Designing Castles

[grahamguitarman]

To give you an idea of a 'normal' castle (ie not Royal residence) here is a link to the site of my local castle at Conisbrough, with loads of info and floor plans of the keep (look in vital statistics).

Conisbrough Castle

This castle was actually the inspiration for the novel 'Ivanhoe' by sir Walter Scott in 1819, he wrote the novel while staying at the Boat Inn, a local pub 3 miles from my house.

There are some interesting artists impressions on there too - though the artist was not very good at getting the scale right, the rooms look too cramped and the courtyard too small!

The thirty foot limit sounds about right to me for a castle interior, I've not seen many keeps with internal dimensions greater than that. Also the walls tend to be very thick - usually 1.5-2m for a city wall, about 3-4m for an outer castle wall, and up to 6m for a keep wall. Very often the stairwells were built into the 'body' of the keep walls to save space in the inner rooms - resulting in very narrow and claustrophobic stairways.

If you look at the overall plan of the castle there is a great hall outside of the keep that would have been the communal space for all those outside the lords closest aides/family. This had a huge Fireplace which would have provided heat & much of the light, candles would have most likely only been used on special occasions.

As has already been said there was no real privacy in a castle (or any family home come to that) - think open plan, communal army barracks and communal eating/social area.

Also the castle was built to maximise the natural defenses provided by the hill, by building as close to the steeper edges as possible, increasing the difficulty of assaulting those walls (and decreasing the critical defense areas). Nearly all the castles I have seen in my travels have been placed at the edges of high, steep sided hills for this very reason. This also gave the occupants commanding views over the countryside which added to the strategic advantage.

I agree that no-one would build a tower outside of the castle walls - even for a bridge! think about it, if you retreat into the castle walls, you are leaving an exterior fortification your enemies can use against you! There would sometimes be a gatehouse on the other side of the bridge, but this would be a wooden construction - easy to set fire to if captured by enemies.

Hope this is of some use

 

[Ravana]

Just a side note on the subject:
If you have lots of money and don't have anything to do with it,
you can have a castle built by this company.
They don't build drafty castles either, they use insulation between the rock walls.

There is a castle at a ski resort for sell, 3 bed, 4 bath 4800 sq feet, just 2mill.

Build you one? How dull. Why not just cut to the chase and pick up an original?

Castle for Sale - Medievalists.net

Of course, it requires a bit more "lots of money," for them: the top of their "featured" list, Montbrun, has an asking price of 24M euros, and recommends another 10M available for renovations (though from the photos--exterior and interior--I'll be damned if I can figure out where they got the idea this is "ruined"; maybe they just put that tag on all the castles requiring significant renovations). Then again, that's comparatively good for 3,500 square meters....

(Oh, by the way: that doesn't include postage and handling, either. You want it, you're also going to have to relocate to France. Though their currently-available list hits most countries of Europe. Plus a very pretty faux-castle manor in Ottawa, some hideous, totally modern and obviously-not-a-castle built-as-a-resort... thing in Arkansas... and a rather nice if utterly ahistorical "Norman-style" [sic] castle in Bli Bli, Australia, for our southern hemisphere members.)

The site, by the way, is not the sales agent: it's a reference resource designed mainly for teachers. So it has a lot of other things on it that would be of value to just about anybody who hangs out around here, I suspect... I've never fully explored it myself. I just dig checking out the real estate listings. (Way, way )

[Ah: correction--it's the second castle on the list that says "ruined." And it is. Or at the very least a "unique fixer-upper opportunity," if anyone's handy with tools....]

 

[Ravana]

To give some idea of what this site is really intended for (as opposed to the eye candy), here's an example that I'm also going to post (more appropriately) to the Nordic Mythology thread:

The Enchanted Islands: A comparison of mythological traditions from Ireland and Iceland - Medievalists.net

And, yes, if you click on the link below the precis, it takes you to the full 120-page thesis.

 

[SeverinR]

Buying an original would be great,
but the cost to move it to the USA would be alot.

While I loved visiting Europe, I don't want to move there.

I guess you could install the modern conviences of electricity and plumbing when you have it reconstructed.
I would bet no one wants to see the old style castle toilet. (that drains the contents outside, down the wall of the castle.)

The castle I went to in Cincinatti the turret stairs were tiny and steep, I am...wasn't heavy then, and there was probably a foot of space between my shoulders and the walls, total not each side.
The rooms were small, I believe they did link two rooms together, most rooms were probably less then 30 feet as others have said, so the one room was probably 45x30.

 

[Ravana]

In all likelihood, the castles that are mentioned on that site probably couldn't be moved anyway: most at least, if not all, are registered historic sites. So you're probably stuck with appreciating the eye candy. Though for a quick comparative survey of castle styles, you aren't likely to find better one-stop window shopping. While I don't recall seeing any floor plans, there are multiple pictures of each castle, and most give pretty solid descriptions as well, including sizes in many cases.

 

[SeverinR]

There is an intricate D&D Castle Guide that provide a plethora of hints, tips, and information for those approaching the topic of castles from the design perspective for gaming or for story. I bought it years and years ago and reference once in a while to answer a question or get a picture in my mind of what I'm doing in story telling. You might want to check this out as a possible resource.

I went to amazon to see the cost, one reviewer says its is "available in electronic form at TSR's home page". Making it sound like it is free.
I am at work so I can not go to a gaming websight(blocked) But if available it sounds like a good overview of castles.
If I remember I will check when I am home.

 

[SeverinR]

It did take some looking, TSR does not maintain a home page that I can find.
http://simonwoodside.com/dnd/download/castle_guide-2.0.pdf

But this sight has the book. 9 chapters at least and it looks like its complete.

 

[Ravana]

Hmm. Not bad, on a quick look-through... there's somewhat of a paucity of graphics, which is unfortunate, though not specifically a flaw. Seems to have a fairly good idea of dimensions (you'll note that only the very largest of buildings is more than 30' wide... ); I did spot one mathematical error (where he says a 30' interior diameter tower with 10' thick walls has a total diameter of 40'), but since the measurements on other towers is correct, I'm guessing this was a proofreading error.

I would apply a couple of caveats for anybody reading the whole text, though, as opposed to just the construction part. The author has described a feudal society, without making it particularly clear that several variations on this existed--or even if this is based on a single place and time. The religious section is heavily based on Christianity--far too heavily based on it, for most RPGs, though that need not be an objection for present purposes. The section on laws contains some flat-out inaccuracies, even from the random sampling I did, so don't take it too much to heart. That having been said, there's nothing wrong with using this (the above sections included) as a source of ideas; just remember that it's not scholastic research.

(The part that really bugged me is the one that begins: "This chapter is dedicated to the film Excalibur, which is required viewing for anyone wishing to bring “real” knights into a fantasy campaign. Herein, everything about both historical knights and their fantasy equivalents is laid out...." If you want to bring "real" knights into anything, that's quite possibly the worst place to start from.)

 

[SeverinR]

I didn't have time to read it last night,
But I spot read to make sure it was a complete work not just a preview.

Not surprising I agree with your Excaliber evaluation. Movies are great entertainment but no research should be based on a movie.
A Knight's tale could be used to "bring knights" also, but it would not be historically accurate.

I would have edited it as "suggested viewing for using knights in a RPG". For people that have not studied knights, or life in the middle ages, it does show a "believable" set up, and would spark imagination. But definately should leave off the "real."

Movies are make believe, writers stretch things, twist them and even fabricate items to fit into their world. Like books they are made to entertain not teach.