Castle Architecture
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Although castle architecture developed over the centuries in line with weapons
technology, the principles remained much the same. A good castle provided a secure
base that could be easily defended. It needed defenses against frontal attack (thick,
high walls and secure entry gates) and from undermining (rock foundations or a
moat).
It furnished means of repelling attackers while minimising exposure of the defenders
(arrow loops, crenellation, machicolations, murder holes). It also provided means of
escape and of making sorties against attackers (postern gates and secret tunnels).
Further, it needed facilities to withstand a siege - a fresh water supply or large cistern
and vast supplies of food.
A good castle had no dead-spaces - ie external areas that defenders could not fire on,
but did provide multiple locations from which vulnerable points could be defended.
The best castles provided rings of defence so that defenders could hold out from a
citadel even if the outer defences failed. Not least, a good castle was strategically
placed, for example to monitor and control access to an important route through a
valley.
Castles also needed facilities for a garison and living quarters.
Bodiam Castle
External & Natural defenses:
Cliffs and Mountain Tops
Rivers & Lakes
Moats and Ditches (douves)
Ravelins
Towers:
The Keep (Donjon)
Citadels
Watch Towers
Wall Towers (Towers and Curtain walls)
Bartizans (Echaugettes)
Muiderslot, castle in the Netherlands
Walls:
Curtain Walls
Battlements & Crenellations
Bossing
Taluses
Chemins de Rondes
Hourdes
Machicolations (Machicoulis)
Brattices (Breteches)
Meutrieres
Murder holes
Arrow Loops Carcassonne
Canoniers
Slighting a Castle
Gateways:
Gates,
Elevated Doorways
Flanking Towers
The Portcullis
The Drawbridge
Barbicans
Postern Gates
Prisons:
dungeonss
DoverCastle
cachets
oubliettes
torture chambers
Domestic Elements:
Stairways,
Doors & Door Locks
Fireplaces
Windows
Roofs
Kitchens
Wells & Cisterns
Latrines & Garderobes
Training for War
Lists
Butts
The Practicalities of Castle Building
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INTRO TO CASTLE BUY A STAY IN A CASTLE CATHAR MANOR FAMOUS CRUSADER CASTLE CASTLE LIFE IN A CHILDREN'S HAUNTED CASTLE
CASTLES TYPES CASTLE CASTLE ARCHITECTURE CASTLES HOUSES CASTLES CASTLES WEDDINGS PHOTOS CASTLE CASTLES CASTLES BOOKS
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