Castle Keep Round Tower roof/floor question

[Amalric]

What would the roof/ceiling/floor of a round tower type keep of the sort in the photo below be made of?
Wood or stone?
The area in question is circled in bright green and is sculpted as stone.
The same part of the small side tower is sculpted as wood.



I ask because I dug out this tower I've had stashed away for 20+ years and want to repaint it and stone just doesn't seem right.

Also, who produced this scenery piece? It seems to be made out of a hard foam and is very detailed but light in weight.

Thank you for your help.

[Maniac]

Typically they would have been made from wood.  Stone was expensive, and more complicated to do.  It was done, just not as often due to weight, cost, and other issues.

[AKULA]

It’s a Hudson Allen keep - still available today, along with a village’s worth of buildings, and castle walls etc if you decide to get more.

 

[Atheling]

I'm definitely no expert and bow out to any medieval archeologist who specialised in fortifications out there but I think mostly wood but it would not necessarily be uncommon for stone flooring. Lessons gleaned from my years working at Durham Cathedral which had strong with the castle. both buildings being started by the Normans and periodically updated of course.

[Elk101]

With that model, which looks like 2 storeys, the ground floor and first floor could well have a vaulted stone roof construction, meaning that the tower's exposed top floor surfacing could be stone paved. It could be stone or wood, with stone being the more expensive construction.

[fred]

I've certainly been on top of castle towers that have stone surfaces. While most of these are likely reconstructions it shows that the structure can support this.

From a defensive point of view having a stone floor would help protect against fire and other missiles.

[sukhe_bator]

I'm with Elk101 - it would have had stone vaulting to support a stone roof/battlements. Timber roof structures were usually lead covered to waterproof and make fire resistant but were less common in defensive structures certainly by the C13/C14 when this type of tower became more common.

[Amalric]

Thank you everyone for your help.

I will post pictures of it when I get it repainted.

Nice to know that Hudson And Allen models are still available as the details on this piece are gorgeous.
I just hope not to mess it up.

[Maniac]

I'm with Elk101 - it would have had stone vaulting to support a stone roof/battlements. Timber roof structures were usually lead covered to waterproof and make fire resistant but were less common in defensive structures certainly by the C13/C14 when this type of tower became more common.

To add to the discussion.

While fire would have been more of a risk, most castles were covered with wooden structures.  Caerphilly, in Wales, has a good reconstruction of a hoarding, out over the main stone walls.  These would have been somewhat common, particularly near sally points or gates.  In a similar fashion towers may have commonly used them.  Crenelations were done, and were done so that the top part of the crenalation came above a man's head (no point if it does not).  That said, hoardings were also extensively used so that defenders could fire straight down at attacking forces.  These were all wooden structures, indicating that defenders were certainly willing to use wood for the right reasons.  Never mind the preponderance of wooden building in the outer and even inner ward.

See Stokesay Castle, which is a mix of timber and stone, Chepstow with its walls still standing, but the interior gone as the roof for most of the buildings was timber (see also Conway), Kenilworth, and others.

Conversely, parts of Beaumaris have a stone roof, and Goodrich has a mostly stone roof.  So competency of the builder and the willingness of the patron to pay contributes directly to a stone roof or not.  You used what you had available and could afford.

[Elk101]

Yes, I've been on those timber structures at Caerphilly, they're worth a Google if there are any online images. There would definitely have been a lot of timber structures in most castles in one form or another.

[sukhe_bator]

Brattices or hoardings like those reconstructions seen at Caerphilly or Carcassonne were often temporary structures that were put up only when needed. Yes there was a lot of timber used but in secondary structures where possible. If the tower is part of a defensive enceinte in a militarised area then the best and most durable materials would have been likely diverted to that. By the time the half timber buildings were added at Stokesay it was primarily residential and not military.
Internal structural timbers like beams were usually quite large/thick and consequently quite fire resistant. Oak for example usually scorches on the surface protecting the core.
As Elk101 says it is down to usage and cost.
The Japanese used fire retardant plaster with a high salt content on exposed timberwork on key structures in their castles for centuries with great success. What woodwork we see in European castles today is often replacement and often not how it would have looked when in use. A limewash or plaster skim also had some retardant properties but we don't see much of it on surviving structures today. Timberframed houses were often thus covered but the Victorian pechant for exposing timberwork and blackening timbers with pitch/tar distorts our view.

[Skyven]

In Castle Builders - Approaches to Castle Desgin and Construction in the Middle Ages Malcolm Hislop states 'It was only in the later Middle Ages that fully vaulted towers became common in England. One of the earliest is Ceasar's Tower, at Warwick Castle, a building of unusual plan, dating from around 1350.  Guy's Tower, at the same castle, built 40 years later is also vaulted to the top. Note that the 11.5m wide tower had walls of 2.5m to support the stresses caused by vaulting.

Castle Builders - Approaches to Castle Desgin and Construction in the Middle Ages by Malcolm Hislop, ISBN 9781781593356, Pen and Sword Archaeology (2016)

[Maniac]

You can see Conwy here:



Note that all of the roofless buildings had timber roofs, and then lead covered.  Once they weren't needed, the lead was removed which causes damage to the buildings.

See also Caerphilly Castle (about 30 seconds into the video), showing a mix of stone and timber.



See Chepstow below, large sections of wooden roof along defensive structures (this was William Marshall's home castle):

https://medievalheritage.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Chepstow-rekonstrukcja-01.jpg

Kastleburg, in Waldkirch, Germany has a wood topped keep (my Wife and Daughter were unnerved by it, as it was showing it's age):



Falaise, built by Henry the Ist, shows evidence of a wooden roofed keep.  The don jon at Chambois had a wooden roof.  Pembroke has a stone roofed tower, but wood roofs on other buildings.  See also all of the shell keep castles, such as Restormel and Launceston.  These clearly had wood roofs.  Brionne was attacked in 1047, with stone walls but wood roofs, which enabled fire to be used as an effective weapon.

Back to the original question, certainly either could be used on a model.  Depending on timeframe and 'status' of the person being represented you could go down either path.  As an example, folks often talk about wooden Norman castles, but Falaise was stone by the time of Henry Ist (and possibly partly stone before that) and Ivry-la-Bataille was stone dating from the early 11th century or before.  Gisors has a mix of roof types, and it was built by Richard the 3rd.  Caen was stone in some fashion by the time William was born.

At any rate, this is a great discussion, just proving that a wide variety is out there and should provide ample inspiration to us as gamers.