Editing Framlingham Castle (section)

===Interpretation===
[[File:Framlingham Stone Head 2.jpg|thumb|175px|One of the five medieval stone heads reset into the walls of the castle [[poorhouse]]]]
The late 12th-century defences at Framlingham Castle have evoked much debate by scholars. One interpretation, put forward for example by historian R. Allen Brown, is that they were relatively advanced for their time and represented a change in contemporary thinking about military defence.<ref>Brown (1962), p.61.</ref> Framlingham has no [[keep]], for example – this had been a very popular feature in previous Anglo-Norman castles, but this castle breaks with the tradition, relying on the curtain wall and mural towers instead.<ref>Liddiard (2005), p.47.</ref> The pattern of ground-level [[arrowslit]]s at Framlingham were similarly innovative for their time, enabling interlocking and flanking fire against attackers.<ref>King, p.84; Liddiard (2005), p.93.</ref> The design of Framlingham's defences is similar in many ways to [[Henry II of England|Henry II]]'s innovative work at [[Dover Castle|Dover]] and [[Orford Castle|Orford]].<ref>Brown (1962), p.66; Stacey, p.5.</ref>

The defensive architecture of the castle also contains various weaknesses. The Inner Court is overlooked by the Bailey, for example; the north of the Inner Court is largely exposed, while the positioning of arrow-slits in the curtain wall ignores much of the castle.<ref name=autogenerated1>Alexander, p.24.</ref> The open-backed mural towers, whilst cheaper to build than closed towers, could not have been easily defended once the wall had been penetrated, and because they projected only a little way from the wall, they provided very little options for [[Enfilade and defilade|enfilading]] fire against attackers close to the walls.<ref>Toy, p.171; King, p.92.</ref> These weaknesses have been used by historians such as Robert Liddiard to argue that the architecture of castles such as Framlingham were influenced by cultural and political requirements as well as purely military intent.<ref>Liddiard (2005), p.6.</ref>

Focusing on the cultural and political use of the architecture at Framlingham, historian D. Plowman has put forward a revisionist interpretation of the castle's architecture in the late medieval period. Plowman suggests that the castle was intended to be entered from the north end of the Lower Court, passing through the ornamental gardens, with travellers then entering through the gate by the Prison Tower – in this interpretation, more of a [[barbican]] than a tower – and then up into the Inner Court.<ref name=PowmanAlexanderP24>Plowman, pp.44–6, cited Alexander, p.24.</ref> This would have provided high status visitors with dramatic views of the castle, reinforcing the political prestige of the owners.<ref name=PowmanAlexanderP24/> Historian Magnus Alexander disputes the practicality of this arrangement, although agrees that the route would have been more practical for hunting parties proceeding to the local parklands.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

{{wideimage|Framlingham pan 2.jpg|1000px|Panorama looking into the Inner Court from the south wall. (Swipe left or right)}}