What do you call the parts of a castle?
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.
What are the things on castle walls called?
These gaps are termed “crenels” (also known as carnels, or embrasures), and a wall or building with them is called crenellated; alternative (older) terms are castellated and embattled. The act of adding crenels to a previously unbroken parapet is termed crenellation.
What is an opening to a castle called?
An embrasure is the opening in a battlement between the two raised solid portions, referred to as crenel or crenelle in a space hollowed out throughout the thickness of a wall by the establishment of a bay.
What is the yard in a castle called?
Bailey – also known as the ward. The courtyard-like area of ground enclosed by a stone wall or wooden palisade, where the domestic buildings of the castle were. Includes exercise area, parade ground, emergency corral. In a concentric castle, the area between two encircling walls.
What do you call top of castle?
In architecture, a battlement is a structure on top of castle or fortress walls that protects from attack. Historically, battlements were usually narrow walls at the top of the outermost walls of a castle. Battlements have several important parts. The short, topmost part of the wall was called the parapet.
What are the points on top of a castle called?
They were also useful for soldiers who were defending the castle during an attack. They could fire arrows or missiles through the lower gaps (known as the crenels), while the raised areas (known as the merlons) offered protection from enemy arrows.
What is a castle roof called?
Conical roofs are frequently found on top of towers in medieval town fortifications and castles, where they may either sit directly on the outer wall of the tower (sometimes projecting beyond it to form eaves) or form a superstructure above the fighting platform or terrace of the tower.
What are castle gates called?
portcullis
A portcullis (from Old French porte coleice, “sliding gate”) is a heavy vertically-closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications, consisting of a latticed grille made of wood, metal, or a combination of the two, which slides down grooves inset within each jamb of the gateway.
What is the balcony of a castle called?
Bretèche
In medieval fortification, a bretèche or brattice is a small balcony with machicolations, usually built over a gate and sometimes in the corners of the fortress’ wall, with the purpose of enabling defenders to shoot or throw objects at the attackers huddled under the wall.
What is the pointy part of a castle called?
The spires are essentially just big spikes atop the turrets; they may have lighting rods, weather vanes, radio antennae, flags or other decorative features attached. Or they can be just big spikes – what makes them spires is that they are above the roof of the turrets and pointy.
What is the basement of a castle called?
Undercroft. An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often vaulted. While some were used as simple storerooms, others were rented out as shops.