The English Castle: 1066-1650 (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies) (The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)

The English castle John Goodall This book is the most significant book on the subject of 'English' (plus French and Welsh for comparison)castles for years.Well produced, comprehensive, beautifully illustrated. Not a lot really 'new' to say about castles but a well balanced argumentthat in many cases there was a lot more to them than simply their military function.

It was a gift and I was really pleased with it.

I bought it as a Christmas present so haven't had a feedback. Only know the look on my sons face as he opened it, showed he loved it.

The only think I didn't like, as I carried it on-board a BA flight to the US, was the weight of this book! However, it is the weight - the content - that makes this book wonderful. Bought it as a gift for an American friend. Superb.

Beautiful book but sadly the pictures are only small. It loses some of its graphic quality and sadly the book is reasonably small for such a story. Excellent narrative and well written.

In most ways this is a very good book. Of all the books that I've bought about castles, this is by far the most attractive. The page format, the quality of the printing, and the very large number of colour photos and illustrations are all excellent.This book also appears to be very well researched. At the end of the book there's a list of more than a thousand notes, most of which are references to sources. The author appears to have researched a very wide range of sources, and then produced a detailed and scholarly work that's presented in a logical and readable format, which is a very impressive achievement.The reason I've given this book 4 stars is because I remain unconvinced by some of its interpretations. I was looking for a book that explains the architectural decisions behind castles (particularly in terms of the military ideas). In the "Preface", the author indicates that most popular works about castles have put too much emphasis on castles being "an instrument of war", whereas recent scholarly works have also emphasised "the symbolic importance of the setting and architecture of castles as well as their role in day-to-day-life as centres of administration and aristocratic life". The author explains that the aim of this book is to provide "an accessible, updated overview of the castle in the light of recent research". Although, as stated above, my main interest is the military ideas behind castles, I did approach this book with an open-mind, as I'm prepared to accept that certain architectural features of castles (particularly later castles) are mainly due to symbolic or social aims (i.e. rather than military aims).However, my impression was that, in attempting to correct the fact that previous books have put too much emphasis on military ideas, the author has (in places) put too little emphasis on military ideas. For example, in the section about the Royal castles in Wales, the author describes the machicolations above the main entrances at Conwy castle as follows (note: these stone machicolations derive from timber hoardings):"Their creation of stone in the case of Conwy, however, is remarkable and there are no clearly dated precedents for such a feature in either England or France. They presage a hugely important fashion for turning the temporary trappings of war into permanent architectural features. Another distinctive decorative treatment found at Conway is the placement of upright stones on the tops of the battlements like a jagged row of teeth"In my opinion, in the above paragraph the use of words such as "fashion" and "decorative" suggests that the decision to create machicolations at Conwy castle was not primarily for military purposes. And yet, Conwy castle was started immediately after the 1282-1283 war between England and Wales, was built at a time when Edward I feared further rebellions, and was designed by James of St George (who is described on UNESCO's World Heritage List as "the greatest military architect of the age"). Considering that stone machicolations provide significant better defence than timber hoardings (e.g. they're fireproof, structurally stronger, etc), in my opinion it seems very unlikely that the decision to create them (i.e. rather than timber hoardings) was not primarily for military purposes.Another example is that the book contains a photo of Caernafon castle viewed from the south-east and states that "Running round the walls at first-floor level is a tier of blind arrow loops, an interesting reminder that there was an acute awareness of the theatrical quality of castle design". However, most of the southern wall of Caernafon castle contains wall passages at two different levels - i.e. a lower wall-passage and an upper wall-passage (both below the level of the wall-walk). In other words, this section of wall was designed to be defended from 3 different levels, each with their own arrow loops. Again, the author appears to have interpreted a military feature as an aesthetic feature.It should be noted the above two examples are perhaps the most noticeable examples - indeed, they both come from the section of the book about Welsh castles, whereas the main focus of the book is English castles. Notwithstanding such examples, overall this is a good book, particularly in terms of its excellent presentation, and I'm definitely glad that I bought it. However, for me this book put too little emphasis on military ideas, which is why I subsequently bought Malcolm's Hislops " Castle Builders: Approaches to Castle Design and Construction in the Middle Ages " book. For reference, I preferred the text and ideas of the latter book, although the presentation of John Goodall's "The English Castle" book is significantly better.

An excellent book that is superbly written and illustrated by an expert in his subject. It is an invaluable reference work for everyone interested in their castellated heritage, especially others writing on the subject. It is a classic.

A superb volume - a must for any one interested in medieval buildings and English history

Goodall provides us with an important new overall history, written for an informed general audience, and incorporating the vast amount of recent scholarship which is dramatically changing our understanding of what castles were all about in medieval England. Handsomely produced with color photos, diagrams and plans, this is now the (admittedly weighty) place to turn for an introduction to the sometimes enigmatic secular ruins that dot England, dating from roughly 1050 (before the Norman invasion) to about 1600 (by which time they had become more aristocratic homes than defensive sites).Architectural editor of COUNTRY LIFE, Goodall tells this story in a largely chronological fashion, from the first stone castles of William the Conqueror in the 1070s to the very different buildings constructed under the Stuart kings (and a notable queen) in the 1500s and 1600s. He wraps up with some discussion of the castles' last appearance on the military and political stage during the English Civil War (1640s) when many were "slighted" (destroyed) to prevent further use. The photos are often new views (I found myself stumped as to which castle I was looking at in some cases---and I have been in easily 200 of them across the British Isles and Ireland). In many cases, Goodall makes effective use of clear numbering within the photos and the relevant descriptive captions. The variation among castles built over a half millennium is vividly portrayed throughout.Some of the historical illustrations--period plans, drawings and early photos--make clear the dramatic changes in castle use and preservation since their heyday. One end paper photo (of Herstmonceux Castle in Sussex), for example, shows the vine-covered ruin so admired from the 17th into the early 19th centuries by which time conservators learned how the lovely ivy was slowly destroying the building underneath. The conservation, sometimes even partial reconstruction, of castles--often in reality but also in the illustrated guides prepared for most sites by English Heritage--make them far easier to understand today.As one who has been enamored of castles since a July day in 1987 when I visited five of Edward I's castles in North Wales (a region not covered here), I strongly recommend this lovely book for its illustrations but especially for its well-informed text that brings up to date much of what we collectively understand about these structures. There is no better place to start

As a lover of military architecture before gun powder, this large and heavy book is a great source of information. Written in British English, an American reader might find a word or two needing a dictionary, but that is the only complaint I have about this very authoritative book. Well illustrated with many floor plans.

A classic on English Castles, but not organized in such a way to be used as a quick reference. It certainly does not lack detail, but some additional explanations of architectural features needed for layman

I bought this for my father-in-law who is a total Anglophile. He absolutely loved it and I looked like a rock star:)

If you've ever visited, or wanted to visit, or thought you might want to visit an English castle, don't go until you've read this book. It will provide an in-depth understanding of English castle building at the height of the castle building boom. Fascinating pictures, stories and text.And if you decide you really don't care about castles, it makes a great door stop.