| Forum: | Castles In General & Medieval History |
| Topic: | Towers |
|
|
|
*If HTML and/or UBB Code are enabled, this means you can use HTML and/or UBB Code in your message.
I'm curious about construction techniques in these cases. [This message has been edited by Shelly (edited 02-01-2001).] You'll find that castles weren't just altered by adding further towers. As new techniques for attacking castles were devised, the castle builders had to think up ways of defending themselves. One of the main things that needed to be considered was the advent of gunpowder. Some castles had their walls thickened to withstand such attack. Others added further outer defenses such as artillery batteries (such as Threave in Scotland) and rings of moats and ditches (such as Caevalerock). A lot of castles had extensive alterations done in more peacable times to provide more comfortable accommodation. These could consist of more inner buildings, or merely by bigger windows into the walls. I think its very interesting when visiting castles to see how and where alterations were made. Sometimes they were done very skillfully. Other times changes were very clumsy and you can see half blocked-off doorways and windows. Levan MerlinShelly I have read that one way of strengthening a castle is by adding more towers, usually(I'm assuming) in a curtain wall. how did they build a new tower into the original masonry? Peter A great big hammer.
Honest ! Just take out the section of the wall where you want your tower. Test the ground for footings. Then stick your tower in. Simple when your in the building trade.Levan This is actually a very intersting point. Very few castles were built in one go and never altered. Peter Just to add onto my first point and the second reply. A castles is no different from a house, because, as pointed out they were in many cases homes as well (as indeed some still are).
All the points followed when building an extension on your home would be followed on a grander scale with a castle.Merlin Something else to consider: Towers weren't just built to make a castle 'stronger'. Especially from the late 13th century onwards, they were a 'need-to-have' item of almost every castle. A tower symbolizes power, wealth and social status. If new towers were added to an existing structure in the late middle ages, the reason therefore could be that the owner wanted to express his growing power, although there wasn't any need for new fortifications... wurdsmiff Additional towers also provided extra storage and accomodation, again reflecting the status of the owner. duncan More often the outer wall stone {ashler} consisted of cut stone held in place by a soft lime mortar that was not connected to the inner core which was of rubble and a lime base cement. Thats one reason why castles today apear to be slightly shaggy in places where the stone could be taken off easier then other areas.
If the inner core was opened, hammers and chisels were used to chip away an area for the new core to be inserted.
Mortars varied though out the ages and depended on the masons who mixed it as well as the ingredients. Some mortars were closer to concretes and this presented more work then those with the softer type, and these fell pray to being used as quarrys.
Levers, spades, hammers, chisels, and wedges were the most common tools used to take the rock.
Powered by:
Ultimate Bulletin Board (UltimateBB), Version 5.40
© Infopop Corporation (formerly Madrona Park, Inc.), 1998-1999.
