Johnson Paul. National Trust Book of British Castles

Book Club Associates, 1978. — 292 p.Ever since the Norman invasion the British castle has occupied a position of dominanoe: initially in military terms, but later and more enduringly in the popular imagination. First built on the motte-and-bailey principle to control an unruly populace, the nature and purpose of castles gradually evolved over the centuries to culminate in the lavishly ornate structures of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, designed solely as romantic settings for domestic elegance and comfort. To call any one castle typically British would therefore be misleading; in fact England, Wales and Scotland together possess one of the largest and most diverse collections of castles anywhere in the world.
Beginning with the great Iron Age hill forts, Paul Johnson traces each stage of the development of Britain,s rich and varied collection of castles: how advances in the techniques of warfare were reflected in increasingly sophisticated methods of defence; the vital part played by the castle in social life - both as an expression of the political and economic conditions of the time or simply as a rather uncomfortable place in which to live; the gradual decay of the castle after' its crucial role in the medieval and early modern period; and ending with a chapter on the restoration of several important castles in the nineteenth century, as well as the building of some extraordinary mock ones. Each stage of development is discussed within the context of the many castles which can still be seen today, and their history is vividly illustrated with contemporary paintings, drawings and engravings, detailed ground-plans and modern photographs.