Balmoral Castle, Scotland
Many of us are familiar with the title of the second part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Two Towers. A similar castle term often thrown around is “turret.” But what is the difference between a tower and a turret?
It’s quite simple: a tower has its base at the ground, whereas a turret starts higher up in the wall. In this picture of the lovely Balmoral Castle in Scotland, we can see a tower on the left and a pair of turrets on the right. So perhaps we can say the towers are well-grounded, while the turrets have their heads in the clouds. 🙂
It’s no surprise that The Lord of the Rings gets it right: both towers in the title are, in fact, towers: roughly cylindrical structures from the ground up. However, if we captioned this picture, we could accurately call it “The Two Turrets.”
I’ve always said that I wanted a house with a turret, but Queen Victoria and Prince Albert make a good point with this palace: why not both turrets and towers? And plenty of each!
For more information on this beautiful building, check out my prior post about Balmoral Castle’s architecture.
Thought for writers: Are you using these terms correctly in your work?
Want to know more about castles? Check out the castle compendium and the castle archive!
Please review the Posting Policy before commenting.