Elephant Puppet Returns To Castle Rising 🏰
6Castle Rising comprises three baileys, each defended by large earthworks, covering a total area of 5 hectares (12 acres), which archaeologists Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham consider to be among the most impressive in Britain. In the inner bailey is the great keep, probably modelled on that of Norwich Castle. It features extensive Romanesque designs, including pilaster buttresses and arcading. Historians Beric Morley and David Gurney believe this to be "one of the finest of all Norman keeps", and its military utility and political symbolism have been extensively discussed by academics. The castle was originally surrounded by a carefully managed landscape, from the planned town in front of the castle, to the deer park and rabbit warrens that stretched out behind it, intended to be viewed from the lord's chamber in the great keep. Many 20th-century historians have stressed the potential military strength of Castle Rising; R. Allen Brown, for example, concluded that "defence … was the overwhelming consideration in [its] design and construction", and argued that the keep would have been used as a final refuge in the case of attack during a siege.[123] Beric Morley and David Gurney believe that the military strength of the castle could not have failed to impress contemporaries.[26] Sidney Toy suggested that the forebuilding would have made an effective defensive feature, enabling the defenders to attack intruders as they made their way up the stairs, with Morley and Gurney describing it as "a deadly and near impregnable approach to the castle's interior".[124]
Despite this, the defensive qualities of Castle Rising have since been extensively debated. The historian Robert Liddiard argues that the large windows at Castle Rising would have been a significant weakness, as it would have been easy to fire arrows through them from the bailey, and George Garnett has questioned the utility of the defensive arrow slits, which he suggests were not well positioned or designed.[125] The whole site was also overlooked by higher ground, which Liddiard considers would have been a key defensive weakness.[126]
Great keeps such as Castle Rising's were also important ceremonially and symbolically in the 12th century, however, and historian Thomas Heslop has described Castle Rising as "a fortress palace", with the keep forming the palace, and the surrounding earthworks the more practical defences.[127] They reflected lordly status: typically their owners had recently advanced up the social scale, as with William d'Aubigny, and were keen to impress others with their new authority.[128][h]