12-th Century Square Keep Castle

Over the past month I have become obsessed with reading about and building castles.

The square keep castle was the immediate successor of the motte-and-bailey castle. These castles were built of stone and became common in the 12-th century. Examples of this type of castle include Hedingham Castle and Rochester Castle.

The keep was commonly three or four stories high. The castle was accessed via the first floor for security reasons. This floor contains the Chapel, Great Hall and the Solar. The Solar is it lord's private room and frequently his bed-chamber.

The ground floor contains the castle kitchen, Hall for the knights and garrison quarters, a store-room and the dungeons.

The top floor contains suites for the lord's family and other important guests staying at the castle. Above this is the roof and battlements.

The keep is surrounded by a curtain wall. In the corner tower at the rear of the castle, latrines jut out over the moat.

The lot is fully furnished, and once again I have tried to keep this lot as close to the period as possible. I have made slight modifications to take into account the Sim's need for privacy while bathing. Therefore, you will find no electronic devices such as fridge, computer, TV, phone or fire/burglar alarm in this lot.

A copy of the lot has been play-tested for two seasons to ensure that all parts of the castle were accessible, and that the fruit from the trees was able to be harvested. The moat is fishable and at times the Sims have wanted to fish from within the latrines or the courtyard.

Statistics:
Lot Size: 4x5 Large Lot

Required Episodes:
I have included two versions:
1) Square Keep Castle - Seasons. For this you need all expansion packs from Original Sims 2 to SEASONS.
2) Square Keep Castle - AL. For this you need all expansion packs from Original Sims 2 to APARTMENT LIFE. (uses ceilings more appropriate to the era)
Stuff Packs: Happy Holiday Stuff, Glamour Life Stuff, Family Fun Stuff

Custom Content Included:
Ladder with custom animations by marvine http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=241795
Pack of FULLY ANIMATED spiral stairs by marvine http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=249237
Prisonbar Window by frillen, part of Prison Set 1 http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=223001
Medieval Furniture Sets: Medieval Bathroom, Medieval Part II, Medieval Part III by taroo http://www.tarox4sims2.de/
Antique Cooking Fireplace by Maylin http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=234925
Skeleton On The Wall by gromit http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=95454
Sitting Skeleton by gromit http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=95450
Just One Of Those Knights by gromit http://www.modthesims2.com/member/showthread.php?t=75497
Medieval arch, medieval door, medieval sack by UK1967 part of Medieval Collection (Part 2) http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=208325
Medieval stool in Old Wood Recolour by UK1967 part of Recoloured Medieval Collection http://linna.modthesims2.com/download.php?t=208379
Wood church altar table by DBCAB part of Church Set http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=183075
Wall Shield, Gothic chamber door and dungeon door by Lethe_s part of A Midsimmer Night's Dream http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=99584&c=1 (While there you might also like to download the Medieval Bedding which I could not include in the lot)
Twotile Rounded door by Lethe_s and Corvidophile2 part of The Dark Project http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=232462
High stone wall and stone wall by mia86 part of set of 8 new fences matching my castle walls http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=154175
Grey castle wall and grey castle floor by mia86 part of castle reality set: part 1 http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=149657 and castle reality set: part 2 http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=156186
Fully functionable fireplaces WITHOUT CHIMNEY by mia86 http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=162948
Transparent Overlapping Tile by Juzt_oxy http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?t=165668
Glassless Pane by Syera from Bog Sims Institute http://www.bogsims.com/
Buyable "Wishing Well" by Numenor http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?t=225883

I would like to say thank you to the above creators for allowing their content to be included in lots and I apologize if I have forgotten anyone.

If you have any problems with the castle, such as the lot not showing up in the Lots and Houses bin, please let me know.