Editing Castle Black (section)

==Layout==
[[File:Castle Black and The Wall, Ted Nasmith.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Castle Black and the [[Wall]], by Ted Nasmith ©]]
{{See also|:Category:Images of Castle Black|l1=Images of Castle Black}}

Castle Black is not a true castle, as it has no walls to defend it to the west, east, or south. Only the [[Wall]] stands to the north. It consists of several stone towers and timber keeps.{{Ref|AGOT|19}}

Beneath the keeps and towers, there is a series of subterranean passages which connect all of the buildings. These [[wormways]] are rarely used during summer, but in winter they are the only way to travel to different parts of the castle.{{Ref|ACOK|6}}

===Towers===
* The [[Lord Commander's Tower]], also called "Lord Commander's Keep", is where the [[Lord Commander of the Night's Watch|Lord Commander's]] quarters are located.{{ref|AGOT|41}}
* The [[King's Tower]] is reserved for honored guests, though no king has visited the tower in over a hundred years.{{ref|AGOT|19}}
* [[Hardin's Tower]] has a broken battlement, from which stone has spilled into the yard below. It has a severe lean.{{ref|AGOT|19}}
* The [[Lance (tower)|Lance]] is the tallest tower at the castle, though only a third of the height of the Wall. It is slim and crumbling.{{ref|ASOS|55}}
* The [[Tower of Guards]] is the strongest of the towers. It lies next to the kingsroad.{{ref|ASOS|55}}
* The [[Silent Tower]] is a tower at Castle Black.{{ref|ASOS|55}}
* [[Maester Aemon's tower]] is a stout timber keep which contains quarters for Maester [[Aemon Targaryen (son of Maekar I)|Aemon]] as well as the [[rookery]] and a library.{{ref|AGOT|41}}{{ref|ASOS|55}}

===Buildings===
* The [[common hall]] is a great timbered keep where the brothers take their meals. Crows nest in the rafters.{{Ref|AGOT|19}}
* The [[armory (Castle Black)|armory]] is where the equipment for weapons practice is kept. [[Donal Noye]] forges weapons and armor here.{{ref|AGOT|19}}
* The bathhouse is found near the armory.{{ref|ASOS|79}}
* The old [[Flint Barracks]] is where most of the brothers reside.{{ref|ASOS|48}}
* The subterranean [[vaults of Castle Black]] contain stored food{{ref|ADWD|17}} as well as records and old books that even the [[Citadel]] does not have.{{ref|ACOK|6}} Amongst other topics, they have drawings of the faces in the weirwoods, [[True Tongue|the language]] of the [[children of the forest]], and scrolls from [[Valyria]].{{ref|ACOK|6}}{{ref|AFFC|5}}
* The [[Shieldhall]] is a feast hall of dark stone. In years past, when the Night's Watch was much larger in number, its walls had been hung with rows of brightly colored wooden shields. When a knight took the black, his shield would adorn its wall and he would take up the plain black shield of the brotherhood.{{Ref|ADWD|69}}
* The [[Grey Keep]] is another building at Castle Black.{{ref|ASOS|75}}
* The [[sept at Castle Black|small sept]] is run by Septon [[Cellador]].{{Ref|AGOT|19}} Men who follow the [[old gods]] instead of [[Faith of the Seven|the Seven]] can travel half a league [[beyond the Wall]] into the [[haunted forest]], where a small [[weirwood grove]] contains a rough circle of nine [[heart tree]]s.{{Ref|AGOT|48}}
* Castle Black has a granary.{{ref|AGOT|60}}

===Wormways===
There are a series of tunnels underneath Castle Black called [[wormways]]{{ref|ADWD|17}} or wormwalks,{{ref|ACOK|6}} which connect the various keeps and towers. These tunnels are mostly used during the winter, when the cold and snow, sometimes forty or fifty feet deep, make it impossible to travel above ground.{{Ref|AFFC|5}} The large archive in [[vaults of Castle Black|the vaults]] lies along one of these tunnels.{{Ref|ACOK|6}}

===Lichyard===
Beside the eastern road from Castle Black is a [[lichyard]] with the graves of some members of the Night's Watch.{{ref|AFFC|5}} Beside the lichyard are ancient tombs.{{ref|ADWD|69}} Members of the Watch are buried with all due ceremony.{{ref|ASOS|33}} 

===The Wall===
[[File:The wall castle black winch elevator.jpg|thumb|350px|Winch elevator used to get on top of the Wall, from ''[[Game of Thrones]]'' Blu-ray]]
The gate guards the tunnel through the [[Wall]], which is long, twisting and narrow. Three iron gates block the inner passage. Each of these gates is locked and has a murder hole above it. The outer door to the tunnel is solid oak, about nine inches thick.{{ref|ASOS|64}}

The great switchback stair climbs its way up from Castle Black to the top of the Wall. It is made of wooden stairs, anchored by huge beams frozen into the Wall itself.{{ref|ASOS|64}}

An iron cage attached to a winch is used to ascend and descend the face of the Wall. The cage can hold ten men{{ref|ASOS|64}} and is located near Castle Black's well.{{ref|AGOT|21}} Supplies and barrels of gravel can be transported to the top via the cage.{{ref|AGOT|26}}

Facilities on top of the Wall include a small warming shed for the men on watch located next to the crane.{{ref|ASOS|69}}