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.

The vast majority of the "classic" stone castles in England were built by the Normans, following the invasion led by William the Conqueror in 1066. The Normans used castles as a primary tool of social and military control to pacify the Anglo-Saxon population and secure their newly won territory. Initially, they built hundreds of "motte-and-bailey" castles—simple wooden towers on earth mounds—which were later replaced by the massive stone keeps we see today, such as the Tower of London and Windsor Castle. In the 13th century, King Edward I (known as the "Hammer of the Scots") commissioned the "Iron Ring" of massive, technologically advanced castles like Conwy and Caernarfon to consolidate his conquest of Wales. While some earlier fortifications were built by the Romans and Saxons, the era of the "Great Stone Castle" was definitively a Norman and Plantagenet project. These structures were not just forts; they were symbols of wealth and administrative centers where loyal lords could govern their lands, making the Norman architectural legacy the most prominent feature of the English countryside for nearly a millennium.