Who built the first castle in Britain?

The first proper castles were built in England after the Norman Conquest in
1066. They were introduced by William the Conqueror, when he invaded England
from his homeland in France. It was called Windsor castle. It was built in 1066.
It was originally built to secure the western approach to London, but easy
access from the capital to a royal hunting forest recommended it early on as a
royal residence. It remained a wood and earth structure until Henry I began to
convert the castle to stone by erecting a stone shell enclosure on the motte top.
This shows that before Henry I modified it may have been strong then but
afterwards it would have been classed as poorly built. However there may have
been less of a threat back then in William’s time and more of a threat in Henry’s
time which is why Henry upgraded it.

Pictures of castles
Motte and bailey

Concentric

Motte and bailey

Advantages: quick to build, resources easily available, provided living quarters

for people & animals, easily defendable – motte, palisade, ditch, drawbridge,
and portable – flat pack castles
Disadvantages: Wooden – easily burned down, rot in wet weather , labour
intensive, bailey difficult to defend.

Rectangular keep

Advantages: impossible to burn, different angles to defend it, different

elements to protect the castle e.g. high walls, moats, small windows,
gatehouse etc. height allowed soldiers to control surrounding area, combined
living space and defence.

Disadvantages: last line of defence, difficult to build, expensive, if the

enemy came inside it would be very difficult to leave.

Concentric

Advantages: almost impossible to enter it, different elements to protect the

castle, different angles of protection, stone walls good for defence,
impossible to burn.

Disadvantages: difficult to build, expensive, lots of planning needed, difficult

to escape when attacked, lots of soldiers needed to defend it.

Shell keep

Advantages: inflammable, brick wall, good view of surrounding area and some
included simple gateways or towers.

Disadvantages: no more than 25-50m in diameter, encircled only the top of

the Motte, lightweight and does not improving the defence a lot and the
inner buildings had to be right against the wall to fit in.

Square keep

Advantages: made of stone so they lasted longer, would not rot so the
castles were a lot stronger than wooden ones, height advantage and can see
for miles, much larger than motte and bailey castles and could keep more
soldiers in them and they were very difficult to attack because of their size.

Disadvantages: if the enemy went around them, they could not escape and
could starve, it was very expensive and it would’ve taken a long time to build
it.
Conclusion

To conclude, I think castles have dramatically changed over time due to the
use of material, layout, structure, etc. This is shown from the first castle
built, Windsor castle. It was a motte and bailey made out of wood. Not that
strong. But when Henry I came along he upgraded it to stone. That was the
revolution to new types of castles. Some had brick walls around them and
some came in different shapes. Many may have been terrible but could still
be here today. If Henry I hadn’t played his role Windsor castle may not be
standing here today. My final point will be that castle building had its ups
and downs, but when you face the facts you can’t tell which one more.

My sources:

Storm the castle. Com

Exploring castles. Com

Historyonthenet. Com

Historylearningsite. Com

Wikipedia