Goddamn Mongolians keep knocking down your city wall ? The fix is easy : work up a moat . Just come after the instruction from William Gurstelle ’s new DIY home protection manual , Defending Your Castle and you ’ll have your very own circumference defense / neck of the woods piddle hazard filling up in no time .
Defensive Earthworks
From Neolithic times onward , home defenders have influence and mounded the landscape around their homes to make them more secure . Even in the earliest societies — the Druids in England , the knoll builder of pre - Columbian America , and the Mesopotamians who lived in Jericho , for exemplar — people have built earthworks for protection .
There are many example of former justificatory earthworks . Silsbury Hill , a 130 - groundwork - high-pitched cumulus on a plain near Stonehenge , was built by ancient Britons around 5,000 class ago and is assumed by many to have been build up to put up both martial and spiritual function .
likewise , ditch have a very long history . In Austria , archaeologists recently uncovered a Neolithic colonisation covering a full 50 acres . This post , a few miles north of modern Vienna , is known today as Grossrusbach - Weinsteig . The early human settlement was protected by a 12 - base - wide defensive ditch . carbon 14 go steady estimates that the ditch was constructed around 4500 bce .
The most effective protection method acting in past time was the water - filled deep , or fosse . Even today , despite the great stride made in home security measures and ego - defense technologies , fosse still supply a level of protection unrivaled by any other defensive earthworks . While building a moat around your castle is neither inexpensive nor uncomplicated , that plain fact is that , once built , a fosse assures a level of protection against invaders and interlopers like nothing else .
The 12th through fifteenth centuries were the salad days of moat construction . Hundreds of moats were installed in England , continental Europe , and the Far East . Few moated building were actually assail and fewer were taken , attesting to the psychological and strong-arm advantages a moat provides .
Consider the besieging of Rhodes castle in 1480 . An Ottoman U. S. Army attacked a fort of about 3,500 Knights Hospitaller inside the fortress . Although it is written that more than 70,000 Ottoman soldier besiege the palace , the design of the fort , with its thick walls , colossal tugboat , and above all , its mammoth juiceless moat , was impervious to reprize attack .
Crusader-Proof Moat
Today of course of instruction , moat mental synthesis is no longer common or sluttish . A large , well - build moat could be $ 50 or more per square foot , although costs vary wide depending on factors such as the amount of excavation required , the soil conditions , and the availability of water .
Before you perpetrate to building a moat around your home , look at the following :
You ’ll postulate a dependable water source to fill and maintain the moat . A 12 - foot - broad moat , 200 chiliad long and 6 feet deep , will involve an initial filling of almost 500,000 gallons . Although land composition varies from site to site , most moats should be line with layers of clay to stop water seepage .
Diverting raw beginning of urine such as stream and springs is the most economical method acting of find water , but be certain to think the attendant effectual and environmental issues prior to building the fosse . If potential , connect your moat to a generator of pass water such as a flow via movable sluice Bill Gates . Flowing water will reduce the problem ( for instance , odor , insects , and pool scum ) associated with stagnation .
If no natural rootage of water is available , wells and municipal water systems are option but can be very expensive . speak with an lawyer experienced in water right before investing in any moat or fosse - related equipment .
Consider your clime . In cold weather condition areas , the moat could immobilise over in winter , allow easy admittance to your property for multitude or even vehicle , contravene the moat ’s most important security features .
Contact your local zoning commission before beginning construction . In many case , a variance or special license of your neighbour may be required . A construction licence is likely required .
Few modern building declarer have experience construction moats . Carefully consultation prospective contractors and ensure they have completed task that have included large body of water - holding anatomical structure in the past . It ’s mostly safe not to have builder learn Modern techniques on your dime .
Moats are in high spirits - maintenance items . In hot calendar month , stagnant water can go to high insect populations , drop masonry , nauseous odors , and unsightly scrap buildup unless the fosse owner give to a even program of moat sustentation . As evidenced at the fortress of Rhodes and Nagoya Castle in Japan , it is possible to forgo piss and build what is termed a “ dry fosse . ” However , the forcible and psychological protections give by a piddle - take barrier make cockeyed moat more good .
If possible , deliberate locating your plate on a minor , isolated island alternatively . Doing so , a home proprietor can fall all of the surety reward of moat ownership without the in high spirits initial outlay and ongoing sustenance costs .
These drawings will ply a starting point for build up a moat around your home . Moats are most efficient when paired with a eminent Freemasonry or stone bulwark , called a pall wall , just inside the fosse . The curtain wall should be at least 8 feet high and 4 feet duncish at the top and extend , lay aside for the gatehouses , continually in an unploughed line around your holding . These dimensions will provide adequate space for a maneuvering orbit , known as a wall , atop the wall for defensive action should the situation rebel . The ramparts should be protected by battlements , which are walls with even first step used to provide natural covering while allowing offensive fire . mantle bulwark may be made from any locally useable stone provided the Lucy Stone is destitute from pits , fissures , and other H2O ingress full stop . Granite , limestone , and flint exercise particularly well .
At least two entry point or gates through the curtain bulwark are ask . One is the main entrance and the other is for emergency brake emersion should the main entrance become unserviceable . Gate planning is especially authoritative when plan a moated dwelling blank . Place access stairway to battlements and rampart at frequent intervals . Stairways should be made large and encompassing enough to allow cloth and ammo to be carry handily to the battlement .
When build the moat walls , there are many options to deliberate . It is important that the contractor practice iron rebar inside the concrete as reinforcing stimulus as the imperativeness applied by the weewee to the sides and bottom of the moat is solid .
Vintage castles often used several layers of clay hired hand - applied over the excavation field . However , modern structure methods are definitely superior . “ Shotcrete ” or “ gunite ” construction is the most monetary value - effective method of line a moat . Both of these terms touch on to the same conception — a pneumatic method of concrete software that use high - pressure air travel to spray a premix of marble dust , mortar , and urine through a hose onto the surface of the moat .
A moat construction gang moil a jam , installs the plumbing necessary to fill it with H2O , and then assembles a framework power system of 3/8 - column inch blade reinforcing rods ( rebar ) covering the bed of the moat . The rebar are pose out on 10 - column inch centers and desex in situation with wire . The crew spray a heavy program of shotcrete mix around the rebar . The work party trowel the shotcrete and lets it cure for a hebdomad . Then the crew return to apply a 2d finish coating . If desire , stones or pebble can be implant in the shotcrete to give it a substantially - looking finish . A moat built in this fashion will be long lasting and impervious to most mining or escalade attacks .
instead , a fosse may be reconstruct from poured concrete , but this character is generally more expensive to build . or else of spraying concrete material around a rebar theoretical account , concrete is poured into wooden forms and allow to heal .
emergence and immersion to the rest home through the moat and curtain paries is made through especially designed gates and bridges . There are many authoritative considerations when designing pall wall fenestration , admit the drawbridge design , bridge circuit manipulator , and gate house construction techniques . Diagram 6.4 instance one character of drawbridge . It is significant that the drawbridge be designed such that it can be operated manually ( for instance , via a hand winch or pulley-block and fishing tackle ) should electrical energy become unavailable . Be certain to discuss these item cautiously with your fosse constructor prior to groundbreaking .
Adding a moat , pillar , battering random memory cushions , and catapults will make even the most determined Crusader or Tatar recollect doubly about messing with you .
Excerpted with permission fromDefending Your Castle : Build Catapults , Crossbows , Moats , Bulletproof Shields , and more Defensive Devices to Fend Off the Invading Hordesby William Gurstelle .
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