Subject:
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Insights from a trip to France...
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lugnet.castle
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Date:
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Wed, 26 Apr 2000 20:30:45 GMT
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Ok, I just got back from France, where (of course) I saw a few actual historic
castles. I have to say I've never really seen them before, since I've only ever
really been in North America, where we lack the abundance of Mideaval
architecture that one might find in Europe :(
Insight number 1: Drawbridges
Ok, every lego castle with a drawbridge, or every MOC that I can think of has
always had the same style of drawbridge. A hinged drawbridge with two
chains/ropes at the outer corners of the bridge, with the chains/ropes leading
up towards the wall, and entering directly into the wall, forming a triangle
when the gate is down:
___
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C |
A |\
S | \ chain/rope
T | \
L | \
E | \
---o=====`
Drawbridge
However, every single ACTUAL castle I saw had a different design! Instead,
there were two long wooden beams projecting out from the castle wall, above
each side of the drawbridge. At the ends of these beams were the chains/ropes
(well, alright, only chains) that attached to the outer corners of the
drawbridge, so instead of a triangle, you'd get a square:
___
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C |
A | Wooden beams
S o=====,
T | |
L | | <-- chain
E | |
---o====='
Drawbridge
And there were (of course) long, tall grooves for the wooden beams to fit into
inside the wall, when the drawbridge was raised. This also seems a lot smarter,
since a chain going through a hole in the wall would eventually wear down the
holes (or the chains) and might cause the castle (or the chains) to break! So I
ask-- has anyone built a castle that uses this sort of drawbridge? Did I miss
it? Do any REAL castles have the "standard" triangular Lego design of
drawbridge? Is this something strictly French?
Insight number 2: Roofs (not really strictly castle related)
An interesting thing I always wondered about was roof color was why TLC always
seemed to just make RED roofs. Here in the US, most roofs are black. Or grey.
Or dark grey. Sure, you find a red one now and again, but how come the only
roof piece Lego made in bulk was in red? Wouldn't black be more generic? Well,
there appeared to be a LOT of red-ish, ceramic tiled roofs in France. It stands
to reason that Lego being located in Denmark would build its standard roofs in
red. Maybe these were popular all the way back through the Middle Ages? I don't
know... but at least it makes red roofs more plausible. It made me happy to
realize that Lego's bright (and to me unrealistic) choice in colored roofs was
based in reality.
Insight number 3: Houses
I would never have expected to see so many houses done in brick and stone. All
the old villages, etc, seemed to be chock full of old stone buildings. I think
my 'half-timbered' standard may have to change.
Insight number 4: Half timbering
It seemed like 99% of all the half timbered architecture that was there was
built from the 2nd story up, rather than at ground level (ok, in France you
call the 2nd floor the 1st floor, to avoid confusion). The ground level was
usually done in brick or stone. I assume that's to prevent water damage and to
prevent bugs from easily getting into the wood, but who knows... that's just a
theory...
Insight number 5: (the last one) Randomness!
All the castles were very oddly built. There was very little if any symetry
(sp?) in a castle, except maybe within a single tower or single "chunk" of
wall... There were always odd angles and turns in the walls, very few right
angles, and mostly rounded towers as opposed to square ones... It makes
modelling them accurately in Lego a new feat of genius!
Anyway, I thought I'd share my insights. Of course, just cause these are
somewhat new to me, doesn't by any means mean they'll be new to you. What with
LUGNET's England contingency, I expect most of that's way old news...
Now to rebuild accordingly.... :)
DaveE
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Message has 5 Replies:
 | | Re: Insights from a trip to France...
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| (...) OMG! How come I never thought about that... I was in France twice, and in Germany quite a few times, but even though I've visited some castles it was (sadly) before my castle renaissance so I didn't think of those things... Well your post sure (...) (25 years ago, 26-Apr-00, to lugnet.castle)
| | | Re: Insights from a trip to France...
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| David, it's great when you can see them first hand, I live in Australia....we have about oh 200 yrs of European history, so you can imagine what it's like for me....But with the internet and books, one can learn alot....plus it helps that I've (...) (25 years ago, 26-Apr-00, to lugnet.castle)
| | | Re: Insights from a trip to France...
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| (...) I'm no historian or anything, but I'd guess that the reason a lot of drawbridges are built with overhead lifting beams is for ease of counterbalancing. You hang a big heavy weight on the ends of the overhead beams, across the fulcrum from the (...) (25 years ago, 27-Apr-00, to lugnet.castle)
| | | Re: Insights from a trip to France...
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| "David Eaton" wrote... (...) symetry (...) right (...) There is a reason for the 'randomness' and asymmetry of the castles and fortresses in places where they've been build for war. I made a quick page to illustrate the thing since I'm not familiar (...) (25 years ago, 27-Apr-00, to lugnet.castle)
| | | Re: Insights from a trip to France...
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| David Eaton <deaton@intdata.com> schreef in berichtnieuws Ftn4z9.3x1@lugnet.com... (snip) (...) My recent castle, Estuary Stronghold, coincidentally does have a drawbridge of this design. In fact it has a beam&chain on only one side of the bridge. (...) (25 years ago, 28-Apr-00, to lugnet.castle)
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