31st July 2010, 04:00 PM
Straying dangerously into the territory of whether a 'castle' per se has to be a defensive structure or whether it can be just a non-defensible structure that looks the part for prestige or just as a pretty landscape feature/garden ornament. See the various papers in Med Arch over the last few years on the meaning of medieval examples - its a Saturday and I'm 50 miles from the office so can't give you any refs - worth reading anyway just for the entertainment of contributors politely going for each other's throats