{{Short description|Raised protected walkway behind a castle battlement}} [[File:Creneau.XIIIe.siecle.3.png|thumb|220px|right|''Chemin de ronde'' on a curtain wall. Access is given to the battlements and shooting slots in the parapet as well as to a tower door.]] [[File:ChemindeRonde.JPG|thumb|220px|right|The ''chemin de ronde'' of the Yedikule Fortress, Istanbul, Turkey.]]
A '''''chemin de ronde''''' (French, "round path"' or "patrol path"; {{IPA|fr|ʃəmɛ̃ də ʁɔ̃d}}), also called an '''allure''', '''alure''' or, more prosaically, a '''wall-walk''', is a raised protected walkway behind a castle battlement.<ref name="Contamine1986">{{cite book|author=Philippe Contamine|title=War in the Middle Ages|year=1986|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-0-631-14469-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/warinmiddleages00cont/page/107 107]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/warinmiddleages00cont/page/107}}</ref><ref name="KaufmannKaufmann2004">{{cite book|author1=J. E. Kaufmann|author2=H. W. Kaufmann|author3=Robert M. Jurga|title=The medieval fortress: castles, forts and walled cities of the Middle Ages|year=2004|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=978-0-306-81358-0|page=306}}</ref>
In early fortifications, high castle walls were difficult to defend from the ground. The ''chemin de ronde'' was devised as a walkway allowing defenders to patrol the tops of ramparts, protected from the outside by the battlements or a parapet, placing them in an advantageous position for shooting or dropping.
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{Commons category-inline|Chemins de ronde}}
{{Fortifications}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Castle architecture
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