A barbican is a tower or advanced work defending the entrance to a castle or city, for example at a gate or bridge. It was often large and strong, having a ditch and drawbridge of its own. The term barbican was also applied to an opening in the wall of a fortress, through which missiles were discharged upon an enemy. Research Barbican
A castle (from the Latin castellum, meaning fortress) was a stone defensive building. The concept of castles was introduced to the British by the Normans and replaced the earlier Saxonburh. The castle underwent many changes, its size, design, and construction being largely determined by changes in siege tactics and the development of artillery. Outstanding examples are the 12th-century Krak des Chevaliers, Syria (built by crusaders); 13th-century Caernarfon Castle in Wales; and the 15th-century Manzanares el Real in Spain. The main parts of a typical castle are the keep, a large central tower containing store rooms, soldiers' quarters, and a hall for the lord and his family; the inner bailey or walled courtyard surrounding the keep; the outer bailey or second courtyard, separated from the inner bailey by a wall; crenulated embattlements through which missiles were discharged against an attacking enemy; rectangular or round towers projecting from the walls; the portcullis, a heavy grating which could be let down to close the main gate; and the drawbridge crossing the ditch or moat surrounding the castle. Sometimes a tower called a barbican was constructed over a gateway as an additional defensive measure. Early castles (11th century) consisted of an earthen hill (called a motte) surrounded by wooden palisades enclosing a courtyard (called a bailey). The motte supported a wooden keep. Later developments substituted stone for wood and utilised more elaborate defensive architectural detail. After the introduction of gunpowder in the 14th century, castles became less defensible and increases in civil order led to their replacement by unfortified manor houses by the 16th century. Large stone fortifications became popular again in the 18th century, particularly those modelled after the principles of fortification introduced by the French architect Vauban, and were built as late as the first half of the 19th century. In the late 19th century, castle-like buildings were built as residences for the wealthy as part of the Romantic revival in Europe and America. Research Castle
HMS Barbican was a British Barricade Class boom defence vessel of 730 tons displacement launched in 1938. HMS Barbican had a top speed of 11.75 knots and carried a complement of 32. She was armed with a 3-inch anti-aircraft gun. Research Barbican
A castle (from the Latin castellum, meaning fortress) is an edifice serving at once as a residence and as a place of defence, especially such an edifice belonging to feudal times. Castles differed somewhat at different times and in different places, but they had all several features of similarity. Early castles in Europe followed the basic Saxonburhdesign, ditches surrounding a raised earthen hill (the motte) surmounted with a wooden palisade enclosing a courtyard (called a bailey). The motte supported a wooden, defensive building known as the keep.
Later developments substituted stone for wood and utilised more elaborate defensive architectural detail. After the introduction of gunpowder in the 14th century, castles became less defensible and increases in civil order led to their replacement by unfortified manor houses by the 16th century. Large stone fortifications became popular again in the 18th century, particularly those modelled after the principles of fortification introduced by the French architect Vauban, and were built as late as the first half of the 19th century. In the late 19th century, castle-like buildings were built as residences for the wealthy as part of the Romantic revival in Europe and America.
The first defence of a castle was usually the moat or ditch, that sometimes comprised several acres; and behind it was the outer wall, generally of great height and thickness, strengthened with towers at regular distances, and pierced with loopholes through which missiles could be discharged at the assailants.
The main entrance through the outer wall was protected by the barbican, with its narrow archway, and strong gates and portcullis, and inside there were usually an outer and an inner court, and the strong more or less detached building known as the keep, which formed the residence of the owner and his family. This was the most strongly constructed of all the buildings, to which the defenders retreated only in the last extremity. In English Edwardian castles (so named from Edward III) the solid keep becomes developed into an open quadrangle, defended at the sides and angles by gatehouses and towers, and containing the hall and state apartments ranged along one side of the court. Around this inner court two or three lines of defence are disposed concentrically. Such castles frequently enclose many acres, and present an imposing appearance. The parts of a perfect Edwardian castle are: the inner bailey or inner court; the walls of the enceinte, single, double, or triple; the middle and outer baileys, contained between the walls; the gatehouses and posterns, or small doors in the wall; and the moat or ditch, which was usually filled with water. The walls were all strengthened by towers, either circular, square, rectangular, or multi-angular, projecting both outwards and inwards. Such towers were capable of being defended independently of the castle.
The gatehouses are distinct works covering the entrance; they contain gates, one or two portcullises, and loopholes raking the passage. From the front of these gatehouses the drawbridge was lowered over the ditch. The gateways had frequently a barbican attached. This was a passage between high walls, in advance of the main gate, and having an outer gate of entrance, which was defended by towers and the parapet connected with the main gateway. The top of the wall was defended by a battlemented parapet, and frequently pierced by cruciform loopholes.
Castles were known in Britain prior to the Norman conquest of 1066, but it was the Normans who developed the later and more familiar style of stone castle. The Normans' first castles, over five hundred of them in England, were Motte and Bailey designs made of wood. The first stone castle and the blueprint for further Norman castles was the Tower of London. After the death of William the Conqueror, the Norman lords switched from building a multitude of wooden castles, to instead building a single, large, stronger, more impressive stone castle based upon the Tower of Londondesign.
Outstanding examples of castles are the 12th-century Krak des Chevaliers, Syria (built by crusaders); 13th-century Caernarfon Castle in Wales; and the 15th-century Manzanares el Real in Spain. Research Castle
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Abbreviations
Research Barbican
