ABSTRACT
The development of the fabric of the castle was important, but not uniquely important. There are certain general considerations to be taken in connection with the study of the development of castles. The modern observer is only too eager to take what may be called a Darwinian view of history, in which each period, if not actually better than its predecessor is at least more highly developed in some branches of technology. Technological discoveries, indeed, are seldom forgotten, though the necessities of their age may not call for them, and its disasters may interfere with their use. There is an earlier view; the Middle Ages looked back to a classical antiquity from which their age was decadent. Politically this was in some degree correct; technologically it made little sense. The motte-and-bailey castle of Liddel Strength stands so immediately on the border that its best plan includes a couple of acres on the far side of Liddel Water.
