Military Strongholds

In the heart of central Europe are some of the world's most impenetrable military strongholds. In France, 160 megastructure fortresses still line the country's borders 3 centuries after they were constructed. As solid as ever, how did they withstand attack after attack? Was the secret in their materials? Their shape?

A handy guide to England’s most dramatic castles and strongholds, many of which are open to visitors. Includes an eight-page map section showing the locations of castles covered in the book.

Much more than an excellent gazetteer, an engaging history using contemporary sources shows whose hands the defence of the Anglo-Scottish border was in while Henry V was at Agincourt. Subsequent surveys show how Christopher Dacre forwarded a bold project that linked a string of towers forming a defence against marauding Scots, suggesting new towers to stop gaps, a 'dyke or defence' joining them like a latter-day Hadrian's Wall. Beyond this line were many peles or bastles, homes to the headsmen of the notorious reiving families cursed in 1525 by the Bishops of Durham and Glasgow because of their brutal way of life, giving rise to much romance and legend. Polite society occupied the large castles of the coastal area.