What rooms belong in a castle?

Discussion of topics concerning life in the middle ages around the world, including architecture, history, and warfare.
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The Josh
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What rooms belong in a castle?

Post by The Josh »

I'm trying to decide what to put in my latest lego castle, and I need your help :( . What room/rooms do you think are essential to have in a castle? So far I think there should be:

Dining hall/room of some sort
Study/Library
Stable
Blacksmith
Jail(s)
Bedroom

Please add any and every room (or thing) you think a castle must have. Thanks.

-The Josh
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jamitjames
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Post by jamitjames »

Some have barracks I think.
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Daimyo
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Re: What rooms belong in a castle?

Post by Daimyo »

The Josh wrote:I'm trying to decide what to put in my latest lego castle, and I need your help :( . What room/rooms do you think are essential to have in a castle? So far I think there should be:

Dining hall/room of some sort
Study/Library
Stable
Blacksmith
Jail(s)
Bedroom

Please add any and every room (or thing) you think a castle must have. Thanks.

-The Josh
Sounds good. Put in perhaps some more quarters, a kitchen, and of course, and armory.
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wlister
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Post by wlister »

Treasury, Kitchens, Garderobe, Barracks, Well, Gardens, Queen's Chambers(If you have a queen), Servants quarters, Courtyard, Practice yard for training soldiers/knights and a Secret exit for the King. Just a few things off the top of my head. The garderobe is what they used to call a bathroom. see Here:
http://www.classic-castle.com/howto/art ... conCG.html
You could also refer to: http://www.classic-castle.com/howto/articles/List.html for a few more ideas. Kevin Blocksidge did both of these great little articles. I wonder what happened to the rest of the Lexicon?

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Post by Teup »

Toilet, you guys forget the toilet... Room up in a tower with a hole in a lean over floor so the poo drops right down all the way into the ditch if you have one. Otherwise let it just.. drop on the ground :P
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Jojo
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Re: What rooms belong in a castle?

Post by Jojo »

Hello!

The Josh wrote:Study/Library
Though I'm quite a friend of books in general I'm afraid a castle was not exactly the place to study. Most people in the middle ages weren't even able to read and write.
So a library would be essential to a monastery but not at all to a castle.

Bed rooms.... Well, the servants and troops did not have their own individual bedrooms but slept together in one large dorm room. Usually the same room that was the living room during the day. Don't tell your parents, they didn't even have seperate rooms for men and women, oh no! Maybe the lord of the castle and his family had their seperate rooms, in this case possibly bowers for the women. But that's not necessarily the normal case.

Other rooms (some castles have them, others don't):

A well room (to prevent things falling into the well, like dirt, children, dead birds...).
A chapel.
Stables not only for the warhorses but also for cattles, pigs, poultry.
Repositories.
A room/house for the castellan (Reeve'S office?).
A torture chamber (well, not every single castle was in need of such an unpleasant place...).



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wlister
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Post by wlister »

The King may have had a study and a wealthier king might have had a study/office for his aide that would be situated adjacent to the kings, but Jojo is right, there wasn't usually a library. The king's/noble's children would also have a tutor and aside from the nobility/church very few others would have known how to read or write. Keep in mind the size of your castle, if it is only a 32 by 32 castle, you probably won't be adding more than just the basics.

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The Josh
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Post by The Josh »

Thanks for all of your help. The castle is sort of small (about 32 x 48 pegs) so I won't be able to put in all of the rooms that you mentioned, but I have been inspired by your many ideas.

-The Josh
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Post by Emperor James »

Most castles didn't have rooms at all until the later middle ages.
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Dragonlord Esq.
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Post by Dragonlord Esq. »

Well, the keeps did.
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Post by Jacob C. »

Toilet, you guys forget the toilet... Room up in a tower with a hole in a lean over floor so the poo drops right down all the way into the ditch if you have one.
Thats called a Garderobe, right? The little wooden or stone type out-house at the top of a castle wall by the walk way . Sometimes they were built inside the castle too with a angled slot which led to an opening so the poo could fall outside.
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TheOrk
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Post by TheOrk »

Yep your right. The garderobe is what they called the toilet.
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Farithdir
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Post by Farithdir »

Servants Quarters
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