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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]
A shell keep is a style of medieval fortification, best described as a stone structure circling the top of a motte. In English castle morphology, shell keeps are perceived as the successors to motte-and-bailey castles, with the wooden fence around the top of the motte
A concentric castle is a castle with two or more concentric curtain walls, such that the outer wall is lower than the inner and can be defended from it. [1] The layout was square (at Belvoir and Beaumaris) where the terrain permitted, or an irregular polygon (at Krak and Margat) where curtain walls of a spur castle followed the contours of a hill.
The keep is nearly square, a common shape for Norman keeps. The east and west sides are 53 ft (16 m) long and the north-south sides about 58 ft (18 m). The main part of the keep stands more than 70 ft (21 m) tall, and the turrets rise an additional 15 to 25 ft (4.6 to 7.6 m) above the parapets , [ 8 ] [ 6 ] commanding the countryside around it ...
By 1369 few of the castle's buildings still stood: the keep, gatehouses, a hall, kitchen, and stable were all that survived, and even then in a state of ruin. [36] The keep was in desperate need of repair, but it was still in use and was the centre of the domestic life at the castle. [37]
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The Norman square keep of Goodrich Castle in England, with the original first-floor doorway still visible above its later replacement. From the early 12th century onwards the Normans began to build new castles in stone and convert existing timber designs. [42] This was initially a slow process, picking up speed towards the second half of the ...