Was Thornbury castle built as a palace or for defence?

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Was Thornbury castle built as a palace or for defence?

By Sara Booker

Thornbury castle

 

Since Thornbury castle started being built in 1511 it has been in the centre of a debate with historians whether it is a castle built for defence or a luxurious palace for show.

When I went to Thornbury castle you can see lots of different features that would confuse you in deciding what Thornbury castle was built for. There are lots of different features showing both.

                                                            This picture shows some                    

                                                             arrow slits.

 

 As you walk around the castle you see things like arrow slits and gun loops in the walls showing they were probably built in case of an attack. Around the outer and inner  gateway walls there are portcullis grooves which were never finished if it had have been the walls would have been as high again this is because there is nowhere for the gates to go. Around the castle towers there should have been crenellations which you can see on the only finished tower the crenellations which are the thing around the top are used to shoot between the gaps and hide in the higher bits. Underneath the crenellations there are machicolations which were used to pour thing though (e.g. red hot oil or stones) to hit invaders below.

                                                                                    The finished tower

                                                                                     showing the

                                                                                     machicolations

Around some of the outside walls shows ditches which may have been the start of a moat or other people think it many have been a ha-ha.

‘The stream to the west of the building was broadened into a moat’

This statement is by A D K Hawkyard.

‘There cummithe an armelet of severne ebbynage and flowing into this parke. Duke Edward had thowght to have trenchyd there, and to have browght it up to the castle.’

 This quote is by John Leland in 1541 so it was written around the time Thornbury castle was being built.

These two sources show that there was meant to have been a moat, this is also a way of protecting castles from attack. The deep moat would have strengthened the defences of the gunports and the massive portcullis.

    When I visited Thornbury Castle their was an old ruined part this is meant to be the army barracks for the purpose of retaining men, on the ground floor it was meant to be stables and on the floors above reached by wooden staircases, were living quarters for the hired army its hard to say how many men Buckingham would have had it might have been hundreds or possibly a thousand, with which Buckingham intended to assert his independence and viewed of fortifying himself against the king. Under Henry the VIII no-one was meant to own their own army but why was Edward Stafford building room for so many people? Then in the outer court there is a wide open space which may have been meant to for a training ground for his army.

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