Were castles cold in winter?

Castles weren't always cold and dark places to live. But, in reality, the great hall of castle had a large open hearth to provide heat and light (at least until the late 12th century) and later it had wall fireplace. The hall would also have had tapestries which would have insulated the room against too much cold.



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“Things we take for granted, like tomatoes and peppers, they didn't have in Europe in the Middle Ages. Those came from this continent. They didn't have oranges, those came from Africa,” Bachrach said. Without electricity and just wood for heat, castles were often dark and cold in Medieval times, Bachrach said.

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The natural ventilation inside the castle was achieved through five main elements: the large pool in the garden at the front, the fountain located on the ground floor, the two ventilating chimneys and large wet sheets hung beneath the ceilings of the various rooms on the upper floors.

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Other than having a fire, people had animal heat to depend on. Most peasants would have their animals barn close to their living spaces because the animals close together kept it fairly warm., enough to prevent any freezing. Families would all sleep close together to share each other's body heat.

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Castles and manor houses often smelled damp and musty. To counteract this, herbs and rushes were strewn across the floors.

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Living in a medieval castle was often uncomfortable and even hazardous, particularly for those who were not part of the nobility or royalty. For example, despite their grandeur and imposing appearance, many castles lacked basic amenities like running water, central heating, and proper ventilation.

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After the 16th century, castles declined as a mode of defense, mostly because of the invention and improvement of heavy cannons and mortars. This artillery could throw heavy cannonballs with so much force that even strong curtain walls could not hold up.

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Life in a Medieval Castle: Cold, Dark, and Very Smelly! To our modern standards of living, most Medieval castles would have been incredibly cold, cramped, totally lacking privacy, and would have been disgustingly smelly (and likely home to more than a fair share of rats!).

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It turns out that those fairy tales you read as a child all left out a very important truth: The moats that surrounded medieval castles weren't just useful defenses against attack; they were also open sewers into which the castles' primitive waste disposal systems flushed human excrement and other foul substances.

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After the 16th century, castles declined as a mode of defense, mostly because of the invention and improvement of heavy cannons and mortars. This artillery could throw heavy cannonballs with so much force that even strong curtain walls could not hold up.

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The well – as well as any available cisterns – provided a protected source of drinking water for the castle garrison in peace and war and also for any civil population seeking refuge during a siege.

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The first stone castles built were cold, dark, smelly and damp. Inside the castle walls, floor coverings consisted of straw rushes and, later, sweet smelling herbs to mask the smell of animal excrement, grease, rotting food and beer.

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THE SOLDIERS They'd be commanded by the constable or castellan, who stood in for the owner and lived in his own rooms (there's a Constable's Gate at Dover Castle). The soldiers slept in a dormitory.

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In the medieval period luxury castles were built with indoor toilets known as 'garderobes', and the waste dropped into a pit below.

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Walls. Walls were generally built of stone within wooden frames designed to hold the stone in place while the mortar dried. For thick walls, the wall was usually constructed with a cavity that was filled with rubble rather than being solid stone.

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The toilets of a castle were usually built into the walls so that they projected out on corbels and any waste fell below and into the castle moat. Even better, waste went directly into a river as is the case of the latrines of one of the large stone halls at Chepstow Castle in Wales, built from the 11th century CE.

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