With this in mind, let's look at the major features of a castle. Outer defenses. Moat. Walls (inner and outer) Towers (inner and outer) Gatehouses, drawbridges and barbicans. Inner defenses. Baileys or wards. Living quarters and support buildings.
What is the best Castle in the world?
World's most beautiful castles
- Himeji Castle, Japan. Himeji Castle is a World Heritage Site. ...
- Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, Greece. ...
- Neuschwanstein, Germany. ...
- Alcázar of Segovia, Spain. ...
- Pena Palace, Portugal. ...
- Amber Fortress, India. ...
- Ksar of Aït-Ben-Haddou, Morocco. ...
- Kalmar Castle, Sweden. ...
- Castillo San Felipe del Morro, Puerto Rico. ...
- Topkapi Sarayi, Turkey. ...
What was inside a medieval castle?
Life in a medieval castle was filled with a constant hubbub of busied work in the kitchens, preparations for celebrations in the Great Hall, and religious worship in each castle’s own chapel. And the layout of a typical Medieval castle tended to be influenced by domestic needs rather than defensive concerns.
What are facts about medieval castles?
Medieval Castles Facts. Medieval castles were built during the Middle Ages in Europe and the Middle East as a structure to provide protection for nobility from invaders. Not to be confused with palaces, castles were fortified structures that began to be built in the 9 th and 10 th centuries, and continued to be built for roughly 900 years.
What were castles used for?
What were castles originally used for? Medieval castles were built mainly for protection for the nobility, which is the noble class of a country such as royalty and important public figures. The natural resources of the land were used as a first line of defense for intruders, and the features of the castles served as even more protection.
What do castles have inside?
Inside the castle walls there might have been a magnificent hall, comfortable chambers and a beautiful chapel. Larger castles had their own fish ponds, orchards and vineyards, as well as gardens which supplied vegetables and herbs. Cattle sheep and pigs were kept on surrounding farm land.
What features do castles have?
external features - such as towers battlements, thick walls, a moat, a drawbridge, etc. internal features - such as a well, large stores to guard against siege, a hall for everyone to socialise.
What things are in castles?
Castle FeaturesOuter defenses.Moat.Walls (inner and outer)Towers (inner and outer)Gatehouses, drawbridges and barbicans.Inner defenses.Baileys or wards.Living quarters and support buildings.More items...
What did medieval castles have inside them?
A typical European castle was like a little village inside, with kitchens, workshops, gardens, stables, and a chapel. This castle is built of stone, but many early castles were wooden.
What makes a strong castle?
Build thick walls and battlements As attackers fought their way around towards the gatehouse, those defending Prudhoe would man the tops of these walls and fire arrows and missiles down at them. The castle also has high 'curtain walls' which protect the castle's inner and outer 'wards' or 'baileys'.
What is the best part of a castle?
There is no doubt therefore that the castle keep is the main and most important part of the castle. The keep was a stronghold that usually housed the king, lord and his family, all the important people and services were usually found within the castle keep.
What rooms were in a castle?
Rooms in a Medieval CastleThe Great Hall.Bed Chambers.Solars.Bathrooms, Lavatories and Garderobes.Kitchens, Pantries, Larders & Butteries.Gatehouses and Guardrooms.Chapels & Oratories.Cabinets and Boudoirs.More items...
What are parts of castles called?
Inner Curtain - The high wall the surrounds the inner ward. Inner Ward - The open area in the center of a castle. Jamb - Side posts of arch, door, or window. Keep - A strong stone tower; main tower; donjon; stronghold.
Did castles have bathrooms?
In the medieval period luxury castles were built with indoor toilets known as 'garderobes', and the waste dropped into a pit below.
What do all castles need?
FeaturesMoat - a perimeter ditch with or without water.Barbican - a fortification to protect a gate.Curtain Walls & Towers - the perimeter defensive wall.Fortified Gatehouse - the main castle entrance.Keep (aka Donjon or Great Tower) - the largest tower and best stronghold of the castle.More items...•
What's the first room in a castle?
A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great chamber for eating and relaxing.
What was life like inside a castle?
Life in a castle in medieval times was very dark and cold. Windows were narrow, open slits. Toilets were benches with holes in. The waste would drop into a stinky cesspit or the moat.
What were the features and main rooms of a castle?
Below are the main rooms found in medieval castles and large manor houses.The Great Hall.Bed Chambers.Solars.Bathrooms, Lavatories and Garderobes.Kitchens, Pantries, Larders & Butteries.Gatehouses and Guardrooms.Chapels & Oratories.Cabinets and Boudoirs.More items...
What makes a building a castle?
And now the Oxford English Dictionary defines a castle as 'a large building, typically of the medieval period, fortified against attack with thick walls, battlements, towers, and often a moat'. So here's our first answer: a castle can be defined as being architecturally prepared for battle.
What defensive features did castles have?
How to defend a castleBuilding up high. Building a castle up high made it difficult for enemies to get to the castle. ... Tall towers. Strong towers were added to curtain walls to watch out for enemies. ... Battlements. Battlements were walls on the roof of a castle. ... Arrow slits. ... Moat. ... Drawbridge. ... Portcullis. ... Dungeons.
What are the key features of a square keep castle?
A stone keep was the central feature, with thick walls and few windows. Entrance to the keep was by stone steps leading to the first floor. The kitchens were situated on the ground floor while living quarters were on the upper floors. The first keeps were rectangular in shape but later ones were often circular.
Why were castles important in medieval times?
Medieval castle builders incorporated designs of early castles and improved upon them over time. Castle designs also changed to keep up with improvements in siege technology. Castles also had to provide necessities for living (like sanitation, fresh water and cooking areas), which were especially important when the castle was under siege.
What is the outer wall of a castle called?
Some castles had a substantially higher outer wall called a shield wall . The shield wall was often placed on the side of a castle that might be especially vulnerable to siege weapons like catapults, trebuchets and siege towers (more on this later).
What were the hoardings in the French castle called?
The French later used stone hoardings called machicoulis. Hoardings had holes in the flooring from which soldiers could shoot arrows or dump various objects (rocks, hot tar, boiling water, hot oil) on attackers. Breteches: Small, overhanging rooms on French castles, similar to hoardings, that jutted out from the wall.
What is the first line of defense in a castle?
Outer Defenses. The moat -- a large ditch or trench surrounding the outer castle wall -- was a castle's first line of defense. The moat could be filled with water or dry (a dry moat could have been lined with wooden spikes). It usually had a drawbridge across it that was drawn up when the castle was under attack.
How did curtain walls work?
Curtain walls were actually two walls. Masons cut and fitted the stones or bricks of each wall and cemented them together with a limestone mortar. The builders filled the spaces between the walls with stone fragments, small rocks and mortar fragments (rubble). As the wall grew higher , the builders placed wooden scaffolds or work platforms into it so they could work and bring materials up using man- or animal-powered cranes or ramps. When that particular section of the wall was finished, they tore down the scaffolding, but a square hole remained where the scaffold's support beams had been.
How thick is a castle curtain wall?
The outer curtain wall was high, thick and made of stone or brick. Walls could range from 6 to 10 meters high and 1.5 to 8 meters thick. In many castles, wall thickness varied according to the area's perceived vulnerability.
Do castles have moats?
Many moats were also dump sites for garbage and sewage. The existence of a moat was dictated by the terrain -- not all castles had moats. Some castles were built high up on bedrock and didn't need them.
How were Castle foundations built?
Since ancestors mostly built castles on hills and elevated areas, all the builders had to do was locate the bedrock and then attach the main walls of the castle to it.
Did castles have basements?
Most of the large medieval castles have basements that the owners used for different purposes like storages, dungeons, ice houses, or keeping many people during a siege.
What were castles built for?
Built by nobles, they were fortresses for the military, homes for nobility or royalty, and often built in enemy territory, so they had to be well protected. Read on as we list 15 defining parts of a castle used in medieval Europe and the Middle East.
Where is the best place to build a castle?
The best place for a castle is on a hill, the higher up a castle, the better defensive advantage, but you can't have a castle without a well otherwise the enemy could poison your water supply.
Why can't castles have a water moat?
Around the whole thing, there was a ditch or moat, of course, many castles couldn't have a water filled moat because they didn't have a nearby lake or river. The moat made it incredibly harder for attackers to approach the castle and restricted the ability to get siege engines to the walls. Water moats also helped to prevent undermining since the tunnels could easily flood.
Why did they build the Bailey?
Since attackers could easily set fire to a timber-keep, they were quickly replaced with stone, but the earth on top of the Motte often couldn't take the weight. So they built the keep in the Bailey instead. The Keep would have been the strongest part of a castle with the thickest walls, the ground floor wouldn't have had any windows, and a single flight of stairs or steps would have lead to the entrance at the first-floor.
Why did medieval people use bridges?
Since most castles were surrounded by a moat, people had to use a bridge to cross. In late medieval times, the bridge was constructed from large wooden planks attached to chains that were used to lower the bridge to let people in and raise it to keep attackers out.
What is the weakest point of a castle?
Gatehouse. The weakest point of any castle is the main gate. So you needed a gatehouse with one or more metal reinforced wooden gates, known as a portcullis, and by the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the gatehouse developed a second outer gate or Barbican, adding yet further defense.
What was the Motte made of?
They had to be built in a hurry, so they were made of timber and placed on top of an earth mound called a Motte. Basically a walled enclosure on top of a usually man-made hill.
What is the interior of a medieval castle?
Most frequently, an interior of a Medieval Castle contains a complex of rooms like ; Some of the words might sound quite odd as they are not in use anymore, but you will have a clear picture of what it was like inside a castle after reading the article.
What did the people in the castle use the room for?
The people in the castle used this room to store the non-perishable food items and all other necessities.
What is a latrine in a castle?
The latrine was the first example of a toilet within the castles in a tiny room with a hole in the floor pointing outside, usually in a moat.
What were the bathrooms called in medieval times?
Bathrooms, Lavatories and Garderobes in a Medieval Castle. The bathrooms were known as garderobes back in the Middle Ages and were relatively small. In some castles, the Lords would have their private Garderobes, which contained the bath and the latrine (toilets).
What is a bed chamber?
Bed Chambers, the Lord’s bedrooms in a castle . Bed Chambers were Lord’s and Lady’s private bedrooms, the most furnished and comfortable bedrooms in a castle with easy access to the main hall and kitchens. Many castles managed to restore such rooms to carbon-copy of the original ones back then.
What is the solar room in a castle called?
Also called solar was a room in the castle smaller than the great hall where the Kings will rest in privacy after the daily activities. In many Norman and Frech castles, it was considered the key inner family room.
What is a castle well?
A castle well was a water well built within a castle to supply the court with potable water. Picture by Efraimstochter on pixabay. Obviously, one of the most vital elements when it comes to the siege, as the water wells outside the castle’s walls will get poisoned by the enemy.
What did castle owners do with the water?
Sometimes, castle owners filled moats with water, and other times, they diverted lakes into the moat, and they were left bare in some cases.
Why do castles have moats?
Castles have moats because they were a part of its intricate defence system. Additionally, moats served as a go-to reserve against famine/ or hard times. Finally, history tells us that moats protected castles against the attack and may have served as ponds where seafood was reared; or as a source of sand/ earth for building tall walls.
How were moats made?
Engineers mostly built castle moats manually. Since they were made for a purpose, the sizes and depths of ditches varied.
Why are alligators in castle moats?
If you are a castle-moats lover, then you must have come across the common notion that alligators, crocodiles, and all such scary animals were placed inside moats to dissuade attackers from trying to swim through.
What is the purpose of moats roundabout castles?
1. To prevent penetration into the castle: Since ancestors built moats roundabout castles, assailants could not wage war on the castle without mounting a bridge or moving their equipment over the ditch.
Can you talk about castle moats?
It is impossible to talk about castle moats without addressing the nature of assaults that castles faced at the time.
Is a moat a castle?
Lastly, on this note, some moats were natural, but most often than not, they were not castle moats (because obviously, nature didn’t consult castle owners before turning an area into a moat).
What was the most fortified part of a castle?
The keep was traditionally the strongest and the most fortified part of a castle – and, in early Medieval times, it’s where the nobles would have lived. In later Medieval times, as castles began to morph into grand residential buildings (from being fortresses), the nobles began to live in warmer, comfier chambers – and the keep became a strong-hold.
Why were castles built on the turbulent borders of England and Wales?
For example, a castle built on the turbulent borders of England and Wales might have been built to be as strong and as defensive as possible.
What was the name of the castle that was built for the Hungerford family?
Farleigh Hungerford Castle was, first and foremost, a grand residence for the Hungerford family. However, the design of the castle still included many defensive elements, such as towers, a barbican, a gatehouse and a moat. It did play a small part in the English Civil War.
Why did the castles have round towers?
Although round towers of Farleigh Hungerford castle were predominately decorative, many other castles built towers for practical purposes – to provide a vantage-point for archers to shoot at oncoming attackers.
Why were moats important in castles?
Although moats were great for defence – they partially prevented attackers from burrowing beneath the castle walls, for example – a stagnant moat would have been pretty unpleasant. Sewage would have been tipped straight into the stagnant water – imagine the smell in the summer!
Why didn't castles have dungeons?
In Early Medieval times, castles didn’t really have dungeons – simply because the idea of keeping someone prisoner was, back then, a very strange punishment. However, as the Middle Ages developed, more castles became to be equipped with space for prisoners.
What was the purpose of the kitchen in a castle?
The most elaborate kitchens would have been all-set to cook and prepare game and fish , which had been caught when hunting in the castle grounds.
Do all castles have secret passages?
Mysterious Architecture: Secret passages & hidden rooms were built in almost every castle & palace since ancient times. Hidden tunnels and secret passages are hidden routes which sometimes lead to secret rooms or another way to exit a building.
What Castle has the most secret passages?
Escape staircase at Bran Castle, Transylvania, Romania It's thought to have been used as an escape passage, connecting the first floor to the third. Hidden inside the wall, the tunnel allowed the castle's residents to flee from danger and elude any pursuers.
Did castles have escape tunnels?
Some castles really did have escape tunnels, such as possibly the short passage located at Loudoun Castle in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which leads from the old kitchens to a 'tunnel-like' bridge over the Hag Burn; this may however have been a drain of some kind.
Where are the secret passages?
There are five Secret Passage locations throughout the Fortnite map. They are located in notable areas that are titled on the map. Those areas are The Yacht, The Shark, The Agency, The Grotto and The Rig.
Why do old houses have tunnels?
Secret passages, also commonly referred to as hidden passages or secret tunnels, are hidden routes used for stealthy travel, escape, or movement of people and goods. They are sometimes inside buildings leading to secret rooms. Others allow people to enter or exit buildings without being seen.
What is a hidden room in a house called?
A high security hidden room — sometimes called panic rooms —provide a safe and near impenetrable retreat if your family is ever threatened by an intruder. And a high security room seals from the inside and the secretive nature of a hidden door provides an additional level of security.
What are hidden rooms used for?
These rooms, known as "panic rooms" or "safe rooms", are hidden, secure spaces designed to protect inhabitants in the case of a break-in or home invasion. The fortified doors and walls protect the occupants so they can summon help using a mobile or land-line phone.
How Were Castle Foundations built?
Why Motte and Bailey Castles?
- They were easy to build and could be completed in few weeks. Even with an impending attack, lords with sufficient manpower could build a suitable and secured motte and bailey castle. These castles had three major parts; • The Motteis a raised mound of earth where the main building (keep) is located. It could be found in the middle of the bailey or outside but always with direct a…
Iron & Lead Foundation
- Imagine a castle whose foundation is laid in iron! Some historians have maintained that in the 9th century, iron and lead were used for foundations. Many also opine that engineers used them for building pillars and other building parts. Although there is no physical evidence of such castles today, iron could probably have served as a foundation since they are firm and reliable. Thus, pe…
Did Castles Have Basements?
- Most of the large medieval castles have basements that the owners used for different purposes like storages, dungeons, ice houses, or keeping many people during a siege. If you made it that far you are probably a castle enthusiast, same as us. In this case, there are plenty of questions answered in our blog section, like; What Is The Largest Castle...