Castle town

{{Short description|Settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle}}

{{about|generic concept|other uses|Castletown (disambiguation)|other uses|Castleton (disambiguation)}}

{{More citations needed|date=January 2023}}

File:Caernarfon.1610 cropped.jpg in 1610 by John Speed, a classic example of a castle town]]

A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, and England particularly, it is common for cities and towns that were not castle towns to instead have been organized around cathedrals.

File:Citadel of Saigon before 1835.png (Bagua citadel) before 1835.]]

Towns organized around Japanese castles are called {{lang|ja-latn|jōkamachi}} {{Nihongo||城下町|}}. Castles are typically built near towns to gain and equip supplies.{{Cite web |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |title=Medieval Castle |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Medieval_Castle/ |access-date=2022-12-23 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en |archive-date=2022-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230173331/https://www.worldhistory.org/Medieval_Castle/ |url-status=live }}