When Duke William II of Normandy crossed the English Channel in late September of 1066,

he brought something with him.

It was a tool that he planned to use in his quest to take the throne from Harold

Godwinson, a man who William saw as a thief and a liar and pretender to a throne that

was meant for him alone.

This thing that William brought to England was something that we all take for granted today.

A castle.

Yes, it's an invention that was already ancient by the time William landed on the shores

of Sussex, but he brought a new style and approach to an old art.

Before he did anything in England before the battles and long marches across the countryside,

he ordered his soldiers to build a castle.

He built it right there in Pevansy near Hastings where he would later defeat Harold in

battle.

His builders simply found a tall hill, built a wooden tower on top of it and then surrounded

that tower with a tall fence.

No, it wouldn't stand the test of time, but that wasn't the goal.

He simply needed a central place from which to make raids to be a symbol of the Norman

Presence and to put a figurative stake in the ground.

After the conquest, William's nobility replaced those wooden towers with stone and stone,

as you know, can last a very long time.

In fact, some of those original castles now a thousand years old are still standing today,

but their presence and the presence of the ones that followed them are built to serve

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