with stone castles, cannot help but be impressed; in terms of sheer size alone, Rochester bowls you over.
It becomes almost impossible, therefore, to imagine the impact this building must have had on people when it first appeared. Back in the early twelfth century, when construction work began, what emerged was not just a brand new castle, but a brand new type of building. By this time, the citizens of Rochester must have thought they knew all about castles. An earth-and-timber affair had been foisted upon them shortly after the Conquest, and a few years later some of its wooden walls had been replaced with stone ones. But these earlier structures, whether wood or stone, paled into insignificance in comparison with the monster that now began to rise against the city’s skyline. No one in Rochester, or anywhere else for that matter, had ever seen anything like it.
To begin with, Rochester’s size is truly superlative. Measuring 125 feet from its base to the top of its turrets, it takes the prize for being the tallest great tower in the country. Built from 1127, it is also one of the earliest examples of its type, and was the property of the Archbishop of Canterbury – then one of the most powerful lords in the kingdom.
The castle’s greatest claim to fame, however, is not its early origins or its distinguished ownership, but the sequence of events that later engulfed it. In 1215, Rochester had the misfortune to be visited by one of England’s worst kings, and subjected to the biggest and most spectacular siege that the country had ever seen. For two months in the autumn of that year, the struggle for Rochester Castle decided the fate of King John – and whether his kingdom would stand or fall.
This chapter focuses on great towers like Rochester, and attempts to ask all kinds of questions about them; how they were built, what they were for, how they were attacked, and how they were defended. But it is important to remember that such towers, or ‘keeps’ as they are often called, were not intended to stand alone. Like the wooden tower on a motte, a great tower needed to be supported by a whole range of other buildings, grouped together in a bailey. Even though many keeps seem isolated today, we should not forget that they were once surrounded by (and to some extent dependent on) a host of smaller buildings that were huddled around their feet.
It is also important to stress that there is no sense in which the great tower ‘evolved’ from the wooden tower on top of a motte. Stone castles were, of course, bigger, stronger and taller, nicer to live in and much more expensive to build. But, as we saw in the previous chapter, they originated in France at exactly the same time as wooden ones. Likewise, timber castles continued to be built in England and France well into the thirteenth century. It is not a case of a ‘Wood Age’ being followed by a ‘Stone Age’. The switch to the building of keeps cannot be represented as a technological advance; one type of castle did not ‘develop’ out of the other. Nevertheless, stone castles themselves did develop, and by the time Rochester was constructed, building a keep was the norm – for the tiny minority of castle-owners rich enough to afford one. The twelfth century was the golden age of the great tower.
Although Rochester is an early example of this type of building, it is by no means the earliest. In England, the tradition of building towers began with the most famous of them all – the Tower of London. Today, when people talk of ‘the Tower’, they mean the entire complex of royal buildings that occupies the south-eastern corner of the City. They also tend to think of it in terms of its later history as a Tudor prison – a place of ravens, Beefeaters and beheadings. Yet all the important buildings on the site were erected long before Henry VIII, Mary and Elizabeth I gave them their bloody reputation. The Tower was built not as a prison, but as a castle –
It becomes almost impossible, therefore, to imagine the impact this building must have had on people when it first appeared. Back in the early twelfth century, when construction work began, what emerged was not just a brand new castle, but a brand new type of building. By this time, the citizens of Rochester must have thought they knew all about castles. An earth-and-timber affair had been foisted upon them shortly after the Conquest, and a few years later some of its wooden walls had been replaced with stone ones. But these earlier structures, whether wood or stone, paled into insignificance in comparison with the monster that now began to rise against the city’s skyline. No one in Rochester, or anywhere else for that matter, had ever seen anything like it.
To begin with, Rochester’s size is truly superlative. Measuring 125 feet from its base to the top of its turrets, it takes the prize for being the tallest great tower in the country. Built from 1127, it is also one of the earliest examples of its type, and was the property of the Archbishop of Canterbury – then one of the most powerful lords in the kingdom.
The castle’s greatest claim to fame, however, is not its early origins or its distinguished ownership, but the sequence of events that later engulfed it. In 1215, Rochester had the misfortune to be visited by one of England’s worst kings, and subjected to the biggest and most spectacular siege that the country had ever seen. For two months in the autumn of that year, the struggle for Rochester Castle decided the fate of King John – and whether his kingdom would stand or fall.
This chapter focuses on great towers like Rochester, and attempts to ask all kinds of questions about them; how they were built, what they were for, how they were attacked, and how they were defended. But it is important to remember that such towers, or ‘keeps’ as they are often called, were not intended to stand alone. Like the wooden tower on a motte, a great tower needed to be supported by a whole range of other buildings, grouped together in a bailey. Even though many keeps seem isolated today, we should not forget that they were once surrounded by (and to some extent dependent on) a host of smaller buildings that were huddled around their feet.
It is also important to stress that there is no sense in which the great tower ‘evolved’ from the wooden tower on top of a motte. Stone castles were, of course, bigger, stronger and taller, nicer to live in and much more expensive to build. But, as we saw in the previous chapter, they originated in France at exactly the same time as wooden ones. Likewise, timber castles continued to be built in England and France well into the thirteenth century. It is not a case of a ‘Wood Age’ being followed by a ‘Stone Age’. The switch to the building of keeps cannot be represented as a technological advance; one type of castle did not ‘develop’ out of the other. Nevertheless, stone castles themselves did develop, and by the time Rochester was constructed, building a keep was the norm – for the tiny minority of castle-owners rich enough to afford one. The twelfth century was the golden age of the great tower.
Although Rochester is an early example of this type of building, it is by no means the earliest. In England, the tradition of building towers began with the most famous of them all – the Tower of London. Today, when people talk of ‘the Tower’, they mean the entire complex of royal buildings that occupies the south-eastern corner of the City. They also tend to think of it in terms of its later history as a Tudor prison – a place of ravens, Beefeaters and beheadings. Yet all the important buildings on the site were erected long before Henry VIII, Mary and Elizabeth I gave them their bloody reputation. The Tower was built not as a prison, but as a castle –
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