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A portcullis (from Old French porte coleice 'sliding gate') is a heavy, vertically closing gate typically found in medieval fortifications. [1] A portcullis gate is constructed of a latticed grille , made of wood or metal or both, which slides down grooves inset within each jamb of the gateway.
English: The portcullis design is recorded as the work of Charles Barry in 1834 and is used on many Royal commissions such as on the Great Bell ("Big Ben"). As well as wide use of the portcullis design with varied supporting emblems, this specific version with the crown has been used by HM Customs and Excise "for some centuries."
Portcullis House (PCH) is an office building in Westminster, London, England, that was commissioned in 1992 and opened in 2001 to provide offices for 213 members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and their staff. The public entrance is on the Embankment.
A diagram of the Antechamber. The last line of defence against intrusion was a small chamber designed to house portcullis blocking stones, called the Antechamber. It is cased almost entirely in granite and is situated between the upper end of the Grand Gallery and the King's Chamber.
Doors, metal gates, or portcullis in the opening can be used to control entry or exit. The surface surrounding the opening may be made of simple building materials or decorated with ornamentation . The elements of a portal can include the voussoir , tympanum , an ornamented mullion or trumeau between doors, and columns with carvings of saints ...
Where keeps did exist, they were no longer square but polygonal or cylindrical. Gateways were more strongly defended, with the entrance to the castle usually between two half-round towers which were connected by a passage above the gateway – although there was great variety in the styles of gateway and entrances – and one or more portcullis.
Animation showing the operation of a drawbridge. A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat.In some forms of English, including American English, the word drawbridge commonly refers to all types of moveable bridges, such as bascule bridges, vertical-lift bridges and swing bridges, but this article concerns the ...
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.