Castle Quest - Reply to Topic

Forum:	Medieval Life And Culture
Topic:	castles!

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T O P I C R E V I E W
hiro Why were castles built near bodies of water, on the beds of rivers or on cliffs?
Merlin There are three reasons I can think of right now:
1) One of the most important problems for all castles was the water-supply. If fresh water was available nearby, the castle-owner tried to get access to that source. Especially in case of a siege, secure access to fresh water was most important!
2) Water could be used as protection. Attacking a high wall over a water-stream is much more complicated, because you can't use any siege-towers, ladders, etc.
3) Rivers were the most important way for traffic in the middle ages, because most roads were of very bad quality and insecure. To protect and control the water-ways and gathering taxes from the ships, lots of castles were buildt along rivers, but also at sea-shores.
Merlin
Levan It's not just castles that were built alongside rivers and water-courses - most towns are constructed in these places too.
Water is vital for living. You have to remember that there were not usually public water supplies to bring water to towns, or castles, from other areas. It was only when places became settled and prosperous that public water supplies were installed (usually paid by subscription).
From a defensive perspective, I agree with what Merlin has pointed out.
One other reason that castles were built alongside water-courses is that they were often constructed on the site of previous stongholds and fortifications (which presumably built in such places for the same reason as castles).
As an example, many Roman forts in Scotland were built at river confluences, which provided double protection. If these sites provided a vantage point, so much the better. Alongside rivers such as the Clyde, there are a number of sites where Roman forts were built alongside river confluences and also provided vantage points to Lochs and inlets on the otherside of the river. Once the original builders of these sites were defeated, it was common to build your new castle on the same site - for one thing, you don't want your old enemy living next door (you've got to show who's the new boss) and it makes perfect sense to reuse as many of the materials as possible - saves a fortune in quarrying effort.
The other thing about a river confluence is that it is very much like a road junction, an ideal place to put shops and trading posts. Build a castle in these sorts of places made it easy to collect taxes on any trade taking place (castles were often an important part of a nations government,legal and taxation systems). There are lots of castles in England that are at river confluences AND road junctions so it's no small wonder that these are often surrounded by towns that serve and enjoy the protection of such castles.

Levan