A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls made of logs placed side by side vertically with the tops sharpened to provide some security. Palisade and Moat A palisade is a Medieval wooden fence or wall of variable height, used as a defensive structure. ...

Stockade fortifications were simple forms of defense of military camps or settlements, used since Roman times and earlier. The troops or settlers would build a stockade by clearing a space of woodland and using the trees whole or chopped in half, with one end sharpened on each. They would dig a narrow trench around the area, and stand the sharpened logs side-by-side inside it, encircling the perimeter. Sometimes they would add additional defense by placing punji sticks in a shallow secondary trench outside the stockade. In colder regions, sometimes the stockade received a coating of clay or mud that would make the crude wall wind-proof. The Roman Forum was the central area around which ancient Rome developed. ... A ditch with water can be used for drainage and irrigation. ... An American marine walks through a gully of punji sticks during the Vietnam War The Punji stick or Punji stake is a type of a non-explosive booby trap. ...

Builders could also place stones or thick mud layers at the foot of the stockade, improving the resistance of the wall. From that the defenders could, if they had the materials, raise a stone or brick wall inside the stockade, creating a more permanent defense while working protected.

Stockade walls are used as garden fencing in modern days, made of finished planks more useful for privacy and decoration than security.

The word stockade also refers to a jail in an army camp, a crude prison camp, or even a slave camp. In this case, the stockade keeps people inside, rather than out.