Secrets of the Castle

Historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Peter Ginn and Tom Pinfold turn the clock back to learn the skills of the medieval castle builders - by joining the largest archaeological experiment in the world. Although Britain has some of the finest remaining castles of the medieval period, many of their secrets have been lost in time.

This week historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Tom Pinfold and Peter Ginn discover the secrets to building a castle's defensive structure, and explore the art of medieval combat

Ruth, Peter and Tom enter the surprisingly colourful world of medieval interior design. The castles we see today are scarred by centuries of warfare and weather erosion. Most of their original roofs, carpentry and interior finishes have long since disappeared. But in their heyday they were lavishly decorated.

The team delve deeper into the secrets of the skilled communities who built medieval castles. The stonemasons working on the castle walls are dependent up on blacksmiths, whose metalwork was magical to the medieval mind - set, and upon carpenters employing sophisticated geometry.

As the team's time at Guedelon Castle in France draws to an end historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Tom Pinfold and Peter Ginn look at the castle's place in the wider medieval world. Thirteenth-century Europe was a busy, developing, connected place, where work, trade, pilgrimages and crusadesgave people the opportunity to travel across the continent and beyond.