Castle

Blurb

Castle is a Caldecott Honor award-winning book by David Macaulay published in 1978. The book offers a detailed illustrated description of Aberwyvern Castle]], a fictional castle built between 1283 and 1288. Like many of Macaulay's other works, it consists of a written description of the construction process accompanied by pen-and-ink drawings. A great deal of detail is put into the descriptions, and he describes the workers and tools that would have been needed for the construction of a medieval castle.
The castle is fictional but the historical context is real. Macaulay places its construction in North West Wales between 1283 and 1288, when Edward I of England was in fact building a string of castles to help his conquest of that land. Much of the layout and architecture of Aberwyvern castle is extrapolated from these Welsh castles, which Macaulay visited as a boy, and in particular Harlech Castle, which it closely resembles in design, siting and general appearance.
The castle is constructed on a rocky mount jutting out into the River Wyvern. It is square in plan and has two concentric lines of fortification.