0
Medieval castle towers were originally square, projecting out beyond the castle wall to allow for archers to shoot along the outside length of the walls. Square towers have angled corners which not only produce blind spots for the defenders, but which also represent weak parts of the construction - undermining a tower corner will bring down the entire structure.
This is exactly what happened at Rochester castle in 1215; the castle fell and the tower was later rebuilt in circular form.
Circular towers have no blind spots and no angles that can be undermined. But it was soon noticed that the interior part of the tower was really of no value defensively or structurally; only the half facing the exterior needed to be curved. Making the inner face perfectly flat (so the tower now had a D-section) saved on construction time and allowed the wall walk to pass behind the flat face of the tower.
Some of these D-towers were completely open at the back, others had a flat wall of timber or stone.
The 14th century city walls of Canterbury in Kent had many of these open-backed D-towers, together with some older square towers.
See the link below for images:
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Add your answer:
Earn +20 pts
Are all towers shaped the same?
no differant towers are shaped differantly to suit the wind speeds in the area
What is the femur shaped?
circular
What is the modern model of a atom shaped like?
circular
Are circles square shaped?
No. Their shape is described as "circular".
What is a Round or circular shaped map projection?
Azimuthal
What are some shapes that begin with the letter D?
Decagon which has 10 sides Dodecagon which has 12 sides Drum which looks like a cylinder Dustbin which is a circular shape Door is usually rectangular shaped Drain cover is usually quadratical or circular shaped Disc is a flat circular shape Drinking glass has a circular rim Dime is a perfect circle Dice is a cube shape Dodecahedron is a 12 faced polyhedron Dollar is oblonged shaped Daily newspaper is normally a 4 sided quadrilateral Dimensions can be 2 dimensional or 3 dimensional
Is genetic material circular?
Our genetic material is stored in outlet DNA, which is spiral shaped, jot necessarily circular.
Round object with flat circular end?
A round object with flat, circular ends is a cylinder. It is shaped like a can of vegetables.
What is a cone in geometry?
Its a circular shaped bottom that comes to a point at the top.
Identify some problems of the circulatory system?
its oval shaped not circular
What is the derivation of the word circle?
"Circular", meaning shaped like a circle.
What is a piece of a circular region that is shaped like a piece of pie?
A Sector.
