Where are all the pre-1066 royal palaces?

Question

The Tower of London, our oldest royal palace was built by William I, but there were monarchs long before this.

Where did royal dynasties of England reside before this - both post-unification under the House of Wessex, and before this era, during the heptarchy?

Answer 1

"Castles only began to be built in England after the Norman Conquest. The Normans built many to secure areas where they faced resistance, but they also built castles as a show of strength. The first castles were made of earth and wood, and could be built extremely quickly.

The most common early type was the Motte and Bailey castle. These castles consisted of a wooden fort on top of a man-made mound (motte) with an enclosed surrounding area (bailey) defended by a tall wooden fence (palisade). A small community could live inside the bailey. Ditch and bank defences surrounded the Motte and Bailey."

http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/year7link...

http://www.ecastles.co.uk/history.html

You can see from the above that the early castles would have fallen into ruins.  Indeed, some of our great stone-built castles have been ravaged by war or nature.  There would be little left of pre-Conquest castles apart from what we now call "earthworks".

Have a look here, too.  There seem to be only 4 pre-Conquest castles in Britain:

http://www.smr.herefordshire.gov.uk/cast...

http://wonderlandsoft.com/castlecontent....

In the very early days, castles didn't exist in the way we think of them.  The early kings probably had a large structure built with wood, and a Great Hall.  These would have gone with the elements, and desertion, etc, long ago.  

Hope this helps!

Edit:

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/...

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/...

Answer 2

Pre-1066 royal residences are all medieval castles, many of which are in ruins now.

List of England's castles, some of these castles dates back to pre-1066

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castles_in_...

Answer 3

I would say most, or maybe even all, of the castles built in the pre-1066 era would be in ruins now.

Answer 4

most castles pre-1066 were made of wood. so they are all gone =[

Answer 5

Tintagel in Cornwall predates the Tower.

I believe, as others have already said, most of them, if they were even built of stone, are nothing but ruined keeps, or donjons, and un enterable.  Many were built of wood, and aren't even remotely still in existence.