Aflanking tower is afortified tower that is sited on the outside of adefensive wall or other fortified structure and thus forms aflank. From the defensive platform andembrasures the section of wall between them (thecurtain wall) could be swept from the side by ranged weapons. In High and Late Medievalcastles andtown walls, flanking towers often had a semi-circular floor plan or a combination of a rectangular inner and semi-circular outer plans. There were also circular and rectangular towers. Corner flanking towers are found, for example, in the fortifications of theAlhambra and at themanor house ofHugenpoet Palace;Wellheim Castle has a square flanking tower. Semi-circular flanking towers were common inSasanian architecture.[1]
Inchurch architecture, a flanking tower is a semi-circular or polygonal (for example, octagonal) tower on the outer wall of the church. The church ofGreat St. Martin Church inCologne has several flanking towers.
