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T O P I C R E V I E W
sedge I am 15 years old and am doing a project for GCSE, the title is: Is Launceston castle a good example of development and fortification
Please could you help me by giving me information on how other square/shell keep castles across the country were developed and frotified? please could you reply as soon as possible - thankyou
Philip Davis I'm a little unclear as to what you mean. Launceston is a fine example of a eleventh century motte and bailey castle, developed in the twelfth century by the fairly cheap expedient of replacing the wooden motte tower with stone, making a shell keep, and further developed in the mid 13th century by the enclosure of the bailey with a simple stone wall, a simple gatehouse flanked by two small round towers and one tower on the bailey wall which is now lost. Rather oddly a round tower was also inserted within the shell keep to develop it (This is not typical, it was done a Tretower in Wales but I can't think of another example)
As such Launceston is a good example of how fairly simple motte and bailey castles were cheaply developed so as still to have some use in later centuries. Mainly by the direct replacement of wooden palisades by stone walls.
A new 13C castle would have had round towers in the wall, giving covering fire to the walls, and a much stronger gatehouse, possible strong enough to replace the keep entirely. The most expensive and important of castles would have had two sets of walls the inner looming over the outer to give double the fire power. As Launceston does not have any of these features it certainly does not show the development of fortifications during this period.
However, in terms of motte and bailey castles, Launceston is fairly typical of the development that happen. The grandest, up to date, fortifications were expensive and could only be afforded by the most wealthy so most M&B's were either abandoned for nice, more comfortable, houses or had wooden walls replaced by stone. Important castles like The Tower of London kept some of there earlier work (like the White Tower) but built new walls of the latest type with round towers and strong gates. At the relatively small castle at Tonbridge in Kent there seems to have been enough money to build a grand gatehouse keep, but otherwise little was done to develop the defenses. At relatively wealthy Warwick castle the wall facing the town was built to the highest standards, with strong tall towers and gate, but the other walls were little developed and remained relatively low. (a strong tower was started on one of the walls but never finished).
Launceston is also a good example of the later use of medium sized castles. It stopped being a minor residence for the Earls of Cornwall and became a residence for the criminals of Cornwall. (However, little remains of the residential buildings or the county jail.)
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And as I rode by Dalton-Hall Beneath the turrets high, A maiden on the castle-wall Was singing merrily: The Outlaw by Sir Walter Scott
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T O P I C R E V I E W
sedge	I am 15 years old and am doing a project for GCSE, the title is: Is Launceston castle a good example of development and fortification Please could you help me by giving me information on how other square/shell keep castles across the country were developed and frotified? please could you reply as soon as possible - thankyou
Philip Davis	I'm a little unclear as to what you mean. Launceston is a fine example of a eleventh century motte and bailey castle, developed in the twelfth century by the fairly cheap expedient of replacing the wooden motte tower with stone, making a shell keep, and further developed in the mid 13th century by the enclosure of the bailey with a simple stone wall, a simple gatehouse flanked by two small round towers and one tower on the bailey wall which is now lost. Rather oddly a round tower was also inserted within the shell keep to develop it (This is not typical, it was done a Tretower in Wales but I can't think of another example) As such Launceston is a good example of how fairly simple motte and bailey castles were cheaply developed so as still to have some use in later centuries. Mainly by the direct replacement of wooden palisades by stone walls. A new 13C castle would have had round towers in the wall, giving covering fire to the walls, and a much stronger gatehouse, possible strong enough to replace the keep entirely. The most expensive and important of castles would have had two sets of walls the inner looming over the outer to give double the fire power. As Launceston does not have any of these features it certainly does not show the development of fortifications during this period. However, in terms of motte and bailey castles, Launceston is fairly typical of the development that happen. The grandest, up to date, fortifications were expensive and could only be afforded by the most wealthy so most M&B's were either abandoned for nice, more comfortable, houses or had wooden walls replaced by stone. Important castles like The Tower of London kept some of there earlier work (like the White Tower) but built new walls of the latest type with round towers and strong gates. At the relatively small castle at Tonbridge in Kent there seems to have been enough money to build a grand gatehouse keep, but otherwise little was done to develop the defenses. At relatively wealthy Warwick castle the wall facing the town was built to the highest standards, with strong tall towers and gate, but the other walls were little developed and remained relatively low. (a strong tower was started on one of the walls but never finished). Launceston is also a good example of the later use of medium sized castles. It stopped being a minor residence for the Earls of Cornwall and became a residence for the criminals of Cornwall. (However, little remains of the residential buildings or the county jail.) ------------------ And as I rode by Dalton-Hall Beneath the turrets high, A maiden on the castle-wall Was singing merrily: The Outlaw by Sir Walter Scott http://www.castlesontheweb.com/members/philipdavis/index.html