Website Summary
This site contains information on over 800 English and Welsh castles,
fortified manor houses, Bishop's palaces and Pele towers constructed
over the last twenty centuries. These range from the most impressive
and powerful of structures like
Dover Castle
to worn earthworks that are all that are now left of sites such as
Elmley Castle. There is also information on 250
of the mainly 18th and 19th century coastal forts and gun batteries
that can still be seen, mainly around the south coast of England.
History
The first stone fortifications were constructed by the Romans in the
1st Century, and they were so well built as at
Portchester that many are still standing.
The next wave of castle building started in all the major towns and
cities after the Norman invasion and between 1066 and 1200 well over
two and a half thousand castles were erected. Most were simple earth
and timber structures and have now either vanished or exist only as a
motte, a grassy mound, or earthworks........
more
Using the Site
Use the Maps menu to select one of the 12 regions of England &
Wales and then either click on the castle icons, or use the dropdown
lists on each of the map pages. To find a specific castle or
fortification use either the Search menu for A - Z listings or use the
Site Map to search by county.
Photographs
775 of the sites have been photographed so far with your help. If you
have any photos of the castles or forts not yet photographed - click
here for some of the sites - then
please
email
me
Books on Castles
Mike Salter has lovingly produced a set of 34 paperbacks
which cover in great detail ALL the castles and other sites in the UK
county by county. For more info visit
Folly Publications
......... and take a book with you as you travel around!
