Editing Castle Rising Castle (section)

===Utility and symbolism===
Many 20th-century historians have stressed the potential military strength of Castle Rising; R. Allen Brown, for example, concluded that "defence&nbsp;... was the overwhelming consideration in [its] design and construction", and argued that the keep would have been used as a final refuge in the case of attack during a siege.<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|1962|pp=44, 56}}.</ref> [[Beric Morley]] and David Gurney believe that the military strength of the castle could not have failed to impress contemporaries.<ref name="Morley 1997 3"/> Sidney Toy suggested that the forebuilding would have made an effective defensive feature, enabling the defenders to attack intruders as they made their way up the stairs, with Morley and Gurney describing it as "a deadly and near impregnable approach to the castle's interior".<ref>{{harvnb|Toy|1985|p=76}}; {{harvnb|Morley|Gurney|1997|p=3}}.</ref>

Despite this, the defensive qualities of Castle Rising have since been extensively debated. The historian Robert Liddiard argues that the large windows at Castle Rising would have been a significant weakness, as it would have been easy to fire arrows through them from the bailey, and George Garnett has questioned the utility of the defensive arrow slits, which he suggests were not well positioned or designed.<ref>{{harvnb|Liddiard|2005|p=51}}; {{harvnb|Garnett|2000|p=85}}.</ref> The whole site was also overlooked by higher ground, which Liddiard considers would have been a key defensive weakness.<ref name="Liddiard 2000 175–176">{{harvnb|Liddiard|2000|pp=175–176}}.</ref>

Great keeps such as Castle Rising's were also important ceremonially and symbolically in the 12th century, however, and historian Thomas Heslop has described Castle Rising as "a fortress palace", with the keep forming the palace, and the surrounding earthworks the more practical defences.<ref>{{harvnb|Heslop|2003|p=277}}; {{harvnb|Liddiard|2005|pp=53–54}}.</ref> They reflected lordly status: typically their owners had recently advanced up the social scale, as with William d'Aubigny, and were keen to impress others with their new authority.<ref name=Liddiard2005PP53>{{harvnb|Liddiard|2005|pp=53–54}}.</ref>{{efn|The builders of [[Hedingham Castle|Hedingham]] and [[Conisborough Castle|Conisborough]] castles were similarly also new men, keen to reaffirm their new status through constructing grand works.<ref name=Liddiard2005PP53/>}}

With this in mind, the positioning of Castle Rising may have exposed it to higher ground, but it also made it strikingly prominent across the valley.<ref name="Liddiard 2000 175–176"/> The whole entrance to the castle was also designed to communicate to a visitor the status of the castle lord.<ref>{{harvnb|Dixon|1998|pp=55–56}}.</ref> As they came through the gatehouse and past the earthworks into the bailey, the south side of the forebuilding - deliberately facing the entrance - would have been revealed, covered in fashionable carving and decorative features.<ref>{{harvnb|Dixon|1998|pp=48–49}}.</ref> Visitors would then have walked up the stairs of the forebuilding, have paused in a waiting room, originally largely open to the elements, before being allowed through a decorative entrance door.<ref>{{harvnb|Dixon|1998|pp=49–50}}.</ref> The doorway led into the great hall, from where the lord, possibly sat in a throne alcove to the left, would have met the  visitor.<ref>{{harvnb|Dixon|1998|p=50}}.</ref>