odiam Castle's construction was begun in 1386 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge who was granted a licence to crenellate his mansion at Bodiam. Instead of just improving the current building, Dalyngrigge took the opportunity to build a completely new castle from scratch on a new site near by. Dalyngrigge won his spurs fighting in France with Sir Robert Knowles and amassed a large amount of wealth along the way. Bodiam was built in the valley of the Rother, a river which at the time could have been used by large ships to travel inland. The shape of the castle was probably based on designs Dalyngrigge saw in France and could be based on the castle of Villandraut in Aquitaine. The castle is surrounded by a wide moat and is rectangular in shape. At each of the four corners are tall drum towers and half way along the east and west sides are high rectangular towers.