Undercroft

In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area which is relatively open to the sides, but covered by the building above.

For example, the undercroft rooms at Myres Castle in Fife, Scotland, of c. 1300 were used as the medieval kitchen and a range of stores.

For example, there is a 14th-century undercroft or crypt extant at Muchalls Castle in Aberdeenshire in Scotland, even though the original chapel above it was destroyed in an act of war in 1746.

Undercrofts were commonly built in England and Scotland throughout the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.

This type of parking is, however, discouraged by some urban design guidelines, as it prevents the ground floor from having activities (shops, restaurants or similar) that provide for a lively streetscape.