Codnor Castle, Derbyshire
First screened 6 January 2008

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Other websites

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Codnor Castle Preservation Society
www.codnorcastle.com
The main aim of the Codnor Castle Preservation Society is to ensure Codnor Castle is preserved for the future and to promote the castle as a major site of local and national historic importance. The society is also undertaking lots of different projects including ongoing archaeological surveys of the castle site, an educational programme and holding its own annual medieval fayre.

Castles on the web
www.castlesontheweb.com
An extensive resource, the Castles on the Web site includes sections on medieval studies, myths and legends, virtual tours of castles, books, photo archives and even how to rent or stay in a castle. Its weblinks to sites which themselves provide links to other castle-related websites could keep you browsing until Domesday. Castles on the Web also has a useful message/question board and a variety of discussion forums on the subject.

The English medieval castle
www.britannia.com/history/david1.html
Three illustrated essays on the English medieval castle provide a good basic introduction to the subject.

The castles of Wales
www.castlewales.com/home.html
Jeffrey Thomas's site, with good general background information about Norman castles as well as being an excellent overall resource on Welsh castles.

Build a Medieval Castle
www.yourchildlearns.com/castle.htm
Free educational software. Make your own model medieval castle – a learning activity that teaches about history, feudalism and life in the Middle Ages. Build your own medieval castle, complete with towers, gatehouse and keep, to help understand how an army laid siege to a castle, how a castle was defended or what it might have been like to live in a castle.

For links to other websites, either on archaeology generally or specific to the periods and subjects raised in the programme, see our extensive section on Archaeology websites. In particular, see the section on the Medieval era.

Further reading

Castles and Landscapes: Power, community and fortification in medieval England by Oliver H Creighton (Equinox, 2005)
Castles were among the most dominant features of the medieval landscape and many remain impressive structures to the present day. This paperback edition of a book first published in hardback in 2002 is a fascinating and provocative study, which looks at castles in a new light, using the theories and methods of landscape studies. For the first time castles are examined not as an isolated phenomenon, but in relation to their surrounding human as well as physical landscapes.

The Medieval Castle in England and Wales by Norman Pounds (Cambridge University Press, 1994) £18.95
'There are a lot of books around on castles but this is the best one for telling you what they're all about. I get tired of looking at plans and pictures without knowing the social and economic background to why castles were built and how they operated. This definitely fills that gap! The best book of all on the subject' – Mick Aston

Norman Castles in Britain by Derek Wren (John Baker)
Standard text with gazetteer of the Norman castles of Britain.

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