Anglo Saxon Landscapes at the Time of the Norman Conquest

Anglo Saxon Landscapes at the Time of the Norman Conquest The Anglo-Saxon way of life was dramatically changed by the arrival of the Normans in the later eleventh century. The Normans were better than the Anglo-Saxons at architecture and horticulture when they came into power. Anglo Saxon Landscapes Time Norman Conquest 858705708396.jpg

Anglo Saxon Landscapes Time Norman Conquest 858705708396.jpg

Nonetheless the Normans had to pacify the entire territory before they could focus on home life, domestic architecture, and decoration. Castles were more fundamental designs and often erected on blustery hills, where their people spent both time and space to practicing offense and defense, while monasteries were large stone buildings, commonly situated in the widest, most fertile hollows. The sterile fortresses did not provide for the quiet avocation of horticulture. Berkeley Castle, potentially the most unspoiled style of the early Anglo-Norman style of architecture, still exists in the present day. The keep is reported to have been developed during the time of William the Conqueror. A monumental terrace serves as a hindrance to invaders who would try to mine the walls of the building. On one of these parapets is a picturesque bowling green covered in grass and surrounded by an aged hedge of yew that has been shaped into coarse battlements.

Rome’s First Water Transport Solutions

Prior to 273, when the first elevated aqueduct, Aqua Anio Vetus, was made in Rome, residents who dwelled on hills had to go further down to gather their water from natural sources. When aqueducts or springs weren’t accessible, people dwelling at higher elevations turned to water pulled from underground or rainwater, which was made available by wells and cisterns. To supply water to Pincian Hill in the early sixteenth century, they implemented the new tactic of redirecting the circulation from the Acqua Vergine aqueduct’s underground channel. Throughout the time of its initial building and construction, pozzi (or manholes) were added at set intervals along the aqueduct’s channel. The manholes made it less demanding to thoroughly clean the channel, but it was also possible to use buckets to pull water from the aqueduct, as we witnessed with Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi when he possessed the property from 1543 to 1552, the year he passed away. He didn’t get enough water from the cistern that he had constructed on his property to obtain rainwater. Thankfully, the aqueduct sat directly below his residence, and he had a shaft established to give him accessibility.