This Ultimate Castle delivers the very best of Castle warfare – witness the world’s largest siege machine, the Trebuchet. Touch and feel the Ballista, try armed combat with the Warwick Warriors, learn the skills of an archer, or imagine yourself as a knight guarding the Castle and take a trip up the breathtaking towers and ramparts.
The Trebuchet & Ballista
Between Easter and Halloween, the mighty trebuchet will be shooting twice daily in a jaw-dropping spectacle on the Castle’s River Island.
The colossal catapult is an authentic recreation of one of the biggest and most deadly military machines of all time.
Siege machines were developed in the 13th century to attack the solid Castle walls. As the defences of castles improved so did the weapons of attack. The trebuchet was the largest and most formidable of the siege machines and was, in essence, a huge catapult.
The trebuchet was used to fire huge projectiles to breach the castle walls. Large rocks and stones were the main ammunition but there is evidence of more unusual material. Manure and dead animals were also hurled by the machines into the besieged castle to spread disease - pigs were the animal of choice as they were thought to be more aerodynamic!
Plus - new for 2009, we have the Ballista situated next to the Castle ditch, as many would have done in ancient times.
Clarence Tower - Artillery Fort
This tower formed part of the great keep or fort which Richard of Gloucester, later Richard III started to build in 1478. The two towers of the fort which extended back into the courtyard were demolished in the early 17th Century.
This room is an impression of what would have been here had it been completed.
The confined space and hard working conditions would have been treacherous along with the extreme noise from these early breach cannons. There is nowhere for the noise to escape causing soldiers to go deaf.
The room would fill up with acrid smoke from the flames of the cannons as they were fired and the gunners had to watch their faces as they sometimes exploded into them.
