Castle Quest - Reply to Topic

Forum:	Castles In General & Medieval History
Topic:	Castles of Nottinghamshire

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T O P I C R E V I E W
ElCid Dear all
I attended a one day conference yesterday called Medieval Castles of Nottinghamshire and thought I would post a report and let you know what they are doing in that county of England.
There is a realy strong interest in medieval castles in Nottinghamshire and the conference was aimed at explaining the work they are doing and trying to engage the people of the area in getting involved. I am not aware of any other area of the UK where such a concerted effort to understand the castles of a region is underway and they are setting an example to all of what can be done.
There is a mix of University academics, the County Council archaeological unit, a couple of lottery funded research projects - the Sherwood Initiative and the East Midlands Earthwork Project - and many local history societies, all working together. Collectively they aim to increase knowledge and raise public awareness of all medieval castles in Nottinghamshire - believed to number 17. Initially by documentary searches, ground surveys and geophysical surveys, a number of sites will be excavated at a later stage.
Only two of the 17 sites have substantial masonry remains - Nottingham and Newark castles. The remainder are mainly earthwork structures little studied until now.
The conference explained what work has been conducted to date, including the results of geophysical surveys on three earthwork castles, as well as giving an overview of the present knowledge.
All of these castle enthusiasts are aiming to raise the status of Nottinghamshire's medieval castles away from the traditional view they there is little of interest in this midland county of England. Although there are few 'showy' remains to be seen in the area, the study and interest in what was the more normal everyday medieval castle is to be welcomed. So often in the past historians and archaeologists have concentrated their research on major sites with substantial remains and mainly on the military aspects of castles. These new generations of researchers are taking a wider view and examining the castles role in society, effects on landscape and local communites. This is a much more appropriate approach and can give the majority, less glamourous castles an interest and relavence not previously pursued. After all the vast majority of castles never saw military action at all in the middle ages and of those that did, it usually lasted a matter of weeks in what was a history of the building lasting many hundreds of years.
I am from further north in England (from Yorkshire) so will not be involved in this work but the organisers are inviting anyone who is local to become involved in survey work if they can. They are publishing contact details in the next edition of the Nottinghamshire County Council Archaeology Newsheet - available on the council web site soon.
Is anyone aware of similar concentrated castles studies elsewhere in UK or Europe?
Peter
AJR Thank you for that information. We appreciate your taking the time to keep us up-to-date.
Andrew