Why did castles eventually have high towers and wide moats?

Why did castles eventually have high towers and wide moats? The most common use for a moat was defense. What was the use of building a castle with high walls and all manner of defences when an enemy could just roll up war weapons and knock holes in your walls? If war weapons were not feasible, sappers or miners could be deployed to dig beneath the walls and collapse them.

Why did castles have high towers?

Watch Towers (Guettes) Its main purpose is to provide a high, safe place from which a sentinel or guard may observe the surrounding area.

What is the strongest castle in England?

Were moats filled with sewage?

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.

Which UK country has the most castles?

This is a little known fact; Wales has more castles per square mile than any other country in Europe. Wales's history has left a landscape scattered with Iron Age hill forts, Roman ruins and castles from Medieval Welsh princes and English kings.

Why were there so many walls in castles?

Castle walls were also used to help defences in other ways - for example walkways on top of the walls (chemins de rondes) allowed defenders to move quickly around the castle defences. Battlements (crenellations) protected them for enemy fire.

Why were castles built on high places surrounded by water?

The castle served as a way to defend their land and fight off attackers. Castles were usually built where there was a natural feature of the land that would help in the defense of the castle such as building on top of a hill or where they were surrounded by water.

What was the weakest part of a castle and how did they protect it?

The weakest part of the castle's defenses was the entrance. To secure access to the castle, drawbridges, ditches and moats provided physical barriers to entry.

Why did a castle have strong high walls?

Attackers had to climb over them to get closer to the castle. The walls of the castles were very high making it hard for attackers to climb over.

What were the 4 main reasons that castles were built?

Medieval Castle s were built from the 11th century CE for rulers to demonstrate their wealth and power to the local populace, to provide a place of defence and safe retreat in the case of attack, defend strategically important sites like river crossings, passages through hills, mountains, and frontiers, and as a place ...

What is the safest castle in the UK?

The Tower of London is the most secure castle in the UK. This mediaeval fortress has served as a royal palace, prison, execution ground, and military stronghold.