ABSTRACT

Hardly a day passes without some reference to defence being made in the press or on television. In exploring any theme, and one which centres on places of defence is no exception, an essential part of the teacher's task is to provoke discussion. Thus a study of defence for a class in a South Coast town might begin by an examination of the way in which military engineers had built gun emplacements and watchtowers into a stretch of cliff face. Having indicated that 'defence' is reflected in many different ways, the author outlines some approaches through a study of fortifications. The Crusades had a tremendous effect upon castle development: military architects learned from the battles with the Turks that castles could have defences at two levels and that round towers were to be preferred over square towers.