A timeline of the development of castles

The first castle of stone consisted of rectangular towers surrounded by high stone walls.

Bodiam castle (pictured below) is a moated, curtain-walled castle which was built in 1385. It has a round tower at each corner, and a square tower midway along each wall.

Ightham Mote (pictured below), one of the oldest and loveliest medieval manor houses to survive in England, dates from 1330. A moat surrounds the four wings of the house, the walls on all four sides dropping vertically into the water, and within them an open cobbled courtyard.

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