Animal cost Geraardsbergen

Dierkoststraat, 9500 Geraardsbergen
The Dierkost, a fortress tower in pophyry stone, was an important element of the city wall between the Putsemainpoort and the Overpoort, in the middle of the 13th century. After dominating the road to Hainaut for centuries, it also served as a city archive, shelter for the notables and room of the Archers' Guild of Saint Sebastian. When the city walls of the upper town were demolished in 1817-1818, the Dierkost was restored with baking and sandstones.

After acquiring its city rights in 1068, Geraardsbergen obtained the right to wall the city, to close the entrances with gates and to deny any unwanted foreigner access to the city. The number and size of gates was determined by traffic and location. For example, the Potchemain gate and the Overpoort were built.
The oldest protection of the city probably consisted only of an earthen rampart, with a wooden palisade and a moat in front of it. The city only got its first wall when the threat from outside became too great. Since originally only the right bank was built up and the Dender was the moat for the new city, two water gates were built there, including the Nieuwbrugpoort.
The others were land gates. However, there were also stone wall towers at regular distances from each other at the earthen ramparts from which one could spy on the surroundings from a higher point of view. At its stone wall, the towers were built outside the wall, such as the Pine Tower or torture place and the Animal Cost, archive tower or secr dining room and only later the Lost Cost.
The walls on the city side were provided with buttresses and at regular intervals there were semicircular rampart towers that were built outside the city wall to defend the wall. The open back facing the city was called the "throat".
At the end of the year 1100, the city was expanded along the left bank. Three new gates were installed for this purpose: the Ghent, Oudenaardse and Lessense gates.

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