![Bolton Castle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Bolton_Castle.JPG)
A quadrangular castle or courtyard castle is a type of
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
characterised by ranges of buildings which are integral with the
curtain walls, enclosing a central
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
or
quadrangle, and typically with angle
tower
A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...
s. There is no
keep
A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...
and frequently no distinct
gatehouse
A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mos ...
. The quadrangular form predominantly dates from the mid to late fourteenth century and signals the transition from defensively to domestically oriented great houses. The four walls are also known as ranges.
Quadrangular castles typically display a sophisticated and complex approach to the planning of internal social spaces.
There are many quadrangular castles around the UK, for example:
Bodiam Castle
Bodiam Castle () is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, England. It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II, ostensibly to defend the area agai ...
in East Sussex, and
Bolton Castle
Bolton Castle is a 14th-century castle located in Wensleydale, Yorkshire, England (). The nearby village of Castle Bolton takes its name from the castle. The castle is a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The castle was da ...
.
The 27 quadrangular castles identified by John Rickard as being built in England consist roughly 10% of the castles built in the country between 1272 and 1422. No castles of this design were built in Wales.
One of the earliest quadrangular castles in Germany is
Neuleiningen, of which substantial ruins remain.
List of quadrangular castles
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quadrangular Castle
Fortifications by type
Castles by type