The Medieval Castle part 1

Medieval castles were usually  built in a strategic place such as on top of a hill, on the edge of a cliff, or beside a river. If there were no naturally safe places nearby a moat would be built around the castle to protect it.

This moat was filled with water and a drawbridge was built across the moat so that it could be removed if the castle was attacked. An iron gate called “portcullis” was the door and it could be dropped at night or during an attack to block the door and stop anyone coming in.

The main building inside the protecting walls was the keep. The walls of the keep were twenty feet thick so the soldiers could make one last stand if necessary. The keep was occupied by the lord, his family and some servants and soldiers. The rest of the servants would have to sleep in small wooden houses in the castle yard called bailey.

To enter the keep there was a door in the wall, high above the ground that could only be accessed by a wooden ladder that could be pulled up into the keep in case of an attack.

This door in the wall led straight into the great hall. This hall was the biggest room in the castle and had many uses: dining room, playroom, or office. Above the great hall there was a barcony that linked the sleeping chambers of the lord's family.. Below the great hall were the dongens, storerooms. In winter tapestries were hung on the walls to stop the icy wind from coming in and carpets were placed on the floor. In the great hall, during meals food fell on the floors and was left to decay. The carpets were perfumed with rushes and rosemary instead of cleaning the carpets regularly.

Most of the castles had a similar layout, the moat, drawbridges, protection walls… but each lord changed the original design in their own way. Slowly there were bigger changes, the servants' houses were changed from wood to stone, a second wall and moat were added for protection. By the 16th Century the castles were forts. Many walls and moats between the keep and the outer wall.