THE SOLDIERS

Castles were no use without soldiers to defend them. In peacetime, a small castle might have a garrison of only a dozen soldiers or even fewer. This was just enough to open the gate, operate the portcullis and drawbridge and patrol the walls against stray robbers who tried to break in. They'd be commanded by the constable or castellan, who stood in for the owner and lived in his own rooms (there's a Constable's Gate at Dover Castle). The soldiers slept in a dormitory.

But when attack threatened, you'd pack as many soldiers as you could into the castle. At the great siege of Dover Castle in 1216, 140 knights and perhaps a thousand sergeants (the medieval name for any fully-equipped soldier) defended the fortress against the French.

For hand-to-hand fighting (there was plenty of that at Dover) they'd use swords, spears and axes, with longbows and arrows to keep the enemy at a distance. Many castles had tall cross-shaped loops in their walls for longbow men to shoot from, with smaller loops for deadly crossbows.

During long sieges (as at Kenilworth Castle in 1266) starvation was the enemy's best weapon. The defenders ate horses, dogs, cats, rats and even their leather belts before finally surrendering. Slaughtering surrendered soldiers was considered unsporting-but it did happen.

THE COOK

Cooks were among the busiest castle servants. At Goodrich Castle, Countess Joan's cook 'Isaac of the Kitchen' had to feed up to 200 people two meals a day. He cooked many meats we don't eat today including swans, peacocks, larks and herons, as well as beef, pork, mutton, rabbits and deer caught by Countess Joan's hounds.

On Fridays and many other days throughout the year, people ate fish instead; and Goodrich Castle cooks got through 24,000 herrings in three months as well as oysters and salmon. In winter, with no refrigeration, there was little fresh food. Isaac's assistant Richard the Saucerer livened up meals of salted meat or fish with strong-tasting sauces, using expensive foreign spices which showed off to visitors how rich Countess Joan was. John the Baker was busy every day baking bread, from fine white wheat rolls for the lady's table to rough loaves made from barley, oats or even peas and beans for servants (and horses).

Medieval kitchens (like the one you can still explore at Gainsborough Old Hall) were hot, noisy places, with massive fireplaces for spit-roasting meat and many ovens, and cauldrons for boiling. Fats from cooking were used again and again, or made into candles; the kitchen was locked at night to stop servants stealing fat for a tasty treat.

THE GONG-FARMER

There were no flushing loos in medieval times. Instead, you sat on a stone or wooden board with a hole in it, and the poo (or gong as it was called) dropped through. In castles, loos (also called gongs) were often made to overhang an outside wall, and the poo fell either into the moat (if there was one), into a pit outside the wall or just onto the ground.

As at Peveril Castle, you'll often find loos set high up on the wall; well above the smell, and safe from attackers who might use the hole to get into the castle. Lords' rooms usually had their own private loos, and in Goodrich Castle and Middleham Castle, there were also multi-seater public gongs, where you could chat as you used them.

Though medieval people didn't know about germs, they believed bad smells caused illness. Pongs were strongest in early castles like Rochester, where the poo fell into a cesspit under the keep, and the stink rose up through the rooms. So pits sometimes had to be cleaned out by an unfortunate servant called the 'gong-farmer' and everyone who could moved out while this was happening!

The 'gong-farmer' would shovel the poo into baskets and wheelbarrows, and take it off to bury, or spread on fields as fertiliser. Gong-farming could be dangerous as well as smelly; in 1325 Richard the Raker fell into a cesspit and drowned. So gong-farmers were quite well paid, but people didn't get too close to them.