A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging
turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...
projecting from the walls of late-medieval and early-modern
fortification
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...
s from the early 14th century up to the 18th century. Most frequently found at corners, they protected a warder and enabled him to see his surroundings. Bartizans are generally furnished with
oillets or
arrow slit
An arrowslit (often also referred to as an arrow loop, loophole or loop hole, and sometimes a balistraria) is a narrow vertical aperture in a fortification through which an archer can launch arrows or a crossbowman can launch bolts.
The interi ...
s.
The turret was usually supported by stepped masonry
corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...
s and could be round, polygonal or square.
Bartizans were incorporated into many notable examples of
Scottish Baronial architecture
Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th-century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...
. In the
architecture of Aberdeen, the new Town House, built in 1868–74, incorporates bartizans in the West Tower.
Gallery
On walls
File:Round Bartizan, Fortaleza de Santiago, Sesimbra, Portugal.JPG, ''Guarita'' at Fortaleza de Santiago, Sesimbra Municipality, Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
File:Sudika Isla watchtower.jpg, ''Gardjola'' at the Spur, Senglea
Senglea ( ), also known by its title Città Invicta (or Civitas Invicta), is a fortified city in the Port Region of Malta. It is one of the Three Cities in the Grand Harbour area, the other two being Cospicua and Vittoriosa, and has a popu ...
, Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
File:Canuelo-2.jpg, ''Garita'' at El Cañuelo
EL, El or el may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Fictional entities
* El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit
* Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things''
* El, fami ...
in the Bay of San Juan, Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
File:Bartizan.jpg, South-East Bartizan on Greenknowe Tower
Greenknowe Tower is a 16th-century tower house, located just west of the village of Gordon, Scottish Borders, Gordon, in the Scottish Borders. Although a roofless ruin, the stonework of the tower is well preserved, and represents a fine example o ...
, Scottish Borders (and another one in the background)
File:Ft de Chartres-bastion-1.jpg, Bartizan at Fort de Chartres
Fort de Chartres was a French fortification first built in 1720 on the east bank of the Mississippi River in present-day Illinois. It was used as the administrative center for the province, which was part of New France. Due generally to river flo ...
, a French colonial era fort in Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
on the Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
File:Garita at Castillo de San Cristobal-Detail.jpg, ''Garita'' at Castillo San Cristóbal (San Juan) in San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...
File:JerusalemBevingrad.jpg, A bartizan-style British concrete position at Sergei courtyard, Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
. This is probably the sole existing testimony of the British " Bevingrad" constructed in 1946.
File:Devil's Sentry Box or the "Garita del Diablo", en el Morro y el Atlantico.tiff, Devil's Sentry Box, or the "Garita del Diablo", San Cristóbal Castle, in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Port Vendres Fort del Fanal (2).jpg, Bartizan of Fort del Fanal in Port-Vendres
Port-Vendres (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales Departments of France, department, southeastern France.
A typical Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean fishing port, situated near the Spanish border on the Côte Vermei ...
, Roussillon, France
On towers
File:Town House, top of West Tower, Aberdeen, Peddie and Kinnear, 1868-74, photo Jane Cartney 2010RESIZED200.jpg, Bartizans on the West Tower of the new Town House in Aberdeen
Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...
, Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, 1868–1874
File:Torre de belem vista do tejo.jpg, Manueline
The Manueline (, ), occasionally known as Portuguese late Gothic, is the sumptuous, composite Portuguese architectural style originating in the 16th century, during the Portuguese Renaissance and Age of Discoveries. Manueline architecture inco ...
''Guaritas'' at Belém Tower
Belém Tower (, ; literally: Bethlehem Tower), officially the Tower of Vincent of Saragossa, Saint Vincent () is a 16th-century fortification located in Lisbon that served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers a ...
in Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
, Portugal
File:Feartagar Castle, County Galway - bartizans.jpg, Bartizans at Feartagar Castle
Feartagar Castle, also called Jennings Castle, is a tower house and National Monument located in County Galway, Ireland.
Location
Feartagar Castle lies on a hill east of Kilconly and northwest of Tuam, near to the River Nanny.
History
The t ...
, Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
File:'s-Heerenberg Huis Bergh Hof 4.jpg, Courtyard of Bergh House, 's-Heerenberg, Netherlands
File:Vredespaleis 1.JPG, The Peace Palace
The Peace Palace ( ; ) is an international law administrative building in The Hague, Netherlands. It houses the International Court of Justice (which is the principal judicial body of the United Nations), the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PC ...
bell tower, The Hague
The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
, Netherlands
File:A belváros (The city centre) - panoramio.jpg, Martinstor
The Martinstor (English ''Martin's Gate''), a former town fortification on Kaiser-Joseph-Straße, is the older of the two gates of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, that have been preserved since medieval times. Both gates, the Martinstor and the Sch ...
, Freiburg, Germany
See also
*
Bretèche
In medieval fortification, a bretèche or brattice is a small balcony with machicolations, usually built over a gate and sometimes in the corners of the fortress' wall, with the purpose of enabling defenders to shoot or throw objects at the atta ...
*
Garret
A garret is a habitable attic, a living space at the top of a house or larger residential building, traditionally small with sloping ceilings. In the days before elevators this was the least prestigious position in a building, at the very to ...
—an attic or top floor room in the military sense; a watchtower from the French word ''garite''
*
Hoarding (castle)
A hoard or hoarding was a temporary wooden shed-like construction on the exterior of a castle during a siege that enabled the defenders to improve their field of fire (weaponry), field of fire along the length of a wall and, most particularly, d ...
References
{{Fortifications
Castle architecture
Fortification (architectural elements)
Fortified towers by type