What is a basement called in a castle?

An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area which is relatively open to the sides, but covered by the building above.



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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. The height of the keep depends on how big the castle is, or how wealthy its owner is!

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Castle Terminology
  • The Towers. These tall, round or square structures were built into the length or corners of the castle walls. ...
  • The Gate. The entrance was often the weakest part in a castle. ...
  • The Bailey or Ward. ...
  • The Keep or Donjon. ...
  • The Curtain Walls. ...
  • The Moat. ...
  • The Battlement.


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A gatehouse is a castle's fortified gateway to control the entrance or entry point. The entrance to a castle was usually the structurally weakest point in a castle wall and the most probable attack point, so they were fortified with the extra defenses of a gatehouse to compensate.

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The great chamber was at the dais end of the hall, usually up a staircase. It was the first room which offered the lord of the household some privacy from his own staff, albeit not total privacy. In the Middle Ages the great chamber was an all-purpose reception and living room.

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A bailey is the sturdy wall around a castle that keeps invaders out. The bailey of a medieval castle was usually built of stone. You might see a bailey — or the remains of one — if you tour a castle in England or France.

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The motte was a huge mound with a castle, or keep, built on top. It would have been easy to defend, as people would have had to climb up it slowly to reach the keep. Most mottes were surrounded by a deep ditch to stop attackers. The bailey was a large area of ground, surrounded by a tall, wooden fence.

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moat, a depression surrounding a castle, city wall, or other fortification, usually but not always filled with water. The existence of a moat was a natural result of early methods of fortification by earthworks, for the ditch produced by the removal of earth to form a rampart made a valuable part of the defense system.

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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.

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A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great chamber for eating and relaxing.

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