Shell Keep Castle

Fantasy Floorplans Shell Keep Castle

Sample file

Cornelius Clifford

Shell Keep Castle

Fantasy Floorplans

A sound example of an early medieval ‘shell keep’ castle. Loosely based on real extant examples in the west country of England. Traditional medieval layouts and plans, designed for fantasy role playing games, includes floor plans, room descriptions and construction.

Page Contents 3 Outer defences 5 Ground Floor 7 First floor 9 Battlements

Sample file First published in 2012 by DreamWorlds

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Shell Keep Castle ~ Outer defences

The Shell Keep is one of the earliest forms of They are large enough to allow the defenders to medieval castle; effectively a development on from shoot any attacker approaching the castle from any the early motte and bailey castles. When these first direction. But The arrow slits on the outside would castles where built a large mound of earth (the motte) be too small for a man to get his hand in. was thrown up, a timber keep (or tower) built upon the summit and then a ditch and wooden palisade Drawbridge (the bailey) created a defended area around the The main road into the shell keep is ramped up to motte, completing the fortification and making two cross over the ditch by way of a drawbridge. Carts lines of defence. The Normans used this type of and wagons with supplies, and mounted troops, all castle to great effect when they conquered England enter the castle via this entrance. The Drawbridge is a and they built an enormous number of them. Motte massive slab of timber (probably oak) hinged on the and bailey castles were quick to build. Local, readily inside and supported by chains going back into the available materials are used (earth and timber) and gatehouse. The chains go around drums which can they make a strong enough form of defence to be wound around, pulling or ‘drawing’ the bridge up. withstand the attacks of the native English (Anglo In the upright position the drawbridge is another line Saxons in the main.) Later on the timber tower could of defence that must be broken down before the be replaced with a stone keep, usually square or castle can be entered by this gate. rectangular. The palisade might also be replaced with a stone wall, possibly re-enforced with towers. East gate However, there was a potentially serious flaw in this This is a small back entrance, a way of escape and development; a man-made pile of earth (the original sallying out to attack an enemy in the rear, perhaps. motte) does not a good foundation make. If the original motte was built to take advantage of a natural Murder Holes promontory (as they often were) then the underlying If an attacking force manages to break down the rock will support the weight of a massive stone keep. drawbridge and portcullis, plus a stout oak door, they However, if the motte was just earth, it will not. A then find themselves in a chamber with a number of solution used in outlying, and relatively unimportant holes in the ceiling. The defenders can then use these locations, was the shell keep. Effectively a fairly light- holes to pour boiling oil, hot sand or tar, or even weight stone wall is built around the top of the shoot arrows, down upon the heads of the luckless motte, enclosing the round and level summit.Sample Lining attackers; file very nasty! the inside of this wall would be the hall, domestic buildings and so forth. Effectively this is a merging Outer defences of the outer wall (the bailey) and the inner keep into The round shell keep stands raised up on an earth one structure. In the centre of the round fortification mound. The banks are steep on all sides and very thus created, there is an open area or court. There are difficult to climb. A ditch is dug around the motte or other reasons for building a round shell ‘keep’ castle mound, in later times this becomes the moat, and is rather than the motte and bailey; maybe because the filled with water. But supplying and retaining water in surrounding land was level, or there are no natural such a situation is not straightforward, so a ditch is promontories to put to use. Most shell keep castles often thought adequate. Earthworks, or dikes, are have disappeared, as have a good number of the thrown up to reinforce the defence of each entrance. motte and bailey castles. As the native population becomes subdued, less and less castles are needed Portcullis and the unimportant ones are abandoned or knocked Behind the drawbridge, the next line of defence is the down. Shell keeps are common in the west country portcullis, this could be made from solid oak and re- of England, and there are several good surviving enforced with iron. But was often made from a grid examples in Devon and Cornwall. of iron bars, riveted together. The portcullis can be raised by another winding mechanism, pulling it up Arrow slits into a void in order to allow access into the castle. All around the ground floor there are a goodly The Portcullis is bedded in a deep stone groove, number of arrow slits, these are splayed inside. making it incredibly difficult to smash down.

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