Castles in Great Britain the Changing Role of the Castle
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Castles in Great Britain The changing role of the castle Frank Scholten NHL University of Applied Sciences Master Project Yvonne ter Brugge June 2016 1 Contents Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 1 – Castle, a definition ........................................................................................... 4 1.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Dictionary definitions ....................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Broader definitions ............................................................................................................ 4 1.4 The purpose of the castle .................................................................................................. 6 1.5 Castle building through the centuries ............................................................................... 6 1.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 7 Chapter 2 – Castles that have survived ............................................................................... 7 2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Castles in England ............................................................................................................. 8 2.3 Castles in Wales ................................................................................................................ 9 2.4 Castles in Scotland .......................................................................................................... 10 2.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 3 – The castle in medieval times .......................................................................... 12 3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 12 3.2 A license to crenellate ..................................................................................................... 12 3.3 Defence and protection ................................................................................................... 12 3.4 Government and administration ...................................................................................... 13 3.5 The castle as a residence ................................................................................................. 13 3.6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 4 – The castle today ............................................................................................ 15 4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 15 4.2 Decline and changing image of the castle ....................................................................... 15 4.3 Ownership and management ........................................................................................... 16 4.4 Activities on castle grounds ............................................................................................ 16 4.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 17 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 18 References ....................................................................................................................... 19 Appendix .......................................................................................................................... 21 List of surviving castles in England ...................................................................................... 22 List of surviving castles in Wales ......................................................................................... 27 List of surviving castles in Scotland ..................................................................................... 29 2 Introduction Castles have always interested me. As a young boy I watched cartoons and TV series which involved or were centred around castles, like Alladin, Dag Sinterklaas, Princess Sissi, De vloek van Woestewolf, the Belgian series Kulderzipken and probably many more. I was fascinated by castles, fantasised about being a king and I often drew or invented my own castle. I remember getting a book with pictures of German castles from my grandfather. I was delighted and intrigued. Unfortunately, I lost the book and I still regret losing it. The love for castles never really faded. At the time of writing this introduction I am watching the British series Merlin, which is set in and around the castle of Camelot and I still secretly dream of living in a castle one day. I drew the image on the front page specifically for this paper and it is inspired on St Michael’s Mount, as it was the first castle I came across while doing the research. In 2009 I went to Halmstad, Sweden, for my educational stay. The original idea of the educational stay was for students to go abroad and live in a country with English as its mother tongue. Due to an organisational error of the NHL a small group of classmates and I were not able to go to Leeds or any other city in an English speaking country. We could then choose between a place in Finland or Sweden and we chose Sweden. In Halmstad I started working on my master project, as this final project was called back then. It was focused on the Swedish school system. It was difficult to find good sources and eventually I lost my motivation. When I was offered the chance of making a fresh start with the master project I knew I wanted to research the history of British castles and their current use. Times have changed tremendously, it is the very nature of life. Most aspects of life change, methods improve, cultures evolve and buildings fall apart and get replaced within decades or within a century. Some things, however, seem to survive the centuries. Castles are an eXample of something that can survive centuries. Although the buildings managed to remain, life in castles must have changed greatly. In this report I want to research how life in British castles has changed over the centuries. This will be a factual report, comparing life in British castles around the Middle Ages and present-day life. This leads me to the main question of this paper: How has life in British castles changed from the Middle Ages to now? In order to answer this question I have to delve into these subquestions first: 1. When do we speak of a castle? 2. Which, and how many, castles have survived the centuries in Great Britain? 3. Which functions did castles in Great Britain have in the Middle ages? 4. Which functions do castles in Great Britain have nowadays? 3 Chapter 1 – Castle, a definition 1.1 Introduction The first thing that comes to mind at the very start of this research is the definition of the word castle. What is a castle? It is the first aspect that needs to be looked into. The definition of “castle” influences the answers to all questions in this research. At first glance this might seem to be an easy subject. However, it is more difficult than it would appear. This chapter eXplores narrow and broader definitions of the word. The interpretation chosen in the conclusion of this chapter will provide a set of characteristics that can be used to draw up the list of medieval castles needed in chapter two. This list will in turn provide the basis for the sub-questions in chapters three and four and it lays the foundation for answering the main question: how has life in British castles changed from the Middle Ages to now? 1.2 Dictionary definitions The online Merriam Webster dictionary is a respected online dictionary. The American company was founded in 1831 and is known for its diverse range of language works. The full definition of “castle” by the Merriam Webster dictionary (Castle, n.d.): 1 a : a large fortified building or set of buildings b : a massive or imposing house 2 : a retreat safe against intrusion or invasion The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English is a dictionary for advanced learners of English and it is used by the entire English language department of the NHL University of Applied Sciences. This dictionary defines the word as follows (Summers, D. (Ed.), 2003): a very large strong building, built in the past as a safe place that could be easily defended against attack. In addition to the online Merriam Webster dictionary and the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, the Dutch dictionaries Kramers Handwoordenboek Nederlands (Coenders, H. (Ed.), 1998), Van Dale Online Woordenboek (Van Dale Online Woordenboek, n.d.) and Koenen Woordenboek Nederlands (De Boer, W. Th. (Ed.), 1999) were consulted. Most dictionaries define a castle as a fortified building or just as a large and beautiful house. These are mostly very short descriptions and as a result they are usually vague. A castle is not just a large and strong house, or is it? 1.3 Broader definitions The Encyclopaedia Britannica 1961