Medieval
Times
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Medieval |
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Times |
Castles have a timelessness that is awe-inspiring. That they have endured centuries of warfare, and the effects of weather is a testimony to the creativity and power of their medieval owners. These castles were built through a long process that includes many steps. To make the walls water proof, builders plastered walls with claub. It was a mixture of clay, animal dung, and horsehair. Not all stones were good enough for the castles walls, so they used Freestone. They trimmed this into ashlars. The 'glue' that held the castle’s walls together was mortar, this was a mixture of lime sand and water.
There are many types of castles, English, German, Japanese, Irish, and Australia to name a few. The castles were put up high on hills or mountains to protect them. Most were put up so high so that it was harder to attack them.
There were many rooms in a castle. The room at ground level was called the basement. The basement was made of wooden planks. These were nailed to heavy oak beams. The only room below the basement is the dungeon. This could also be called the jail. It could only be reached through a trap door in the basement floor. The only light in the dungeon came from a slit in the thick wall. Kings would lock their enemies in here to die. Castles had many restrooms, they were called garderobes. The last major part of the castles was the gatehouses. These parts were the weakest parts of the walls so they were built with much care. Portcullis were built between each pair of towers on large arches. These were used to block the door ways when needed. All together castles are great, wonderful places.
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Stone castles first existed in the 9th century.
The castles were held together with mortar. It held the bricks that formed the
castle together. The walls could be as thick as thirty feet! With a drawbridge
and being built on a high mountain was one of the many, many defense units built
right into it. The room at ground level was called the basement.
This room made a tower be self- sufficient during a siege because it was
usually used for strong. The
basement was made of wooden planks. These
were nailed to heavy oak beams. The
walls were made out of a mixture of horsehair , clay and animal dung.
The horsehair made it strong. They
would put lemon on the walls to cover up the smell of the walls. So now their
walls were strong and smelling like lemons. |
By: Stephanie, Tina, & Michele
Mr. Sams 2nd bell May 2004