Castle Winner !

Congratulations Judy H ! You are the winner of the Castle Giveaway. Please contact me directly as soon as you can at emeraldpostoffice@gmail.com with the photo of your choice from the Castle Posts (include from which post as well as caption if you can) as well as a mailing address so that I can dispatch your prizes soon. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and left comments. As a consolation prize, use the coupon code FORTRESS15 in the Emerald Post Shop to get 15% off anything on the shelves, including some castle inspired creations. 

Cahir Castle, Ireland

Anatomy of a Castle: Magic, Myth & Legends

Ivy clad ruins of Ballycarbery Castle, Kerry, Ireland

Many of us have learned most of our knowledge of castles from childhood stories, from books, television and films. Or, at least, that is where we begin. From these interpretations, castles are infused with stories, with legends of King Arthur, visits from Merlin, with legends of ghosts and banshees, with the sadness of unrequited love, the joy of amorous reunions, even the mischief of fairies in the nearby woods. I see a castle turret and wonder who pondered the horizon from that window. I walk into a great hall and wonder who supped at the table. What kings plotted dominion from private chambers, what knights plotted treason from their seat below the lord. What lovers met secretly in dark corridors. All of these inklings woven with the true history and glorious architecture of castles form a truly magical tapestry. For this, I never tire of visiting these strongholds, these homes, these works of arts, these magical realms. I hope you've enjoyed the journey as well.  Here are some (well many!) of my favorite photos through which I hope you can grasp some of the magic.

Cahir Castle, Ireland 

Tower House of Aughnanure Castle, County Galway, Ireland

Courtyard of Craigmillar Castle, Scotland

Chepstow Castle, Wales

Cliffside ruins of Dunluce Castle, County Antrim, Ireland

Edinburgh Castle, Scotland

The remote ruins of Auchindoun Castle Scotland

Hilltop ruins of Carreg Cennen Castle, Wales

View from Kidwelly Castle, Wales

Stirling Castle, Scotland

Anatomy of a Castle: The Great Hall

Great Hall - Doune Castle, Scotland

Usually found within the castle keep is the Great Hall, a part of the castle you might be familiar with, from stories to film. The Great Hall was the large, main room of the castle. On one end there would likely be a raised platform from where the lord and lady of the house would dine, all else would dine below them on floor level (literally and metaphorically I suppose). Walls might be hung with tapestries (which kept the warm in as well), heraldic shields of armors, or trophies from The Hunt. There would be candles and torches about for light and often a large fireplace for heat. Long wooden tables would fill the great hall. The Great Hall was the heart of the castle, home of ceremonies, feasts and gatherings, where guests would be received, disputes resolved, and the locus of daily life in the castle.

Great Hall at Blackness Castle, Scotland

Where the Lord & Lady Dine - Stirling Castle, Scotland

Stirling Castle Great Hall, Scotland

Great Hall - Cahir Castle, Ireland

Anatomy of a Castle: The Gatehouse

Gatehouse at Kidwelly Castle, Wales

Cross the drawbridge and you'll likely find yourself staring up at the gatehouse, the front door of the castle and arguably the strongest part of the castle.  Flanked, usually, by two enormous towers, peppered with arrow loops, and a slew of armed guards. The gatehouse might sometimes be referred to as a barbican, which is defined as a defensive tower, usually a double tower, of a castle or walled city, often above a gate or drawbridge.

Bridge over moat and Grand Gatehouse of Caerphilly Castle, Wales

Gatehouse of Carrickfergus Castle, Northern Ireland

Gatehouse at Pembroke Castle, Wales

Barbican & Gatehouse at Harlech Castle, Wales

Gatehouse at Caernarfon Castle, Wales

The tunnel through the gate is often extremely thick, supporting several doors or gates, usually including a portcullis. A portcullis is a heavy gate or grill, usually made of metal, which could be raised and lowered with pulleys inside the gatehouse. If lowered at the right time, the portcullis could be a weapon in its own right, impaling or crushing enemies. Two doors lowered in concert could also trap enemies. From within the gatehouse, soldiers could shoot arrows through arrow loops as well as make use of the murder hole. A murder hole is a gap, situated inside the doorway, above where people enter, through which boiling water, hot oil, and rocks might have been heaved upon unsuspecting enemies.

Gate and Portcullis at Cahir Castle, Ireland

Ruined Gate at Rock of Dunamase, Ireland

Anatomy of a Castle: Battlements

Tower along the walls of Cahir Castle, Ireland

There are many defensive elements to a castle wall and many different terms associated with them. The walls themselves might be called battlements - a parapet on the top of a wall with spaced openings for shooting through. A parapet is simply a protective wall on the top of a roof. These opening in the wall are called crenellations as a whole. If you've seen a child draw a castle, they almost always include crenellations, the iconic notched parts on the top of castles. These crenellations also have parts: crenels (or embrasures) are the opening through which archers shoot, merlons are the raised parts which give the archer cover, and machicolations. Machicolations are a part of the wall that juts out with openings on the floor of the walkway through which an archer could also take aim, or defenders could drop things on the enemy below like stones, boiling water, hot oil, and sometimes dead and diseased animals. Also along the walls there is likely to be towers, also called turrets. These were usually round with arrow loops for better vantage points and defense. As I'm sure those laying siege to a castle also felt, it's taking us forever to get inside these walls!  

This is a battlement atop a wall made up of

1. crenel  2. merlon  3. machicolation

Raglan Castle, Wales

Example of corbelled Machicolations

Here you can see the sky through the openings of the machicolations, how they jut out from the towers and how the defenders could use them to drop stones or hot oil on those trying to break into the gate below. Raglan Castle, Wales

Example of an Arrow Loop through which Archers could shoot while being protected.

Outer Walls and Towers of Chepstow Castle where arrow loops can be seen.

Anatomy of a Castle: Castle Walls

Harlech Castle Walls, Wales

The first line of defense for a castle was location. The lucky ones are perched atop volcanic crags where they can see miles in all directions. Many are on ocean cliffs or along rivers, all serving strategic purposes. After location, the well defended castle has a wall, sometimes called a curtain wall. Later some castles, called Concentric Castles, would have a set of two concentric walls, one inside the next. These walls could be from around 2 meters and 8 meters thick!

Pembroke Castle, Wales

Some castle walls adjoined walls that encircled the entire town such as Conwy Castle, Wales. Conwy Castle was a built for English King Edward I in Wales in 1283 to quell Welsh Rebellions against the crown. Walls were extended to envelop town, where only English settlers & soldiers were allowed. Many castles such as this were built in Wales at this time (Pembroke, Harlech, Caernarfon, Beaumaris, etc).  The walls contain many defensive elements that make up the castle's battlements. Learn more about these in my next post. Until then, enjoy your walk upon the ramparts.

Map of Conwy Castle and complete Town Walls, Wales  (source)

Stretch of Conwy's Town Walls which you can still walk.

Atop Conwy Castle, Wales

Kidwelly Castle, Wales