Although many of William's castles started life as simple wooden motte-and-bailey fortifications, they were soon converted into enormous stone keep castles, featuring the latest Romanesque architecture.
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After their victory at the Battle of Hastings, the Normans settled in England. They constructed castles all over the country in order to control their newly-won territory, and to pacify the Anglo-Saxon population. These early castles were mainly of motte and bailey type.
Norman castles were designed for a different purpose, they were not defensive structures like the burhs close burhAn Anglo-Saxon fortified town., they were designed to intimidate the conquered Anglo-Saxons and remind them of Norman power.
Guillaume le Conquerant – otherwise known in England as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard reigned England from 1066 until 1087. William the Conqueror's Norman Castles numbered over 700 were built during that time and they were spread all over England and Wales.
William the Conqueror chose the site for Windsor Castle, high above the River Thames and on the edge of a Saxon hunting ground. He began building at Windsor around 1070, and 16 years later the Castle was complete.
William the Conqueror built the White Tower in 1066 as a demonstration of Norman power, siting it strategically on the River Thames to act as both fortress and gateway to the capital. It is the most complete example of an 11th century fortress palace remaining in Europe.
The miners would dig their tunnel, using wooden beams to support the roof. There were many different types of siege engine (machines for attacking castle walls). The catapult used a series of tightened ropes to cause a throwing arm to hurl a rock, stone or other projectile at a castle wall.
The first castlesEven before the battle, William the Conqueror built a castle at Hastings, near his landing place. Over the next 150 years, the Normans covered the country with them, and built around 1,000 in England and Wales. Castles were something quite new in England.