Flanking tower
A flanking tower is a defensive tower that protrudes from a defensive wall or other fortified structure on the field side and thus laterally delimits ( flanked ) the immediate fore area . From the defense platform and the loopholes of the tower, the neighboring wall sections (the curtains ) could be painted on the sides with long-range weapons . With high and late medieval castles and city walls , flanking towers often had a semicircular floor plan, or a combination of a rectangle with a semicircular end on the field side. In addition, there are also circular and rectangular floor plans. Angular flanking towers can be found, for example, at the fortifications of the Alhambra and at the manor house of Hugenpoet Castle ; the Wellheim Castle had a square Flankierungsturm.
In church construction, a flanking tower is a semicircular or polygonal (for example, octagonal) tower on the outer wall. The Groß St. Martin church in Cologne has several flanking towers.