The Children's Playground

Many many years ago, in a time that we call The Medieval Ages, there were knights who rode on massive horses called Destriers. They were bred to be fierce horses who were strong enough to carry the weight of a knight in full armour, and to wear special armour themselves. The destriers were trained to kick and bite opposing knights and their horses. The knight is holding a lance and a shield. This shield has a lion crest on it which means that this knight is a member of the king's family.

Knights lived in castles which were usually made of stone held together by mortar. The roof was made of wood and often covered in sheets of lead. A castle was the strongest fortification known to man in its day and could withstand a siege by an opposing army very easily.

Castles were built all over the world. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Crusader knights from Europe went to the Middle East and saw a very different type of castle. Often they were very ornate and beautiful to look at but, once the gates were closed, it was impossible to get in.

Inside the very first castles, the lord and his lady usually made do with very small accommodations which were drab and drafty. As the lord became wealthier, he often expanded his castle and had more sumptuous rooms built so he could have huge banquets with rich foods and show his enemies how powerful and rich he was. They loved long, elegant staircases just like the one you see here.

In countries like Turkey, they built their castles with wonderful domes. Sometimes they even decorated the roof of the dome with pure gold and travellers could see its glistening shape for hundreds of miles.

Your house probably has a basement but castles had dungeons. In a dungeon, which was often wet, cold and miserable, the lord would keep the prisoners he was holding for ransom. Sometimes the prisoner would die of disease before his rescue ever came. Some lords kept torture devices, like the rack, in their dungeons. Not very nice!

When they weren't out fighting, the knights often took their ladies for a stroll in the garden, which they called a plesaunce. Because a knight was sworn to be truthful, brave, and protective of his lady and his people, it became known as The Age of Chivalry. Some modern castles in the U.S. replicate this today.

At each of the four corners of the castle stood a massive tower. It had a winding or circular staircase inside with openings that led to rooms. A tower could withstand just about everything except a well-aimed cannon ball. In fact, because of the invention of gunpowder, castles could not be defended and lords stopped building them. When peace came, castles were abandoned in favour of palaces.

Find more wonderful castles in Britain! Click here!

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The plesaunce, or garden, often featured carefully-grown hedges in complex designs. The Crusaders had seen these in the Middle East and tried to copy them at home. Some hedges grew so high, and were so complex, that you could become lost in them. When that happened, they realized that they had built a maze! The secret to getting out of any maze is to put your right hand on the right wall of the maze and keep walking until you reach the exit. It's true!

Knights had squires whose job it was to help them get everything on correctly. It might look heavy and complicated, but they were designed by brilliant craftsmen (called armourers) who made them as light and flexible as possible. The worst thing about wearing armour was how hot it was outside at the time because knights quickly became overheated and might faint. The sword was the knight's favourite weapon. A famous knight, Sir Humphrey de Bohun, had a sword that was taller than he was and he had to use both hands to swing it!

This is Milo the Wonderdog's favourite castle of all. It's called Bodiam Castle (you pronounce it 'Bod-Yum') and it's in Sussex in England. It sits in its own moat and can only be reached by a drawbridge. It's open to the public so be sure to see it if you go to England!

Written by:

David Boyd