Dr Malcolm Hislop: How to Build a Castle Part 1: Fundamentals

Examining the approach to early castle building in England, including choosing a site, earthwork construction (mottes, rampart, and ditches), water defences, early timber, and stonework. Dr Malcolm Hislop read History and Archaeology at the University of Nottingham, where he also completed a doctoral thesis on the fourteenth-century mason and castle builder, John Lewyn of Durham. He has a practical background in the archaeology of buildings, latterly as an independent archaeological consultant. He has a particular interest in the process of design and construction especially as practised in the medieval period. This is the theme of his two most recent books: Castle Builders (2016) and James of St George and the Castles of the Welsh Wars (2020). He now devotes his time to private research.