Whilst working on my fantasy series, I realized I know nothing about castles. I’ve seen plenty of castles, but the actual vocabulary for the parts and structures of a castle—not so much. I couldn’t find much on Tumblr itself for references, but maybe I didn’t look hard enough. None the less, I decided to post whatever I research into a series.
Please feel free to let me know if anything should be added, what sort of castle research you're looking for, etc.
In this post—under the cut—I’m covering the main exterior structures of a castle, with some minor interior inclusions, such as a dungeon, etc.
Allure/Wall-Walk
A walkway on a wall
Made it easy to move quickly between towers
High position let sentries watch for approaching enemies
Defenders could use as a platform to fight against enemies
Important security features in castles
Accessed via: ladders, wooden stairs, and other towers
Paved with stone slabs
Chemin-De-Ronde: wall-walk that spans around entire castle
Arcade
A covered passageway with arches along one or both sides
Blind Arcade: row of arches supported on columns, either free-standing or attached to a wall
Bailey/Ward
A courtyard enclosed by the outer wall of a castle
The area below the motte
Food and animals were stored here
There were inner and outer baileys
Used for exercise yards, parade grounds, and occasional corrals
Courtyards
Barbican
A walled passage projecting from the front of a gatehouse
A fortified outpost or gateway
Any tower situated over a gate or bridge, used for defense
Confined approaching enemy to a narrow front, leaving them open for easy attack
Protected castle entrance
Bartizan
An overhanging corner turret at the top of a tower
Supported by corbels
Crow’s Nest
Almost always located on the highest points of a castle
Allowed a warder to see all around
Bastion/Bulwark
A structure that projected outward from the curtain wall
Each corner of the curtain wall has a bastion
Long walls had a centered bastion, or multiple
Allowed defenders to cover dead ground (blind spots) and provide crossfire for the curtain wall and adjacent bastions
Battlement
A low, protective wall along a walk-wall or the roof of a tower with crenellations for shooting through
Often had openings called murder holes (machicolations) in floor to allow missiles or burning objects to be dropped on attackers
Berm/Berme
The level area between curtain wall and the moat/ditch
Intended to reduce soil erosion to keep wall from collapsing
Kept debris from wall from falling into or filling moat/ditch
Curtain Wall
An outer wall that surrounded the bailey and/or castle buildings
Walls were often connected by a series of towers to add strength and provide better defense for the castle grounds
Designed to protect castle
Arrow slits were often built into wall for defense
Average height was 30 ft
Varied in sized: 6-20 ft thick, ~30-45 ft tall, and ~1,500 ft long
Draw Bridge
A bridge built to span a moat/ditch that could be raised or lowered at will
A removable ladder in towers to reach second floor, and prevent intruders
Sometimes had a turning bridge that pivoted in the middle to prevent entrance
Drum Tower
A round tower built into a wall, usually connecting stretches of exterior curtain wall
Dungeon
Simply a single plain room with a heavy door, or whose only access was via a hatch/trapdoor in floor of room above it (oubliette)
Were under the keep, or gatehouse in later centuries
Fausse Braie
An exterior rampart, outside of and parallel to the main rampart, and considerable below its level
Forebuilding
A building attached to the keep guarding its entrance
Normally contained a staircase leading up to first floor of keep
Often held a small chapel
A keep’s equivalent to a castle’s barbican
Garden
Located in bailey near the kitchen
Has several sections: fruit trees/bushes, cooking herbs, medicinal herbs, vegetables, cooking flowers, and medicinal flowers
Often accessed through stairs from kitchen
Gatehouse
Main entrance/exit to castle
Once a simple doorway with a heavy door that could be barred shut
Now a portcullis (a heavy iron grate) that can be lower and raised
Had vaulted ceilings with murder holes
Side walls had arrow slits
Usually located in curtain wall
Location where enemies often attempted to breach
Had twin towers on either side for protection
Could have up to 3 floors:
Ground Floor: contained the guards room and sometimes a prison
First Floor: contained quarters for the guards and the castle constable as well as the mechanisms to control the portcullis
Second Floor: was a storage place for weapons
Defended by a barbican
Guardroom
A room used by on-duty guards
Likely stored weapons
Guards did not sleep here—they had barracks in the gatehouse, a tower, or under the keep
Hoarding/Brattice
A covered wooden balcony projecting from the top of a tower, a curtain wall, and used to defend castle
A temporary, shed-like wooden construction placed on exterior of ramparts during a siege
Had holes in floor to allow defenders to see enemies and attack them from above
Later replaced with murder holes
Hornwork
An indépendant earthwork located in front of and separately from the castle’s curtain wall, but within range to be defended
Front of hornwork had a curtain wall and two half-bastions, one on each endpoint
Sides are long and parallel to each other
Back was crescent shaped and faced castle’s curtain wall, built low so invaders couldn’t take shelter there
Forced invaders to begin siege farther away
Provided defenders with opportunity to destroy siege lines
Keep/Donjon
The largest and strongest tower in the castle
Great Tower
Was self-sufficient
Served as final refuge during a siege
Square or rectangular in shape, sometimes round
Walls could be ~17 ft thick
Windows were styled for archers, not viewing, such as arrow slits
Soldiers would keep watch from roof
Where lord and his family resided
Basement: held storerooms, barracked soldiers, and dungeons
Ground Floor: entrance to keep, held guardroom and kitchen, where servants/soldiers spent most of their time, or slept on the floor
First Floor: held the great hall, the lord conducted his business here, where banquets and court was held
Top Floor: held private chapel for lord and lady, where lord’s family slept, where lady of castle spent most of her time with her ladies-in-waiting doing various activities
Staircase: interior staircase would spiral all the way from the ground floor to the roof
Lunette
A fortification shaped like a half-moon or an arrowhead
Similar in appearance to a bastion, but did not have “wings” of castle wall connected to it
Either a separate structure, or connected to a curtain wall
Back was often open
Later became a redan
Moat/Ditch
A deep ditch cut into the bedrock or earth around the main part of the castle, usually filled with water
Filled by nearby lakes, rivers, or springs; sometimes by changing the direction of flow to go into the ditch
Most had an inlet and an outlet, rather than being self-contained like a donut
A dam in the outlet would control water levels
Made of rocks, or earth
Invaders could not tunnel under moats because they would collapse under weight of water, could not swim across because it was too deep and made them targets for archers
Had sharp sticks—bungy sticks—placed in moat to prevent people and animals from coming across
Dry moats were still hard to cross because they were deep and had steep sides
Ranged from 3-30 ft deep, and ~12 ft across
Motte
An artificial earthwork mound on which a castle was built
To create: a wide, circular ditch was dug with earth and stone thrown up into the middle in successive, reinforced levels in order to create mound
Sometimes a natural hill or summit was used instead
Oubliette
A windowless chamber whose only entrance was through a trap door in the ceiling, which opened into guardroom above and was too high for prisoners to reach
Prisoners were lowered by rope into the oubliette, same for food
Was used rarely for prisoners, those placed here were intended to be forgotten
So tiny, moving around or turning at all was impossible
Shaped like a cylinder
Completely dark
Sometimes the oubliette was below ground level, thus water would seep through the ground and fill the space making survival impossible
Starvation hole
Parapet
A low protective wall along a wall-walk, bridge, or roof
Does not have crenellations like a battlement
Portcullis
A wooden or iron grill that could be dropped to bar a gateway or raised to allow passage
Moved strictly in a vertical direction
Occasionally used to trap attackers inside the barbican
Postern Gate
A secondary gate or door, often located at the rear of the castle in a back wall
Gate was often connected to a small guardroom, that then connected to the bailey
Located in concealed location, allowing occupants to come and go inconspicuously
In case of a siege, used as a secret exit for troops or send out a messenger, otherwise it was barred
Used by tradesmen and servants during peaceful times
Built for one person, unmounted to pass through
If possible, built on steep hill with access from a footpath required
Sometimes required a password to be let through
Rampart
A defensive wall with a broad top, a walkway, and a stone parapet
Raveline/Demilune
A triangular fortification or earthwork located in front of the curtain wall, with in range to be defended
Allowed defenders to attack enemy before they can reach the curtain wall
Forced attackers to start siege from further away, and allowed defenders to defeat siege line
Functioned the same as a hornwork
Redan
A small raveline
Often made of earthwork, but stone and other material could be used
Designed like a lunette, but shorter
Tower
A tall narrow building, either freestanding by itself or else connected to a larger building
Unlike turrets, towers touched the ground
Provided access to wall-walks, lookout points and sleeping quarters for the garrison
Were square, d-shaped, or round
Turret
A small tower projecting out of a main tower, usually used as a lookout point
Did not touch ground
Allowed defenders to provide sheltering fire to the adjacent wall during an attack
Roof was usually circular with various kinds of apex
May have a staircase if turret is taller than tower
Buildings often had both towers and turrets
Supported by a corbel, and limited in size
RESOURCES
Castles on the Web
My Literary Quest
Lady of Legend
Google Images
