[ Up ] [ Castles in History ] [ Vital Statistics ] [ Conisbrough History ] [ Then and Now ] [ Old Photographs ] [ Artist's Impressions ] [ Conisbrough Official Guide ]

The first Medieval Castles built in England were made of wood and were known as "Motte and Bailey Castles".  No one is sure exactly how many were built, but experts estimate that as many as 500 were built between the years 1066 to 1086, that's equal to one built every two weeks.

Construction of Motte and Bailey castles continued for quite some time after these dates.  You may be surprised to find that you may have the remains of one near to where you live.  Today, most of these simple castles are nothing more exciting than a large mound of earth.

If your town or village has a street or road with the word "Castle" in its name, then it is likely that that road or street once went to or past a castle.  Have look on a map of your area to see if you can find any evidence for a castle, look for things such as mounds or small hills, other earth-works may also be visible on a map.  See if you can find the oldest part of your town or village and start from there, you may find that there was once a castle near by.

A little over one hundred years after 1066 many of the first wooden castles were in a very poor state of repair.  As you know, wood is not the best material to make buildings from, this is because wood rots away over time.  Some of the wooden castles were re-built from stone just like Conisbrough Castle was, but many others were not.

The presence of so many castles in England would suggest that the people who had them built must have felt a need to protect themselves from something or someone.  To understand more about this you will need to find out about the Norman invasion of England in 1066, also you will need to understand what life was like in England before 1066 and what it was like afterwards.

One other thing that you need to think about when trying to understand castles, are the weapons that were developed to break into them.  This is because the design of each is linked together.  Think about how you would attack a castle made of wood; then think how you would defend a wooden castle from such an attack.

The obvious way to attack a wooden castle is with fire, defending a wooden castle against fire is very difficult.  But a castle made from stone would have been very easy to defend against fire, this is because stone does not burn.  So how would you break into a castle made form stone?

As each weapon was developed, castles were strengthened or re-built to defend against them.  This is called "the Development of the Castle".  You can often tell when a castle was built by looking at its defences; ask- "What weapons was this castle built to withstand?"  Using a timeline will help you with this.

Castles would also have affected the lives of people living near them.  For example, when the Motte and Bailey castles were built, it would have been the people living close by who would have been forced to do the hard work such as ditch digging, tree felling and building.  When the stone castles were built it was the local people who were employed to do the work and to quarry and transport the stone.

At many places in England new towns sprung up around castles, this was because castles provided work for the community, they also protected the community from outlaws and brigands. 

Many of Britain's medieval castles were destroyed during the 1640s, a time known as the English Civil War.  This war was a conflict between those people who supported the King and those who supported Parliament, it turned father against son and brother against brother and included some of the bloodiest battles ever fought on British soil. 

Parliament was victorious for a while and formed the "Commonwealth", during their rule they ordered the destruction of many of Britain's inland castles so that they could not be used against them in any future conflict.  The Commonwealth as the ruling power did not last long, and soon a King returned to rule the United Kingdom, but many of the UK's medieval castles had already suffered destruction or demolition.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the ruins of England's medieval castles became overgrown due to neglect, or were completely demolished to make way for massive Stately Homes like Castle Howard in North Yorkshire.

Many were robbed of useful building materials by their local communities; it is still possible to find pieces of castle stone within the walls of old houses close to ruined castles.

As the castle ruins became more neglected they attracted artists, writers and amateur archaeologists known as "antiquarians".  Many books and printed images called "etchings" were produced, these began to be read and collected by those who could afford them and as a result more people became interested in old castle ruins.

With the invention of the railways in the nineteenth century it became possible for people to easily visit parts of the country that were many miles away from their homes.  People began to seek out many of the ruined castles that they had previously only read about in books.  It did not take long for some of the more enterprising owners of ruined castles to begin charging these new visitors an admission fee to take a look around.

Today, castles still affect the lives of those who live near them; people are employed to take care of them, to show people around them, to entertain at them and to deal with the many thousands of people per year who visit castles like Conisbrough. 

This is called tourism, local communities can take advantage of tourism to promote their businesses or to provide services for those who visit castles. 

If you live near a castle why not think about how it affects your life and the lives of those who live in your community.