How did castles change over time?

The first castles were built in 1066 when the Normans took over England. They were called ‘Motte and Baliey’ castles and they were built to make a clear statement that the Normans were there to stay. Motte and bailey castles were easy and quick to build and mere made of wood, however in 1087, the Normans decided that the Motte and Baliey castle needed an improvement as they were easily burnt and rotted quickly. The next castle design was called the ‘Square Keep’ castle, which was made from around 1087-1154. They were made of stone, were made tall so enemies were easily spotted, were strong, lasted long, made surprise attacks difficult and were very large. Although these castles were very great compared to the previous castles, enemies would often surround the outside, waiting for up to months and months for the insiders to either come out and fight so they could get past and get more food or simply die from starvation and/or dehydration.

In 1154-1216, many ‘Shell Keep’ castles were built. These castles were made of stone, very strong and had round walls which made it easier to organise a defence. Although some disadvantages were they took a long time to build, had weak gateways which were easy to attack and because it was made from heavy stone, it would collapse easily if were on a motte. Finally (in 1216-1277) ‘Concentric’ castles were built. They were the largest, strongest and most expensive castles of all four listed above. They were easy to defend with although on top of all the positives there were negatives including them being extremely time consuming (when building) and had very thick/hard walls.