Fear hole

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Fear hole at the Spantekow fortress
Fear hole at Wildenburg Castle

In medieval castles and fortresses, a fear hole (presumably from the Latin angustus "narrow") is a narrow access to a room below.

The fear hole was mostly above the basement of a keep . The designation of these rooms as a dungeon comes from the romanticizing castle lore of the 19th century. It has not been scientifically proven whether prisoners were actually lowered into the dungeon through the fear hole with a rope or a rope ladder from the part of the building above the dungeon. On the other hand, there are archaeological findings on the use as storage facilities. So heaps have been found in such spaces, on a stockpiling of missiles for a siege point.

literature

  • Günther Binding : Architectural Form Theory. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1987, ISBN 3534078616 , pp. 191, 223 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  • Alois Brandstetter: The castle. Residenz Verlag, 1986, ISBN 3701704309 , p. 293 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  • Otto Piper: demolition of the castle lore. Göschen Collection Volume 119. GJ Göschen, 1900, p. 47f. ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  • Otto Piper: Castle studies. Weidlich, 1967, p. 664 ( limited preview in Google book search).