38. Machicolations: Another Nasty Castle Design Feature
Related to castle murder holes are machicolations: openings in the corbels, or the parts jutting out from the top of walls. As with murder holes, stones, boiling water, heated sand, quicklime, and other unpleasant things could be dropped from machicolations on enemies at the base of the wall.
Originating in the Middle East, machicolation designs were brought back to Europe by Crusaders. By the thirteenth century, their use was widespread in the west, especially in France. While larger castles featured traditional machicolations all around the walls and towers, a variant known as the box machicolation became widespread in smaller fortresses, especially atop the castle’s gates.