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The horseshoe-shaped (or D-shaped) tower is a compromise that gives the best of a round and a square tower. The semicircular side (the one facing the attacker) could resist siege engines, while the rectangular part at the back gives internal space and a large fighting platform on top. [ 1 ]
In Cantabria, there is a big number of fortified towers that fulfilled functions of housing and defense. [1] These buildings, generally battlements , were erected mostly between the 13th and 15th centuries by noble families and influenced significantly in the architecture of Cantabria , passing some to be forts-houses, prelude to the future ...
Motte-and-bailey was the prevalent form of castle during 11th and 12th centuries. A courtyard (called a bailey) was protected by a ditch and a palisade (strong timber fence). Often the entrance was protected by a lifting bridge, a drawbridge or a timber gate tower. Inside the bailey were stables, workshops, and a chapel.
Gate tower: a tower built next to, or on top of the city gates to better defend the city gates. Wall tower: a tower built on top of a segment of the wall, which usually extended outwards slightly, so as to be able to observe the exterior of the walls on either side. In addition to arrow slits, ballistae, catapults and cannons could be mounted ...
Greek siege tower first used in Rhodes. [5] Polybolos: 289 BC Greece: A siege engine with torsion mechanism, drawing its power from twisted sinew-bundles. Sambuca: 213 BC Sicily: Roman seaborne siege engine build on two ships. Siege hook: 189 BC Rome: A siege hook is a weapon used to pull stones from a wall during a siege.
In the First Intermediate Period tomb of General Intef at Thebes (modern Luxor, Egypt), a mobile siege tower is shown in the battle scenes. [2] In modern Harpoot, Turkey, an artistically Akkadian style stone carved relief dated circa 2000 BC was found depicting a siege tower, the earliest known visual depiction from Anatolia (although siege towers were later described in Hittite cuneiform ...
A 19th-century reconstruction of the keep at Château d'Étampes. Since the 16th century, the English word keep has commonly referred to large towers in castles. [4] The word originates from around 1375 to 1376, coming from the Middle English term kype, meaning basket or cask, and was a term applied to the shell keep at Guînes, said to resemble a barrel. [5]
The castle is approximately 20 metres high and follows the general pattern of tower houses: stone-built, essentially defensive and comprising a series of superimposed chambers. The original spiral staircase and one of the original roof beams dating from 1280 can still be seen today as an exposed beam in 'the lounge' restaurant.