We got a late start this morning as we are trying to work out the reworking of our October plans. We went back to Morrison’s for my favorite breakfast. Then we bought a printer at Argos—which is a great store, by the way. Kind of like our old Service Merchandises that went out of business years ago.
Then we drove south to Dumfries and went directly to Caerlaverock Castle. You know, as often as I have seen castles lately, you would think they would be old hat to me by now, but this castle was REALLY interesting. First of all, on the front lawn of the castle is this HUGE Trebuchet. This was a stone throwing machine, but when I saw stone, I mean BIG stones, bigger than cannonballs. It worked sort of like a seesaw. You brought the long arm down and winched it, filled the pouch with a missile (stones, etc.) then released the arm and the weight on the short arm would fling the missile towards the castle and take down the walls. The counterweight could be as much as 6 tons and the range was anywhere from 160 yards to 400 yards, depending on the size of the trebuchet.
Then we walked down to the castle, a castle unlike any I had seen in Scotland so far. Surrounded by a double moat and hundreds of acres of flat marshy willow woods, Caerlaverock was built to control the South-West entrance to Scotland. Building began in about 1277, and by 1300 it was besieged by Edward I during his war against the Scottish king John (Balliol), a war still remembered for the brave resistance put up by the Scots under Sir William Wallace. Its triangular plan is unique in Scotland. It had a twin towered gatehouse and imposing corner towers and battlements and was a very important medieval stronghold. The castle’s turbulent history owes much to its proximity to England—it is very close to the border between Scotland and England. This brought it into border conflicts, and it had to be defended several times against English forces. One such occasion was the Siege of Caerlaverock of 1300 by Edward I of England who had 87 of the most illustrious Barons of England fighting for him, including knights of Bretagne and Lorraine. The Maxwells, under their gallant chief, made a vigorous defence, showering upon their assailants such heavy missiles that they retired time and again. But in the end, the men inside the castle were compelled to surrender. Then it was found that there were only sixty men all told in the castle, and that they had defied the whole English army for a considerable period of time. There were many more battles to be fought as it seems that Sir Eustace Maxwell who held the castle for England against Robert I in 1312, then switched sides and demolished the castle. Then in 1332, he changed sides once again and refortified the castle.
There was a castle on this site even earlier than the one we see today. When Sir John Maxwell was granted the Caerlaverock estate in around 1220, he began to build a castle here. It seems that within fifty years this first castle had been abandoned, and the castle that you see today was built on an outcrop of rock. Archaeologists in the late 1990s uncovered a series of buildings on the castle mound enclosed by a curtain wall with corner towers. You can now walk out to the earlier site to see the foundations of the earlier castle.
I suppose one of the most obvious differences in this castle and others we have seen is that this one is made of red sandstone that is easily carved. And some of the stones had decorative markings on the surface of them. This castle also has a distinctly different style, with what I think is a more definite Roman influence. There were columns made into the walls and the decorations in the stone just seemed less Scottish and more Roman. The very large Nithsdale Lodging was built in 1634 when security was no longer that much of a concern. The lodging looks like a separate house within the castle walls. The rooms were spacious and well lit, compared to the medieval rooms in the gatehouse, which would have been very dark. The bedrooms here had en suite toilet closets! Again, the kitchen fireplace was huge, spanning an entire wall.
It was swelteringly hot today making it difficult to stay for longer than we did, but it was a very lovely day exploring the castle. We then checked into our hotel and went to find a USB cable for the new printer. We had a very delicious dinner at Table Table Pub Restaurant.
***pictures from top: Trebuchet; front view of Caerlaverock Castle; view of one of the ruined towers; courtyard view showing decorative work in the sandstone; rear view of castle showing the Nithsdale Lodging.
Then we drove south to Dumfries and went directly to Caerlaverock Castle. You know, as often as I have seen castles lately, you would think they would be old hat to me by now, but this castle was REALLY interesting. First of all, on the front lawn of the castle is this HUGE Trebuchet. This was a stone throwing machine, but when I saw stone, I mean BIG stones, bigger than cannonballs. It worked sort of like a seesaw. You brought the long arm down and winched it, filled the pouch with a missile (stones, etc.) then released the arm and the weight on the short arm would fling the missile towards the castle and take down the walls. The counterweight could be as much as 6 tons and the range was anywhere from 160 yards to 400 yards, depending on the size of the trebuchet.
Then we walked down to the castle, a castle unlike any I had seen in Scotland so far. Surrounded by a double moat and hundreds of acres of flat marshy willow woods, Caerlaverock was built to control the South-West entrance to Scotland. Building began in about 1277, and by 1300 it was besieged by Edward I during his war against the Scottish king John (Balliol), a war still remembered for the brave resistance put up by the Scots under Sir William Wallace. Its triangular plan is unique in Scotland. It had a twin towered gatehouse and imposing corner towers and battlements and was a very important medieval stronghold. The castle’s turbulent history owes much to its proximity to England—it is very close to the border between Scotland and England. This brought it into border conflicts, and it had to be defended several times against English forces. One such occasion was the Siege of Caerlaverock of 1300 by Edward I of England who had 87 of the most illustrious Barons of England fighting for him, including knights of Bretagne and Lorraine. The Maxwells, under their gallant chief, made a vigorous defence, showering upon their assailants such heavy missiles that they retired time and again. But in the end, the men inside the castle were compelled to surrender. Then it was found that there were only sixty men all told in the castle, and that they had defied the whole English army for a considerable period of time. There were many more battles to be fought as it seems that Sir Eustace Maxwell who held the castle for England against Robert I in 1312, then switched sides and demolished the castle. Then in 1332, he changed sides once again and refortified the castle.
There was a castle on this site even earlier than the one we see today. When Sir John Maxwell was granted the Caerlaverock estate in around 1220, he began to build a castle here. It seems that within fifty years this first castle had been abandoned, and the castle that you see today was built on an outcrop of rock. Archaeologists in the late 1990s uncovered a series of buildings on the castle mound enclosed by a curtain wall with corner towers. You can now walk out to the earlier site to see the foundations of the earlier castle.
I suppose one of the most obvious differences in this castle and others we have seen is that this one is made of red sandstone that is easily carved. And some of the stones had decorative markings on the surface of them. This castle also has a distinctly different style, with what I think is a more definite Roman influence. There were columns made into the walls and the decorations in the stone just seemed less Scottish and more Roman. The very large Nithsdale Lodging was built in 1634 when security was no longer that much of a concern. The lodging looks like a separate house within the castle walls. The rooms were spacious and well lit, compared to the medieval rooms in the gatehouse, which would have been very dark. The bedrooms here had en suite toilet closets! Again, the kitchen fireplace was huge, spanning an entire wall.
It was swelteringly hot today making it difficult to stay for longer than we did, but it was a very lovely day exploring the castle. We then checked into our hotel and went to find a USB cable for the new printer. We had a very delicious dinner at Table Table Pub Restaurant.
***pictures from top: Trebuchet; front view of Caerlaverock Castle; view of one of the ruined towers; courtyard view showing decorative work in the sandstone; rear view of castle showing the Nithsdale Lodging.
