Ekis

Actually, yes, you're right: they're both true! 😉 In history, the bastides at the base were like today's housing estates of individual houses: everything was planned in the alignment of the streets, the church and each house in the village. The wall was totally programmed to collect a precise number of buildings. But often by deformation, the word bastide was attributed to all the fortified villages over time. In my village example, I assumed that the church and then the cloister were there first. Then a small community grew around it with the arrival of a small nobleman to share the rights. So it would be normal for the enclosure and this village gate to be newer than the small monastery. Merci beaucoup ! Indeed, I'm having a lot of fun with this village. In any case as much as building my fully customized HMS Victory! 😁 And once again, thank you all for your follow-up and your comments!

The gate of the village has advanced quite a bit: the central stone part is almost done. The outside with the pointed arch. The interior with the half columns on each upright of the double arch. There is still a sanding, joints to be made, the top to be filled in. The towers are still being worked on, but will be glued on each side. Then will come the wood work, with the doors, the hoardings, etc... And finally the roofs. 2 series of photos of the building site, a few days apart. 😅

For the moment, as long as you know how to line up stones one on top of the other, everyone is welcome ! We'll see afterwards to give them a title in the village... 😅

Thank you all ! I love to read your reactions and all these comments ! I will soon be able to show you the village gate with the stone base that is going well (except the towers that still take a lot of time...). For the town fool (in French, we say the "village idiot"), I don't have a name yet, but the craziest one for the moment is me for having launched into such a project ! 😜

Thanks ! 😊 Right now, Kurt: there's still a lot of buildings to come...

Some views of the progress of this door. Quite a lot of work to anticipate the construction. No plan, everything in the head, you have to be a little careful so that everything is well in place at the end... 😁

Thank you Popeye! 😊 The fortifications of a bastide of that time were all made for the same things: to prevent hordes of horsemen, war machines, and the invasion of a large troop that would invade the interior... it was necessary above all to protect oneself with the means available. So, we built high enough and with different defenses to slow down or even prevent access. We had to be able to close quickly with not too huge doors, an effective portcullis to stop intruders... The men of the village serving as a garrison against danger. In addition, the door was the right size for the entry of goods on an ox or horse cart to go to the market place or to store in the attics. When this village is more advanced, I have carts to put in place (I will build other things if I can). It also allowed to control, to check, but also to tax one by one everything that could enter. The herds did not enter these villages, except for the markets. Here again, a narrow gate made it possible to count and manage animals.

Sorry Mateusz (and thx for your reply ), I missed your post and therefore to answer you... To age the buildings, I already use a diluted wash from AK Interactive that I usually use to age the boats (Wash for Wood), then I mix it with the Slimy Grime Dark from AK. For the moment, that's all, but when I'll go to the pedestal mounting, I'll redo the whole thing with these products, plus the vegetation between the stones, and surely some very very diluted India ink for the darkest places...

I went for the front door. The first elements are being put in place, the whole is a personal assembly, nothing more like what the kit had planned. And to remain consistent with this fortified bastide (and not a castle!), doors will close the enclosure instead of a drawbridge. 😏

Yep, that's why I translated your post in my reply, Agamemnon. 😎

Merci Pierre ! J'ai également regardé avec attention ton chantier : tu t'es lancé dans un projet totalement fou... Mais que tu as l'air de vraiment maîtriser. Je vais suivre assidûment la suite et la construction. Notre Dame mérite vraiment qu'on y fasse attention. J'ai vu l'incendie, et j'ai malheureusement été spectateur des dégâts... Redonnes lui sa splendeur, même en bois et en plus petit ! Et tu as raison, ce forum contient absolument tout ce que j'aime aussi : les talents, les cultures différentes, des projets incroyable et une créativité sans limite ! Thanks Pierre! 😊 I also watched your construction site carefully: you've embarked on a totally crazy project... But you seem to have really mastered it. I'm going to follow the continuation and the construction assiduously. Notre Dame really deserves our attention. I saw the fire, and unfortunately I witnessed the damage... Give it back its splendor, even if it's made of wood and smaller! And you're right, this forum contains absolutely everything I like too: talents, different cultures, incredible projects and boundless creativity! Bonjour à la Belle Province ! 😁

Thanks all for your follow and much appreciated comments! That's a good question, Kurt. But to answer it, you need to know a little bit about feudal organization in 14th-century France. I'm not going to give a history lesson here, but simply try to make sense of this little village back then... There is here a church, not very important, and a very small monastery symbolized by the cloister and outbuildings. So, a handful of monks (a maximum of ten) with an abbot at the head who also does the service every day. A seigneurial lodge is also planned, thus a residence for a small nobleman of the region. A few houses leaning against the walls, a market place (thus a commercial activity). One can thus think that the village was founded in agreement between the religious authorities and the little nobleman of the province who share the incomes of the trade and the harvests... A Baron or just a Squire who received this piece of land as a reward. But it's really a very small country hamlet, with some defences. We are not at all in the seigniorial castle belonging to a powerful Count. It's all very modest. And no, I haven't even looked up a name for this bastide yet. 😁 Sorry for the translation can be a little bit risky from DeepL, I don't really know if everything is well written in English. Merci En beaucoup, beaucoup plus petit alors ! Thanx ! I hope to show you around a bit. And to show the idea I have of this time as close as possible to the reality of that time! 😊

Thank you ! 😃 @Kurt: the stable is not glued for the moment, it will only be glued to the base mount. But the space to go through corresponds to the scale of the characters. The angle of the stable wall is not a right angle. I'll adjust it at the end.

Thanx ! 😁 The final version of this part. On the left, will come the door of the village...In the meantime, some pictures : 😎

Oh, thanx, Edward ! 😉

Some complementary pictures of the carpentry in progress...A stable barn before receiving its wooden covering... ... Which will be right here:

Just a precision on what I am trying to show with this village: the constructions of the Middle Ages were not made only of stones, such as we see them today because it is all that is left... Put down by religious buildings, seigniorial lodgings and heavy fortifications, all the rest was made of wooden and/or mud bricks, bricks according to the region. Eventually, low stone foundations were kept, and the rest was built with lighter and cheaper materials. Stone cutting was long and expensive, and required nearby quarries. Wood in theory was much more accessible, and above all worked by many more people who used it every day. This is the reproach that can be made of Aedes Ars and its kits of monuments or houses: all in stone and not respecting the reality of the constructions as they existed at the time of their conception . So I'm restoring the balance of materials! 😁

The construction continues with work on the wall between the left of the watchtower and the future village gate. To fill this space, it was necessary to build the wall itself, stick it solidly to the tower, and provide for the defence facilities... The hoardings are in progress all along, with a part closed on the outside and open gallery on the inside. The micro carpentry requires time and precision... Knowing that I am in complete creation, therefore without a plan ! I needed an access staircase (not easy to do !) to the ramparts : I chose to do it in stones against the wall. it is also planned buildings under this gallery (barn and/or stable, shelter or workshop...). Then, I will attack the wall to the right of the tower with a house next to it. 😎

A very long construction site to follow! 😃

Or more simply to hundreds of villages still existing in Europe... 🏰😃

Thank you! Much appreciated always! The same proverb also exists in French. Fortunately, I aim smaller than Rome or Paris...! 😅 Yes, Kurt, there will probably be a stable right at the entrance of the village, between the main gate and this tower. But we have to build the wall before... And yes, there will be a well or a fountain, I don't know yet. For the moment, it's planned next to Lord's House, but I'll see once the main buildings are built.

A big update from the watchtower: The watchturrets are glued down, the roofs are done, the wooden defense gallery is there too! 😎 In fact, there are still 2 or 3 details for the tower itself... But it has to be attached on both sides to pieces of wall. The whole will make a whole. And a view of the current state of affairs with the entire village. There's still a lot to do ! 😉

The stonecutters finished the job with the two turrets to be glued later: ...and the carpenters attacked from the north face! 😎

Stage 2 of this medieval rocket tower is in place! I'll have to take care of the boosters watch-turret on each side. 😅 Once that's done, it'll be all over for the stone. Then we'll attack all the wooden parts, side walls, etc...

The first level is done! Finally, the main work, the wood is still to come, knowing that this tower must be accompanied directly by 2 sections of wall, and other stuff. 😃