How to Read Castles

Malcolm Hislop is a history and archaeology graduate from the University of Nottingham with over 30 years' experience in the investigation and interpretation of historic buildings. He now works as an independent archaeological consultant and has written extensively on the subject of medieval buildings, including Medieval Masons and John Lewyn of Durham: A Medieval Mason in Practice.

The essential companion to discover the styles, architecture, form, significance and historical impact of castles from all over the world.How to Read Castles is a travel-size primer that takes a strictly visual approach to castle architecture, building up your vocabulary of castle types, styles and materials, and showing you how these aspects can be recognised across architectural features from the floor-plan and moat, to the towers and crenulations. Focusing on the 10th-16th century period, and crusading across the globe from a Welsh motte-and-bailey to a Japanese hirajiro, this is both an architectural reference and a visitor's guide showing you how to read the stories embedded in every castle's stones. Castles once dominated the landscape as seats of power and symbols of wealth and status, providing a means of control over borders, passes, routes and rivers. Armed with this book you will be able to unpick their histories and see how they shaped the land around them. From rugged coastline defences to soaring mountain fortresses, this book takes you on an international journey of discovery, exploring some of the most inspiring and impressive architecture history has ever seen.

The essential companion to discover the styles, architecture, form, significance and historical impact of castles from all over the world.

Readers will be taken on a whirlwind tour of the world, exploring and given full visual access to some of the most significant structures ever built

Introduction The Grammar of CastlesFunction Design & Construction Castle Types Destruction & RevivalCastles: Feature by FeatureThe Great Tower The Enceinte Tower, Turrets & Bartizans The Entrance BarbicansWallhead DefencesAccommodation Chapels Dungeons, Oubliettes & Prisons Doors & Windows Water Supply & Sanitation HeatingStaircases Glossary ResourcesGazetteerIndexAcknowledgements