The View to the South-east

The View to the South-east. Conisbrough Castle. In the Middle Ages the rooftop level of the keep looked very different to what you can see now. The crenellated walls were higher and protected the guards on duty. The turrets had viewing platforms and small rooms which provided shelter but also contained a bread oven and rain water cisterns to supply the keep's basins. The rooftop also offered views of the lord's domain., Medieval castles dominated and changed the landscape. Lords created deer parks, built mills, ran farms and took stone from the quarries. If you stood here in the 12th century you would have seen the Conisbrough mill down by the Kearsley Brook and a deer park further away to the south. The mill provided flour for the castle and earned money by charging the tenants for grinding their grain. The deer park was a wildlife farm providing food for the lord's table - it was a breeding ground for fallow deer and it had rabbit warrens and fish ponds. Some place names, for example, Conisbrough Parks, Park Lane and Conisbrough Parks Farm still indicate the existence of the deer park.