Daddy, what is a Barmkin?

 

the Great House with it's barmkin (and a barbican too!)

        Seven year old Billy walked up to his father and asked "Daddy, what is a barmkin?" His father set aside his copy of European Weapons and Warfare 1618-1648 and smiled at his precocious son, "Well Billy, I'm glad you asked. A barmkin is a defensive wall required under Scottish law of 1535A.D. That law states that;  "Every landed man dwelling in the inland or upon the borders having there a hundred pound land of new extent shall build a sufficient barmkin upon his heritage and lands in the most suitable place, of stone and lime, containing three score foot of the square, one ell thick and six ells high, for the protection and defence of him, his tenants and their goods in troublesome times, with a tower in the same for himself if he thinks it expedient".  Billy looked seriously at his father and asked "Whats an ell?" Pleased by his son's inquisitive mind his father replied, "About a yard", Billy nodded, doing the the math in his head, "That's a pretty big wall!" he exclaimed. His father smiled, "Yes son, a very substantial wall". Billy's furrowed brow warned his father that another question was coming, "Daddy what is a pound?" His father chuckled and replied, "A British monetary unit, like a dollar, it's worth about a dollar and twenty-five cents".  Further mental mathematics ensued and Billy asked, "But Daddy, our house is worth a LOT more than a hundred pounds, why don't we have a barmkin?" Wishing to return to his reading Billy's father skipped the effects of inflation from 1535A.D. until the present day, and the complexities of current building codes, not to mention the inapplicability of Scottish law outside of Scotland and simply patted Billy on the head and replied, "Because Daddy has an AR-15"

 

the Great House can be incorporated into the defensive structure

 

this really handy roller was made for me by OldSarge on his 3D printer

it did a great job pressing random stone patterns into the insulation foam

one hint, press the stone pattern BEFORE assembly 

if you ask OldSarge really nicely he might make one for you too

       The structure is simply two different slabs of insulation board glued together. I made it in six-inch segments to ease storage and to provide options during use. The roller was a real time-saver but it would have been much easier if I had possessed the presence of mind to impress the foam before I glued everything together! Six ells high works out to around four inches in height and and ell in thickness is close enough to a half-inch that I just went with the thickness of the greenboard. I cheated and made the wall-walk out of solid blueboard instead of building a wooden walkway for speed and sturdiness. The gateway in barbican will get a thick wooden door and an iron yett as I progress to finer details on the models. Next up, windows, gunports and doors!