This is a detailed guide to the physical remains, history and topography of the castles of northwest Greece from the early Byzantine period to the eve of the First World War.

'Neil Oliver writes beautifully - letting us see ourselves in a new light.' - Professor Alice Roberts 'Oliver is an evocative storyteller, vividly bringing his tales to life' BBC History Magazine ......................................................................................................................................................................... For longer than recorded history there have been tales of spirits and of places where our hackles rise and our skin turns cold. Bestselling historian Neil Oliver travels the British Isles on a deliciously spine-chilling tour that spans several centuries and explores more than 20 sites - castles, vicarages and towers, lonely shorelines and forgotten battlefields - to unpick their stories.. Oliver invokes his family's history alongside that of kings and queens past as he probes why our emotions and senses are heightened in certain locations where the separation between dimensions seems gossamer thin. Our landscape is riven with these places, creaking from the weight of the secrets they hold, the echoes of tragedy and dark deeds . From Inverness to Devon, Co Dublin to Norfolk, Hauntings casts an enjoyably eerie glow with stories that, told generation after generation, are inextricable from place - and considers why they matter.

Runner-up for the book award in the 1994 British Archaeological Awards, Timber Castles is the standard work on the subject and hugely influential in its field. Its reissue makes available again this much sought after text with a new preface by Robert Higham. Some of the greatest medieval castles survive only as earthworks and in pictures and written accounts . . . because they were made of timber. Robert Higham and Philip Barker, who excavated in detail the timber castle at Hen Domen in Wales, have brought together evidence of all kinds to produce the first comprehensive survey of this neglected and little-known type of fortification.

Castles are among the most mysterious buildings on earth. Their grimly silent stones are signposts to a past filled with high adventure, grim tragedies, and glorious victories. Ghosts, hauntings, and other paranormal phenomena are frequently reported from castles. Do strange paranormal powers lurk among their ancient ruins?

The World's Most Mysterious Castles takes you on a journey through hidden chambers and subterranean tunnels of castles all over the world. Their walls served the sinister needs of spies, traitors, and assassins. Do the spirits of attackers and defenders who died in long-forgotten sieges still linger where they fell? Screams of unbearable pain and despair were muffled within their deepest, darkest torture dungeons. Do they echo there still?

Arnold Taylor, the leading expert on the subject, provides an authoritative guide to the castles, begun between 1277 and 1295, in a short compass. He deals with their joint and individual features, dates, planning and construction.

This book takes an affectionate journey around some of the atmospheric and occasionally mysterious ruins and follies that can be found in East Anglia. It might be a building that has a particular historical, cultural or other significant interest but which is, at the time of writing, in such a state of disrepair that its restoration is either impractical or unlikely - or, in the cases of particularly old buildings, for example castles, not a consideration for obvious reasons. Or it might be a folly, a building that is still wholly complete and standing but was solely constructed for ornamental purposes and often for no practical use other than for the planners involved to 'prove' that it could be done. With a design that is often deliberately eye-catching, eccentric or even controversial in appearance, Edward Couzens-Lake investigates the reasons for this quirk, looking at, for example, the Victorian 'fashion' for making buildings that had a utilitarian purpose, such as workhouses or water towers, as ornamental in design as possible. Featuring forty-five such sites that fit into those descriptions, together with an accompanying set of photographs, each ruin or folly selected will include a concise and informative narrative relating to the reasons for its construction, its history and, where relevant, its present day function. Edward Couzens-Lake also looks at the future of some of the ruins and follies featured - do they have a future? Are they under threat? Might they eventually be lost to the landscape altogether, or do they have a function to play in the modern world? This charming and fascinating book looks to answer some of these questions.

Discover all the foul facts about the Measly Middle Ages with history's most horrible headlines. All the foul facts about the Measly Middle Ages are ready to uncover, including: why chickens had their bottoms shaved a genuine jester's joke and what ten-year-old treacle was used for * fully illustrated throughout and packed with horrible stories - with all the horribly hilarious bits included * with a fresh take on the classic Horrible Histories style, perfect for fans old and new * the perfect series for anyone looking for a fun and informative read * Horrible Histories has been entertaining children and families for generations with books, TV, stage show, magazines, games and 2019's brilliantly funny Horrible Histories: the Movie - Rotten Romans. Get your history right here and collect the whole horrible lot. Read all about it!

In the present volume an attempt is made to trace the growth of the general principles of medieval fortification, with special reference to castles, in which, within their limited area, the most complete illustration of those principles is given. In order to give greater clearness to the account of their evolution, a prefatory chapter deals generally with earlier types of fortification in Britain, and the critical period of Saxon and Danish warfare is treated in the second chapter with some detail. This leads us to the early Norman castle of earthwork and timber; and the stone fortifications to which this gave place are introduced by a brief account of the progress of siegecraft and siege-engines. The Norman castle and its keep or great tower are then described. The developments of the later part of the twelfth century and the arrangements of the thirteenth-centuryviii castle, with those of the dwelling-house within its enceinte, follow and prepare the way for the castles of the reign of Edward I. which represent the highest effort of military planning. In the last two chapters is related the progress of the transition from the castle to the fortified manor-house, which followed the introduction of fire-arms into warfare and preceded the Renaissance period. It will be seen that the castle is taken as the unit of military architecture throughout; but illustrations are constantly drawn from walled towns, which are, in fact, the castles of communities, and in the eleventh chapter extended allusion is made to the chief features of their plan and defences.

Archaeological investigations of the early eighteenth century fortifications in Casale Monferrato, northern Italy.

This collection of essays presents an overview of the fortifications that guarded the frontiers and borderlands between Native Americans, French settlers, and Anglo-American settlers. Civilian, provincial, or imperial, the fortifications examined here range from South Carolina's Fort Prince George to Fort Frontenac in Ontario and Fort de Chartres in Illinois.

It has been said in China that a city without a wall would be as inconceivable as a house without a roof. Even the smallest village invariably had some form of defensive wall, while the Great Wall of China was an attempt to build a barrier along the most vulnerable border of the entire country. Yet the finest examples of walled communities were China's walled cities, whose defensive architecture surpassed anything along the Great Wall. This book traces the evolution of the walled city from the 3,000 year old remains of the beaten earth walls of the Shang dynasty to the huge stone fortifications of the Ming dynasty. Stephen Turnbull, expert military historian, reveals the defensive structures from all the major ancient Chinese cities, and discusses how they protected entire communities, and not just castle dwellers, with colour artwork reconstructions, maps and archive photographs.

The Japanese invasion and occupation of Korea, which lasted from 1592 to 1598, was the only occasion in Japanese history when samurai aggression was turned against a foreign country. During the occupation of Korea the Japanese built 25 "wajo" or castles. Unlike the castles built in Japan, these castles were never developed or modernized after the Japanese departure meaning that the details of late 16th century castle construction are better preserved than at many other sites.
Written by Stephen Turnbull, an expert on the subject, this book examines the castles built by the Japanese in Korea, as well as the use the samurai made of existing Korean fortifications, particularly city walls. This resulted in curious hybrid fortifications which dominated the landscape until the Japanese were pushed out of the peninsula by a furious onslaught from the huge Chinese armies.

The Teutonic Knights were the most warlike of the religious orders, and this is reflected in the architecture they left behind. The Teutonic memorials are the magnificent castles they built as a result of their conquest of Prussia. They were all built of brick, and raised during a period of less than a century and a half between 1230 and 1380. Many of these dramatic fortresses still exist today in what is now Poland, and provide a unique example of an architectural style that is both well defined and very closely reflects the nature of the men who created it. This book details the history of these spectacular fortresses from their inception through to their eventual decline and fall.

In the last years of his reign Henry VIII needed a radically modern system of defense to protect England and its newly Protestant Church. Anticipating a foreign onslaught from Catholic Europe after his split from Rome, Henry energetically began the construction of more than 20 stone forts to protect England's major ports and estuaries, whilst modernizing existing fortresses from Hull to Milford Haven. The majority of this was paid for with his new-found fortune plundered from the monasteries, allowing Henry to employ a strong workforce well supplied with materials.
Aided by excellent full-color illustrations and a range of photographs and diagrams, Peter Harrington explores the departure from artillery-vulnerable medieval castle designs to the low, sturdy stone fortresses inspired by European ideas. He explains the scientific care taken to select sites for these castles, and the transition from medieval to modern in this final surge of English castle construction. With many of these fortifications still standing today, this is an ideal book for fortification enthusiasts and tourists alike.