What is the yard outside a castle called?

What is the yard outside a castle called? Bailey - also known as the ward. The courtyard-like area of ground enclosed by a stone wall or wooden palisade, where the domestic buildings of the castle were. Includes exercise area, parade ground, emergency corral.

What is the village around a castle called?

A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles.

What was in a medieval castle courtyard?

Throughout the Middle Ages the courtyard was packed full of buildings providing accommodation for the Lord and his followers. There were also service buildings: a survey carried out in 1337 lists a chapel, stable, gaol, hall and various chambers. To your right was the Great Hall where ceremonies and banquets were held.

What was the yard in front of a wooden castle called?

A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade.

What is a plinth on a castle?

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.

What is the trench that surrounds a castle?

Moat refers to a deep, wide trench surrounding a medieval castle, and maybe a city wall or other fortification, that is usually filled with water.

What is the fence around a castle called?

Palisade - A sturdy wooden fence usually built to enclose a site until a permanent stone wall could be erected. Parapet - Protective wall at the top of a fortification, around the outer side of the wall-walk.

What is the courtyard of a castle called?

Bailey (Ward) The courtyard of a castle containing the principal buildings, including sometimes a tower keep, which may be surrounded by its own fortified wall. Medieval Ballista.

What do castles have around them?

Outer Defenses The moat -- a large ditch or trench surrounding the outer castle wall -- was a castle's first line of defense. The moat could be filled with water or dry (a dry moat could have been lined with wooden spikes). It usually had a drawbridge across it that was drawn up when the castle was under attack.

What is another name for a castle yard?

Bailey - also known as the ward. The courtyard-like area of ground enclosed by a stone wall or wooden palisade, where the domestic buildings of the castle were. Includes exercise area, parade ground, emergency corral. In a concentric castle, the area between two encircling walls.

What surrounds a castle?

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.

What are sections of a castle called?

Castle Battlements and Parapets The raised sections of the battlement were known as merlons and the lower parts were called crenels. Crenels, sometimes called embrasures, were regularly spaced gaps in the castle battlement. Castle defenders could take protection behind the merlons and fire arrows from the crenels.

What is the area outside a castle called?

An outer bailey or outer ward is the defended outer enclosure of a castle.