Why were moats built

Perhaps the most famous is the myth that there were dragons or alligators in the Medieval Castle moats! What was the purpose of the moat? How did moats help with Medieval Castle defenses? How deep were the moats? Description of the Castle Moats A moat was a deep, wide ditch surrounding a fortified Medieval town or castle as a protection against assault.

Castle Moats surrounded the whole Castle complex. Castles were built near a water supply such as a river, stream, lake or spring. A dam was built to control the water supply into the moat.

Some castle moats were up to 30 feet deep and usually measured at least 12 feet in width. Moats could be filled with wooden stakes or water.

Later on, moats became more complicated and were used for show. Moats are deep, wide ditches filled with water. They were usually built near sources of water that flowed into the moats, filling them with water. The moats were filled with water for a few reasons. It made enemies swimming across the moat easy targets. It also made it impossible for enemies to dig underneath the castle walls, which was a common method of attack.

It also prevented fires from destroying the castle. The word moat comes from the French word motte , which means hill. Moats were first used in the Medieval period , from to Castles were built on the top of high hills.

The area at the bottom of the hill was eventually called the moat. Castle moats were usually between 5 and 40 feet deep, and they were not always filled with water. There were several kinds of medieval castle moats including cross ditches which separated different parts of the castle and neck ditches which were dry moats. Imagine how hard it would have been to overcome this medieval Castle moat.

A medieval castle moat had supreme importance in the castle parts for preliminary defence. The first requirement to make a castle moat was access to a water source. Due to this reason, it was common to built castles near a water source such as a river, stream, or a lake. A special dam was constructed in order to channel the flow of water into the medieval castle moat. The depth of a medieval castle moat could be up to 30 feet while it could be as wide as 12 feet.

Castle parts reserved for defence were of primary importance during the medieval times and therefore special attention was paid to the construction of effective medieval castle moats. A medieval castle moat served several defence purposes. The obvious purpose was to make the approach of the heavy weapons difficult. Some weapons such as siege towers needed to be brought near the castle walls to work effectively and a medieval castle moat acted as an effective deterrence against such weapons.