Hacker News Reader

Comment by dbspin | Hacker News Reader

Seems like your map lists pre-historic ring forts, not castles?

I'm not sure what the 'official' definition of a castle is, but I personally wouldn't consider a crannóg or something like Dún Aonghasa a castle. Nor would I consider a stand alone tower house a castle, although they might (along with gate lodges and great houses), sometimes be colloquially referred to as castles.

Surely a castle is a fortified building, specific to the middle ages. Wikipedia agrees - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle

Which would put the number of Anglo-Norman castles in Ireland much lower, probably something around 100.

View on HN

Yeah, in the other direction, I see at least one WWII-era "pillbox" bunker in France (part of the Marginot Line?) listed as "fortress".

It's a nice idea, but the range seems extremely broad on the one hand but very incomplete on the other hand.

I like the definition where castle is a fortress where a Nobel lives. Fort is where an army lives but no Nobel leader. Palace is where a Nobel lives but it isn't expected to withstand a siege

*Noble. Alfred Nobel invented stable explosives and started a Norwegian prize for achievement in science. Nobles, however, were high ranked members of the feudal hierarchy, often passing their position on to their children.

Wasn’t he Swedish?

Yes. All the prizes except the peace prize are awarded in Sweden. Norway was in a union with Sweden at the time the prizes were set up, but it's not definitely known why he chose the Norwegian parliament (via the Norwegian Nobel Committee) to aware the peace prize.

In the intro paragraph of the linked Wikipedia page: “Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts”.

The map has a category for fortresses too. Which are included in its total count of "castles". So it's seems reasonable to bring them up.

Fair, I think the map is nonsense, but also the idea of 30K castles in Ireland is clearly untrue.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com