Abstract :
The great tower of Dudley Castle, in the West Midlands, is re-examined in order to situate it
within the evolutionary sequence of great tower designs. In so doing, it is argued that the origins of
its plan are to be found in the works of the early to mid-thirteenth century, and that the tower itself
was probably begun during the 1260s. Furthermore, it is asserted that the tower represents a
milestone in the thinking that underpinned the redevelopment of castle mottes, and that it is to be
seen as the prime connection between the circle-based plans that dominated motte redevelopments
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and later developments that led, ultimately, to the radically
different, but architecturally successful scheme adopted by the builder of the donjon of Warkworth
Castle in Northumberland.
