A castle is a fortified residence of the medieval period, built to provide both a secure home for a lord and a military stronghold controlling the surrounding land. Typical elements include thick stone curtain walls, towers, a keep or great tower, battlements, a gatehouse with portcullis and drawbridge, and often a moat or ditch.
In England, castle building began on a large scale after the Norman Conquest of 1066, initially with earth and timber motte and bailey castles that were later rebuilt in stone. Royal castles such as the Tower of London and Dover, and the great Edwardian castles of North Wales, show how designs developed into concentric rings of defence. As warfare changed and domestic comfort became more important, castles gave way to fortified manor houses and then to country houses, although castle imagery remained powerful. From the eighteenth century, architects built mock castles and castellated houses in the Gothick and Gothic Revival styles, and the Victorians added battlemented towers to houses, lodges and follies. Castles have long inspired decorative arts, appearing on ceramics, textiles, paintings and the painted roses and castles of canal ware.
