CASTLE

(Lat. castellum; or Sax. cartel-) In Architecture, a building fortified for military defence; also a house with towers, usually encompa ed with walls and moats, and having a donjon or keep in the centre. The principal castles of England at present are, the Tower of London, Dover, Windsor, Norwich, .; but at one time those of Harwood, SpofTord, Kenilworth, Warwick, Arundel, and others might have vied with them in importance. The characteristics of a castle are its valla (embankments) and fo ae (ditches); from the former of which the walls rise, usually crowned by battlements, and flanked by circular or polygonal bastions at the angles formed by the walls; these latter were pierced for gates with fixed or draw bridges and towers on each side; the gates, which were of considerable strength, were further guarded by descending gratings, called portcullises; all the apertures were as small as they could be made, consistently with internal lighting. The component parts of a castle were, the fo or mote, with its bridge; the barbican, which was in advance of the castle, being a raised mound or tower, the outer walls having terraces towards the castle, with their bastions, as above mentioned; the gate-house, flanked by towers, and crowned with projections, called machicolations, through which heavy materials br molten lead were dropt on the a ailants entering the gateway; the outer ballium, or area within the castle, which was separated from the inner ballium by an embattled wall with a gate-house, and in which the stables and bther offices usually stood; and the inner ballium, for the residence Of the owner or governor and his retinue; this, at one corner, or in the centre, had a donjon or keep tower, which was the strong hold of the place, wherein was a state apartment; a well and a chapel; the former usually, and the latter frequently, are founn in ancient castles. For further information on the subject the reader is referred to King's Mun. Antiq. fol. 4 vols; the Arclueo200 CATALEPSY. logia in several places; Leland's Collect, vol. ii.; Woolnoth's Ancient Castles of England and JVales, . . [s. 213]