Inner bailey

The inner bailey enclosed the most important living quarters and defensive elements for the lord and his family, e.g. the great hall, the palas, the tower house and the keep or bergfried.

The castle well or cistern was usually found in the inner bailey, because water supplies were particularly important in the past in order to be able to withstand a siege for any length of time.

It often has flanking towers that enabled grazing fire to be brought to bear in front of the curtain wall and gave additional protection to the castle gate.

In complex castles the buildings of the inner ward were frequently grouped in a ring around a courtyard which acted as a central storage area and – if it were large enough – as a tournament arena.

Similarly the Romanesque inner ward of Hohensalzburg Fortress is still called the Hoher Stock ("Upper Storey").

Plan of the outer and inner baileys of Alt-Trauchburg Castle (Germany). The Graben is the neck ditch , and to its right is the inner bailey, accessible over a wooden bridge.
Topoľčany Castle ( Slovakia ) with an inner and an outer bailey.
The early modern fortress of Hohensalzburg (Austria) with the old inner bailey in the centre