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Can you say why the king needed his hunting lodge to be well fortified? (and was this common?)
The sources don't comment, but my thoughts... I suspect the castle would have been secure, but not necessarily good for defence. The water-filled moat could, I think, have been drained by attacking the dam, which wasn't defended with a barbican or similar protection (for contrast, see Kenilworth, where the dam was well covered by surrounding defences). The whole site would have been secure from infantry and crossbowmen, but would have been slightly exposed to medieval artillery, although only the King usually possessed such siege engines (at least, until the First Barons War). I suspect the intent was to produce a secure site, which couldn't easily be attacked by bandits or similar miscreants, and which looked suitably antiquated (it would have looked a bit like a converted early Norman site, after all), with a rather splendid water feature which would have reflected the castle nicely in the evening, all surrounded by deep dark forests - great for a royal retreat and a bit of hunting. The antiquated flavour might also have appealed, given that John had just acquired the lands (you see this a lot when people acquired the new estates - they wanted to give the impression they'd been there for ever).
Hchc2009 (
talk) 07:33, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply
OK, fair enough. I imagine that having a secure hunting lodge also discouraged the local nobility from trying anything silly ;)
Nick-D (
talk) 07:59, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply
"the government of the young Henry III" - please link Henry III
"Historic England consider it to be an unusual site, with "few parallels nationally"" - the source provides several reasons for the site being unusual, and adding this would strengthen the article.
They focus on the plan (the moat design being the unusual feature) - I've added in some clarity on that.
Hchc2009 (
talk) 07:41, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply
"a date in the reign of King Stephen" - please link his name, and add the dates of his reign to help clarify this point.
File:Sauvey Castle plan.png probably needs a PD-UK tag as well, but is clearly PD
Nick-D (
talk) 01:39, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply
I think there are no PD-UK tags for this type of image any more, they were deprecated a while back - the UK 70-year rule is covered by the existing tag. Happy to be pointed at one though!
Hchc2009 (
talk) 07:41, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply
OK - commons tags do my head in. The reason that this is PD in the US should do the trick. I'm happy to pass this article: nice work once again with it.
Nick-D (
talk) 07:59, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply
Thanks for the review!
Hchc2009 (
talk) 07:41, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply
This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a
list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the
full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject United Kingdom, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the
United Kingdom on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join
the discussion and see a list of open tasks.United KingdomWikipedia:WikiProject United KingdomTemplate:WikiProject United KingdomUnited Kingdom articles
Can you say why the king needed his hunting lodge to be well fortified? (and was this common?)
The sources don't comment, but my thoughts... I suspect the castle would have been secure, but not necessarily good for defence. The water-filled moat could, I think, have been drained by attacking the dam, which wasn't defended with a barbican or similar protection (for contrast, see Kenilworth, where the dam was well covered by surrounding defences). The whole site would have been secure from infantry and crossbowmen, but would have been slightly exposed to medieval artillery, although only the King usually possessed such siege engines (at least, until the First Barons War). I suspect the intent was to produce a secure site, which couldn't easily be attacked by bandits or similar miscreants, and which looked suitably antiquated (it would have looked a bit like a converted early Norman site, after all), with a rather splendid water feature which would have reflected the castle nicely in the evening, all surrounded by deep dark forests - great for a royal retreat and a bit of hunting. The antiquated flavour might also have appealed, given that John had just acquired the lands (you see this a lot when people acquired the new estates - they wanted to give the impression they'd been there for ever).
Hchc2009 (
talk) 07:33, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply
OK, fair enough. I imagine that having a secure hunting lodge also discouraged the local nobility from trying anything silly ;)
Nick-D (
talk) 07:59, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply
"the government of the young Henry III" - please link Henry III
"Historic England consider it to be an unusual site, with "few parallels nationally"" - the source provides several reasons for the site being unusual, and adding this would strengthen the article.
They focus on the plan (the moat design being the unusual feature) - I've added in some clarity on that.
Hchc2009 (
talk) 07:41, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply
"a date in the reign of King Stephen" - please link his name, and add the dates of his reign to help clarify this point.
File:Sauvey Castle plan.png probably needs a PD-UK tag as well, but is clearly PD
Nick-D (
talk) 01:39, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply
I think there are no PD-UK tags for this type of image any more, they were deprecated a while back - the UK 70-year rule is covered by the existing tag. Happy to be pointed at one though!
Hchc2009 (
talk) 07:41, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply
OK - commons tags do my head in. The reason that this is PD in the US should do the trick. I'm happy to pass this article: nice work once again with it.
Nick-D (
talk) 07:59, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply
Thanks for the review!
Hchc2009 (
talk) 07:41, 16 April 2017 (UTC)reply