A battlement , in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles , comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals to allow for the launch of arrows or other projectiles from within the defences. These gaps are termed embrasures , also called crenels or crenelles , and a wall or building with them is described as crenellated ; alternative older terms are castellated and embattled . The act of adding crenels to a previously unbroken parapet is termed crenellation.
25-573: Manderley Castle , formerly "Victoria Castle" and "Ayesha Castle," is a large castellated Irish mansion built in Victorian style, in Killiney , County Dublin , Ireland . It has been owned by musician Enya since 1997. From the roof of the crenellated turret of the castle, it is possible to see the Irish Sea . The building is surrounded by 14,000 m (3.5 acres) of gardens which had
50-473: A "stepped" form, with each merlon shaped like an inverted 'T'. European architects persistently used battlements as a purely decorative feature throughout the Decorated and Perpendicular periods of Gothic architecture. They not only occur on parapets but on the transoms of windows and on the tie-beams of roofs and on screens, and even on Tudor chimney-pots. A further decorative treatment appears in
75-402: A basic deterrent against wandering bands of thieves, and it is suggested that the function of battlements was comparable to the modern practice of householders fitting highly visible CC TV and burglar alarms, often merely dummies. The crown usually did not charge for the granting of such licences, but occasionally charged a fee of about half a mark . Battlements may be stepped out to overhang
100-478: A gap of any kind, for example a parking space at the side of the road between two cars, interval between groups of marching troops or a timeslot in a broadcast. In medieval England and Wales a licence to crenellate granted the holder permission to fortify their property. Such licences were granted by the king, and by the rulers of the counties palatine within their jurisdictions, e.g. by the Bishops of Durham and
125-447: A leaf or shell, as being round-toothed or having a scalloped edge. The descriptor can apply to objects of different types, including cells, where one mechanism of crenation is the contraction of a cell after exposure to a hypertonic solution , due to the loss of water through osmosis . In a hypertonic environment, the cell has a lower concentration of solutes than the surrounding extracellular fluid , and water diffuses out of
150-436: A number of woodland walks. A "secret" tunnel at the bottom of the garden originally gave access to Killiney beach but now is sealed off. According to blueprints submitted in 1988, the owners sought permission to convert the existing stable house into attached living quarters. Permission was granted and the stable became an attached guest house, art room, exercise room and lounge area complete with staff quarters. According to
175-464: Is that battlements became an architectural status-symbol much sought after by the socially ambitious, in Coulson's words: "Licences to crenellate were mainly symbolic representations of lordly status: castellation was the architectural expression of noble rank". They indicated to the observer that the grantee had obtained "royal recognition, acknowledgment and compliment". They could, however, provide
200-445: Is to crenellate the tops of church towers, and often the tops of lower walls. These are essentially decorative rather than functional, as are many examples on secular buildings. The solid widths between the crenels are called merlons . Battlements on walls have protected walkways, termed chemin de ronde behind them. On tower or building tops, the often flat roof is used as a protected fighting platform . The term originated in about
225-588: The Arabs had a more decorative and varied character, and were continued from the 13th century onwards not so much for defensive purposes as for a crowning feature to the walls. They serve a function similar to the cresting found in the Spanish Renaissance architecture . "Irish" crenellations are a distinctive form that appeared in Ireland between the 14th and 17th centuries. These were battlements of
250-590: The Earls of Chester and after 1351 by the Dukes of Lancaster . The castles in England vastly outnumbered the licences to crenellate. Royal pardons were obtainable on the payment of an arbitrarily-determined fine by a person who had fortified without licence. The surviving records of such licences, generally issued by letters patent , provide valuable evidence for the dating of ancient buildings. A list of licences issued by
275-490: The 14th century from the Old French word batailler , "to fortify with batailles " (fixed or movable turrets of defence). The word crenel derives from the ancient French cren (modern French cran ), Latin crena , meaning a notch, mortice or other gap cut out often to receive another element or fixing; see also crenation . The modern French word for crenel is créneau , also used to describe
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#1732783964227300-597: The English Crown between the 12th and the 16th centuries was compiled by Turner & Parker and expanded and corrected by Philip Davis and published in The Castle Studies Group Journal . There has been academic debate over the purpose of licensing. The view of military-focused historians is that licensing restricted the number of fortifications that could be used against a royal army. The modern view, proposed notably by Charles Coulson,
325-424: The cell by osmosis, causing the cytoplasm to decrease in volume. As a result, the cell shrinks and the cell membrane develops abnormal notchings. Pickling cucumbers and salt-curing of meat are two practical applications of crenation. Plasmolysis is the term which describes plant cells when the cytoplasm shrinks from the cell wall in a hypertonic environment. In plasmolysis, the cell wall stays intact, but
350-718: The defender might stand so as to gain complete protection on one side. Loop-holes were frequent in Italian battlements, where the merlon has much greater height and a distinctive cap. Italian military architects used the so-called Ghibelline or swallowtail battlement, with V-shaped notches in the tops of the merlon, giving a horn-like effect. This would allow the defender to be protected whilst shooting standing fully upright. The normal rectangular merlons were later nicknamed Guelph. Many South Asian battlements are made up of parapets with peculiarly shaped merlons and complicated systems of loopholes, which differ substantially from rest of
375-405: The elaborate paneling of the merlons and that portion of the parapet walls rising above the cornice , by the introduction of quatrefoils and other conventional forms filled with foliage and shield. Crenation Crenation (from modern Latin crenatus meaning "scalloped or notched", from popular Latin crena meaning "notch") in botany and zoology, describes an object's shape, especially
400-527: The existence of battlements. The Great Wall of China has battlements. In the European battlements of the Middle Ages the crenel comprised one-third of the width of the merlon: the latter, in addition, could be provided with arrow-loops of various shapes (from simply round to cruciform), depending on the weapon being utilized. Late merlons permitted fire from the first firearms . From the 13th century,
425-561: The flames in Rider Haggard 's novel She . In 1995, the Aylmer family decided to turn Ayesha Castle into a place of tourist interest, "conver[ting] existing stables to a ground floor apartment and a first floor craft room". The Stable Gallery was established there, and a number of artists displayed their pictures. Irish musician Enya bought the castle in 1997 for €3.8 million, reportedly outbidding Michael Flatley , who also viewed
450-617: The house. Based on her interest in Daphne du Maurier 's Rebecca , Enya renamed the castle "Manderley" for the fictional house that plays a central role in the 1938 novel. Because of threats from stalkers, Enya reinforced the security of the castle, installing new solid timber entrance gates, raising the surrounding 41 metres (135 ft) of stone wall to more than 2.7 metres (9 ft), and placing 1.2-metre (4 ft) railings atop some sections. Despite these changes, around mid-August 2005, there were two separate security breaches while Enya
475-433: The merlons could be connected with wooden shutters ( mantlets ) that provided added protection when closed. The shutters were designed to be opened to allow shooters to fire against the attackers, and closed during reloading. The Romans used low wooden pinnacles for their first aggeres ( terrepleins ). In the battlements of Pompeii , additional protection derived from small internal buttresses or spur walls, against which
500-498: The plasma membrane shrinks and the chloroplasts of the plant cell concentrate in the center of the cell. Crenation is also used to describe a feature of red blood cells . These erythrocytes look as if they have projections extending from a smaller central area, like a spiked ball. The crenations may be either large, irregular spicules of acanthocytes , or smaller, more numerous, regularly irregular projections of echinocytes . Acanthocytes and echinocytes may arise from abnormalities of
525-411: The same submission, Manderley Castle sits at 1021.336 sq. metres, or 11,000 sq. feet in combined floor space. Judge Robert Warren built Victoria Castle in 1840 to commemorate Queen Victoria 's accession to the throne. The interior was gutted by fire in 1928, then restored by Sir Thomas Power of the whiskey distillery family. He renamed the mansion "Ayesha Castle", after the goddess who rose from
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#1732783964227550-643: The wall below, and may have openings at their bases between the supporting corbels , through which stones or burning objects could be dropped onto attackers or besiegers; these are known as machicolations . Battlements have been used for thousands of years; the earliest known example is in the fortress at Buhen in Egypt . Battlements were used in the walls surrounding Assyrian towns, as shown on bas reliefs from Nimrud and elsewhere. Traces of them remain at Mycenae in Greece , and some ancient Greek vases suggest
575-411: The wall). Sometimes a merlon was pierced with two or three loopholes, but typically, only one loophole was divided into two or three slits by horizontal or vertical partitions. The shape of loopholes, as well as the shape of merlons, need not have been the same everywhere in the castle, as shown by Kumbhalgarh . In Muslim and African fortifications, the merlons often were rounded. The battlements of
600-458: The world. Typical Indian merlons were semicircular and pointed at the top, although they could sometimes be fake: the parapet may be solid and the merlons shown in relief on the outside, as is the case in Chittorgarh . Loopholes could be made both in the merlons themselves, and under the crenels. They could either look forward (to command distant approaches) or downward (to command the foot of
625-594: Was at the castle (her security system includes a panic room. ). Castellated The function of battlements in war is to protect the defenders by giving them part of the parapet to hide behind, from which they can quickly expose themselves to launch projectiles, then retreat behind the parapet. A defensive building might be designed and built with battlements, or a manor house might be fortified by adding battlements, where no parapet previously existed, or cutting crenellations into its existing parapet wall. A distinctive feature of late medieval English church architecture
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