Warwick Castle Trebuchet

Last weekend almost looked like the start of Spring so decided to head off to Warwick Castle. Not being local it was my first visit there and while its no edinburgh Castle it wasn't too bad. Of particular interest was the trebuchet.

This is a large medievel siege weapon designed to hurl rocks, fireballs or disease ridden animals over castle walls and into the poor besieged population. The Warwick Castle trebuchet is supposed to be the largest of its type in the world and was certainly impressive to see in action. Its construction is of particular interest being built with an oak superstructure and an ash throwing arm. The designers of the time carefully selected the best material for the job. The oak is dense and strong ensuring the base will be stable, strong and will last many a campaign, the ash arm is much more elastic, helping generate a whip action in the throwing arm. A nice bit of structural design. By contrast, a modern equivalent of the trebuchet was created a few years ago as part of Channel 4's Scrapheap Challenge. It's task was to throw a mini bodyshell - didn't quite manage it !!! (esp. 5:30 on)