How tall are castle walls

There is no "ratio" of height to width adhered to. As already mentioned, "important" versus economical is always a factor. Constantinople was a city apart, possessing three land walls of increasing height and thickness. The inner, highest wall had a rampart wide enough for a chariot, being 5 meters thick and 12 meters high. Carcassonne is the most famous of medieval fortified cities. The inner walls are over 50 feet high. Sorry - only verified members can post on the forums.

Plenty of New Rules in at Caliver Books. Blood Eagle. Mako11 07 Aug p. How long is a piece of string? The only thing to do is a picture search in google and try to work it out for your self.

Much narrower in my experience. I don't think anybody said they were. Remember that you can Stifle members so that you don't have to read their posts. Please sign in to your membership account , or, if you are not yet a member, please sign up for your free membership account. Tourists might even come across national landmarks, such as castles. For decades, these structures existed to rule over kingdoms, intimidate enemies and build up military defenses when under attack.

They were symbols of great power. Though, a powerful castle is nothing without its height. Take a step back through time and check out the 10 tallest castles in the world! The medieval king eventually entrusted the stronghold to his Archbishop of Canterbury William de Corbeil, who ensured the longevity and significance of this great fortress.

The Rochester Castle has survived three sieges, a fire, and even ruin. How does a castle from the Dark Ages still look this good?

Of course, England has one of the coolest castles ever! In Warwickshire, England, lies the Warwick Castle , a stronghold built at the wee age of ! It survived several sieges and a roaring fire as well—oddly enough the Rochester and this fortress suffered similar fates. The Dover Castle has also become a tourist attraction. Located in Dover, England, the structure features events throughout the year for families and tourists alike.

Other than its imposing ft. One hidden secret travelers may not know is that the structure was the first of its kind to feature concentric defense walls, which prevented enemies from entering the donjon. Dover Castle may have been the first to feature innovative walls used to successfully keep out invaders, but the Citadel of Aleppo brings more to the table. Not only is this ft. A Brattice at Carcassonne - this one is later than the one above. It has a gun port at the front rather than an arrow slit.

A Brattice at Carcassonne. Note the adjacent arrow loops. Meurtrieres are holes designed for defenders to kill attckers. Projectiles can be thrown or shot at the attackers while the defenders remain relatively safe. They can conveniently be divided into two classes: holes in floors "Murder Holes" for dropping dangerous substances or shooting at attackers and holes in walls, such as arrow loopholes, used for shooting projectiles.

For arrows they are called arrow slits or arrow loops archeres and for guns they are called cannoniers canoniers. Attackers would naturally go for a castle's weak points, and the these weak points generally included entrances.

For this reason entrance gates were heavily reinforced, often provided with extensive defensive works called barbicans. Typically the attackers would need to pass a number of obstacles, and the defenders would try to pick the attackers off as they were occupied overcoming these obstacles. Typically these obstacles would include steep inclines, ditches or moats furnished with draw bridges, and port cullises often a series of purtcullises.

As attackers were finding a way through a door or portcullis they would be shot at by the defenders. A simple hole in the floor of the structure over a gateway provided a convenient way not only to shoot attackers, but also to drop things on them. Attackers selected the least pleasant possible items to throw on their enemies.

In the popular imagination this was invariably boiling oil, but there does not appear to be a single documented insatnance of oil being used. We do however know of boiling water, molten lead, and even heated sand all of which could penetrate armour more easily than other weapons.

Other favoured materials included large stones. Attackers approaching an external gateway would be faced by a series of obstacles. A strong wooden gate would be set behind a port cullis. In this photograph a portculis would drop between the second and thiird arch.

This is the view looking up. The slot at the botto is for a port cullis. The slot at the top is a type of murder hole. An arrowslit is a thin vertical aperture in a fortification through which an archer can launch arrows. It is alternatively referred to as an arrow loop, loop hole, or archere, and sometimes a balistraria.

The interior walls behind an arrow loop are often cut away at an oblique angle so that the archer has a wide field of view and field of fire. Arrow slits come in a remarkable variety. A common form is the cross. The thin vertical aperture permits the archer large degrees of freedom to vary the elevation and direction of his bowshot but makes it difficult for attackers to harm the archer since there is only a small target to aim at. Arrow slits can often be found in the curtain walls of medieval battlements beneath the crenellations.

The invention of the arrowslit is attributed to Archimedes during the siege of Syracuse in — BC. Slits "of the height of a man and about a palm's width on the outside" allowed defenders to fire bows and scorpions an ancient siege engine from within the city walls. Although used in late Greek and Roman defences, arrowslits were not present in early Norman castles.

In these early examples, arrowslits were positioned to protect sections of the castle wall, rather than all sides of the castle. In the 13th century, it became common for arrowslits to be placed all around a castle's defences. In its simplest form, an arrowslit was a thin vertical opening, however the different weapons used by defenders sometimes dictated the form of arrowslits. Openings for longbowmen were usually tall and high to allow the user to fire standing up and make use of the 6 ft 1.

Those for crossbowmen were usually lower down as it was easier for the user to fire whilst kneeling to support the weight of the weapon. It was common for arrowslits to widen to a triangle at the bottom — called a fishtail — to allow defenders a clearer view of the base of the wall.

Immediately behind the slit there was a recess called an embrasure; this allowed a defender to get close to the slit without being too cramped. The width of the slit dictate the field of fire, but the field of vision could be enhanced by the addition of horizontal openings; they allowed defenders to view the target before it entered range.

Usually, the horizontal slits were level, which created a cross shape, but less common was to have the slits off-set called displaced traverse slots as in the remains of White Castle in Wales.

This has been characterised as an advance in design as it provided attackers with a smaller target, however it has also been suggested that it was to allow the defenders of White Castle to keep attackers in their sights for longer because of the steep moat surrounding the castle.

When an embrasure linked to more than one arrowslit — in the case of Dover Castle defenders from three embrasures can shoot through the same arrowslit — it is called a "multiple arrowslit". Some arrowslits, such as those at Corfe Castle, had lockers nearby to store spare arrows and bolts; these were usually located on the right hand side of the slit for ease of access and to allow a rapid rate of fire. Arrow loops needed to provide cover as a close as possible to the walls. This is one reason why towers were used along the defensive walls - they provided a way to defend the neighbouring walls.

Arrow slits were angled in such a way that they could provide cover as close as possible to the foot of the wall. Arrow slits were not always regarded with romanic affection. In the nineteenth century many castles were used at workshops, stores and peasant accommodation. To keep out the weather holes like arrow slits would often be blocked up. On the right is an example from Carcassonne, where the slit has been filled with Toulouse brick, preserving the outline of the original hole.

Arrow loops needed altering in later times to allow their use by firearms. Late Medieval and Early Renaissance castles have cannoniers for guns rather than archeres for arrows. The hole is just large enough to pass through an arquebus and the vertical slot for sighting it. Often, once a castle was taken, it would be occupied by its new masters and it would continue its function of holding down a strategically important area. Occasionally this was not done. Perhaps the castle could not be held because forces were needed elsewhere as happened during the Cathar Wars , or because it was untenable with a large hostile population again as happened during the Cathar Wars.

Perhaps the castle was taken only for puniutive reasons as also happened during the Cathar Wars, Spanish incursions, and during the Hundred Year's Wars. Or perhaps the strategic importance diminished, as for Carcassonne and her five sons after the border between France and Spain was moved back under the Treaty of the Pyrenees in Sir Jordan Crosland held it for the King for three months before surrendering. Parliament ordered that the castle should be slighted to prevent its further use and so much of the castle's walls, gates and the eastern half of the east tower were destroyed see right.

However the mansion was spared. In each case there was good reason for destroying the castle before leaving it and allowing it to be re-occupied.

But destroying a castle is not easy. Generally it was good enough to do just enough damage to make it not worth while for anyone to repair it. To damage a castle in this way is to "slight" it. By analogy we talk about slighting people too - not desroying them but damaging them. The castle at Beaucaire was slighted by Richelieu in , and so were the "Five Sons of Carcassonne ", five Royal castles Termes , Aguilar, Peyrepertuse , Queribus and Puilaurens strategically placed to defend the old border against Aragon.

In Richelieu ordered the castle at Termes to be abandoned and slighted. The walls were destroyed by a master mason from Limoux , using explosives, between