Moat
 |
The moated manor house of Baddesley Clinton in Warwickshire, England |
A moat is a manmade body of water that surrounds an area or building of significance, and almost always exist for the purpose of keeping something from crossing. Moats are known for their wide use in
castles, but are not limited to this use.
Moats (also known as
fosses) were deep and wide water-filled
ditches, excavated to provide a barrier against attack upon
castle ramparts or other fortifications. A moat made access to the walls difficult for siege weapons, such as a
siege tower or
battering ram, that needed to be brought up against a wall to be effective. A very important feature was that a water-filled moat made very difficult the practice of
sapping or undermining, that is to say digging tunnels under the fortifications in order to effect a collapse of the defenses.
The word was adapted in
Middle English from the French
motte "mound, hillock" and was first applied to the central mound on which a fortification was erected (see
Motte and bailey), and then came to be applied to the excavated ring, a "dry moat". The term
moat is also applied to natural formations reminiscent of the artificial structure.
European Moats
In the violent conditions of the 14th and 15th centuries in England, though defensive walling required a charter from the king, a moat round a
manor house could deter all but the most determined intruders (
illustration, top right). See also
Ightham Mote.
Often streams were diverted in the
Middle Ages to fill the ditch. Moats required upkeep. They had to be dredged for debris which could potentially form a traversable bridge from one side to another.
Withdrawable
bridges spanned moats in the Middle Ages. At first they were only simple wooden bridges that could easily be dismantled if an enemy was about to breach the fortifications. Later
flying bridges and
drawbridges were used for moat spans.
Moats sometimes had long wooden spikes in them, to prevent enemies from swimming across. The practice of stocking them with crocodiles, alligators or other dangerous animals is almost certainly a myth, however. [
1]
Moats in Other Parts of the World
While moats are commonly associated with European castles, they were also developed by
North American
Indians of the
Mississippian culture as the outer defense of some fortified villages. The remains of a 16th-century moat are still visible at the Parkin Archeological State Park in eastern
Arkansas.
Moats are no longer a significant tool of warfare, however, in some cases a moat may still serve as a line of defense from other threats, as well as a number of other creative uses. A moat wide and deep enough can prove an obstacle to
armoured fighting vehicles.
Installation Security
The
Catawba Nuclear Generating Station, for instance, has been constructing a concrete moat around some of the plant (other sides of the plant are bordering a lake). The moat is apart of industry wide added precautions after the
September 11, 2001 attacks. Related individuals have made a point to claim that the moat is not connected to the new
MOX fuel that the plant will be receiving.
"The concrete moat under construction at the station south of Charlotte has little to do with the utility's plans to start burning mixed-oxide fuel containing small amounts of weapons-grade plutonium next spring. Designed to prevent everything from passenger cars to military tanks from getting too close to the reactor, the moat is part of a post-Sept 11, 2001 security upgrade"[2]
Animal Containment
Moats rather than fences separate animals from spectators in many modern
zoo installations. The structure, with a vertical outer retaining wall rising directly from the moat, is an extended usage of the
ha-ha of English landscape gardening.
National Defense
In 2004 plans were suggested for a two-mile moat across the southern border of the
Gaza Strip to prevent tunnelling from Egyptian territory to the border town of Rafah
.
