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L-plan
An L-plan castle is a castle or tower house in the shape of an L, typically built from the 13th to the 17th century. This design is found quite frequently in Scotland, but is also seen in England, Ireland, Romania, Sardinia, and other locations. The evolution of its design was an expansion of the blockhouse or simple square tower from the Early Middle Ages. As building techniques improved, it became possible to construct a larger building footprint and a more complex shape than the simple blockhouse tower. A more compelling motivation for the L plan was the ability to defend the entrance door by providing covering fire from the adjacent walls. This stratagem was particularly driven by the advent of cannon used by attackers. It was common for the union of the two wings to have very thick wall construction to support a major defensive tower in the union area. For example, the stone walls of Muchalls Castle in Scotland are over 14 feet thick at the ground level. Built in the 13t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neidpath Castle
Neidpath Castle is an L-plan rubble-built tower house, overlooking the River Tweed about west of Peebles in the Borders of Scotland. The castle is both a wedding venue and filming location and can be viewed by appointment. History An early castle was probably built here by Simon Fraser of Oliver Castle between 1263 and 1266, while he held the office of High Sheriff of Tweeddale. The barony of Neidpath was acquired by the Hay family, through marriage to the Fraser heiress in the early 14th century. Sir William de Haya (d.c.1390) probably built the present castle in the late 14th century. It was held by them until the 17th century, although Sir William's grandson, Sir William Hay, married the daughter and heiress of Sir Hugh Gifford of Yester, acquiring Yester Castle, which became the principal family seat, although Neidpath continued to be used. It was visited by Mary, Queen of Scots in 1563, and by her son James VI in 1587. In 1645, Neidpath was garrisoned against the Royalist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erchless Castle
Erchless Castle is an L-plan castle in northern Scotland, near Struy, Highland. The current building was built in about 1600.Erchless Castle British Listed Buildings, Retrieved 26 March 2017 The castle is located at the northeast end of at the point where the Erchless Burn enters the , itself newly formed from the confluence of the rivers and [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muchalls Castle
Muchalls Castle stands overlooking the North Sea in the countryside of Kincardine and Mearns, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The lower course is a well-preserved Romanesque, double-groined 13th-century tower house structure, built by the Frasers of Muchalls. Upon this structure, the 17th-century castle was begun by Alexander Burnett of Leys and completed by his son, Sir Thomas Burnett, 1st Baronet, in 1627. The Burnetts of Leys built the remaining four-storey present-day castle. One of the most interesting castles of North-East Scotland, according to noted architectural historian Nigel Tranter, it is designed in the classic L style with a further extension wing at the west end. Muchalls Castle entered national history in 1638 when a seminal Covenanter gathering took place here precedent to the English Civil War. The plasterwork ceilings of the principal drawing rooms are generally regarded as among the three finest examples of plasterwork ceilings in Scotland. These adornments date ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fernie Castle
Fernie Castle is an enlarged sixteenth-century tower house in north-east Fife, Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast .... Situated just east of the village of Letham, it was originally in an L-plan layout. The castle was later extended to include a three floor block which included a round tower at one of the corners. The castle is now primarily used as a hotel which also caters to weddings. References Castles in Fife Category B listed buildings in Fife Listed castles in Scotland Clan Balfour {{Scotland-castle-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tower House
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces. At the same time, they were also used as an aristocrat's residence, around which a castle town was often constructed. Europe After their initial appearance in Ireland, Scotland, the Stins, Frisian lands, Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country and England during the High Middle Ages, tower houses were also built in other parts of western Europe, especially in parts of France and Italy. In Italian medieval communes, urban ''palazzi'' with a very tall tower were increasingly built by the local highly competitive Patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician families as power centres during times of internal strife. Most north Italian cities had a number of these by the end of the Middles Ages, but few no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culzean Castle
Culzean Castle ( , see yogh; sco, Cullain) is a castle overlooking the Firth of Clyde, near Maybole, Carrick, in South Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is the former home of the Marquess of Ailsa, the chief of Clan Kennedy, but is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland. The clifftop castle lies within the Culzean Castle Country Park and is opened to the public. From 1972 until 2015, an illustration of the castle was featured on the reverse side of five pound notes issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland. As of 2021, the castle was available for rent. History Culzean Castle was constructed as an L-plan castle by order of the 10th Earl of Cassilis. He instructed the architect Robert Adam to rebuild a previous, but more basic, structure into a fine country house to be the seat of his earldom. The castle was built in stages between 1777 and 1792. It incorporates a large drum tower with a circular saloon inside (which overlooks the sea), a grand oval staircase ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Z-plan Castle
Z-plan is a form of castle design common in England and Scotland. The Z-plan castle has a strong central rectangular tower with smaller towers attached at diagonally opposite corners. Prominent examples of the Z-plan include Brodie Castle in Moray, Castle Menzies in Perthshire, Glenbuchat Castle in Aberdeenshire, Castle Fraser in Aberdeenshire, Claypotts Castle in Dundee and Hatton Castle, Angus, Scotland. See also *L-plan castle An L-plan castle is a castle or tower house in the shape of an L, typically built from the 13th to the 17th century. This design is found quite frequently in Scotland, but is also seen in England, Ireland, Romania, Sardinia, and other locations ... References Castles by type {{fort-type-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torre Dell'Elefante
The Torre dell'Elefante (Italian: "Tower of the Elephant") is a medieval tower in Cagliari, southern Sardinia, Italy. It is located in the Castello historical quarter of the city. History The tower was built in 1307, during the Pisan domination of the city, by the Sardinian architect Giovanni Capula, who had also designed the Torre di San Pancrazio two years earlier, as well as the Torre dell'Aquila, partly destroyed in the 18th century and now incorporated in Palazzo Boyl. The tower was part of the city's fortifications in view of the imminent Aragonese invasion of the island, but was damaged in 1708 by English bombing, in 1717 by Spanish cannons, and finally lost its top part in 1793 during a French attack. In 1328, the north side of the tower was closed to create residences and storage. During the Spanish age, the building was also used as a prison, and its doors would show the severed heads of the prisoners who had undergone the death penalty in the nearby ''plazuela ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renaissance). Around 1300, centuries of prosperity and growth in Europe came to a halt. A series of famines and Plague (disease), plagues, including the Great Famine of 1315–1317 and the Black Death, reduced the population to around half of what it had been before the calamities. Along with depopulation came social unrest and endemic warfare. France and England experienced serious peasant uprisings, such as the Jacquerie and the Peasants' Revolt, as well as over a century of intermittent conflict, the Hundred Years' War. To add to the many problems of the period, the unity of the Catholic Church was temporarily shattered by the Western Schism. Collectively, those events are sometimes called the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages. D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fortified House In Scotland
''The Fortified House in Scotland'' is a five-volume book by the Scottish author Nigel Tranter. Written between 1962 and 1970, it covers almost seven hundred buildings in Scotland which fall under the general description of "fortalices, lesser castles, peel towers, keeps and defensible lairds' houses".Tranter, N. ''The Fortified House in Scotland'', Vol 1 (1962) As such castles are included (although not the largest examples like Edinburgh or Stirling castles), as well as many smaller, semi-ruinous tower houses. Tranter illustrated each one with pen and ink sketches. The work was an expansion of ''The Fortalices and Early Mansions of Southern Scotland 1400-1650'', which Tranter had written in the 1930s. However, much of the updated work has itself been superseded or has fallen out of date, and the author never claimed the work to be scholarly. However original first editions are very collectable, as are complete sets. The first four original volumes were published by Oliver ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tranter, Nigel
Nigel Tranter OBE (23 November 1909 – 9 January 2000) was a writer of a wide range of books on castles, particularly on themes of architecture and history. He also specialised in deeply researched historical novels that cover centuries of Scottish history. Early life Nigel Tranter was born in Glasgow and educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh. He trained as an accountant and worked in Scottish National Insurance Company, founded by his uncle. In 1933, he married May Jean Campbell Grieve and had two children, Frances May and Philip. He joined the Royal Artillery and served in East Anglia in the Second World War. Writings From childhood onwards, Tranter took a great interest in castles and their associated history. As a result, in 1935, at age 25, he published his first book, '' The Fortalices and Early Mansions of Southern Scotland''. Encouraged by his wife, he wrote his first novel, ''In Our Arms Our Fortune'', which was rejected by the publishers. However, ''Tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Torre Di San Pancrazio
The Torre di San Pancrazio (in Sardinian language: sa turri de Santu Francau) is a medieval tower in Cagliari, southern Sardinia, Italy. It is located in the Castello historical quarter of the city. The tower was built in 1305, during the Pisan domination of the city, by the Sardinian architect Giovanni Capula, who designed also the Torre dell'Elefante two years later, as well as the Torre dell'Aquila, partly destroyed in the 18th century and now incorporated in Palazzo Boyl. The tower was part of the city's fortifications built against imminent Aragonese invasion of the island. The tower was built in white limestone from the nearby Colle di Bonaria, with walls up to 3 metres thick. It has also a gate, that, together with that of the Torre dell'Elefante, is still the main entrance to Castello. During the Aragonese rule, the edifice was modified and used as a jail. It was restored in 1906, with the reopening of some sections which had been covered by other buildings. Sources * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
