Early castles typically featured a motte (mound) surrounded by a bailey (courtyard), but later replaced the motte with a stone keep for stronger defense. Over time, castles evolved concentric walls for better protection, and features like moats, drawbridges, portcullises, and arrow slits helped defend against enemies, while dungeons held prisoners. Interior aspects included spiral staircases and wall walks connecting castle elements.

1. Early castles
• Typical castles during
the Norman period,
built on a motte
surronded by a bailey
courtyard at the
bottom

2. Later castles
• The motte was
replaced by a strong
tower called keep, the
focal point of the
castle

3. Easier to defend
Round keep

4. The most common in Wales
• Concentric castles
with outer or curtain
walls

5. Later with king Henry VIII
• To protect England
from Spanish
invasions he built
rose-shaped castles

6. For safer protection
A moat was a deep ditch
filled with water all
around the castles

7. To get to the castle
A drawbridge was built

8. The entrance
• A portcullis was a
strong wooden and
iron grating for
blocking or allowing
access

9. Against the enemy
• Machicolations are
holes in parapets
through which
stones and other
weapons were
thrown

10. Against the enemy
• Murder holes are
holes in the roof
through which rocks
or other things
capable of causing
death were dropped

11. Against the enemy
• An arrow slit is a
hole in a wall
through which
defenders could
quickly fire arrows
from bows

12. Against the enemy
A gun loop is a hole
through which to fire
cannons.

13. For prisoners
• A Dungeon was
the jail were
prisoners were held
and tortured

14. Connections
• Spiral staircases
inside towers
connect the
separate floors of a
castle

15. Connections
• Wall walks are
passage ways
between towers for
soldiers on guard

16. Launceston castle in Cornwall is
still standing nowadays