Knowra Gatehouse Gatehouse A building at the entrance to an enclosed place, traditionally combining a passageway with rooms for guards and defensive features. It controls access while strengthening a vulnerable point in the boundary.
Portcullis : A heavy gridded gate that slides vertically in grooves to block an entrance. It could be lowered across the gatehouse passage to stop entry.
Gate : A movable barrier that opens or closes an entrance through a wall, fence, or enclosure. The gatehouse housed and protected the main barrier at the entrance.
Motte-and-bailey : A medieval fortification with a raised mound and an enclosed courtyard, often defended by timber structures. Its enclosed bailey required a controlled entrance before stone gatehouses became common.
City gate : A fortified entrance through a city wall, used to regulate movement into and out of a town. Like a gatehouse, it combined access control with defense at a boundary.
Drawbridge : A movable bridge that can be raised to interrupt access across a ditch or waterway. It extended the gatehouse's control beyond the threshold to the approach.
Castle : A fortified residence and stronghold, typically enclosed by defensive walls. The gatehouse was one part of the castle's wider defensive system.
Norman architecture : The architectural style developed in Norman-controlled regions from the eleventh century, marked by massive masonry and rounded arches. Norman castle building helped establish monumental stone entrances in England.
Tollhouse : A small building where fees were collected from people using a road, bridge, or other route. Some gatehouses controlled passage and collected tolls at important crossings.
Machicolation : An opening or projecting gallery in a wall or tower through which defenders could attack below. It let defenders target people gathered directly beneath the gatehouse.
Concentric castle : A castle with nested defensive enclosures, allowing attackers who breach one wall to face another. Its layered defenses could make the gatehouse a sequence of controlled thresholds.
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