How big is Redwall?

[rrrrr]

I didn't watch the TV show, but I read the books.

Jess had to climb for a long time (estimate 30 seconds plus)

But since squirrels can scale a normal tree (around 10 feet tall) in around 2 seconds, that would make Redwall's height very tall (around 150 feet).

[Groddil]

What if we assume that they Abbey pond is actually the lake that Kotir sunk into. It's the only body of water around (besides the river), and it's big enough to hold large fish. If you go on that scale, the abbey would be pretty massive.

[Vilu Daskar]

The pond isn't what Kotir sank into, the moles diverted the river with tunnels a flooded Kotir if I remember correctly.

[Hickory]

What if we assume that they Abbey pond is actually the lake that Kotir sunk into. It's the only body of water around (besides the river), and it's big enough to hold large fish. If you go on that scale, the abbey would be pretty massive.

I believe the pond is explained in Long Patrol.

[Lady Ashenwyte]

What if we assume that they Abbey pond is actually the lake that Kotir sunk into. It's the only body of water around (besides the river), and it's big enough to hold large fish. If you go on that scale, the abbey would be pretty massive.

I believe the pond is explained in Long Patrol.

It is.

[asmodeus]

I am trying to build the abbey in Minecraft and realized how fast food grows in the game. Could that apply to the real redwall too. Could the vegetables be bigger? This would considerably reduce the land needed to feed the Abbey. Also, the Cellars hold large amounts of preserved goods, making it THEORETICALLY possible to house 1000 Long Patrol hares for a little while.

[Jukka the Sling]

Hmm.  I feel pretty certain that all of the food they grow in Redwall is sized about the same as it would be for us.  Apples and things like that are eaten easily, and they aren't mentioned as being huge or anything.

[Ashleg]

The only foods mentioned as being huge are circles of cheese and sometimes cakes, both of which they make to be huge.

[Hazelrah42]

Hey everyone! Just got into the thread.

I think I finally calculated the size of Redwall. I will add a disclaimer stating that my dimensions however are based on making the animal sizes more comparable to ours. I can explain later, as that's not the point of the post. In Triss in the beginning of Chapter 34 Brian Jacques says that there were only needed a total of 40 guards on the wall, or 10 for each wall. At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier a sentry paces 21 steps in each direction. A step is 2.2 feet or 46 feet or 15-16 yards. This means that the walls could be anywhere from 150-160 yards long each side for a total of 600 to 640 yards long (15 or 16 x 10 guards). This means that at a minimum the total are within the walls ONLY 5-6 acres but that's at a bare minimum and would only cover the grounds. I ssimate that ideally, Redwall Abbey would be only about 10 acres in size or 4 hectares for you chaps over seas.

Next Analysis: The Walls
For an analysis of the wall height and thickness, a good comparison aftually would be he Vatican, as it's a church surrounded by fortress like walls. The walls around the Vatican are 50-60 meters and 40-50 meters thick, that would make them pretty solid and impressive walls to any potential conqueror but also give huge advantage to the defender.

Next Analysis: Food Acquisition
The bulk of the Abbey's food comes from is the Flat Lands to the north, as a 5 foot tall Squirrel who is bigger but has a scaled up metabolism would still require roughly 400 pounds of food per year. My wife made an interesting point though. Those living in Mossflower probably pay a willing tribute to Redwall Abbey in the form of food, similar to the Tudor Monestary Farms. Redwall wouldn't own any property except what was within its walls, the surrounding creatures would in effect pay for the security of those walls. The Abbey would in effect, act like Japanese castles, where the peasants who helped build them could use them for security and safety. The key to thr Flat Lands being used so heavily however is the production of flower. As their use of science is only at a medieval level, the maximum they could expect would be 1 bushel of wheat per acre. This equals 60 pounds of flour or 5 12 ounce loaves of bread. Somethjng like Bernard Bread might use as much as 4 bushels depending on its size!

[Captain Tammo]

Hey everyone! Just got into the thread.

....A step is 2.2 feet or 46 feet or 15-16 yards. This means that the walls could be anywhere from 150-160 yards long each side for a total of 600 to 640 yards long (15 or 16 x 10 guards)....

Next Analysis: The Walls
...The walls around the Vatican are 50-60 meters and 40-50 meters thick...

I think you might have mixed up some units and numbers when you were converting! 150-160 yards per wall converts to 450-480 feet. If that was made into a square, you still get the 5-6 acres you talked about!

It's funny you mention the Vatican. By sheer coincidence I was there this past summer for a visit! I think you may have had a typo on the units there, though. 40 meters is 130+ feet! The outer walls I saw looked to be in the range of 40ish feet. I did find a few other numbers tossed around when I did a quick google search, but nothing on the magnitude of that many meters!

I did really like what you mentioned about woodland creatures paying tribute to the abbey. I don't recall it ever being mentioned in the stories, but I suppose it's not far-fetched to imagine - and a pretty creative idea, too!

[Hazelrah42]

Hey thanks! Haha sorry for the typos, I was just so excited I had to write everything down and didn't really pay attention to cohesiveness

[Hazelrah42]

Regarding the tribute to the Abbey, didn't Brian Jacques often say that Redwall was only as strong as it's friends and allies? Also yeah, 40 meters would be a bit thick, I think I meant 40 feet, which would still be thick, but nothing too astronomical.