What's the difference between a rampart and a parapet?

Rampart: A defensive wall of a castle or walled city, having a broad top with a walkway. Parapet: A protective wall or earth defense along the top of a trench or other place of concealment for troops.

What is difference between battlement and parapet?

The Battlement or Crenellation

It's where soldiers were protected during "battle" upon the castle. Also called crenellation, a battlement is really a parapet with open spaces for the castle-protectors to shoot cannons or other weaponry. The raised portions of the battlement are called merlons.

What is the difference between bulwark and rampart?

As nouns the difference between rampart and bulwark

is that rampart is a defensive mound of earth or a wall with a broad top and usually a stone parapet; a wall-like ridge of earth, stones or debris; an embankment for defensive purpose while bulwark is a defensive wall or rampart.

What are the bumps on a castle wall 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.

What are the pointy bits 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.

Parapet Walls — Are They A Good Idea?

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.

What is a parapet in a castle?

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.

Why are Ramparts called ramparts?

The Rampart of an early medieval castle was a bank or defensive wall made from earth and possibly earth and stone that usually encircled a medieval fort or Castle protecting it from enemy attacks. The Rampart was the defensive boundary of an early medieval Castle.

What is the purpose of a rampart?

The definition of a rampart is a defensive or protective barrier, especially a protective wall around a castle or city made of stone with a broad top that serves as a walkway.

What does o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming mean?

“Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?” broad: wide, referring to the stripes that run across the American flag. perilous: dangerous. ramparts: the embankments that were part of the fort's defense. gallantly: in a heroic or brave ...

What are the towers on a castle called?

Tower (or Keep)

The tower is a circular or square building, which was used as a lookout and for defence. The central tower in a motte and bailey castle was known as the keep.

What is a defensive wall called?

A defensive wall (or a "Rampart") is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements.

What is a siege rampart?

a rampart, sloped in front and low in profile, and wide enough at its top to permit men and cannon to be deployed there; a ditch (or moat) in front to hamper advancing attackers, any delay or even slowdown thereby exposing them to defensive fire.

What is the outer wall of a castle called?

In medieval castles, the area surrounded by a curtain wall, with or without towers, is known as the bailey. The outermost walls with their integrated bastions and wall towers together make up the enceinte or main defensive line enclosing the site.

How many types of parapets are there?

How many types of parapets are there? Explanation: The 4 types are plain, perforated, panelled and embattled. Plain parapet is solid masonry, perforated has holes in different shapes, panel consists of panels joined together and in embattled, they are pierced.

What is an example of a parapet?

The definition of a parapet is a wall or wall-like structure, often used to protect troops in a battle. An example of a parapet is a low wall surrounding the balcony of a home. A low protective wall or railing along the edge of a raised structure such as a roof or balcony.

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.

Why do castle walls go up and down?

As the enemy approaches from the surrounding landscape, the army in the castle gathers its weapons, rushes to the highest area of the walls and shoots from behind short protective structures. This wall and the short structures on it are all part of an architectural element known as a battlement.

What is a window in 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 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.

What are the teeth on top of castles called?

Crenellations are one of the most recognizable elements of a medieval castle. These upright projections resemble teeth, bared at invaders to prevent their attempted entries and at allies to show the owner's strength. Each upright section is called a merlon or crenel, and they protected defenders from attacks.

What is the front door of a castle called?

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.