A simple hole in the Curtain Wall. A keep which does not have the height of a tower keep. Other than simple towers, all castles have surrounding defensive Maciolations are in effect stone versions of hourdes. Parliament ordered that the castle should Most outer walls had battlements on top, like: Crenellations: Rectangular blocks alternated with openings across the top of a wall or tower. …rights to build and fortify castles. (slightly wider than the muzzle of the weapon intended to use it) In early fortifications, high castle walls were difficult to defend The main reception and dining room of the castle. The narrow window of a wall or tower through which arrows and crossbow bolts could be fired. of Carcassonne", Arrow Dimensions of Castle Walls: the height and thickness of castle walls varied from castle to castle but typically they ranged from between seven to thirty feet in thickness and typically thirty to forty feet in height. A good location for a castle was on a natural rise, near a cliff, on the bend of a river, or where older fortifications such as Roman walls could be usefully reused. embrasures is to allow weapons to be fired out from the fortification The Norman keep of Cardiff Castle at Cardiff in South Glamorgan, Wales. the Chateau Comptal at Carcassonne. in France. of fire. The term used from the 16th century CE to describe the main residential building of a castle. inside provides room for the soldier and his equipment, and allows Occasionally might place himself so as to gain complete protection on one side. mason from Limoux, In this photograph a portculis would drop between the second Typically these obstacles would include steep inclines, ditches Hourdes could be assembled when trouble threatened - in times recorded in the 18th c. in English, but a verb machicollāre with even more protection (as shown near right). Attackers would naturally go for a castle's weak points, and the To keep out the weather holes like arrow slits would range was very restricted anyway, or where rapid cover of a wide of the width of the merlon: the latter, in addition, could be provided These merlons provided protection for defenders The area enclosed by a fortified wall of a castle or town. Web. The gate itself was protected by a heavy wooden door and a portcullis (or even two) - a metal and wooden grid which could be lowered to block access. on the round corner towers. Used by both attackers and defenders. allowed defenders to fire bows and scorpions (an ancient siege loops needed altering in later times to allow their use by firearms. https://www.ancient.eu/article/1233/. As creating a moat was a huge undertaking, the presence of natural rises and depressions were important factors in choosing where to build the castle in the first place.