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In the eleventh century, England was one of the richest and most cultured countries in Europe. She was inhabited by one and a half million people. The Anglo-Saxons with large settlements of Vikings who were mostly Danes lived across North and Eastern England, the Welsh and the Cornish lived in the Celtic West and the Scots and the Picts lived on the Northern Borders.

The Battle of Hastings was the decisive victory for the Normans in their conquest of England. The battle took place on October 14 1066, at Senlac Hill, six miles northwest of Hastings, between the Norman army of Duke William of Normandy and the English army led by King Harold II. William was victorious and Harold was killed.

One of the most obvious legacies of the Battle is the numerous Norman castles, churches, abbeys and cathedrals that still grace the landscape of England and Wales.

The Normans consolidated their hold on England by quickly building a succession of motte and bailey castles. William built his first defensive structure within the walls of the old Roman Fort at Pevensey where his invasion force had landed. He then continued to build castles to defend his line of retreat and within two weeks of landing had built castles at Hastings and Dover.

The period of Norman castle building had begun. As William's forces spread across the country they built castles as a means to subdue and contain the population. William claimed all the land as his own but gave grants of land to the Norman lords that had provided him with military assistance during the invasion.

The motte and bailey castles were quick and cheap to build but the timber used to build them was perishable; wood can rot with the rain and it generally weakens with age. But perhaps more importantly, the castles were vulnerable to fire, so an alternative had to be found.

Stone was a more durable and resistant medium. Stone keep castles were the ultimate sign of William's power over the English. The most famous of these castles were in London (the White Tower at the Tower of London) and Rochester Castle in Kent. By the time of William's death, in 1087, there were eighty six Norman castles in England.

William the Conqueror brought many Norman followers with him from Normandy including religious people and church builders. Within a few years of 1066 most English bishops were replaced by Normans. In 1070 Lanfranc was made Archbishop of Canterbury. An Italian Benedictine, he was the chief religious adviser to William. The Archbishop of Canterbury

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