What is a Castle?

A castle is a type of building built in Europe in the Middle Ages. They were built by wealthy people and you can still see many today. Read the facts below to learn more about these interesting buildings.

•  People first built a castle in 1066. They were built in Britain by the Normans from France.
•  The first castles were wooden but later stone was used.
•  Some castles have a moat which is a ring of water surrounding the castle. If you wanted to get over it, the people in the castle would let down the drawbridge. Moats helped protect castles.
• The walls of the stone castles could be as thick as 10 metres. When people started using cannons, these stone walls were easily destroyed. It didn’t matter how thick they were.
• Castles were dark and cold but they could protect you from enemies. They were very expensive to build and live in. It could cost thousands of pounds just to build part of a castle. Workers sometimes destroyed whole forests to build a new part and then keep it warm.
• You can find castles in many different countries such as Spain, Germany, Britain and Japan. They all had different styles.
• According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Prague Castle is the biggest castle in the world.

Adapted from Kids Konnect website