Inverness Castle

Gwilian’s eyes shot open. “Today is the big day,” she mumbled nervously to herself. It was the day of her first performance, in front of the whole town! She knew that she was ready for it, but she couldn’t seem to calm her nerves. She sat up and her eyes locked onto her most prized possession; her harp. Gwilian’s harp was the most beautiful musical instrument in her town. It had been a gift from her mother, passed on to her from her dying instructor; a gift reserved only for her best pupil. She heard her mother’s frantic cry, “Gwilian, you have to get up! You don’t want to be late for your first performance!” “Yes, mother,” she said reluctantly, “coming.” When her feet hit the floor, Gwilian immediately shivered and hurried to snatch her sweater. The rain made a light pitter-patter sound on the roof. As she made her way to the kitchen, she heard the faint rumbling of thunder in the distance, like a herd of horses stampeding through an open field. Throughout her morning routine of breakfast and chores, her mother continually reminded her, “Hold your head high and do not let your shoulders slouch, because almost the whole town will be watching you, Gwilian! Do this and you will play wonderfully.” Her mother repeated her advice, even though she had heard it a thousand times before. As she began her muddy trek into town, she could not stop the onslaught of self-doubt. She had thoughts of freezing up on stage. If she failed, she couldn’t face her mother’s…

Inverness is a city situated in the north east of Scotland, on the edge of the Highlands and is considered the only administrative centre for the theatrical arts. The first theatre to be built in the city was completed in 1805; however, it burnt down during the war. Later in the 1960’s Inverness was housing a population of around 30,000 but the council expected this figure to increase due to new city developments. In the early 1960’s the city council decided to develop and expand the Inverness…

It is debatable whether siege warfare became as important as it was due to the presence of the defensive monstrosities that were castles or if it was siege warfare that led to the advancement of castles, but siege warfare is a key focus regardless. When analyzing medieval warfare, some historians make the mistake of ignoring siege engines or warfare and instead choose to focus their inquiry on knights or horses . Knights on horseback had a minor impact on siege warfare, which was the leading…

Tall stone walls, numerous holes located throughout the property, crumbling bricks, narrow hallways, small stairwells. These are just some of the features of the crumbling medieval castles that still stand today. Yet, only a few hundred years ago, these castles were the homes of the wealthy and a shield for the low-lights in society. The bigger and stronger the castle, the more wealth was shown, and the better protected the people of the village were. A successful medieval European castle would…

The Castel Medieval castles were built to be as defensive as possible. Every part of them was designed to make sure that the castle was as strong as it could be, and could hold out against sieges - which could sometimes last months. The Outer Curtain Wall The ‘curtain wall’ was a stone wall which wrapped around the outside of a castle. This wall was the main layer of defense, and it was very strong - for example, the curtain wall of Caerphilly Castle in Wales was more than 2 meters (that’s more…

and castles that date back to Medieval times scattered all over the beautiful countryside. Most of the castles found in Ireland were built using stone. Many of them date back to the 1100's. The Irish started building castles after the Normans invaded the country. There were castles built all over Ireland's beautiful countryside. Many of them now lie in ruins. There are others that have been restored. Many of the castles are open to the public. The Bunratty Castle was built in the 15th…

early as 300BC. The Traction Trebuchet required a large group people to pull on a heavy rope in order to launch the projectile. The trebuchet didn’t reach Europe till the early dark ages around 500 AD. during this time the trebuchet went through very significant changes, the most important of which being the replacement of the troop of men pulling on a rope in order to launch the projectile, with a large fixed counterbalance weight. Thought the fixed weight was a significant improvement from the…

servants, specialists, and tradesmen that lived in the castle also. They also considered the location of the castle, to make sure it's in a good city but also that it's architecture will help put it in a good position to defend itself. The reason the architecture was so important was because the main objective was making the castle as defensive as possible. There is an obvious connection between medieval castles and cities, for both relied on well-built fortifications to withstand attack and…

Castles were constantly being changed. They had to change defences so it could be could be as defensive as possible. It had to be defensive enough to survive a siege which could go on for months. They did not only change defence such as walls and weapons but they also changed what was inside because the first castle only trained knights but they upgraded it so now it has a chapel, living rooms and the king and queen can own a castle. Why did castle designs Change? They had to change the designs…

Castles Needed a good defence system and design because they were a kingdom main for defence against invasion. (eventually, however weapons overpowered their once mighty walls.) The Middle Ages, a period of History that ran from the year 590 to 1500 ce, it could of be known for famous landmarks, like castles. It was someone's home but if someone wanted to invade the castle they would of must go through heavy defence. There were moats, High walls, Flanking towers and gateway defences that would…