A castle keep is the main fortified structure of a medieval castle. The castle keep is the part of the castle we often picture when we talk about castles. These were often the castle's last line of defense. They were the most heavily guarded and strongly built part of the castle structure. Often, the entrance was on the second floor of the structure which was accessible only with ladders. This would ensure that when the outer walls were defeated, the garrison could retreat to the keep, pull the ladders up into the second floor and then defend the keep from invaders below.
The castle keep would often house the Lord and his garrisoned troops. These structures were multiple stories high with living quarters ususally on the upper levels. The castle keeps were built as square structures in many castles and later some round keeps were built to defend against mining and to deflect cannon balls.
Later, when gunpowder ended the effectiveness of castles, many castle keeps were built just as fortified homes for nobility. These became status symbols more than defensive structures later in the 14th through 17th centuries AD and are often what we consider a complete castle today. Castles of Britain has a nice article about and sketch of a castle keep.
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If you are currently planning to build a castle or are currently building a castle, please email us and we would like to include your progress in our website. We would like to see some pictures of your castle or look at you plans. We think that with the uncertainty of the current world, many people will be building more and more fortified structures in the coming years. We hope to help those considering such structures with their plans.
