The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

• 238 • Roberta Gilchrist
Welsh border by Edward I, during the period of the Welsh Wars. These concentric castles showed
a renewed emphasis on the military considerations of castle design, while retaining the elements
of comfort and privacy for the royal apartments. At Rhuddlan, Flintshire, for example, £10,000
was spent on the castle and town defences, beginning in 1277. The castle comprised an inner
ward, which was a diamond-shaped courtyard containing the royal apartments, corner towers
and two great gatehouses, and an outer ward that was wrapped around three sides of the inner
one, and surrounded by a broad, dry moat.
The relative prosperity of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries promoted the construction
of new castles by a greater social range of people, including lesser aristocracy, gentry and wealthy
merchants. This period witnessed an increase in licences granted by the crown to crenellate,
perhaps indicating the pretensions of the lesser nobility who wished to achieve the appearance
of a castle by fortifying their manor houses. During the last quarter of the fourteenth century,
courtyard castles were built that elevated architectural display over the importance of defence.
Their essential characteristics included ranges of stacking accommodation around a central
courtyard, the use of decorative facades and an emphasis on symmetry that was absent in earlier
buildings (Figure 13.5). It has been argued that these late medieval constructions were ‘show
castles’, designed with a martial face to command prestige through pseudo-military features such
as towers, gatehouses and crenellations (Thompson 1987). On the Scottish borders, the need for
defence continued to be balanced with the desire for improved accommodation. Tower houses
were built by aristocratic and gentry landowners between 1350 and 1600. These consisted of a
hall and cross-wing, with the wing raised in the form of a tower. The tower was often rectangular
in plan and of three storeys, with vaulted basements, an entrance at ground-level and a roof-walk
with battlements. The hall and tower were surrounded by a courtyard that contained domestic
offices.
Monasteries
Foundation dates for monasteries are usually provided by documentary sources (in particular
charters and chronicles); other useful sources include monastic registers and letter-books, account
rolls, inventories, deeds and conveyances. The main monastic church and cloister often appear to
be the best-preserved part of the monastery, frequently consisting of ruined buildings that were
cleared for public display during the nineteenth century. However, in the case of rural monasteries,
this central core may have made up only 20 per cent of the actual area of the precinct. The
remaining 80 per cent was given over to non-religious purposes, including an inner and outer
court that contained service buildings, industrial areas, fishponds and mills (Aston 1993; Coppack
1990). The ideal rural monastery was situated in an isolated river valley, providing shelter, fresh
water, timber and land for cultivation. In order to achieve this, it was not uncommon for monasteries
to relocate existing villages, and to canalize rivers in order to shift their course to suit the
requirements of the monastery for water.
Norman foundations brought the fully developed monastic plan to Britain, which had evolved
in Merovingian and Carolingian monasteries, and was depicted in the ninth-century plan of St
Gall (Horn and Born 1979). This prototype for a monastery was probably drawn up for Haito,
Bishop of Basle, in his scriptorium at Reichenau (Switzerland), around 820. The plan depicts the
full range of facilities expected for a large, Benedictine monastery, including the domestic and
industrial buildings, guest houses, an infirmary and school. The church and cloister continued to
form the nucleus of most types of monastery throughout the Middle Ages, so that a familiar,
repetitive plan can be recognized throughout Britain and western Europe (Figure 13.6). The
cloister was normally to the south of the church, and consisted of a courtyard surrounded by
covered walkways (the cloister alleys) that provided access to the three ranges of buildings that