Warwick Castle, when built, was erected well above the Avon River to have it be a more difficult task for unwanted "guests" to get it. A wooden tower, built on the enormous motte, was constructed with the thought that it would be there for Henry II, but instead a polygonal shell cover had been raised around the water front's top. Small pieces of the shell enclosure remain today, incorporated in the rebuilt shell, which was constructed long after the first.
In the late fourteenth century, at this time (actually) several more important buildings (great hall and residential blocks) had been put up in the bailey, the castle was passed down to Earl Beauchamp. Earl was one of the first "owners" to have a rebuild-reconstruct plan that was followed through. This major renovation included: reconstructing the great hall and many other buildings on the south-east and west front. Also, a very tall defensive curtain, leading from a gatehouse to a very tall polygonal tower, known as Guy's Tower, was built.
The gatehouse is an incredible building; which was a pair of towers above the doorway passage. Projecting from the gatehouse's east-side is a tall rectangular building leading to another tower. This tower is called Caesar's Tower. The three main stories of the tower are, seperately, vaulted and have stone fireplaces.
The castle's completeness is made possible by the curtain walling and further, much smaller, flanking towers. The west-end wall leads up the motte to the restored shell cover and back down southwards to the south range. All in all, the castle was built for heavy defense and has had its fair share.
The Bodiam Castle was build with symmetrical towers and an open court. The living quarters are spread throughout the sides facing to the interior of the castle and the court. Though the castle is sealed off from the outside world, inside it is open and airy. The way that it was built showed the end of the Middle Ages. The lord's quarters were well connected with an escape route that would lead to at least one of the three different draw bridges. Spiral staircases led up through the towers and other stairways wound their way through the halls and corridors. Though, believed to be strong at the time and a fortress against the enemies, the castle was not built well enough to withstand a large-scale attack. It never has been attacked, however, so it stands very much in excellent condition today.
Windsor began as a very simple design: It was a motte with one bailey on each side. It actually remained a wood and earth building until Henry I began to renovate the castle to stone by constructing a stone shell cover on the motte's top. Later on, Henry II raised the building in the upper bailey. Some of the stone for the job was purchased from quarries at Totternhoe in Bedfordshire. The shell over the motte was later on refaced, probably late in Henry II's time. Inside the new shell, a large great tower was built with pilaster buttresses some of the way up. The motte shell acted as a surrounding base for the great tower. Inside the tower, timber buildings were put up against the walls, leaving a square-shaped central courtyard. The two story, oak-framed buildings contain timberwork believed to have come from the Henry II structures. The tower has been reconstructed and altered several times in the past centuries, and stands today at nearly 65 feet above the height of the old shell enclosure.