Home | Main Menu | Castle Index | Historical Essays | Related Essays | What's New | Links

Finial

A finial is a slender piece of carved stone often used to decorate the top of castle towers and walls. They are largely decorative, serving no military purpose and are generally a feature of castles in the late medieval period. A good example of this feature is the finial below (the carved human figure) found on the top of the Marten's Tower at Chepstow Castle in southeast Wales.