As ancient examples of the intersection of architecture and history, castles remain awe-inspiring today, centuries after they were built. This volume is an expanded and revised comprehensive edition of Plantagenet Somerset Fry's classic study on this subject. Fry adds recent historical and archaeological research to his definitive history of life in and around the castles of the British Isles, including evocative descriptions of everyday life, war and weapons, and sieges. How the castles were designed and built, and how this reflects changes in politics and society, is fully explained in engaging text enhanced by spectacular photographs and plans of the castles.
The first part of the book is made up of thematic chapters ranging in subject from "What Is a Castle?" to "The End of the Castle". The second part is a gazetteer -- by far the most comprehensive ever published in a single book -- that describes in great detail more than 1,350 castles in Britain and Ireland. For the tourist, scholar, or armchair explorer of castles, this is the ultimate reference book.
