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Double portcullis gates at Petersberg Citadel, Erfurt. Portcullises fortified the entrances to many medieval castles, securely closing them off during times of attack or siege. Every portcullis was mounted in vertical grooves in the walls of the castle and could be raised or lowered quickly by using chains or ropes attached to an internal winch ...
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 ...
Machicolations were more common in French castles than English, where they are usually restricted to the gateway, as in the 13th-century Conwy Castle. [5] Within France, machicolation is more common on southern castles. One of the oldest extant examples of machicolation in northern France is at Château de Farcheville which was built from 1290 ...
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. Boiling oil was rarely used because ...
A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most heavily armed section of a fortification, to compensate for being structurally the weakest and the ...
The origin of the English word barbican is thought to be found in either Persian or Arabic (see here or here).. Paul Deschamps (1888–1974) interpreted the Arabic word 'bashura[h]' as used in 13th-century chronicles to mean barbican, a defensive structure placed ahead of a gate but this has been debunked, 'bashura' denoting rather an entire section of the outer fortifications, which may ...
Cataractonium likely took its name from the Latin word cataracta (ultimately derived from Greek cataràcta, καταρράκτης), meaning either "waterfall" or "portcullis". Some linguists have suggested that this was a misinterpretation of an original Brittonic placename meaning "[place of] battle ramparts".
A postern is a secondary door or gate in a fortification such as a city wall or castle curtain wall. Posterns were often located in a concealed location which allowed the occupants to come and go inconspicuously. In the event of a siege, a postern could act as a sally port, allowing defenders to make a sortie on the besiegers. Placed in a less ...