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A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals to allow for the launch of arrows or other projectiles from within the defences. [1]
The crenellated parapet on a bastion of Kyrenia Castle, Cyprus. A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, [1] terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian parapetto (parare 'to cover/defend' and petto 'chest/breast').
Elements of a rampart in a stone castle or town wall from the 11th to 15th centuries included: Parapet: a low wall on top of the rampart to shelter the defenders. Crenellation: rectangular gaps or indentations at intervals in the parapet, the gaps being called embrasures or crenels, and the intervening high parts being called merlons.
Behind the parapet was a wall walk from which the defenders could fight or move from one part of the castle to another. Larger curtain walls were provided with mural passages or galleries built into the thickness of the walls and provided with arrowslits.
A merlon is the solid, upright section of a battlement (a crenellated parapet) in medieval architecture or fortifications. [1] Merlons are sometimes pierced by narrow, vertical embrasures, or tooth-like slits designed for observation and fire. The space between two merlons is called a crenel, and a succession of merlons and crenels is a ...
In this case the cone roof was surrounded by a defensive wall, a parapet or a battlement. Such conical roofs were usually constructed using a timber-framed support structure covered with slate; more rarely they were made of masonry. A small circular turret or tourelle with a conical roof is called a pepperpot or pepperbox turret. [3]
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 chemin de ronde (French, "round path"' or "patrol path"; French pronunciation: [ʃəmɛ̃ də ʁɔ̃d]), also called an allure, alure or, more prosaically, a wall-walk, is a raised protected walkway behind a castle battlement. [1] [2] In early fortifications, high castle walls were difficult to defend from the ground.