What is the balcony of a castle called?

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.
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What is the area outside of a castle called?

An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle. It protects the inner bailey and usually contains those ancillary buildings used for the management of the castle or the supply of its occupants.
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What were the parts of a castle called?

Battlements were the series of raised sections with gaps between them running along the top of a castle wall. Defenders could fire arrows from the gaps (the crenels) and hide behind the raised parts (the merlons).
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What is the flat open space inside a castle called?

Berm - Flat space between the base of the curtain wall and the inner edge of the moat; level area separating ditch from bank. Billet - ornamental moulding used in Norman architecture, consisting of raised cylindrical or rectangual blocks at regular intervals. Bivalate - a hillfort defended by two concentric ditches.
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What is a courtyard in a castle called?

Ward (Bailey)

The courtyard of a castle containing the principal buildings, including sometimes a tower keep, which may be surrounded by its own fortified wall.
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What is the pit of a castle called?

A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence.
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What is a castle parapet?

A parapet fortification (known as a breastwork when temporary) is a wall of stone, wood or earth on the outer edge of a defensive wall or trench, which shelters the defenders. In medieval castles, they were often crenellated. In later artillery forts, parapets tend to be higher and thicker.
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What is a rampart in a castle?

In fortification architecture, a rampart is a length of bank or wall forming part of the defensive boundary of a castle, hillfort, settlement or other fortified site. It is usually broad-topped and made of excavated earth and/or masonry.
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What is a allure in a castle?

Allure or Wall-walk: passage behind the parapet of a castle wall. Apse: circular or polygonal end of a tower or chapel.
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What are 10 parts of a castle?

Castle features
  • The Towers. These tall, round or square structures were built into the length or corners of the castle walls. ...
  • The Gate. The entrance was often the weakest part in a castle. ...
  • The Bailey or Ward. ...
  • The Keep or Donjon. ...
  • The Curtain Walls. ...
  • The Moat. ...
  • The Battlement.
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What were the main features of a castle?

Features
  • Moat - 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.
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What is a Motte in a castle?

The motte was a huge mound with a castle, or keep, built on top. It would have been easy to defend, as people would have had to climb up it slowly to reach the keep. Most mottes were surrounded by a deep ditch to stop attackers. The bailey was a large area of ground, surrounded by a tall, wooden fence.
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What is a garderobe in a castle?

Garderobe later came to mean wardrobe in French, but its original meaning was likely just any small cupboard or room and, as space was at a premium in a castle, the toilets were never any bigger than absolutely necessary.
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What is a bailey on a castle?

A bailey or ward in a fortification is a courtyard enclosed by a curtain wall. In particular, an early type of European castle was known as a motte-and-bailey. Castles can have more than one bailey.
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What is a bastion in a castle?

Bastions are angular defensive structures projecting outwards from the curtain wall of a fortress, generally triangular or pentagonal in shape. They were used as advanced, defensive artillery platforms, allowing a depth of defence that forced assailants to retreat and keep their distance from the fortress.
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What is a Merlon in a castle?

merlon (plural merlons) (architecture, military, historical) Any of the upright projections between the embrasures of a battlement, originally for archers to shield behind while shooting arrows over the embrasures, or through loopholes in the merlons.
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What are the pointy things on 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.
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What is a palisade in a medieval castle?

A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade.
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What is a Rempart?

1 : a protective barrier : bulwark. 2 : a broad embankment raised as a fortification and usually surmounted by a parapet. 3 : a wall-like ridge (as of rock fragments, earth, or debris)
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What is a portcullis in a castle?

Definition of portcullis

: a grating of iron hung over the gateway of a fortified place and lowered between grooves to prevent passage.
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What are the tops of castle walls called?

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.
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What is a battlement on a medieval castle?

A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals to allow for the launch of arrows or other projectiles from within the ...
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What is a Postern in a castle?

A postern is a secondary door or gate in a fortification such as a city wall or castle curtain wall. Posterns were often located in a concealed location which allowed the occupants to come and go inconspicuously.
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Where do you poop in a castle?

In a medieval castle, a garderobe was usually a simple hole discharging to the outside into a cesspit (akin to a pit latrine) or the moat (like a fish pond toilet), depending on the structure of the building.
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What rooms are in 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.
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