The Great Hall

The castle layout is baileys and mottes.  There is an inner and outer bailey which is inside the motte, surrounded by a wall.  There are also other things like walls and gates but here you will be learning about the Great Hall, the center of castle life, which is in the mottes and baileys.  It does not actually look like a hall because it has two or more floors and is more square than rectangular and had a large ceiling.  The king transacted business with a steward, ate, sleepy and socialized in the Great Hall with a ton of other guests but just in a bigger room.  There are two versions of the Great Hall, a wooden version and a stone version.

As you could guess the wooden version came first just because it is simpler and cheaper to make.  On the top floor guests rooms were built for special guests the king had over and commoners, common people if you couldn’t tell by the name.  Also on the upper floor, the king and his family would sleep in one room that is just the same size as all the other guests.  If I was the king I would protest against that!  On the bottom floor there were kitchens, where the king would order food from, servant’s quarters (they had to sleep somewhere.)  There were also stables where the animals were kept and then, chop, they are magically in the kitchen.  Another room in the lower floor is the store houses where they would store all the food and drinks.  On this type of castle the Great Hall is in the motte and bailey.

This is the dining room in the Great Hall.

On the other type of castle, the ones made with stone, the Great Hall is pretty different but also kind of the same.  On the bottom floor there are cellars, boxes of clothing and spices, granaries, barrels, casks, and other household items, like spoons and forks.  On the floor above there were rooms of the residents, larders, which is food storage, pantry the bread room, and the buttery the wine and beer room.  On the very top floor were the attics, sons of the lords’ room on one side of the attic and the daughters’ side on the other side of the attic.  The king’s room is up there too.  On this type of castle the Great Hall was only in the bailey.