Date: 2003
Description: Shropshire actually boasts the most famous, best preserved and earliest fortified manor house in the country. Stokesay Castle, near Ludlow, was purchased by the rich wool merchant Laurence of Ludlow in 1281. A manor was an estate held by a lord or earl and their principle residence was the manor house. These manors and houses were provided with defences such as a ditch, moat, palisade and crenellations. Indeed some houses were fortified to such an extent that they became known as castles. Although they may be termed castles, the defensive structures were purely for security against robbery, and protection from damage by animals, rather than to resist an organised attack. The walls were often thin and the crenellations more decorative than functional. (Photograph by D. Rose Roberts).
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