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Engraving of Hedingham Castle, Essex
Engraving: from 'The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain', J. Britton (1835)
Source: RIBA British Architectural Library

Around 1140, the Norman baron Aubrey De Vere the Second decided to improve his family fortress at Hedingham, adding a fine stone keep at the centre of the castle.

In this engraving, Britton conveys the confidence of De Vere and his fellow Normans. Concentrating on the blunt keep, the tower is shown as both refuge and symbol of power. Despite its age, the stonework remains sharp, its hard exterior further emphasised by the windows that punch through the walls, small and dark, peering out like eyes. What little decoration there is can be found around the arches of the uppermost windows, and the door, hovering at first floor level. The tower appears almost to grow out of the earth, being fused to the great rock.

How much more impressive this picturesque fragment would have been if the other buildings and outer defences had survived. Traces of them can be seen around the entrance, the ghostly impression of a door and gables long lost.