Castles Podcast
If you travel around England, Scotland and Ireland, castles are the most visible reminder
that people lived in a different way in the Middle Ages. Castles are everywhere – some
crumbling, some well-preserved, some only a few blocks of stone on top of each other.
Why were they so widespread? Well, we know that William the Conqueror became King
of England in 1066, and needed to control his massive lands quickly and effectively. One
of these ways was the feudal system. The lords and nobles needed a way to protect
themselves and their people in times of trouble and war, and so castles were developed.
The first castles were “motte and bailey”, simple buildings made from wood. They could
be quickly built, and quickly burnt. Once the nobles became more secure, they built basic
stone castles, which took years and years to build but which could repel attackers more
easily. Then they got fancy, building concentric castles, with 2 or more walls to
discourage even the most enthusiastic armies.
One important decision to make when building a castle was where to put it. If you
remember that castles were built mainly for protection, then it makes sense that castles
were often constructed on hills, cliffs or on islands or parts of land that jutted out into a
lake. In addition, castles needed to be near water, near land that the peasants could farm,
near towns do the noble could tax them.
So what was in a castle? The main part of the castle, which often looks like a tower in
pictures, is called the ‘keep’. Keeps usually had a few levels. In those days, all heating was
done through fires, and given that England is extremely cold, you can imagine where the
lord and his family slept – up on the top level, where the heat rose to. Down the bottom
were the dungeons, where the extra cold made your punishment just that extra bit worse.
There was also a chapel, or church, the guardrooms and a ‘great hall’, where the noble
did all his work, and where he entertained visitors.
How did people in castles go to the toilet? They had no system like ours, where water
gets piped in and a pump flushes our waste away. Some castles had indoor toilets which
were called “garderobes”. Other names for the garderobe were privy, jakes, draught, and
gong. They were usually found on the edge of the castle. Why? So that your waste could
make its way down to pits at the outside of the castle, where some lucky peasant could
dig it out. He was called the “gong farmer”. If the castle was on a lake, the waste went
straight into the water. Some garderobes consisted of a bench with 5-6 holes in it – so
you could share the experience with a few others. As someone in our class has already
told us, the garderobe was used to store clothes as the smell kept moths away – the word
garderobe is the word we get “wardrobe” from – somewhere we store our clothes.
Defending castles was a prime concern, because there were so many wars in the Middle
Ages. There were wars against other countries, wars within England, wars about religious
disagreements, and violent conflicts between rival nobles or knights. The main way that
castles were attacked was through a siege, which was a long battle involving one side
trying to outlast the other.
Here are a few ways that castles defended themselves. My favourite is the “murder
holes”, or machicolations. These were holes in the walkway along the top of the castle
wall, through which all kinds of missiles were thrown: stones, hot sand, molten lead,
boiling water, boiling tar, animal dung and dead bodies. Another defence was a loophole
– these were slits in the turrets which allowed archers to shoot while not exposing
themselves. Then there was the good old moat or ditch, often filled with dirty water or
stakes.