History
The concentric castle is effectively two castles in one. There is an outer wall with a gatehouse as in an ordinary castle, but the concentric castle has one or more inner wall with one or more gatehouse. The diagram shows the gatehouse to the outer bailey on the left side of the castle. To gain access to the inner bailey, where the keep is located, you have to travel the length of the castle to find the gatehouse on the right hand side. An attacking army, who managed to get through the first gatehouse, would find that they are under attack by the castle's soldiers from all sides as they tried to get around to the other side of the castle. Both the inner and outer baileys would have had extra buildings (not shown here) to house soldiers, servants and animals. The Keep at the centre of the castle was the most secure location and this is where the King or Lord would have lived. The inner walls tended to be higher than the outer walls so they could look down and protect them.
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