Castle building

Step 1
You are a Medieval lord who wishes to make a statement of his power in this landscape. In
order to do this, you have decided to build a castle.

You need to decide where to build your castle and how extravagant your castle is going to
be. Draw a map of your chosen castle site, labelling the key features to explain why you
have chosen this site.

Unfortunately, you have a limited budget of £100 to build your castle and so you will have to
make some tough decisions about the construction of your castle. Use the table below to
work out your costs. (Remember: 12d = 1s, 20s = £1)

You will also have to produce a final list of accounts showing how you came to your final
amount. You will need to split your accounts into items in wood or stone and other costs.
Eg: 120 foot of stone wall = £12, 20 mens wages for 2 days = £2 2s etc)

You may find it easier to plan out your castle on some spare paper.

Item Cost in Stone Cost in Wood

10 m of wall medium £3 per sidex12 £1 15sx8
thickness
10 m of wall extra thick £6 per side £3 10
10 m square tower £6x4 £3 10sx4
10 m curved tower £9x4 £5
Gatehouse £10x1 £5 15s
Portcullis £3x1 £3
Raising Drawbridge £10 £10
Stationary Drawbridge £5 £5
Machicolation (“murder £1 each £0 10s eachx7
holes”)
Moat £20 £20
Chapel £6 £3x1
Great Hall £15 £7 10sx1

Other items Cost

For each 10 metres of height you 25sx12
have to transport materials
10 builders working for a day 10s 6d

10 labourers (for digging moat) 6s 10d

Construction times.
 Note it will take 3 times as long to build in stone as in wood.
 A second wall will be double the length of your inner wall
 A group of 10 men will take 3 days to build 30 foot of wall in wood, a 30 foot tower or
a gatehouse. You may add more men to shorten the construction time but you will
have to pay their wages according to the table above.
 A chapel will take a month to finish.
 A Great Hall (Keep) will take two months to finish