Caerlaverock Castle

Caerlaverock is a castle in the south of Scotland, in Dumfries. It is unique because of its shape, triangular, with round towers on the corners. It dates back to the late 13th century and is now administered by the National Trust Scotland (NTS)

The castle has a triangular courtyard and around it apartements were build on several floors. The castle used to stand next to the coastline of the Solway Firth to defend the southwestern access to Scotland, but now it lies in a swamp.

The buildings are richly decorated which is also fairly unique in Scotland. To the right a ballista, a sort of catapult to throw heavy rocks into the walls of castles to make an entry or at least weaken the defences. Yoy can call it a medieval canon which was often used in the siege of a town.

Here two pictures with an impression how the castle would have looked like around 1290 and in 1640. The most eye-catching difference is the number of people living in the castle. In 1290 much more people could live there. Did the people in 1640 need more room and privacy?

More information can be found on the site of undiscoveredscotland.