it

induced the idea of life after death.

5. Bibliography

Coulson, Charles. "The Castles of the Anarchy" in King, Edmund (1994), The

Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign

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Dirk Meyhofer (2009). Set in stone, Rethinking a Timeless Material. Braun .

Fletcher, Banister  (2001). A History of Architecture on the Comparative method.

Elsevier Science & Technology

Harvey, John (1961). English Cathedrals and Castles. Batsford.

Kaufmann, J. E. and Kaufmann, H. W. (2004). The Medieval Fortress: Castles, Forts

and Walled Cities of the Middle Ages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_religion_in_England

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