I met up with the caretaker at Berkhamsted Castle, Steve, who has been living/working/existing there for about 30 years. He's a lonely old man, as evidenced by the fact that he was more than willing to chat me up for way longer than I really wanted to be there. And it's not like I am that great a pretender when I am bored. But on and on and on .... Not to take it as a lost, I listened. I bet my parents wish I would have done that back about 30 years ago and gotten into one of those nice cushy government jobs or something, but alas, here I am now! Anyway, listening to him he explained that what I thought were the castle walls were actually the cavity remnants left over after everyone had pillaged the bloody site! Seems that what they do in making a castle in ye olde daye was to use blocks and mortar and make a walle, leave a space of up to 6 feete and make another walle parallel to it. Tirede of my olde fashionede E's yet? Anyway, after the two block walls were up, they made this mixture of cement and rocks and basically poured it inbetween the walls to make the fortifications complete. And really really thick. So most of these walls would probably have been 8 feet thick at least, allowing for a one foot wide block on either side. So when I hear them talking about tearing down the walls and using the bricks to build another building, this is what they are referring to. Another interesting note is that the rocks seem to have an almost glass- like sheen to them. Apparently that is flint. These things you can learn talking to ye olde men!
House inside castle
Work on the Norman structure was started in 1066 by William the Conqueror. During its time it was home to Thomas Becket, Chancellor of England and later Archbishop of Canterbury. Having done a little research on the Normandy (northern part of France) invasions I also discovered that Norman forts were initially wood- based. Apparently while William was sacking Britain he was able to set up a fortified structure in 8 days using pre-fabricated panels for his fortresses. The structure that proved the most successful was to pick a site and dig a huge circular ditch around it that would be flooded (the moat) and take all that dirt and pile it in the middle of the ditch. This pile of dirt was called a motte. Then they packed clay on top of it to give it some structural integrity, and probably a few rocks for good measure. On top of this motte would be created the wooden fortress. The area between the fort and the ditch, the open area, was called the bailey. So, in some respects, very similar to the North American army fort of the 1700's and 1800's. After about 70 years the humidity of the area generally rendered these forts useless so they would be torn down and stone ones used in their place.
Castle wall
Nice corner window
