I think an interesting question has been raised as to why there were so few castles in Middle Earth. In medieval times, especially in a dangerous region, there would be cstles every twenty miles or so. Consider Glamorgan, the Marcher Lordship wrested freom the Welsh, which had at least 50 greater or lesser castles over the years.
To try and answer my own question, I suppose that the central authorities were stronger than in medieval Britain, the population density was far, far lower, and the lands were, on a long time scale, more peaceful than medieval Europe.
Any Ideas?
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Rumil of Coedhirion
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