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I've seen this in movies or cartoons sometimes, that they are waling around inside the curtain wall, but hollowing out the curtain wall with a hallway seems like it would lover the structural integrity of the stone structure, that is supposed to withstand poundings from catapults and trebuchets. I noticed this in the excellent book Stephen Biesty's Cross-Sections Castle, where you can see it illustrated by the author, this is where I first relized the potential structural problem with this. You can see one example from this image below.

enter image description here I've looked around on the internet but haven't been able to find any other image sources, like photographs of real castles, that confirms that corridors in the curtain wall was used. Does anyone have any insight into this? Perhaps someone who has actually been to some real castles, unlike me(!)

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  • You'll see some if you visit a European country with medieval castles. Google "Chemin de rondes" for images. Many are just covered walk ways at the top of the wall, but there are also some where the walk way is into the wall. Barbe Bleu's castle in Tiffauge, Vendée is an example if memory serves.
    – Denis de Bernardy
    Mar 17, 2018 at 10:00
  • There's no standard castle design. They varied considerably depending on who built them, what they were built for and when they were built. So the answer may be yes or no depending on where you look.
    – KillingTime
    Mar 17, 2018 at 10:32
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    It’s worth visiting castles - you can get a real idea of how solid they were constructed and, if like my cousin, you forget to duck then you can find out how strong a stone archway is - it was only two feet thick... made a solid sound when his head hit it...Learnt quite a few australian words at that point!
    – Solar Mike
    Mar 17, 2018 at 19:43
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    @KristofferHelander: Per my comment, the definition includes both. In Barbe Bleu's castle, for instance, there's a chemin de ronde around midway into the wall.
    – Denis de Bernardy
    May 5, 2018 at 16:34
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    @KristofferHelander I didn't manage to find a photo, just a reference to the intramural passage here: canmore.org.uk/site/38002/islay-dunyvaig-castle
    – MrAndySweet
    May 7, 2018 at 10:08

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