castles

many castles were built in the uk years ago...some of which were used in wwII. like dover and portsmouth that i know off.

i dont think the invading germans would have been to interested conquering castles (with bone arrows and sling shots).

but were other castles like edinbrough,leeds and the many in wales and N ireland used as look outs and batteries. they would have been so effective giving their height protection and strategic locations.

there doesnt seem much mentioned in the defence of britain with castles just pill box's etc

 

Castles were built to provide the domination of the landscape, protection of river crossing or ford or as a secure home for the current person in charge. All considerations for their siting were appropriate at the time and some will still be appropriate years later. Not all however. The level of protection that was appriopriate for siege engines, scaling ladders and catapults is not up to much when you consider the disruptive capabilities of modern air bombing or artillery.

Artillery was one of the developments that hade the shift from 'Castles' as such to the flatter, more geometric and better designed 'Forts' of the late 18th and early 19 centuary, many examples of which can be seen around the hills above Portsmouth and elsewhere around the country.

Modern (WW2) pill boxes and other prepared defence were placed where they were thought to be required at the time and could be designed and camoflagued in a way that was much mor appropriate to the fighting that was expected. Just look at the effectiveness of bunkers with interlocking arcs of fire, mutual support and lots of concrete. When used by the Germans they may not have stopped an attack for any real length of time, but they certainly ensured the attackers paid a heavy price for their advance.

To be honest, sticking anything of stratiegic importance in a medieval castle is just screaming 'come and bomb me' or 'go around me' in my opinion.

 

Artillery was one of the developments that hade the shift from 'Castles' as such to the flatter, more geometric and better designed 'Forts' of the late 18th and early 19 centuary, many examples of which can be seen around the hills above Portsmouth and elsewhere around the country.



I see your point have you any pics or links to these 18th / 19th century forts etc.

but i do think that some castles such as edinburgh, harlech,anglesey and the ones in northern ireland their height would have been great for AA guns look outs etc

 

This is an interesting field of investigation, and if I remember i might start googling it.
raf, try looking up Rose/Star forts on the internet, these were the first advance from castles that could withstand a medieaval siege, to the more modern forts of the 18/19th centuries. Henry VIII built a line of Rose forts around the south and eastern coasts of Britain to defend against the French, adapting the Italian Renaissance Star Fort design. In my view they could probably withstand a modern artillery attack for a while at any rate.
As to being used for lookout points and artillery, i am sure some were. Edinburgh springs to mind and rings some distant bells, but don't quote me on that. Harlech, no chance. That's on the coast of Wales, and built to squash the rebellious locals, so not much use for spotting incoming from Europe.
But I am sure many castles were probably used to store important artifacts and papers. I for one know the Cheshire salt mines were used to house museum pieces and documents. To this day it's the main storage centre for Cheshire Archives.
It might be worth looking into it further.

 

I found this link.

http://amaxus.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.6089

ive also googled it and most castles that were in a stategic places such as the ones in yorkshire,newcastle dartmouth farnmouth to name but a few... were used as AA bateries, enemy look out or fire look out and some part of the stop lines some as camps and air raid shelters

 

Von T, I think you attract nutters.

 

I come from the north coast of Northern Ireland.Not too far from where I was brought up stands Downhill castle.Apparently during the war this was used as billets for the RAF,WRNS and at one time the Americans. I have a friend whose interested in the home front during the war years and I've been on the lookout for photo's of the castle during that time.
The local area is also littered with pillboxes probably because of it's coastal position and the fact that the River Bann meets the sea here.

 

Gun emplacement built into the outer walls of Pevensey Castle. An ancient Roman fort used by the Saxons, the point of invasion for William of Normandy who subsequenlt built the inner bailey, plus gun emplacements dating from Elizabethan times.

 

Seeing as we are now moving abroad with this discuttion i thought i would add that Malta used its forts to a great extent by placing Anti Aircraft on top of the to provide protection to the Grand Harbour. They seemed pretty effective.

Regards, Donnie

 

Rocca Janula (Castle Hill) view, from the way to Caira:



All the best, Gurdjieff

 

Tyunemouth castle near Newcastle, used as coastal defence during WW2

 

Medieval at inception but modernised along different times... Brest-Litowsk, Sevastopol, Königsberg, Breslau, Glogau, etc.