Below I have tried to get a fairly comprehensive list of the web sites which give reasonable information on the medieval fortifications of England and Wales. As with so much on the World Wide Web there is a vast variation in quality. Many 'castle' sites are appallingly poor, some are limited but useful content, a few have broad and good content, a handful have in-depth quality written and illustrated content. One of the purposes of this list is save the reader the trial of viewing the poor sites and to give critical information of the worth of the sites I do list.

Anyone who wishes to let me know about a web site that they considered worth adding to this list is welcome to contact me.

General Sites

General Introductions to Castles

• The Development of the English Castle - The Britannia online site. Much as on would expect from Britannia; good, solid, concise, unspectacular.
• Castles: Some History, Pictures and Plans - Short essay, very dated but some good illustrations and plan.
• Looking at Buildings - An educational resource created by the Pevsner Architectural Guides.
• Historical Essays & Perspectives - Page linking to the couple of dozen good essays on Jeff Thomas's Castles of Wales site. These are few of of them;
  • Motte and Bailey Castles - by noted castellologist John Kenyon
  • What Are Castles - by Paul Remfry, a somewhat maverik but skilled historian.
  • What Is A Castle - A compilation of definitions by Jerome Morris
• Timeref.org - A military minded introduction to castles but with good illustrations, including 3D models.
• Time Team's introductory essay is short and of little real value.
• My own thoughts on defining of 'the castle', based on symbolist thinking, can be read here.

Discussion Forums

• Yahoo! Groups : medieval_castles - initially had some posting and discussions some of which were moderately interesting however laissez faire moderation allow the site to deteriorate and now basically defunct.
• Castle Quest - Divided into several forums, the most important of which is the 'Book Nook' where the previous topics is an excellent resource as a bibliography. Otherwise mainly used by school students and genealogists.
• Castle Duncan - Setup an amateur american. "Duncan' is anoymous but was a moderator on Castle Quest. He managed to get me to stop contributing to Castle Quest after he bullyed a child and abused me. I don't know the reason he stopped contributing to Castle Quest but I expect he managed to annoy other contributors. The other main contributor to his site is Scotsman Gordon Mason, also an amateur although he has had a tourist guide published, who similarly used to contribute to Castle Quest but abused other contributors including me. The forums may provide useful, if outdated, material (I see a number of extracts, including plans, taken from Mike Salter's books although I doubt Mike has given permission for this.) but the site should be used with considerable care¹.

Attack and Defence

• NOVA Online | Trebuchet - Site about a TV programme where wood framers build a trebuchet siege engine. Has a transcript of an interview with noted military historian Richard Holmes discussing castles.
• Siegecraft and Defence - An illustrated essay by Jeffrey Thomas
• Medieval Non-gunpowder Artillery; Siege/War Machines - Photographs of a range of reconstructed siege weapons with good information.
• Siege Warfare-The Art of Offence and Defence a dry essay, with a full bibliography.

Castle Life

• Life in a Medieval Castle - Extracts from the book by Joseph and Frances Gies

Organisations

• The Castle Studies Group - A group set up in 1987 to promote the study of castles. Open to all but well represented by the best academics in the British Isles. For those serious in their interest of the castles of the British Isles this is a must join organisation, not only for the excellent bibliography that John Kenyon produces for the group each year but also for the chance to meet like minded people.
• English Heritage - The statutory body with responsibility for the preservation of England's built heritage. A complex site, with a considerable amount of information, which requires some effort to navigate, although this is usually well rewarded.
• CADW - Virtually the equivalent to English Heritage in Wales. Lacks some of the content of the English Heritage site. Many archaeological reports are published online by English Heritage but not by CADW².
• RCAHM Wales - The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales has the job of listing and monitoring the historic and ancient monuments and sites of Wales.
• The Manx Museum - Not just a museum this is the web site of the Manx National Heritage Agency
• The National Trust - The National Trust is a charity set up a 100 years ago to save some of the buildings and countryside of England and Wales. Their web site has gloss and some information but little real depth.
• Historic Houses Association - An association of historic houses, castles and gardens that remain in private ownership
  
• Official Landmark Trust Web site - A worthy charity who restore old building for use as holiday homes. The have a least three castles on their books and a room in the ancient town wall of Caernarfon. (Unfortunately the web site doesn't give any information on these sites.)
• CBA guide to UK archaeology online - Council for British Archaeology website of links to UK archaeology sites.
• Heritage Gateway gives a list of address's of County Councils, District Councils or Unitary Authorities which hold Historic Environment Records (sometimes still called Sites and Monuments Records) and Urban Archaeological Databases.

Monument Databases

• PastScape - The National Monument Record for England on line. Gives brief information on all the sites in England's National Monuments Record. The navigation of the site is limited, there have been some transcribing errors and the limited information available may miss significant points. However, an invaluable asset, which is being improved.
• Images of England - Although the title of the site suggests this is a picture database in fact this is the database of the listed buildings of England. The buildings are described, occasionally in considerable detail, and many, though not all, have photographs. Registration is required to access the site fully.
• Coflein - The National Monument Record for Wales on line. Similar to PastScape.
• CARN - A fairly simple listing of the various databases for Wales (The Ancient Monuments, the NMR and the SMRs).
• Archaeology Data Service ArchSearch has a database of a number of SMRs and HERs and the NMR Excavation Index. However, the search facillity is very limited.
• Heritage Gateway - "English Heritage is working in collaboration with ALGAO and IHBC in a five year project to build a Heritage Gateway to England's local and national historic environment records. A key objective is to develop the flexibility to provide integrated access to local and national heritage information resources as part of the programme of reforms proposed by Government 'Heritage Protection for the 21st Century'." Planned to be the ultimate database for archaeology in England but in early stages and just a few county HER's available in a search engine which is still very flawed (I've been forced to quit my browser to get out it!)
  • Unlocking Buckinghamshire's Past - The online Sites and Monuments record for Buckinghamshire. The functioning of this site is very poor on my browser making searching for records virtually impossible.
  • Revealing Cheshire's Past - The online Sites and Monuments record for the county of Cheshire (The city of Chester is not, at the moment -Jan 2007, included.)
  • Keys to the Past - The online Sites and Monuments record for County Durham and Northumberland. Considering that Northumberland must have one of the largest SMR in the country this is a particularly fine site.
  • SEAX Archaeology - Unlocking Essex's Past - The online Sites and Monuments record for Essex.
  • Hampshire Treasures Online - The online Hampshire Treasures record. (Those natural or man made features of the county which are of public interest by reason of their aesthetic, archaeological, historic, scenic, scientific, sociological or traditional interest, and whose deterioration or destruction would represent a serious loss to our heritage.)
  • Hampshire AHBR - The online Archaeological and Historic Building Record. (Personally I find the Hampshire Treasures site to be more useful but this appears to be the 'proper' equivalent to the SMR for Hampshire.
  • Historic Herefordshire On-Line - The online Sites and Monuments Record database for Herefordshire. Not the most 'pretty' of the searchable sites but useful.
  • Norfolk Heritage Explorer - This is the online version of the Norfolk Historic Environment Record (NHER) - a database of archaeological sites, finds and buildings in Norfolk. Good solid site, sensible search option, reasonably detailed results.
  • Somerset Historic Environment Record - The online Sites and Monuments Record database for the modern authority of Somerset (which excludes the north of historic Somerset). A good, solid, searchable database although long scrolling monument type menus are irksome.
  • Discovering Shropshire's History - The Shropshire HER is on this site but the current search system means that accessing records is something of a trial. A better search engine is supposed to be forthcoming.
  • SiteLines - The online Historic Environment Record for Tyne and Wear. Searchable but gives basic site information only.
  • Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record - The online Sites and Monuments record for Warwickshire. Good, solid searchable database.

Medieval Resources

• British History Online - British History Online is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, it aims to support academic and personal users around the world in their learning, teaching and research. With so much material now being published on the world wide web in either un-reviewed form, or in fee-based services, the IHR has shown its commitment to promoting the study of history by publishing these priceless resources for their historical value, cross-searchable, in one place and free of charge. Now has a good amount of the various Victoria County Histories available and they will eventually publish the charter and patent rolls (although some of this content may be restricted).
• Glossary for Medieval Art and Architecture - Excellent illustrated glossary.
• ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies - A site of links to medieval sites but also hosts some important resources such as;
  • ORB - Medieval English urban history
• Medieval Technology Pages - A few essays on some aspects of medieval technology.
• NetSERF: The Internet Connection for Medieval Resources - A site of links to medieval sites.
• Medieval Sourcebook: Introduction - A site of links to medieval sites.
• Links to Domesday Online A carefully selected collection of Domesday Book links
• The Bayeux Tapestry - The official web site of the Museum of Reading's replica Bayeux tapestry. Includes photographs of the tapestry and its history. Go to scene 3 under the Beachhead section and see the depiction of a motte-and-bailey castle.
• The Online Medieval and Classic Library has a copy of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Map Resources

• Ordnance Survey Maps - The Get-a-map section allows online access to the current 1:25000 series.
• Old Maps - Online access to the 1:10560 scale first edition OS maps (at low resolution though), great for looking at sites developed since 1900. Now has direct link to an aerial photo of an area.
• Multimap - The best feature of this site is the aerial photographs. Great for 'cleaned up' castles, less good for vague ringworks in woodland, since the aerial photos tend to be taken in the summer with the trees in full leaf.
• Google Maps - Supposed to be satellite photos but at high resolution are actually aerial photos, the resolution of which can be better than Multimap. However, coverage, at the highest resolution, is far from total - Wales in particular not being covered. For areas that are covered this is a wonderful resource but its mapping is based on longitude/latitude and not the OS grid and finding the right photo requires use of another mapping site to get general location and then much panning and zooming.
• The Unveiling of Britain From the British Library this selection of maps and views traces the growing awareness of the form of British Isles and their place in the wider world during the years between 800 and 1600. Includes a 1539 map of the South west coast of England from Exeter to Land's End.
• see also my selection of distribution maps on this web site.

Picture Resources

• ViewFinder - An online image resource for England's history.
• Images of England - Although the title of the site suggests this is a picture database in fact this is the database of the listed buildings of England. However, it does have a considerable number of copyrighted pictures.
• English Heritage Image Shop - High quality prints from English Heritage for sale.
• Castles on the Web Photo Archive - nearly 5000 pictures of castles.
• Liam's Pictures from Old Books - A nice collection of high resolution public domain pictures with an old feel including over a hundred castle pictures.
• Lego Castle - A web site of pictures of models of various real castles built from lego.

Links Sites

• Castles on the Web - Has numerous links although these are not always updated. Hosts Castle Quest and has a Photo Archive
• Medieval Castles Webring

Castles Collections - collections of pages for fortifications in particular areas

General British

• CastleXplorer - explore the castles of Britain - Nice site, clear layout, easy navigation, good introductory essay of castles. Good content at the moment and still growing.
• CastleUK.net - Calling itself 'The castle UK location web" this site is, in fact, very good for giving locations and includes many minor sites. Coverage of each site is fairly minimal with a short history and a photo (though many site link to two or three more photos). Importantly this site is an ongoing concern and is regularly being extended.
• ecastles - Is the third site providing a growing gazetteer of castles, with photos (The few castle photos I take tend to end up on this site.). Like myself this site limits itself to England and Wales. A nice feature is some pages on the castle paintings of J.M.W. Turner
• Paul Martin Remfry Castle Essays - a few dozen essays on various castles in England and Wales, well researched and informative.
• The National Trust - Castles - a partial list of the castles in the care of the National Trust. Actually they care for rather more castle sites than this but they don't consider them worth mentioning (The foundations of the Norman keep of Duffield are in the care of the NT, but not a single mention anywhere of this important site.).

England

• Castles Abbeys and Medieval Buildings - Michael Cook's site covers just a few castles but covers them in considerably more depth, and with many more photographs, than anyone else on the web.
• John Burke's English Castles - Covers just half a dozen northern castles but does them in detail with many photo's.
• Berkshire History: Castles & Country Houses - Pretty comprehensive coverage of Berkshires castles by David Nash Ford.
• The Buildings of Cumbria - Good range of Cumbria's major castles cover in fair detail and a fair number of pele towers otherwise not covered, some particularly nice aerial photos.
• Medieval Earthworks of South Lincolnshire - A collection of detailed and scholarly essays by noted historian David Roffe.
• Castle of Herefordshire - Part of Historic Herefordshire On Line which includes the Herefordshire Online Sites and Monuments Record.
• Castles in Norfolk - A page on the Norfolk Heritage Explorer site with a good introductory essay and links to the Norfolk HER records for most Norfolk castles.
• Castles by noted castellologist Sarah Speight (Time Team use her as an expert), part of Nottingham Heritage Gateway, is an excellent essay on Nottinghamshire castles.
• The Castles of Northumberland, UK, England - Brief descriptions and visitor information on Northumberland's major castles.
• Castles in Shropshire - A page on the Discovering Shropshire's History site with links to a pages describing a few of Shropshires major castle. An short essay on Castles in England is very dated.
• Castles of the Yorkshire Dales - Small site covering eight fortifications in the Yorkshire Dales rather briefly.
• Castle Blog - There is some really good stuff on Matthew Emmott's site, which mainly covers Cumbria, although the blog format makes navigation difficult.

Wales

• The Castles of Wales - Jeff Thomas's Site is undoubtedly the best castle site on the web. Lots of good essays, many, many sites covered some in good depth (including some English castles in the Marches). Check it out.
• Great Medieval Castles of Wales - Covers a few of the major welsh castles in good detail.
  

Links to Individual Castles and Fortifications can be found on the individual web page.

Bad Sites

There are a great number of poor quality sites on castle on the web, most are fairly obvious, don't make misleading claims to scholarship and don't charge. They form a nuisance in making productive web surfing more difficult.

• Castles of Britain - In my opinion this site, which charges members a fee to use the information on it, is exploitative. The information available on the site is actually freely available elsewhere (in this site for instance and in the sites above). There might be something to be said for a site that did the searching for you for a fee if one got a reliable product. However, Melvin Hull has made it clear to me that he is unwilling to correct obvious errors on his site (Such as suggesting that "nearly all villages had a motte and bailey castle to protect them" an astonishing claim totally unsupported by evidence and quite untrue [most villages did not have castles; many timber castles are not motte and baileys; at least some contemporary people thought castles were a burden, not a protection].). Lise Hull has had some books published but these contained numerous errors of fact and expressed opinion also quite unsupported by evidence (see my essay on licences to crenellate). As I understand it both Lise and Melvin are american ex-soliders and, I believe, their understanding of castles has more to do with their own psychological and political needs than to do with an understanding of medieval life. I can only conclude that the product provided by this site is unreliable and, therefore, the site is exploitative. (By the way, if you do see errors in my site, of which I'm sure there are some, please do let me know.)
 

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¹ If you a doing a simple enquiry for a simple report and just want basic information and are not concerned if it is outdated the site will be OK. However, if you are critical of the information given you may receive abuse. For more sophisticated and up to date information this is not a reliable source and you should refer to the texts referenced by me. If you see castles as defensive military buildings the discussions will tend to confirm this view. If you want to understand castles as complex multifunctional institutions, of which a military function was only a small occasional part, you are unlikely to find any useful comment.

² CADW don't quite have as many legal responsibilities as English Heritage. CADW manage to annoy me on several levels, They provide much less online information; English Heritage hosts the Images of England site of listed buildings but CADW don't even bother to provide a simple text version of the list. English Heritage provide a number of archaeology report free as pdf's; CADW charge for everything. Why CADW continue to fail to provide a link to Jeff Thomas's award winning Castles of Wales site is beyond me. His very popular and much used site has for years given information on how to join CADW yet CADW don't appear to feel this support worth acknowledging. Personally I feel CADW is needlessly elitist - their total ban on dogs at any, and all, of their sites is quite unnecessary - English Heritage only ban dogs at a few specific sites - and shows a deep disregard for the public they serve.

This page last editied and links checked on 14 January 2008.