Attacking and defending castles
Castles were built for powerful people to live in and stay safe.
When did attacking and defending castles begin?
In the 1100s, King David I of Scotland wanted to let everyone know that he was the most powerful man in the land. Building lots of large, strong castles was a great way of showing everyone that he was boss.
There were lots of families or clans that didn’t want him as their King so they came up with clever ways to attack his castles.
The King’s castle builders had to keep coming up with new ideas to make their castles stronger and safer. This continued for hundreds of years after King David's reign.
How to defend a castle
Defending Caerlaverock Castle
Look at this photo of Caerlaverock Castle in Dumfries and Galloway. It is a ruin now but can you spot which parts of the castle made it harder to attack?
Click on the labels to get more information about each feature.
Defend your own castle in the quiz below
How did cannons bring the time of castles to an end?
From the early 1400s, gunpowder and cannons changed the way castles were designed.
For example, narrow arrow slits were replaced with wider gunloops. These allowed defenders to shoot cannon balls out of the castle towards the attackers.
Attackers used cannons too. Cannons eventually became so powerful that castles couldn't defend against them any more and the time of castles came to an end.
