NORMAN DWELLINGS

Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the splendid architecture of Normandy spread across the UK. The surviving structures, 900 years later, include dozens of churches, and some notable castles in various states of preservation, depending on their individual histories in the years since. It is thought that the Normans built some 500 castles following their 1066 invasion, but many were of the motte and bailey design - a ditch surrounding a mound topped with a wooden fortification. These tended to disappear as the need for them declined, but others were rebuilt in stone into much more substantial structures. Around 90 of these survive, many of them in strikingly good order and others as well-preserved ruins.

The Normans also introduced the fortified manor house - a moated dwelling - to Britain. As the need for defence declined, non-fortified manors were built. The fortifications of existing manors were removed or built over with new construction.

Over the years, the titles ‘Hall,’ ‘Manor’, ‘Place’ and ‘Castle’ have become indiscriminately mixed or corrupted, blurring the distinction between their origins. An early example of a manor house dating from the 13th century, the Prebendal Manor at Nassington, Northamptonshire, has its roots in Saxon times and is the oldest inhabited dwelling in the county. Its great hall features the round-topped arches of the period, but the whole complex, which includes a slightly more recent tythe barn and a dovecote, is on a scale small enough to be accommodated on an average layout.