For our latest blog post, one of our Castle team, Corey, has been looking into the life of the man who gave Newcastle its castle, Maurice the Engineer, and in doing so, its name. In doing so he’s researched loads of information on medieval masons and their craft.

It all starts somewhere in Scandanavia in the 9th century with a gentleman, or not so gentle Viking called Rollo or Hrolf. Historians are uncertain of his origins and have come up with several differing ones. Written sources in this period are often limited, reading and writing not being essential for everyday life way back when. Most of the information we have on the earlier aspects of his career are from an early medieval historian, Dudo, writing in the 10th century.