#castle resource

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