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 The earliest castles were made by England's first knights, the Normans, in motte
and bailey style.
This simple method used earth and wood to build the castle
quickly in a few weeks.
Generally, mottes were
crowned with a wooden tower which was basically a look-out and an elevated
fighting point. Often times, the tower provided accommodation for the lord
of the castle. Later, some of these wooden towers were replaced by stone
keeps.
 During the 12th century many castles were improved and strengthened using stone
instead of wood.
Compared to the motte and bailey castles, stone castles were larger taller and
more reliable for defence. Moreover, the timber and wood used in the
earlier castles were found unsafe in a fire.
With a strong foundation, stone keep castles could be built
high. This gave them the great advantage of visibility allowing the
defenders to see if an enemy was coming when they were still a distance away
? thus allowing the castle to get its defences ready. Rochester Castle has
views across the Medway estuary, so any attack by river would have been easy
to spot.
Castles were great defences against the enemy. However, when gunpowder was
invented the castles stopped being an effective form of defence. The use of gunpowder made both castles and city walls much more vulnerable
because a cannon could knock down the stone walls.
Technology
Lighting
Agricultural
Construction
Timber-Framed Houses
Peasant Houses
Cannon Candles Torches Rush lights Oil Lamps
White Lead Golf Ball
Charcoal
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