Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Murder holes at Bodiam Castle. A murder hole or meurtrière is a hole in the ceiling of a gateway or passageway in a fortification through which the defenders could shoot, throw or pour harmful substances or objects such as rocks, arrows, scalding water, hot sand, quicklime, or boiling oil, down on attackers.
The earliest part of the castle is the four-storey tower. [4] The ground and third floors have vaulted ceilings, with Irish crenelations on the parapet, from which there are views of Bannow Bay and Waterford Harbour, important for defence. The entrance doorway is protected by a machicolation and murder-hole.
Roodstown Castle is a rectangular tower house of four storeys with small turrets at diagonally opposed corner: a spiral stairway in the SE and garderobes in the NW. [6] The castle contained a vaulted ground-floor cellar or storage space, a murder-hole, a crenellated parapet, chemin de ronde. The upper floors have large ogee windows and fireplaces.
The tower house six storeys. Part of the original attacking wall remains. [15]There are traces of bartizans on the NE and SW corners and along the south wall. Other features include a machicolation, murder hole, many slit windows, fireplaces and a slopstone.
There are window seats in large upper floor windows which still allow for a great view. There are two murder-holes, one between the ground and first floor, the second between the first and second floor. [21] A wall walk ran on top of the castle. The staircase is mural, starting left of the entrance door and running clockwise in the walls.
The castle consists of two towers: one, a circular keep, and the other, a square demesne tower located to the east. [7] The keep has a small southerly projection. The north doorway is protected by a machicolation and there is another to the east. A murder-hole guards the double entrance. A mural helical stairway leads to the upper floors. [8]
The castle is open to the public, having been partially restored, and displays objects relating to the Crusades, the Normans, and medieval monks. Some the features of the castle that are on view are its dungeon, murder-hole, effigies and oratory. [3] The castle is a National Monument, in state care, number 516. [6]
North wall. A fortified stone tower of three storeys, with base batter. [11] It has a hipped slate roof with machicolations, Irish crenellations and a murder hole. [12] There are large windows in the west wall topped with brick arches; these were probably added in the 19th century when the castle was used as a granary.