neck ditch

A neck ditch (german: Halsgraben), sometimes called a throat ditch,
at www.roadstoruins.com. Accessed on 3 Jan 2012. is a dry

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

that does not fully surround a

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 ...

, but only bars the side that is not protected by natural obstacles. It is often an important element in the defensive system of

hill castle A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles ...

s, especially in Germany and other parts of Central Europe. Originally, the term ''neck ditch'' was only applied to

spur castle A spur castle is a type of medieval fortification that is sited on a spur of a hill or mountain for defensive purposes. Ideally, it would be protected on three sides by steep hillsides; the only vulnerable side being that where the spur joins the ...

s. These were sited on

hill spur A spur is a lateral ridge or tongue of land descending from a hill, mountain or main crest of a ridge. It can also be defined as another hill or mountain range which projects in a lateral direction from a main hill or mountain range. Examples of ...

s where three sides of the castle were protected by steep hillsides. Realistically they could only be attacked from the direction of the higher ground of the hill itself. The castle would therefore be separated from the rest of the hill by a dry ditch or moat which, for practical reasons, was cut across the narrowest part of the spur, the "bottleneck", hence the name. The castle was then only accessible over a bridge – usually a drawbridge. Today the term neck bridge is also used for other types of castle, where there is a deep, dry moat on one or two sides, whilst the other sided are protected by inaccessible terrain. For example, a ditch may be cut across the neck of a spit or peninsula in the case of a

lowland castle The term lowland castle or plains castle (german: Niederungsburg, Flachlandburg, Tieflandburg) describes a type of castle that is situated on a lowland, plain or valley floor, as opposed to one built on higher ground such as a hill spur. The cl ...

that is otherwise surrounded by water. Many old neck ditches have since become thickly overgrown and may only be made out with some difficulty. Examples of castles with neck ditches in the classical sense are

Liebenstein Liebenstein is a village and a former municipality in the district Ilm-Kreis, in Thuringia, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Euro ...

Rochlitz Rochlitz (; hsb, Rochlica) is a major district town (Große Kreisstadt) in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. Rochlitz is the head of the "municipal partnership Rochlitz" (Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Rochlitz) with its other members ...

Kriebstein Kriebstein is a municipality in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, ...

and Isenburg. If other parts of a castle, such as the

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