Thornbury Castle Essay - 707 Words

Thornbury Castle The first part of the assignment concerns the characteristics of Thornbury Castle, and in particular its defensive and palace like features. Having visited the site, in my opinion Thornbury Castle displays both defensive and luxurious, palace like features. The Castle has the beginning of a ditch which could be argued as being a moat. Crennelations, machicolations, gun/arrow loops and portcullis grooves are all strong defensive features included in the building of Thornbury Castle. Arguably, the most defensive feature of Thornbury Castle is the evidence of a barracks. Palace and luxurious features include large windows, beautifully decorated terracotta chimneys and large†¦show more content†¦These can be seen at Thornbury Castle. The so called Tudor Palace was therefore more of a symbol of wealth as opposed to a necessary means of defence. Despite the trend towards luxurious country houses, Tudor palaces still included the defensive features noted above at Thornbury Castle. At the time that Thornbury Castle was being built, other buildings were not that dissimilar, in the sense that again they display both palace like and defensive features. Many of the buildings have crennelations which are more of a decorative feature. Most of the buildings are of similar design to Thornbury Castle but not one of them has included in their design arrow slits or a barracks, but Thornbury does. Hampton Court Palace is almost identical to Thornbury Castle. One feature found in both castles are terracotta tiled chimneys. Clay/terracotta tiled chimneys were popular and expensive in Tudor times and are decorative features of Tudor palaces. Examples of terracotta tiled chimneys can also be seen at Richmond Palace. Wencestor Hollar is the most luxurious and palace like of the buildings from this era. It is taken much from an Eastern theme with large tear drop towers. Despite differences of detail in all of these castles, Thornbury displays manyShow MoreRelatedThe Purpose o f Thornbury Castle Essay1766 Words   |  8 PagesThe Purpose of Thornbury Castle Thornbury castle Since Thornbury castle started being built in 1511 it has been in the centre of a debate with historians whether it is a castle built for defence or a luxurious palace for show. When I went to Thornbury castle you can see lots of different features that would confuse you in deciding what Thornbury castle was built for. There are lots of different features showing both. This picture shows some arrow slits