From my own knowledge and looking at the castle I can tell that it was a motte and baily castle. The motte part of a motte and baily castle was a mound wither natural or man made, that had a watchtower placed on top of it. Then the baily part was the surrounding land which was used for the place where the people who worked in the castle ground would live. This area also had a wall round it that was firstly made of wood but changed later in time.
The whole castle would have been built out of wood but during the years it was all changed to stone for more defence. Looking at the site itself no one would know that it used to be wood. However looking at sources they show that a lot happened during the castles time.
Source A tells us why it was built and it was because a upraising in the north so the king fortified York and Nottingham with three castles. This is a good source because it is from the ‘Anglo Saxon Chronicle, 1068 Worcester Manuscript’ with this source we could check the other two castles and see how they look compared to Nottingham castle. Also the source makes out that the castle was only for defence against the north first off.
Source G tells how Charles I was defeated and executed. After this the local people destroyed the castle but the Duke of Newcastle then built a new Renaissance style Palace on the original site. The source shows how most of the ruins were taken away and destroyed and that the site itself is very useful for origins any more.
Coming to a conclusion on the origins I think that the castle itself isn’t very useful for it but with sources and general knowledge some thing s can be found out.
However the site is useful for finding out about the development of the castle. There are some of the ruins left and some parts of the castle have been restored.
From knowledge I know that the castle would have been originally build of wood but then changed to stone during the years for defensive reasons.
The gate house is a good example of development. I know it would have been made of wood first off and now it’s fully stone with arrow slits, portcullis and a drawbridge.
There are some sources that indicate that there was changes were made around the castle. Source B is the expenditures on the castle during 1171 and 1185 during Henry II reign. It shows that a lot was spent on the castle and a lot of changes made during that time.
Concluding everything I think that the castle site is more useful for finding out how the castle has developed then its origins. However a visit to the castle and using sources it makes the site more useful for both origins and development because you are able to check on the grounds now to the sources.
The Model by P W Dixon and D Taylor is a representation of how Nottingham castle might have looked in 1500. Does this interpretation fit with in with the findings of your site investigation?
The model is in the museum and is a part of the story of the castle. It has a diameter of 4feet by 3feet and is built up of many materials such as wood, metal and plastic. It is a full 3D model so people are able to look all around the castle model.
Comparing the model to the real thing how it is now there are some things that are still the same. Like the gatehouse is still left at the front of the castle with its arrow silts and drawbridge. Also King Edwards Tower, outer baily walls and middle baily bridge are still there. There are ruins of King Richards Towers foundations.
These all can be found while looking around the castle grounds. The model shows the castle as a motte and baily castle style and from my knowledge I know that the castle was this type of castle and looking at the site itself it is easy to see also.
Looking at sources can help to say what was round the castle during the 1500s. Source D is a description of the castle in 1540 from ‘Leland’s Itinerary in England’ and it says about the whereabouts most of the main buildings were. It was the castle is built on the west side of town with the river below it. There is a bridge over a ditch. There is two parts of the castle, the second ward and the inner ward. And that Edwards tower was on the south side and a different tower on the east site with the main lodging area in the north. The source also says that that King Richard will be making a tower also.
Source G is also a good source because it is a plan of how the castle looked. The castle at the moment isn’t good to check because most of the original buildings have totally gone. So this is the next thing to look at how the castle would have looked like because it is the only real remaining plan of it left from the castles time.
P W Dixon and D Taylor built the model castle and they were from the Nottingham University so they would have researched on the plan and other sources so that they would get an accurate interpretation of how the real castle looked like.
Coming to a conclusion I think that the model is a good interpretation of the castle during the 1500s. The two people who built it would have researched into every detail and made sure that it was as close to the real thing as it could be. However from looking around the site now it would be hard to see how the castle was like the model but looking at sources and plans of how the castle looked it all fits into place and so do the remaining original buildings
