The Evolution of the British Castle – A Short HistoryWritten by Stuart Bazga
Since Greek and Roman times, man has strived to establish some type of a fortification for protection and shelter. Over pursuing centuries these evolved into a form of military and residential places known as castles.When William Conqueror, conquered England in 1066, his armies quickly erected wooden palisades (a fence of stakes or iron railings forming an enclosure or defence) establishing a presence in former Saxon kingdoms. Many of these fortresses were constructed on sites that had previously been fortified in pre-Roman times, then by Romans themselves and lastly by Saxons who established first kingdoms there. As times became less turbulent and settled, Normans became integrated into every day life and were eventually accepted by local populace. These wooden palisades slowly began to disappear, to be replaced with stone. Any new fortifications built from that time onward were constructed entirely from stone. In Europe, this manifested into a design consisting of a single tower and outer buildings. In mountains there was no shortage of rocky hilltops on which to build these new bastions. In lower lying areas, however, islands and peninsulas were much sought after for their ease of defence. In British Isles Normans began to dig ditches to create a small hill or mound when one couldn’t be found to build on. These mounds became first "motte and bailey" castles, some of which were built on top of old Iron Age hill forts. A "motte" was conical hill of dirt that was built as main defence for "keep", which was were Lord and his family resided and sought refuge whilst trying to govern their surrounding territory. The keep was basically a tower with one room per floor and usually contained 3 to 4 floors. Later, a walled area known as a “bailey” began to appear around keep with another at base of motte. Its function was to help protect keep's support functions which grew up around original tower: grain storage, wood and metal workshops, military barracks, wells, chapels and sometimes a garden or a great hall where formal functions and meetings were held. Over intervening years, design and style of British castles would appear in various forms throughout castle building era. Eventually, motte itself began to be replaced with stone and a new style of British castle began to appear. These castles were built without motte altogether. The tower keep, however, remained. The ditch that had separated “motte” from bailey became a moat (a deep, wide defensive ditch surrounding a castle or town), either dry or stone-lined, or filled with water from a nearby river or lake. These Moats became a significant part of castles design.
| | Helping New Parents and Infants TransitionWritten by Veola Momon
Helping New Parents and Infants TransitionOf all research done on childcare and early childhood education you'd think someone would do studies on fear that make couples looney in head after they become parents. The biggest thing for a new parent is fear. Fear of what they would do if anything happened to their little Johnny or little Sue. This advice was given to them by their loving and caring family, friends, experts and professionals that never had a child. Truly all of that wonderful advice was meant to help new parents, but it set off a stampede of stuff inside of them even they didn't know they had. So for three months they are homebound with their new baby while entertaining their family and friends, hearing all of protection laws for infant from grandparents, aunts and uncles, godparents and admirers while parnts forgetting they have a world of other living awaiting them when they come up for air. When they do come up for air to breath back into rest of living they are confronted with questions that begin to shake fabric of their existance. They have to return to work, they must find perfect caregiver and they must begin "Act" of parenting. So now where are they? They have read all books on how to care for their baby, how to teach, exercise, feed and love their baby. What not to let others do or not do around baby and all wonderful advice from family and best friends and experts. Behind doors of a child development center: The notebook of a child "Caregiver". The way to choose a child care center, what to look for that is never revealed and things that are hid that a center may not want you to know. 1. Always have more than one visit. 2. Ask if you may make a random visit. 3. Donot pretend to smile. If you are nervous, be nervous so it can pass easily. 4. Do not be embarassed, write all of your questions down you will remember to ask them. Once you enter a room with infants you loose your thinking power because infants take your mind off why you are there. 5. When you find a center you are comfortable with, TRANSITION is sealer to you and your baby beig happy there. 6. A poor transition creates stress. It will leave you uninformed, nervous, in a state of emergency at all times, fearful, worried
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