What an informative book. The story and history behind of all these castles were perfectly researched.

This book introduces the castles in alphabetical order - private or open to public, from the gate to the tower, from the window to the interior. It covers the most design of the castle, surely it also tells you who and when the castle was built.

While you think all the castles look the same, the book provides you various designs of the castles, the map, the floorplan and the outlook. They are fabulous!

I also appreciate the book shares with us the Castles by County in the last part of the book, which makes it very clear when you are looking for a specific area to explore.

If you are interested in understanding the Medieval castles in England, this is the book you should land in.

I received an ARC of “A Guide to the Medieval Castles of England” from NetGalley and Pen & Sword Books in exchange for an honest review.

The author, Malcolm Hislop, picked an extraordinary subject to write about. Hislop earned his PhD in Archaeology from the University of Nottingham, so he is most definitely knowledgeable about the subject. The book includes a thorough introduction, a glossary, an impressive bibliography, and an alphabetical gazetteer listing of all of the medieval castles that were built between 1050 CE and 1500 CE—roughly a 450 year time period. In addition, Hislop included a map of England, black and white photographs throughout the text, and a number of different colored plates at the end of the book. I particularly like how the author included a name index at the end where readers can find the names of numerous people—including royal family members—throughout the text.

The author chose to place the glossary at the very beginning of the book, which is a wise choice. However, several important terms were absent from the glossary. For example, “license to crenellate,” “bailey,” and “motte” weren’t included. Architects and archaeologists specializing in castles and castle architecture will be able to pick up this book (and will love it!) and completely understand every single term. But others (like myself) have little knowledge of architecture. For example, I’ll use motte vs. moat. I knew what a moat was, but had no idea about mottes. I couldn’t find the term in the glossary, so I had to look it up online. This may seem easy enough, but I envision people lugging this book around with them while taking day trips to visit these sites, and convenience is the key.

I can state from personal experience that writing for general public consumption is entirely different than writing for an academic audience. The general public, in many cases, needs to be taken by the hand and scholars need to be able to explain things clearly. While the text is clearly legible, it would have helped if the books’ designer(s) had altered the layout just enough to separate the sources from the text on a separate line rather than following it with no interruption. For example:

ASHBY DE LA ZOUCH, Leicestershire (Open - EH). [Entry text here…..]
[Text here…]
[Text here…]
Sources: Fosbrooke 1911; Emery 2000.

I couldn’t find anything on the Pen & Sword website that showed the actual size that this book will be. I’m hoping that the editors will make sure that this book can fit in a glove compartment or is small enough that it can be easily carried by visitors. While this book will no doubt appear in libraries throughout the UK, I envision that this book could definitely earn a place in the cars, purses, and backpacks of visitors. The fact remains that the vast majority of people in the world are not academic scholars, so it would be nice if the author could include an additional line at the end of each entry (after the sources) that included something that was attention grabbing for the general public. For example:

ASHBY DE LA ZOUCH, Leicestershire (Open - EH). [Entry text here…..]
[Text here…]
[Text here…]
Sources: Fosbrooke 1911; Emery 2000.
Did You Know?: This castle includes one of the most impressive medieval castle kitchens that have survived into the modern era. It… [text continues—2 sentences maximum].

Each site has something spectacular to offer, not just for British visitors but foreign visitors as well. If the author can list at least one item at the end, readers might originally skip the text and read that line—which could encourage them to not only read the main text, but also go to see the site itself to experience it for themselves. This can also include whether or not famous people In history visited, fought, or died there; famous wars; even old tales (local gossip about things like ghost citings and other rumors). A lot of this is already included in the text, but for people with short attention spans, highlighting at least one important aspect of each castle on a separate line would help.

Not only is this be superbly knowledgeable (which it is!) but it can also have an amazing fun factor that will draw people in—not only selling more books, but also helping individuals, families, local businesses, and English Heritage to generate more support, including financial, for these beautiful structures. In the Did You Know? section, the author can include an “extra” that can guide visitors to their next destination. For example, an historic pub five kilometers from a castle that serves a ploughman’s lunch using the same breed of cattle that was originally raised on the castle’s estate. This way, visitors can truly experience a medieval castle—first by visiting it and second by eating similar food that the castle owners would have eaten. Or perhaps the descendants of the family are now growing sheep and selling yarn nearby—this would give the visitors a chance to really solidify their experience by meeting one of the family members AND would boost the local economy.

Hislop did a fantastic job identifying these historical structures. And his efforts at helping to encourage people to rediscover these sites on their own cannot be overlooked. It’s been a long time since I’ve set foot in England, and I know that when I return, I will definitely be using Hislop’s guide to discover the past.