The Grass Roots of English History: Local Societies in England Before the Industrial Revolution by David Hey

Author:David Hey [Hey, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: history, Europe, Great Britain, General, social history
ISBN: 9781474262521
Google: CQP7CwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-05-05T23:52:23.216758+00:00

The internal arrangements suggest that the White Tower was effectively a giant ceremonial building containing a series of reception rooms. Rather than being intended to frustrate an intruder, the entry to the building appears concerned with creating a grand approach…. The whole ensemble is reminiscent of entrances to Classical buildings.7

Although some castles were besieged during the various civil wars during the anarchy of Stephen’s reign (1135–54), and northern castles such as Norham and Durham were regarded as ‘bulwarks against the assaults’ of the Scots in later centuries,8 the majority of castle owners (especially those in lowland England) spent most of their time without fear of attack. Castles were built to dominate an area and to provide accommodation on a suitably grand scale for the monarch or a baron, rather than to act merely as a place of refuge. Their surrounding parks, warrens and fishponds speak of a relaxed lifestyle in an ornamental landscape setting.

Markets were usually established alongside the castles to supply food and goods to the people who lived and worked there, but the fortunes of these ventures were varied. In Yorkshire, for instance, the broad High Street that descends the hill below Skipton Castle was used for markets and fairs, and it remains the busiest part of the town to this day. But at Skipsea in the East Riding, the castle that was once the military and administrative centre of the Norman Honour of Holderness lies in ruins, and the borough is deserted.

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