Castles in Context: Power, Symbolism and Landscape, 1066 to 1500

This book will make the reader see afresh the great stone keeps that still dominate the English and Welsh countryside - often more than seven hundred years after they were built. Castles used to be seen as essentially military structures. Over the last ten years researchers have begun to paint a more complex picture, emphasising the castle’s symbolic projection of power, its position in the wider landscape and even its aesthetic role. This wide-ranging book makes this reevaluation available to a new generation of castle enthusiasts. The book focuses on the rich heritage of castle archaeology in England and Wales, most of which is now in the care of English Heritage and Cadw. Castles discussed in detail include Bodiam, Stokesay, Framlingham, Caernarfon, Beaumaris, Conwy, Leeds (Kent),Beeston, Ruthin, Castle Acre and Dover. The book offers new insights into familiar themes such as the Norman Conquest and siege warfare, and also explores trhe less emphasised aesthetic side of castle life: castles’ gardens, their depiction in literature, and the symbolic values that found expression in castle architecture. The book includes stunning images of castles in their landscape context by Mick Sharp and Jean Williamson.