April | 2022 | Lions and Lilies

My fascination with medieval castles began the very first time I visited the Tower of London. I was six years old and distinctly recall spending the day with my Irish grandparents who were visiting my parents and siblings from Dublin. From the moment I walked through the gate, I was hooked. And let’s face it, what’s not to love about a monument as imposing and historic and the Tower? Quite a number of castles are mentioned within the Lions and Lilies series, and some extensively referenced, including Calais, Cambridge, Carcassonne, Edinburgh, Gisor, Larressingle, Palais de la Cite and Windsor, to name just a few.

A castle, or fortified structure, was predominantly constructed during the Middle Ages, by the nobility and by military orders. Use of the term has varied over time and has been applied to structures as diverse as hill forts and country houses. Castles have particularly distinctive features with architectural terms not commonly used today.

So, what is a ‘walk walk’, barbican or donjon? The following (though not comprehensive) is offered as a guide to the romantic world of the medieval castle –

Allure or Wall-walk: passage behind the parapet (the top of the outer wall) of a castle. Walk-walk derives from a passage that runs parallel to another passage – so to walk the same route as the walk on the other side of the wall.

Apse: is the circular or polygonal part of a tower or chapel, normally situated at the end of the aisles and often includes a stained glass window.

Arcading: rows of arches supported on columns, free-standing or attached to a wall.

Arrow Loop: A narrow vertical slit cut into a wall through which arrows could be fired from inside.

Ashlar: blocks of smooth, squared stone.

Bailey or Ward: courtyard within the walls of the castle.

Barbican: an protruding extension of a castle gateway.

Barrel vault: semi-circular roof constructed from stone and/or timber.

Bartizan: overhanging corner turret.

Bastion: a small tower located at the end of a curtain wall or in the middle of the outside wall.

Battlement: a narrow wall built along the outer edge of the wall walk to protect soldiers against attack.

Buttery: room for the service of beverages.

Concentric: having two sets of walls, one inside the other.

Corbel: stone bracket projecting from a wall or corner to support a beam.

Crenelation: notched battlements made up of alternate crenels (openings) and merlons (square saw teeth).

Cross-wall: an internal dividing wall in a great tower.Curtain wall: a castle wall enclosing a courtyard.

Donjon: the inner stronghold (keep) of a castle.

Drawbridge: a wooden bridge leading to a gateway, capable of being raised or lowered.

Drum Tower: a round tower built into a wall.

Dungeon: a room or series of rooms used to hold prisoners.

Embrasure: the low segment of the alternating high and low segments of a battlement.

Enceinte: an enclosing wall, usually exterior, of a fortified place.

Finial: a slender piece of stone used to decorate the tops of the merlons.

Garderobe: latrine or toilet.

Gate House: the complex of towers, bridges, and barriers built to protect each entrance through a castle or town wall.

Hall: principal living quarters of a medieval castle or house.

Hoarding: covered wooden gallery fixed to the top of the outside of a tower or curtain, used to defend the castle.

Inner Ward or Inner Bailey: open area in the center of a castle.

Keep: the inner stronghold of the castle.

Machicolation: a projection in the battlements of a wall with openings through which items could be dropped on besiegers.

Merlon: part of a battlement, the square “saw tooth” between crenels.

Meurtriere: arrow loop, slit in battlement or wall to permit firing of arrows.

Moat: a deep trench usually filled with water.

Motte: an earthwork mound on which a castle was built.

Murder Holes: a section between the main gate and inner portcullis where arrows, rocks, and hot oil could be dropped.

Oriel or Oriel Window: an area projecting from the wall in an upper floor, later an upper-floor bay window.

Oubliette: a dungeon reached by a trap door.

Palisade: a sturdy wooden fence built to enclose a site until a permanent stone wall could be constructed.

Parapet: protective wall at the top of a fortification, around the outer side of the wall-walk.

Portcullis: vertical sliding wooden grille, suspended in front of a gateway designed to protect the gate.

Postern Gate: a secondary gate or door often located at the rear of the castle.

Putlog Hole: a hole intentionally left in the surface of a wall for insertion of a horizontal pole.

Sapping: undermining, as of a castle wall.

Screens: wooden partition at the kitchen end of a hall, protecting a passage leading to the buttery, pantry, and kitchen.

Solar: commonly applied to the great chamber or a private sitting room off the great hall.Turret: a small tower rising above and resting on one of the main towers, usually used as a look out point.

Turret: a small tower resting on, and rising above, a main tower.

Wall Walk: the area along the tops of the walls from which soldiers could defend the castle.

Ward: courtyard or bailey.

Cathy A

Catherine A Wilson co-writes with Catherine T Wilson (no relation). Their first book, The Lily and the Lion, was based upon their true-life accidental meeting and resulting friendship. All four books in their ‘Lions and Lilies’ series have won first place prizes in the Chatelaine/Chaucer Awards in the US and in 2019, The Traitor’s Noose won the Grand Prize Chaucer Award.