Castles were homes for rich lords, ladies and their servants built hundreds of years ago. They were a safe place where they could rule their land and defend small towns.

The Very First Castles

The very first castle type buildings were built 3000 years ago and were called hill forts. They had walls made of earth and had a maze at the entrance to try to make it difficult to get in.

Motte and Bailey Castles

Castles built around 900 years old and were called motte and bailey castles.

The earth from around the castle was dug out to make a moat and all the soil was piled up in the middle. This hill was known as the motte. A wooden tower was built on the top and this was where all the very important people lived with their servants.

The bailey was at the bottom of the motte and still inside the moat. This is where all the not so important people lived. The whole thing was surrounded by a large wooden fence called a palisade.

Land around the castle was farmed by very poor people called peasants. These people were not paid, instead they were given small plots of land to grow their own food.

Stone Castles

Wooden castles were replaced with stone ones. People had worked out that it was easy to attack a wooden castle because they could set fire to it and destroy it. Lords and ladies began to build stone castles that were much stronger and harder to destroy. Some took up to 2000 workers 10 years to build! The main tower of the castle was now called the keep and was the safest part of the castle to be in.

This model shows what Farleigh Hungerford castle would have looked like when it was first built.

This is the part that you usually see when you visit castle ruins now.