Before there were stone castles, there were castles made of timber. Yes, wooden castles! In the course of doing research for my new medieval romance, The Red Wolf’s Prize, I learned much about 11th century castles. For the most part, the castles erected in England by William the Conqueror were not the stone edifices we think of today, the monuments that remain. The castles the Normans first constructed, the ones built in mere days, weeks or months, were timbered structures erected upon a “motte,” or a mound of earth with a flat top, and surrounded by a deep ditch sometimes filled with water (a moat). The castle included a central tower, the donjon or “keep,” used as a lookout post and built on top of a summit. See more HERE.
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