Murder-hole

"Meurtrière" redirects here. For the 2006 French film, see Meurtrières.

For the feudal execution site, see Drowning-pit.

A murder hole or meurtrière is a hole in the ceiling of a gateway or passageway in a fortification through which the defenders could fire, throw or pour harmful substances or objects, such as rocks, arrows, scalding water, hot sand, quicklime, tar, or boiling oil, down on attackers. Boiling oil was rarely used because of its cost. Similar holes, called machicolations, were often located in the curtain walls of castles, fortified manor houses, and city walls. The parapet would project over corbels so that holes would be located over the exterior face of the wall, allowing the defenders to target attackers at the base of the wall.

18th century and earlier	Bastion Blockhouse Breastwork Canal Caponier Casemate Cavalier Counterguard Counterscarp Couvreface Coupure Covertway Crownwork Entrenchment Flèche Gorge Hornwork Lunette Orillon Ostrog Outwork Place-of-arms Polygonal fort Presidio (Spanish America) Punji sticks Ravelin Redan Redoubt Retrenchment Sandbag Scarp Sconce Schanze Sea fort Station Star fort Tenaille

19th century	Barbed wire Barbette Border outpost Bunker Coastal artillery Gun turret Land battery Land mine Martello tower Outpost Trench warfare Sangar Wire obstacles

20th century	Admiralty scaffolding Air-raid shelter Barbed tape Blast pen Blast shelter Blast wall Border barrier Bremer wall Concertina wire Defensive fighting position British "hedgehog" road block Czech hedgehog Dragon's teeth Electric fence Fallout shelter Fire support base Flak tower Hardened aircraft shelter Hesco bastion Main Line of Resistance Revetment Sentry gun Spider hole Underground hangar

By topography

By role

By design

See also: Category

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Murder-hole

See also