When was concentric castles first built

A Concentric Castle can be described as "a Castle within a Castle". A Concentric castle consists of lots of buildings, walls, towers and gatehouses in one massive castle complex which were built within in successive lines of defence. When was the first Concentric Castle built? Who built the first concentric castle? King Edward I — Who designed the first Concentric castle and who was the architect of the first concentric castle?

He also put an outer wall around the Tower of London making that a concentric castle. Dover Castle - stands at the heart of a concentric ring of defences. The first in western Europe to be built to a concentric design. Having many walls meant that even if an enemy broke through the outer wall, there was, in effect, a second castle securely defended and stored with provisions.

The space between the two walls was known as the 'death hole' for being trapped within the walls would almost certainly result in death for the attacker. Beaumaris castle Considered to be the best example of a concentric castle. Concentric castles became even more popular after the invention of gunpowder since they could withstand a siege whilst a regular castle could not.

The great innovation of concentric castles, aside from the multiple layers of walls, was the fact that they rarely contained a keep — unlike the earlier motte-and-bailey and stone keep castle designs, which were based around a central keep.

The idea of using layers of thick walls to defend a site is a concept that existed long before the medieval period: The ancient city of Lachish, once besieged by the Assyrians, was found to have been surrounded by multiple concentric walls; ancient Babylon too featured similar fortifications; the Theodosian Land Walls at Constantinople, constructed in the 4 th and 5 th centuries, boasted two sets of walls around most of the city, with the inner wall being higher than the outer to allow defenders to rain down missiles onto attacking soldiers.

Byzantine castle builders continued to build this style of fortification into the medieval period too, with the 11th-century castle at Korykos in modern-day Turkey standing as an excellent example of an early concentric castle. So, what was the reason that concentric castles emerged in the 12 th and 13 th centuries, when stone keep castles were such strong defensive structures?

As ever, historians have debated the cause at length, but one popular view has to do with siege technology. Towards the end of the 12 th century, the counterweight trebuchet emerged. This siege engine was based around a long beam attached to an axle, which was suspended above the ground using a wooden framework.

The beam was held high enough that it could rotate vertically, and a sling was attached to the end to house the projectile — the trebuchet was fired by applying downward force to the opposite end of the beam, driving the end with the sling quickly upwards along a wide arc, and releasing its projectile at the top of that arc. Early trebuchets were powered by hand, with a group of men literally pulling on ropes to swing the arm. The counterweigh trebuchet design revolutionised siege technology because it was so much more powerful, and able to throw larger projectiles much further.

This was achieved by attaching a heavy box, usually filled with stones, to the opposite end of the beam and slowly raising it until the trebuchet was ready to fire, at which point the box would be dropped, firing the weapon. These incredibly powerful counterweight trebuchets presented a great threat to the defences of motte-and-bailey and stone keep castles. Square or rectangular stone towers were especially vulnerable, as their shape made them unable to absorb the heavy impact of a large stone missile thrown from a trebuchet.

In particular, castles in the Crusader States were suffering from attacks by Islamic armies using counterweight trebuchets. Records show that Saladin was certainly using these formidable siege engines by , although it is highly likely that they were in use earlier in the 12 th century. However, by the late 12 th century and early 13 th century, they were becoming much more widespread — counterweight trebuchets appeared in Germany in , had reached England by , and came to Iberia around Life in Medieval Times.

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Key Features An inner and outer wall Inner walls higher than outer walls Multiple gatehouses. Concentric Castles in Wales. Click the image to find out more. Parts of a Concentric Castle.