Castle defenses during sieges included portcullises, murder holes, and arrow loops. A portcullis was a heavy metal or timber grill that could be lowered to block the castle entrance. Murder holes allowed defenders to drop arrows, rocks, and oil on attackers trapped between the outer gate and inner portcullis. Arrow loops were narrow vertical slits through which archers inside the castle could fire arrows. Other defenses discussed include moats, crenels, merlons, garderobes, battering rams, catapults, drawbridges, and turrets.

1. Castle Elements
and Siege Warfare

2. Portcullis
•Often used within the gatehouse.
•A heavy timber or metal grill (grating) that
protected the castle entrance.
•Could be raised or lowered from within the
castle.
•It dropped vertically between grooves (worked
by a winch or a counterweight) to block
passage.
•Used to trap attackers.
Refer to this
element

3. “Murder Holes”
•A section between the main gate and an
inner portcullis where arrows, rocks, and
hot oil can be dropped from the roof
though holes.
•Provides good cover for defenders and
leaves the attacker(s) open.
•Only used when outer gate has been
breached.

4. Other Machicolation Examples

5. •A heavy timber platform built to go over a
moat between a gatehouse and
surrounding land that could be raised
when required to block an entrance.
Drawbridge

6. Refer to this
element
Arrow Loops
•A narrow vertical slit cut into a wall
through which arrows could be fired
from inside.

7. What does an arrow loop look from
the inside?

8. Battering Ram
•A large beam or log suspended from
perpendicular beams.
•By swinging it, the wall was shaken down
or a hole was made through it.

9. •A giant siege engine in the form of a
boulder firing catapult.
Trebuchet or Catapult

10. What about the other terms?
• Crelon
• Merlon
• Garderobe
• Moat
• Turret

11. Crenels
•The lower segment of battlements used
to provide a firing point.
•They were usually 2 to 3 feet wide.
•Often had wooden shutters for greater
protection.

12. Merlon
•The raised part of battlements.
•Usually about 3 feet high.
•Sometimes pierced with arrow slits to
protect soldiers from enemy archers.

13. Garderobe
•Primitive toilet cut into the thick outer
walls of the keep - just a stone seat over
a hole/chute down into the wall that
emptied into the moat.
•A few had natural light, but most were lit
by torches.
•Iron bars were often fixed to the bottom
of the chutes to prevent an invading
army from gaining access that way.

14. Moat
•A deep flooded ditch round the castle. They were
usually filled from a nearby water supply such as a
spring, river or lake.
•A dam would be placed on the supply to control
the moat's water level.

15. Turret
A castle turret is a small tower rising above
and resting on one of the main towers,
usually used as a look out point.