Function
The building is traditionally called a castle yet apparently was not originally built purely for defensive purposes. The structure displays only late mediaeval fabric, suggesting a much later date than the nearby true castle of Ogmore, which was originally erected hurriedly as an earth and timber motte and bailey fort used in effecting the Norman Conquest of Glamorgan. There is no strong evidence to suggest that Candleston was likewise raised on the site of an earlier castle-ringwork, though the circular trace of the flimsy courtyard wall around the tip of the promontory may reflect an earlier structure. Its strategic position does however suggest some defensive function. The presence of the former warren, or game preserve, immediately to the south may be significant. Candleston may have been designed as the residence of the Warrener, who whilst being an important feudal official, might not have merited, or been entitled to, a heavily fortified building. A local legend relates that it was the site of an ancient oratory belonging to a Celtic chapel. The stepped base of a Calvary Cross, of unreported date, with the fallen cross itself lying alongside, was found near the windmill uncovered by sand in 1823.
Read more about this topic: Candleston Castle
Famous quotes containing the word function:
“Uses are always much broader than functions, and usually far less contentious. The word function carries overtones of purpose and propriety, of concern with why something was developed rather than with how it has actually been found useful. The function of automobiles is to transport people and objects, but they are used for a variety of other purposes—as homes, offices, bedrooms, henhouses, jetties, breakwaters, even offensive weapons.”
—Frank Smith (b. 1928)
“The function of literature, through all its mutations, has been to make us aware of the particularity of selves, and the high authority of the self in its quarrel with its society and its culture. Literature is in that sense subversive.”
—Lionel Trilling (1905–1975)
“To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward.”
—Margaret Fairless Barber (1869–1901)