The hall
The basic element if you were to live in a medieval castle was the hall. In a ground floor hall the floor was earth, stone or plaster, but when the hall was lifted to the second floor(in William Fitz Osbern's case)the floor was timber supported by stone vaulting. The entrance to the hall was on an upper storey;a spiral staircase next to the wall of the keep commonly reached this entrance.
Heating and toilets
In medieval times they only had heating in the winter because they used wood to heat up the castle, which was expensive. The medieval didn't want to waste wood so that's why they didn't have heating during spring summer and autumn. The toilets were very basic. These primitive objects were only wooden boards with cut out circles. They would simply do their business in these holes and it would fall down into the river beneath them.
The kitchen
In the 13th century the castle kitchen was still generally constructed from timber, with a central hearth or several fireplaces where meat could be spitted or stewed in a cauldron.Utensils were washed in a scullery outside.Poultry and other animals were trussed and tethered nearby.Temporary extra kitchens were set up for feasts.Next to the kitchen fruit trees were planted.
The chapel
An indispensable feature of the castle of a great lord was the chapel where the lord and his family heard morning mass.A popular arrangement was to build the chapel two stories high, with the nave divided horizontally;the family sat in the upper part, reached from their chamber, while the servants occupied the lower part.
Conclusion
By the late 13th century, the castle had achieved a considerable degree of comfort, convenience and privacy. The lord and the lady, who had begun eating and sleeping in the great hall with their whole household, had gradually withdrawn to their own apartments.A century later, in Piers Plowman, William Langland lamented at this change, and blamed technology:the wall fireplace, with its draft chimney, that freed the household from huddling around the central hearth of the old days:
Quote
"Woe is the hall each day in the week.
There the lord and lady like not to sit.
Now every rich man eats by himself
In a private parlour to be rid of poor men,
Or in a chamber with a chimney
And leaves the great hall."
There the lord and lady like not to sit.
Now every rich man eats by himself
In a private parlour to be rid of poor men,
Or in a chamber with a chimney
And leaves the great hall."