Did Castles Have Wooden Floors

And at least one bailey a fortified enclosure built next to the motte the term motte and bailey is a relatively modern one and is not medieval in origin.

Did castles have wooden floors. The word motte is the french version of the latin mota and in france. Inside a castle inside a castle is the main residence of the ruling lord along a great hall storage kitchen chapel dungeon and stables. Windows in a real castle are rarely seen below the top floor although they have been added in later times in many castles. Straw was not needed to keep people from slipping on wet slate but it was used as a floor covering on most surfaces to provide a modicum of warmth and cushioning.

The closest thing to a castle in their times was a walled city. You might not have given much thought to medieval floors but they were quite varied and these days they offer good opportunities to a novelist for scene setting or showing a character s state of mind. The wastes would drop into. Upper rooms and halls had wood floors.

A castle is a medieval structure the ancient romans did not have castles. Was a room that projected from a wall. Early windows often had stone seats built into the castle walls next to them. Floors castle in roxburghshire south east scotland is the seat of the duke of roxburghe despite its name it is a country house rather than a fortress.

A motte a type of mound often artificial topped with a wooden or stone structure known as a keep. Some medieval hoardings have been reconstructed including the chateau comptal at carcassonne. A castle is a medieval structure the ancient romans did not have castles. Over time the construction of the castle keep would have evolved from being built from wood to become built of stone.

In beloved besieged elaine covers the floor of her father s hall with rushes strewn with sweet smelling herbs and flowers for. A motte and bailey castle was made up of two structures. In peacetime hoardings could be stored as prefabricated elements. Very few castles had the advantage of a fresh flowing natural moat formed from the loop of a river for example.

The closest thing to a castle in their times was a walled city. In castles the ground floor might be beaten earth stone tile or plaster but upper stories almost invariably had wooden floors 2 and the same pattern likely held true in town dwellings. Ladies would sit her to sew taking advantage of the. In some castles construction of hoardings was facilitated by putlog holes that were left in the masonry of castle walls.

The moat is a main feature. A hole in the floor allowed wastes to drop below. They would have wooden shutters or perhaps a kind of waxed paper to let in the light. It was built in the 1720s by the architect william adam for duke john possibly incorporating an earlier tower house.

In the 19th century it was embellished with turrets and battlements by william playfair for duke james. The upper stories typically had floors made of wood.