Glossary

Allure: wall-walk

Angle-spur: pyramid-shaped projections rising at the corners of towers, intended for added support and to prevent collapse from undermining

Apsidal: D-shaped

Arrowslit: vertical slot in castle walls used for firing crossbows from inside castle; also called “arrowloop”

Ashlar: building stone neatly trimmed to shape; stone with cut, flat surface aumbry: a cupboard for storing valuables

Bailey: defended courh'ard or ward of a castle; open area enclosed by the castle walls; a ward

Ballista: siege engine shaped like a giant bow, which fired iron-tipped arrows or stone missiles

Barbican: fortified outwork defending the gate of a castle or town

Bar-holes: holes behind doors placed to receive timber bars, which were used to bolt the doors closed

Barmkin: Scottish term for defended courtyard of a castle; also, the wall enclosing such an area

Barrel vault: a vault in the shape of a half barrel split lengthways

Bartizan: an overhanging corner turret

Basement: a secure storage space at ground level or below

Bastion: an open projecting work placed at the corner or along the wall of a fortification that acts as an added firing platform

Batter: inward and upward slope of an external wall, normally located at its base battery: gun emplacement

Battlement: jagged stonework protecting the w'all-vvalk, consisting of crenels and merlons; also known as “crenellation”

Bawn: walled enclosure

Besiege: to surround a castle in order to cut off its supplies, stage an assault if necessary, and force its surrender

Bratticing: wooden housing erected on top of walls; know'u as “war-head” when erected on towers; see “hoarding”

Bretasch: wooden tow'er or wooden defense

Bnrh: Saxon defended settlement

Buttery: storeroom w'here wine and other drink were dispensed from barrels; the “bottlery”; usually located between the hall and the kitchen

Buttress: thickening of a wall or projecting masonry added for strength and support

Capital: head of a column

Caponier: covered connecting passagew av

Casemate: vaulted chamber embedded in ramparts or walls and equipped with a gun emplacement; passageway within thickness of a curtain wall that leads to gun and musket ports

Castellan: individual in charge of the castle; castle custodian

Castellation: battlements; implies use as a decorative feature

Castle: a properly fortified militar}- residence; from the Latin, “castellum”

Cat: hide-covered framework that protected miners during a siege

Cesspit: a depression in the base of a tower or in the ground that collected human waste

Chamberlain: individual responsible for the great chamber and for the personal finances of the castellan

Chancel: part of church or chapel containing the altar chancery: medieval high court that presided over cases of common law and equity; chancellor’s court or office

Chapel: chamber for religious services

Chatelaine: lady of the castle; wife of the castellan

Cobbled: paved with cobblestones, large rounded stones

Comitatus: county court

Concentric: having two parallel lines of defense, the lower outer wall closely surrounding the higher inner wall; a walls-within-walls design; circles within circles

Constable: governor of a castle

Corbel: projecting stone (or timber) feature on a wall used to support an overhanging parapet, platform, turret, or timber beams

Crenel: the openings between the upright sections of crenellation

Crenellation: toothlike protective stonework rimming the top of a castle wall; fortification, including crenels and merlons; battlements

Cross-wall: a stone wall that creates a barrier between two chambers or forms part of a passageway between two structures

Curtain wall: defensive wall which encloses a bailey, courtyard, or ward, generally constructed in stone; links towers, the main gateway, and other structures

Custodian: manager of castle in absence of lord

Dais: a raised platform for the high table, located at the end of the great hall, where the lord and his guests dined

Donjon: keep or great tower, the main citadel of a castle

Dormer: a window located partly in the wall and partly in the roof

Dovecote: medieval pigeon house, often associated with castles or monasteries; building with pigeon holes used to breed doves for food supply

D-plan: semicircular design of towers; apsidal

Drawbar: sliding wooden bar used to secure a door in the closed position

Drawbridge: a timber or stone bridge or roadway across a moat or ditch that lifted or pivoted to prevent unwanted access into the castle

Drum tower: a completely round tower

Dungeon: castle prison

Embankment: earthen wall or slope that enclosed an area or formed the walls of a ditch

Embrasure; splayed opening in a wall or parapet; slits cut into the merlons enceinte: enclosure or courh ard wall escalade: assault on a wall or palisade using scaling ladders exchequer: individual tasked with collecting revenue

Fee: land held b}' a knight or other landowner in exchange for the military service of a single knight

Feudalism: a political and ccononric sstenr under which land was granted by a landowner to a person in exchange for military service or other duties

Fief: a feudal estate

Forebuilding: projecting defensis e work that screened the entrance to keep fossatores: miners

Foundations: the masonr' substructure of a building; often the only surviving remains of a castle or its inner structures

Garderobe; usual!}' the latrine chute, priw, or castle toilet; sometimes, a room to store personal items; a wardrobe

Garrison; a group of soldiers stationed at a eastle

Gatehouse; strong multistory structure containing a fortified gate, the portcullis chamber, and accommodation for the castle constable

Gothic: architectural st}lc developed in northern France that is characterized by pointed arches

Great hall; cirtertainment center of the castle, where guests were feasted; also used as the main admiiristrativc chamber

Guardroom: room used b guards when on dut}'; normally located in the castle gatehouse, often on either side of gate passage

Gun emplacement: platform or defended position providing a place to secure cannons or other guns

Gunloop: opening in a wall for firing a gun, often a modified arrowslit; also called a “gunport”

Harrying: harassing w ith destructive raids hearth: open fire in center of chamber

Hillfort; a large hilltop enclosure surrounded by one or more earthen ramparts

Hoarding: wooden fighting platform fitted to the parapet of wall as extra protection for defenders that pros ided extra space from which to fire down on an enemy

Liornwork: earthwork barrier usually set before an entrance to impede attackers

Inner ward; interior conrhard; huh of castle where daily activities took place

Keep; tlie main citadel or great tower of a castle; a tortified tower containing living quarters and used as the last line of refuge in a siege; a selbsufficicnt tower; the "donjon”

Hmcct-headed: pointed arches at the peaks of narrow window's

Latrine chute: an open channel in a tower or wall through which human waste passed into a cesspit or outside the castle walls into the moat

License to crcnellate: official permission from the monarch to erect a fortified building or fortifi' an existing structure

Lifting gaffs: mechanical arms used to raise drawbridge

Light: compartment of a window-

Loophole; vertical slit for air, light, or firing through

Machicolation; carved projections located along a wall or above an arch way-through which defenders could drop or shoot missiles vertically onto attackers below'; funefioned similar to murder holes

Magazine: chamber for storing ammunition, arms, and provisions

Mangonel: stone-throwing siege engine consisting of a lieav-y' frame that supported a long arm with a enp or sling at the free end, worked with ropes stretched hetsveen upright posts

Mantlet: stretch of land running along the outer side of a curtain wall

Marches: borderlands or frontier, especially associated with the border between Wales and England

Merlon: tbe "teeth" of the battlements rising between the crenels or embrasures; liigh sections of battlement

Meurtrieres: murder holes

Mint: where coins were produced

Missile; a large stone or other object thrown at an enemy through murder holes or by a siege engine

Moat: water-filled ditch encircling the castle; a bodv of water around the castle, as at Caerphilly

Inotte: artificial or improved natural mound on which a timber tower or shell keep was built

Mullion; vertical bar of stone or wood dividing a window into smaller openings

Multilobed; having several curved or rounded projections multivallate: having more than one rampart mural: within the wall

Murder holes: openings in the ceilings of gate passages through which missiles and liquids could be dropped onto attackers or fires

Uewel stair: circular or spiral stair \ ithin a wall or tower

Normauized/ueo-Normau: architectural features imitating Norman sh'le

Oratory: a small private chamber for prayer

Oriel: a large projecting, curved or pohgonal window supported on corbels

Oubliette: tiny cell where prisoners were left to die; secret chamber; pit-prison

Palisade: timber fencing, normally erected on top of earthen ramparts or mottc

Parapet: a protective, battlemented wall located on the outer side of the wall-walk

Parliameutariau: supporter of Parliament against King Charles 1 during English Civil War in rbqos

Partibility: system whereby a deceased person’s propert)- is divided ecjually among his sons

Pele tower: similar to a tower house, but on a smaller scale

Piscina: stone basin with drain hole for the priest to wash hands or vessels

Pit-prison: underground cell accessed through a hatch or trapdoor in ceiling; dungeon; bottle dungeon; oubliette

Plantation; deliberate settlement of a group of people from outside the area

Plinth: projecting stone platforms upon which keeps or wall towers were raised to prevent undermining

Portcullis: heay wooden, iroir, or combination grille protecting an entrance, raised and lowered by winches (the windlass) located inside the gatehouse; grooves visible in gate passages

Postern: secondarv gateway or back doorway used for quick escape or to take in supplies

Putlog holes: square holes that supported timber scaffolding

Rampart: battlement or protected fighting platform for castle defenders; a defensive bank of earth or rubble, topped with timber fence

Range: a group of associated buildings

Revetment: an outwork or embankment faced with a laver of timber or masonrv

Revetting: stone or timber facing applied to a wall or bank

Ringwork: an earth and timber fortification similar to a motte but where the summit is dished to some degree, encircled with earthen banks and then topped with timber palisades

Royalist: supporter of monarchy (King Charles I) during English Civil War in the 1640s rubble: walling of rough, undressed stones; fill stone sacristy: room used to store sacred vessels and vestments salient: part of a fortification that points or angles outward

Sally port: small door or gate, usually some distance from main entrance of castle or ward, which allow'ed defenders to discreetly enter and exit castle without detection; related to “sally forth”

Sapper: miner

Sedile: priest’s seat in chapel

Seigneurial: of or related to a feudal lord

Seneschal: individual in charge of a lord’s feudal estate

Serf: a member of the lowest feudal class who is bound to the soil and subject to the lord

Shell keep: a stone ring wall encircling the top of a motte which held domestic chambers, the hall, and other facilities

Shire: an administrative subdivision similar to a count)'

Shire hall: building used to conduct the administrative business of the shire

Shutter: movable device for closing the crenel or other wall openings

Siege: attacking a castle in order to cause surrender

Siege engine: a machine for firing missiles at castle or for scaling walls; includes tre-buchet, mangonel, ballista, and belfry

Siege-work: an earthwork raised for the protection of a force besieging a castle

Slighting: the process of rendering a castle useless to prevent its future use; dismantling a fortification accomplished by breaching walls, undermining walls, and, later, by blowing them up w'ith gun powder; a policy enforced by Oliver Cromwell to ensure all castles were unable to oppose his authority after the English Civil War

Solar: the lord’s private living quarters, usually adjacent to great hall; a withdrawing chamber

Splay: an aperture that widens as it progresses inwards, normallv associated with windows steward: individual who took care of the estate and supervised the castle’s household and events in the great hall; the “seneschal”

String course; horizontal projecting molding or band of masonry running along the face of a wall

Stronghouse: a horizontally oriented Irish tower house, that often had five stories, but was wider than it was tall; dates to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

Tower house: a significantly fortified residence built to thwart brief assaults rather than prolonged sieges; architecturalh similar to a rectangular keep

Trebuchet; stone-throwing siege engine worked v'ith counterweights

Triforium: a gallery forming the upper story in the aisle of a church

Turning bridge: early form of draw bridge, operating on seesaw principle

Turret: a small tower, often an add-on to a larger tower

Twin-towered: describing a gatehouse with matching drum towers flanking either side of the gate passage

Undercroft; plain chamber underneath a medieval house or castle, most often used as storage and barrel-vaulted

Underinining: digging a tunnel at the base of a curtain wall or tower, which is then propped up with timber beams and set alight to bring down the foundations overhead

Univallate; having a single rampart

Vassal; a feudal tenant

Vaidt: an arched ceiling, usually of stone

Wall-walk: interior walkway along a wall top, protected by a parapet ward: courtyard or bailcv enclosed within castle walls wicket: small gate or doorway, part of the portcullis

Windlass: mechanical dewicc used to raise and lower the drawbridge or portcullis

Yett: gate made of intersecting iron bars penetrating each other vertically and horizontally; Scottish variation of portcullis