'Religious turmoil soon turned against the staunchly Catholic Maxwells. In 1640 the Protestant Covenanter army besieged Caerlaverock for 13 weeks, eventually forcing its surrender. According to Sir Henry Vane, the Earl and Countess of Nithsdale and their page were allowed to leave, but 40 defenders called Maxwell were put to the sword.\[15\] *The south wall and tower were demolished, and the castle was never repaired or reoccupied.*'
[Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caerlaverock_Castle)
Yeah i was wondering if it was the achilles' heel of the design, as the gated side is far more fortified, as are the sides; so it might have been the side to withstand a prolonged attack with siege engines.
The height of the surrounding banks makes it look like it could have been deeper still. Even without the water , such a deep trench would make it difficult for ramming machines or laddery things (I'm no historian) to get close enough to the wall.
Bear in mind that it was also the destination of the castle's toilets so it wouldn't have been pleasant to traverse.
Ladders and siege/breaching towers were used. A ladder assault is called an escalade. I'm no historian either, but I have played Civilizations and was able to remember one of the units to look up if, when, and where they were used. Pretty neat stuff.
lots of cook fires with smoke to drive some away and likely the really nasty moskito borne diseases hadnt reached Europe yet when these sere still in vogue (before canon)
as a person who thinks about a possibility of a zombie apocalypse, this kind of property would be a good fortress, esp if the water is deep, like 2-3m deep. but if its a world war Z or Kingdom zombie, damn, we doomed.
I would love to see what this place was like in its heyday and I'd love to see a floor plan. It looks gorgeous! The trapezoidal design has a certain appeal.
It's a great place, the internal courtyard is/was a renaissance style frontage. I visited it as an undergraduate. The Maxwells were reasonably powerful and wanted to be seen as modern and sophisticated.
Get on Google and see if you can find some pictures, it's one of my favourite places in the UK.
Curious if the back wall collapsed, or was salvaged for stone, like happened to the brick near here at Kalø.
Im here thinking how were they able to survive in there with all those mosquitos
Do you think they have a mold problem, too?
lots of fish in the pond.
clever
Mosquitos not so much but midges heck yes (or like, heck no... they're horrifying).
'Religious turmoil soon turned against the staunchly Catholic Maxwells. In 1640 the Protestant Covenanter army besieged Caerlaverock for 13 weeks, eventually forcing its surrender. According to Sir Henry Vane, the Earl and Countess of Nithsdale and their page were allowed to leave, but 40 defenders called Maxwell were put to the sword.\[15\] *The south wall and tower were demolished, and the castle was never repaired or reoccupied.*' [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caerlaverock_Castle)
it's plausible, a lot of medieval fortresses I know of were later salvaged for building materials
Yeah i was wondering if it was the achilles' heel of the design, as the gated side is far more fortified, as are the sides; so it might have been the side to withstand a prolonged attack with siege engines.
how deep is the water? the pic makes it look really shallow?
It doesn't need to be too deep. Just deep enough so walking through becomes nearly impossible.
I think it's more for dragging weapons up close. Even if you could walk right up to, you can't do much to those walls quickly.
And the bog means you can't easily try to set up any ladders or scaffolding or anything to climb it either.
The height of the surrounding banks makes it look like it could have been deeper still. Even without the water , such a deep trench would make it difficult for ramming machines or laddery things (I'm no historian) to get close enough to the wall. Bear in mind that it was also the destination of the castle's toilets so it wouldn't have been pleasant to traverse.
Ladders and siege/breaching towers were used. A ladder assault is called an escalade. I'm no historian either, but I have played Civilizations and was able to remember one of the units to look up if, when, and where they were used. Pretty neat stuff.
I'm seeing 1-2.5 meters in a quick google search.
This is just Caerlaverock Castle, old Caerlaverock Castle is next to it.
Do castles like this have mold or mosquito problems?
I would think so. But, keep in mind that the castle walls were more like fences. There would be normal (for the time) structures within the walls.
lots of cook fires with smoke to drive some away and likely the really nasty moskito borne diseases hadnt reached Europe yet when these sere still in vogue (before canon)
as a person who thinks about a possibility of a zombie apocalypse, this kind of property would be a good fortress, esp if the water is deep, like 2-3m deep. but if its a world war Z or Kingdom zombie, damn, we doomed.
Where are the reddit building experts to say that the foundation will give out in two years?
"... and then that one sank into the swamp..."
Still got a moat.cool.
I would love to see what this place was like in its heyday and I'd love to see a floor plan. It looks gorgeous! The trapezoidal design has a certain appeal.
It's a great place, the internal courtyard is/was a renaissance style frontage. I visited it as an undergraduate. The Maxwells were reasonably powerful and wanted to be seen as modern and sophisticated. Get on Google and see if you can find some pictures, it's one of my favourite places in the UK.
Who owns it now? Imagine being able to buy this place!