The History of Dover Castle

English heritage spent a fortune on Dover Castle about 12 years ago, redecorating it as it would have been in the late 12th century when it was newly built by Henry II. The primary colours were so stark that they were positively offensive to visitors who refused to believe that anything in the Middle Ages could have looked that pristine. It's our misconception of the Middle Ages that is guiding the interpretation now. We've spoken quite a lot about the kind of interior and the luxury side of castles. What about defence? What would you need when you're building a castle in terms of defence? Any number of things. To begin with, we started with Mott and Bailey's, so the