Oh-kayyy, continuing the tour (and referencing some of the comments) from the intro and part two, I showed you the business end of the murder holes above the drawbridge (and which are also featured along the Watch Wall). However, they are *holes* and you wouldn't want your fellow defenders stepping into one while performing guard duty at o'dark thirty, right? To preclude that, you pop murder hole covers on top of 'em. No big deal, until you get to a staircase, right?
Nope. Still no big deal. Just takes a tad more wood.
Okay, looks like everybody's got the theory and practical application (open cover, peer into hole -- if hostile person appears, drop something heavy or sharp on him) of murder holes.
Next up, embrasures. Holes piercing the defensive walls to allow the use of projectile weapons.
Comme çi...
All the embrasures at La Rochepot were originally designed for use with crossbows or arbalests, and when the hand-gonne arrived, said embrasures had to be modified to accommodate the difference in diameter between a quarrel and a barrel.
They kept the organic bench rest, though.
Hey, kat! This is what a firing port looks like from the *other* side. The extension leaf is original hardware, the staple and retaining pin aren't. Note the triangular opening which allows you to snipe with a crossbow. Pop the port open and you can snipe with a field piece.
A castle's gotta have a donjon, right? In this case, in 1789 or so, the representatives of Liberty, Fraternity and Political Correctness decreed that the donjon had to go. It was plainly a remnant of the aristocracy (despite an ancestral demonstration of Fashion Courage) and, worst of all, it was visible to the townsfolk -- a quotidian reminder that there was -- ummmmm -- a *castle* on top of the hill.
So, they started tearing it down.
Got it 90% demolished and then some unsung genius said, "Hey, if we're gonna turn this place into a tourist attraction two hundred years from now, we've gotta have a donjon for that certain castle je ne sais quoi." Unfortunately, the stone had already gone south to build a manse or a barn or something. So, since they had no hope of restoring the donjon with it's original stone, the baronial (but egalitarian) descendants stuck up a sign saying, "Yeah, this used to be the donjon. Anything else on your mind?"
The present descendants are usually out of town during tourist season. Something about harvesting chips in Monaco...
All righty, then -- to the comments.
Barb, I'm sorry, but I couldn't get into the dungeon -- the door was blocked with comic books, mostly old Asterix and Obelix and pre-1978 Métal Hurlant.
However, I wandered out along the moat (it's *dry*, remember?) and got this shot...
Cricket - the kitchen's thirty feet wide and extends for most of the length of the east wall, which is probably seventy feet long. Five stoves and a scad of copperware.
NevadaDailySteve - If there was ever any stained glass in the chapel windows, it fell victim to the ages, but there's more edged weaponry in the armory and barracks than you can shake a stick at -- although our cute li'l tour guide said that most of the goodies were sold off in the 1960's to defray operating expenses. No interior pix allowed -- they sell 'em in the gift shop, though, to take care of those pesky operating expenses. Along with miniature knights, field pieces and toy Airbus A-380s. *shrug*
BCR - No Albigensians were harmed during the production of this post. Final editing was accomplished using recycled carbon-neutral electrons. Ummmm -- just don't ask about the balrog and methane, okay?
Murray - A castle isn't *quite* like a monastery. Monasteries don't generate Comment Parties and Castles *do*. As in, below. At least, I *think* it's a Comment Party -- they're obviously communicating...
Warning: Extremely Work Unsafe, unless you happen to work at the National Gallery, the Tate, the Guggenheim, the Louvre...
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