I’ve always been fascinated by castle since I was a little girl so this was definitely something I needed to check out when it popped up on my feed.
Premise
In Castle Builders, Malcolm Hislop looks at the hugely popular subject of castles from the unusual perspective of design and construction. In this general introduction to the subject, we discover something of the personalities behind their creation - the architects and craftsmen - and, furthermore, the techniques they employed, and how style and technology was disseminated. Castle Builders takes both a thematic and a chronological approach to the design and construction of castles, providing the reader with clear lines of development. Themes include earth, timber and stone construction techniques, the evolution of the great tower, the development of military engineering, the progression of domestic accommodation, and the degree to which aesthetics contributed to castle design.
It was so interesting learning about the different construction and stories behind the creation of castles. My BF is also a huge fan of castles and collects them so it was really neat to share this with him as well.

If you don’t know a corbel from a buttress or a joist from a soffit, then this might not be the book for you. I spent an awful lot of reading time Googling construction terms to try and figure out exactly what the book was describing. There’s a glossary at the end of the book, but it’s description only and frankly, images should have been included, not just in the glossary but throughout the book on the first occasion of the term being used. There are plenty of images and illustrations, so it’s not that they couldn’t have been included, but more that the author seemed to assume his readers would already be familiar with the construction terms.

I’m actually interested in this topic as I’m currently writing a book set in the medieval era in which one of the protagonists seeks to make himself useful by suggesting improvements to a castle’s fortifications, and honestly, I struggled to stay awake a lot of the time reading it. There’s just too much dry description of things that would be much better shown in illustration (labelled illustrations, so we can SEE what these terms mean!). We didn’t get enough of the why’s of how the architecture developed and what it was used for.

I don’t understand who this book is aimed at. It’s not presented in an accessible enough way to have mainstream appeal to someone like me, an author of historical fiction looking to add authenticity to their work, and it’s not scholarly enough to appeal to academics. Architects interested in history, maybe? I wanted the information but honestly struggled to extract it in any meaningful way. As far as I can tell, the information is accurate and top-notch research, but the failure to present it in a way that is accessible to the average layperson with an interest in the topic means I can only give it two stars.

This is an in-depth look into how castles were built. This book goes into specifics and details on the how to and the know how of what went into a castle. Very interesting book!!

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Really great book for this who like the 1000 - 1450 time period in Britain, does go into a few northern France buildings. Goes in techniques, castles and other intro information.

"Castle Builders" is a detailed look at the archaeological evidence for how castles were built in Great Britain, from manors on raised earthworks to carpentry walls, floors, and roofs, to masonry fortification, buildings, and plumbing issues. The author spent a lot of time providing details, from the exact dimensions of the moats to the name of the engineer that headed the building project to the spread and development of different architectural features based on when different castles were built. Some pictures of the described features were included and were very interesting, illustrating his points. If you want to know the layers of subsoil found mounded next to the moat and the implications for how both were created, you'll find that information in this book. Architectural and castle-related terms were rarely defined in the text, though there's a glossary in the back. However, this is probably too detailed to be of interest if you don't know the basic terms already. While the book provided a great deal of information and analysis, it's probably too technical to interest someone with only a casual interest in castles.

An interesting, well researched and informative read that helped to learn more about castles and how they were built.
I like the clear explanations, the details and the illustrations.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was an excellent and educational read. It was well researched and clearly explained, and I enjoyed how it worked through the building materials to more modern ones, and the layout was easy to follow. While there were some excellent diagrams and photos, I think that perhaps it could have benefited from a few more, but overall between the text, the illustrations included and the glossary at the back this is is a great exploration of castles and how they are constructed.

Castle Builders by Malcolm Hislop

The research that went into this book delves into the building of castles in the Middle Ages. It looks at the ability to defend that specific area from towers, how it sits in relation to water for drinking and travel.

You get a feel for the scientific approach to designing castles, so long ago. The pencil drawings are numerous and helpful in understanding what the castles look like.

There are a lot of measurements in the book, how large the castle is, the size and shape of rooms. It describes what materials were used in building the castle walls.

Overall, very informative. An architect interested in history would greatly enjoy this book. Most of the castles are in England, but there are some from many different places.


Many thanks to Pen and Sword Archaeology and Net Galley for the complimentary copy I was under no obligation to post a review.

I found this book to be highly educational. It covers covers pretty much everything you might ever want to know about how castles were. built. The book included quite a few photographs and diagrams which I enjoyed, as well as a helpful glossary at the end. It is quite technical so I wouldn’t recommend it for younger readers.

A solid reference to castle architecture that is generally well organized, starting with earthworks before moving to timber, stone and then [fancy] brick. From primitive redoubts, to basic donjons (I had to look that up) and then to ostentatious residences. It is billed as an introduction, and it probably is, but there are several architectural terms that I was not familiar with, so be prepared to look them up as needed (there is a decent glossary in the back). I would also have liked more conceptual illustrations (it has a few with pictures ... but for an intro book, it could do with a lot more). The book references the details from a lot of actual [British and French] castles that, while mildly interesting, didn't really mean much to me (a casual tourist who has actually visited some of them). As we get deeper into the book, we get see several names (of designers, architects, engineers and other famous master craftsmen) dropped that I assume would have been well known in some circles, but they were just names to me (so a quick summary/bio for some of these might have helped). Over all, if you probably will get a lot more out of the book if you have at least some background in historical architecture.

Piecing together design intent from earlier castles now in disrepair can certainly be a challenge, so the beginning of the book really focuses on [smaller] known details that I had trouble placing into a complete picture. Still ... I did learn a little about castle construction, even while failing to understand a fair amount of the book. There were a few reasonable connections to ecclesiastical architecture, showing how the specialist [master] craftsmen and engineers/architects applied what they learned on one to the other. It also spends a lot of time on towers, which are arguably a central part of most castles. We get to the military aspect of castles about half-way through (chapter 7). Now things get interesting ...

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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