What are the square things on top of castles called?

Battlements were the square-shaped part of the walls around the top of the castle. They usually had a walkway behind them so that soldiers could stand there when looking out for potential threats. They were also useful for soldiers who were defending the castle during an attack.



People Also Ask

The notches themselves are called crenels or embrasures, and the process of installing them is crenellating. The word stems from the Latin cren (also the root of cranny), which means notch. Definitions of crenellate. verb. supply with battlements.

MORE DETAILS

Bartizan - An overhanging battlemented corner turret, corbelled out; sometimes as grandiose as an overhanging gallery; common in Scotland and France. Bastion - A small tower at the end of a curtain wall or in the middle of the outside wall; solid masonry projection; structural rather than inhabitable.

MORE DETAILS

In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification.

MORE DETAILS

Hoardings. Wooden structures added to the top of walls and towers to provide a covered walkway and a secure place for defensive fire. Sometimes they could be removed during peacetime.

MORE DETAILS

Batter (Plinth) The angled lower part of a tower or wall. Missiles dropped from the top of the towers or wall onto the plinth cause them to richochet horizontally into the attackers doing more damage. Plinths also strengthened the bases of the towers or walls and also made it harder to undermine them.

MORE DETAILS

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.

MORE DETAILS

A portcullis is a heavy castle door or gate made of metal strips that form a grid. A castle guardian might lower the portcullis to protect the people inside from an invading army. It was common during medieval times for castles to be protected by a portcullis or two.

MORE DETAILS