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    During the Middle Ages, a castle was the house of a nobleman or prince who ruled a small piece of land. Everyone who lived on this land had to work for that ruler every day by either farming the land, fighting, or building structures for the ruler. 

Go To:

1. Great Hall

2. Castle Defense

3. Basement

4. Toilets

Great Hall

  The largest room inside a castle is the Great Hall. In the Great Hall, many fabulous events took place, such as banquets, festivals, and knightings; yet, some punishments also occurred in this room. However, most sentences took place in the dungeon of the castle. Only the most serious offenders were punished in front of a crowd. Several people would come and watch as the offender was whipped, decapitated, or pulled apart.

    The source of heat for this hall was a huge stone fireplace that burned constantly throughout the year. There were also huge tapestries, which hung along the walls of the Great Hall to help keep it warm. Often during the winter, many of the construction workers would leave their site because the cold temperatures would crack the mortar. A few people remained behind in order to prepare the materials for the resumption of work the following spring.

Castle Defense

   A moat (filled with water and sometimes alligators) encircled nearly every castle. The only way to cross the moat was to use the castle drawbridge. Without access to the drawbridge, the castle was nearly impregnable. Castle construction began with the inner and outer faces of the wall.  The stones were carefully fitted together and glued with mortar in horizontal layers called courses. When the height of the wall reached three to four feet, the space in-between the two walls was filled with rubble, or a mixture of stones and mortar. This strengthened the walls, enabling them to withstand nearly anything, except for repeated attacks from catapults. The walls were usually strengthened by buttresses. Atop the castle ramparts were wooden frames designed to protect soldiers, at the same time allowing them to fire with relative ease. Castle guards could also pour stones or hot oil on attackers from the safety of these wooden frames.

    For strategic reasons, sites offering natural protection on three sides were ideal for castle construction, thus leaving only one side of the castle open to direct attack. For example, the edge of a cliff, or, high atop a hill or a mountain so that invaders could be attacked before they reached the palace gates.

Basement

    The rooms located at the ground level were usually called the basement. Here, food and water were stored in case the castle was under-siege. Upper rooms were either used as offices or living quarters. A stone fireplace heated each room of the castle, to ward off harsh winter cold. The majority of lighting came from windows, often supported with an iron girdle, and closed when necessary by shutting wooden blinds.

Toilets

   
    Toilets, or garderobes, were located in the curtain walls and reached by a narrow passage. A small window or an arrow loop lighted each garderobe. The seat was a slab of stone with a round hole cut in it. Along side the outer curtain, the seat was propped up on corbels and projected out beyond the face of the wall. The garderobes of the inner curtain often were either gathered together over a vertical shaft within the wall or built against it. This  led to a cesspit at the base of the tower, which was periodically cleaned out.

If you want to see a picture of a real toilet, then follow the link.

Welcome to the Castle Slideshow

Welcome to the Castle Pictures

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