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There are lots of words and terms to do with castles that are not widely used by everyone, so here's a handy guide to understanding what's going on........

 

Bailey              A courtyard

Barbican         An outwork that protects a gate

Buttress          Stone support built against a wall to reinforce it

Castle              A fortified, usually walled residence, as of a prince or noble in feudaltimes.

Crenel              The open section of a battlement

Crenellation    Battlement

Curtain             A length of wall surrounding a castle enclosure

Dinas               in Old and Middle Welsh it is a masculine noun meaning "fort or citadel", often applied to hillforts.

Donjon             A great tower or keep, but can also mean an upper Bailey or lord's private area

Hillfort             Large enclosures on the top of hills surrounded by one or more earthworks Usually the ramparts also have a ditch running                                    alongside them. They usually contain the remains of round houses and other buildings. Although they may have their origin in the

                         Bronze Age (2300BC to 800BC) or even earlier they were most commonly built in the Iron Age (800BC to AD43). They may have                               continued to be used into the Roman period. 

Keep                 The word used in England from the 16th century to describe the donjon or great tower

Moat                 A ditch, either wet or dry

Motte                An earth mound

Murder Hole    a section between the main gate and a inner portcullis where arrows, rocks, and hot oil could be dropped from the roof though                               holes

Parapet             The outer wall of a wall walk

Portcullis          A lattice made of wood clad in iron, or occasionally iron alone, dropped to block a gate

Postern             A small rear door

Putlog/Putlock Holes       small holes in the walls of structures to receive the ends of poles (small round logs) or beams, called putlogs or                                        putlocks, to form scaffolding. Putlog holes may extend through a wall to provide staging on both sides of the wall.

Rampart           An earthern bank

Ring-work         A circular or oval earthwork with bank and ditch

Turret                A small tower

Wall walk          A passage along the top of a wall

Wing-wall          A wall descending the slope of a motte

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