Thornbury Castle.

Have a little read: ... Thornbury Castle In 1508 The Duke of Buckingham (Edward, Earl of Stafford) started to build a castle at Thornbury. He built onto the existing medieval manor house where he stayed as a child. In 1521 he was executed for treason before he had a chance to finish it. It has puzzled historians for many years whether the castle was built for defence or just to show off. The question I am going to try and find the answer to is: "Was Thornbury castle the last English castle to be built with a serious purpose of defence?" Thornbury Castle has features that make it look like a castle and features that make it look like a palace. For this reason some historians have called it a "Tudor castle-palace". Features that make it look like a castle: Arrow slits: Some of the walls have arrow slits, a few of which are also crossed for crossbows. These could give some protection from an arrow attack, but in the 15th century cannons were becoming more popular and the use of arrows in battle was declining. Moat: There is a ditch around the outer walls that also goes behind the barracks. This is most likely to have been a moat. John Leland who, in 1541, wrote about a stream that Buckingham re-routed to fill the moat backs up this theory. Barracks: In the outer court there are remains of barracks, which is unusual and atypical of the time as it was illegal to have a private army. The barracks had very thick walls and up to 400 soldiers could be housed there. The ground floor contained stables and the upper floors were living quarters. Some people thought Buckingham built the barracks because he was planning to seize the throne. The barracks were built facing Wales where Buckingham had many angry tenants. He could have been worried about an attack so built barracks to offer better protection. Portcullis: There are 2 portcullises. One is in the barracks, also facing Wales, probably built as another line of defence. The other is on the West Front. This was more likely to have been built for decorative reasons because there was a small wooden door next to it that would have been easy to get through. Machicolations: These are behind the portcullis in the West Front. They are holes from which boiling water or oil could be poured onto attackers. Windows: On the West