The Windlass Room, or Winch Room, is in the Gatehouse, entered from the Drawing Room. It contains a working mechanism for operating the drawbridge and the portcullis. The equipment was originally intended for the second floor, which Burges considered the most historically authentic location. When later design modifications led him to move Lord Bute's Bedroom into that space, the equipment was simplified and placed on the first floor. The Windlass Room includes murder holes, which Burges thought would have enabled medieval inhabitants of the castle to pour boiling water and oil on attackers.