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The idea behind a shell keep is similar to the round stone keep except that it is simpler in some ways. There are actually examples of Motte-and-Bailey style castles being upgraded into a shell keep design. Many tower designs and building ideas came from the creation of round stone keeps.
Gothic Architecture: Tales of Ghosts and Ghouls
Gothic architecture is best known for cathedrals, and it is a style marked by high structures, pointed arches, and the use of flying buttresses, but this style has been used for castles too. Gothic castles have actually become some of the most famous forms because of their aesthetic that has, in more recent centuries, been deemed “spooky”. These castles thrived during the Gothic period and while they may not be as common as the more standard castles, they certainly have remained as persistent symbols of a bygone era. Wooden structures added to the top of walls and towers to provide a covered walkway and a secure place for defensive fire. Raised areas of earth on which palisades and walls were built in early castles.
Learn more about Life in a Medieval Castle
Patinated copper accents and stout towers on either side of the copper front door speak to its medieval influences. Two sets of glass doors lead to a balcony with a pretty view over the grounds. A stainless-steel staircase is another of the home’s one-of-a-kind elements, along with the carved stone bridge that spans a fairytale-esque moat. Built in 1992, 2150 Robinson Lane is surrounded by manicured grounds and towering trees that act as a natural buffer for privacy. The multi-story mansion spans 9,470 square feet with five bedrooms and baths, plus two powder rooms. It will make it easy for them to come up with many imaginative situations.
Concentric Castles
Shell keep castles were the improved defense system of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The original wooden surround on top of the motte was now enclosed by a hewn rock wall to provide a shell as an extra layer of protection. The outer shell was at times enhanced by a lower strengthening wall, called a chemise. These provided an excellent solution as the structure of the walls did not have to be very thick and heavy, which could have led to the collapse or sinking of parts of the mound or motte. Cannons, in particular, could completely decimate a square keep and level the structure within days.
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Alternatively, castle in a more peaceful, prosperous part of Southern England may have been designed to culture an air of luxury and magnificence for a local Lord and Lady.
It was designed to be deep and, in some instances, was filled with water. The alarm was sounded when invaders were scouted preparing to besiege a village. Everything and everyone, skilled and unskilled, could participate in constructing this type of defense. In the 1500s in England, this trend was exemplified by Henry VIII’s extravagant construction or renovation of mighty palaces, including Hampton Court near London. Stone castles – which had looked so mighty just a couple of hundred years before – were rendered puny by mighty cannons. Other castles had grisly machicolations, sometimes known as ‘murder holes’.
The word castle is sometimes applied to prehistoric earthworks, such as Maiden Castle in England, and is also applied, in various linguistic forms (e.g., château, castello, and Burg), to princely mansions or country seats. Those defensive arrangements outside the castle walls proper, for example, a moat or barbican. An early type of castle with an artificial or natural mound (motte) on which a tower is built with a courtyard (bailey) below, surrounded by a palisade and moat. They may be dry or filled with water (temporarily or permanently) and have wooden stakes driven into their sides to make them more slippery and so more difficult to climb by attackers. If you visit the site of a shell keep nowadays, what you’ll find is usually the external stone ring of the building as the inside timber elements have been destroyed with time.
Structure of a Medieval Castle
These noblemen were constantly at war with their local neighbors in an attempt to expand their own territory, but their methods of fortifications have not structurally survived history. The Normans built their earliest fortifications of wood in the motte-and-bailey style. As their grasp on invaded lands became stronger, the Normans transitioned to stone keeps or castles to hold their lines and lands, which was the start of castles as we know them today. In medieval times, noblemen and kings at first built wooden structures to house their families, other nobles, and household guards on top of the mound, later called a motte. This structure was known as the central keep by the time the motte-and-bailey structures developed; it was part residence, part office, and part treasury.
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The bailey was a walled courtyard, creating a line of defense and protecting the keep. It was surrounded by a protective ditch, easily constructed with unskilled labor. The earliest courtyard walls were high palisade types, wooden fencing with sharpened points. Anglo-Saxon nobility operated on a feudal system, collecting taxes from their tenants.
The evolution of human architecture is interesting, and a lot of the advances came about as a result of a need to protect the population from invading forces. Advances in human technology and thinking are often achieved through conflict. It would collapse on itself, and all of the people inside would be killed.
Castles commissioned by Edward I in North Wales are excellent examples of this style, they remain strong to this day. The stone constructions provided better protection in conflict, and against elements such as wind and storms, but the large rooms were often dark, dank, and cold. As time went by, more elaborate and artistic techniques were added to beautify the castles inside and out, for those who could afford them. Most castles were initially built as fortifications, located on trade routes and along borders between countries. During the ancient Roman invasion of Europe, they had constructed fortifications in the same areas; these ruins were later frequently used as foundations for the new castles. However, much later (in the 1700s), a trend for gothic fiction transformed people’s ideas of these castles.
Some people are so skilled at doing this that they are able to create works of art in their own right. If you have ever seen someone who is truly talented at building sand castles, then you were likely blown away by what is possible. Sometimes people can make sand castles that are scaled replicas of real-world castles.
Today, the 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom gatehouse is still a home fit for royalty. Outside, its striking archway and looming turret transport you back in time. Tree-lined stone walkways lead through a detailed flagstone courtyard with a fountain at its center.
Medieval castle architecture refers to the castles built from 1066, in the style of the Normans. In 1066, William the Conqueror defeated King Harold II of England in the famous Battle of Hastings. To fortify his new country, he instructed all castle owners to build a central tower (the keep) from rock as an observation tower and residence for the nobles. These castles were primarily fortifications that resembled forts rather than what we think of as castles today.
Also, the castle’s stony strength couldn’t protect its inhabitants from enemies who would surround it, sometimes for weeks, waiting for the people inside to surrender as they ran out of food. They are solid and reinforced with stone and rubble to increase their strength against weapons and other projectiles. The curtain walls are high and were sometimes built at a sloping angle to make them harder to scale. A concentric castle was an extremely expensive stone castle, effectively designed to be a ‘castle in a castle’.
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