In the very few castles which saw their origin during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in Britain, domestic comforts and attempts at effective defensive works appear to have run side by side, often to the almost total exclusion of the latter. The substitution of brick for stone masonry in many of these was in itself a startling change, but when combined with this, large and lofty apartments were introduced, many with magnificent carved and moulded wooden ceilings, windows of large dimensions filled with beautiful tracery characteristic of Perpendicular architecture, walls hung with rich tapestry and decorated with gorgeous heraldic devices and trophies of arms, costly furniture and other fittings betokening an advanced education in domestic requirements,--the feeling was borne in upon the minds of the nation that the feudal castle, as such, had seen its day, and that the age of the baronial residence and the manorial dwelling-house had superseded it. In these later castellated residences the kitchens, larders, cellars, dining halls, residential rooms and general offices became matters of supreme moment, the defensive works of secondary importance, but designed nevertheless with a view to impressiveness and an assumption of strength which they rarely possessed. Within these lordly halls the noble owners held high revel, while troops of servitors, henchmen, and servants of every degree swarmed in the passages and halls in marked contradistinction to the old time grim men-at-arms, bearded archers, and steel-clad retainers of the feudal fortress. There was naturally a period of transition during which the characteristics of the Castle predominated over the domestic influences, and those which sprang into existence during the reigns of Henry IV. and V. very ably show this feature. To this intermediate period we may ascribe those structures which were chiefly reared by the spoils acquired upon the Continent by soldiers of fortune who "followed the wars," and returning to their native land built palatial residences for themselves, out of their lawful, or it may be, ill-acquired, gains. Many of these were based upon designs which the adventurers had seen abroad, thus our first example, Bodiam, is a replica of many castles which were to be found at the time of its erection in Gascony. _Bodiam Castle_ is one of the finest in Sussex, and certainly one of the most picturesque in England; it is situated upon the Rother, which here forms the boundary between Sussex and Kent. The building owes its origin to Sir Edward Dalyngrugge, who had served in France and Spain under the Black Prince with singular credit to himself and marked advantage to his worldly estate. A portion of this superfluous wealth was expended in erecting Bodiam Castle, which, while affording every comfort as a residence, possessed most of the essential qualities for effective defence.