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SELF-LED ACTIVITY UNDER ! KS2 KS3 KS4+

Recommended for SUMMARY KS2–KS4 () Before your visit, watch our YouTube video ‘How to Take a Medieval ’ (1 min 49 sec): https://youtu.be/xNeNPk4D_Ng Learning objectives Pevensey Castle was besieged on four different occasions during the • Understand the most medieval period, in 1088, 1147, 1264 and 1399. During your visit, gather in common attack and defence the outer , looking at the curtain wall that protects the . strategies adopted during a It has defensive towers at regular intervals and used to have a wall-walk medieval siege. on top for defending soldiers to patrol along. The soldiers were protected by crenellated . Wooden fighting platforms were attached, for • Consider the pros and defenders to stand on. cons of using different siege against a strong, Attacking armies could: medieval castle. • trap (besiege) the garrison inside, starving them into Time to complete • scale the walls with ladders or ropes attached to • push a siege tower up to the wall, as long as there was level ground Approx. 30 minutes • destroy the walls using siege weapons such as battering rams and stone-slinging • undermine (dig beneath) the walls and towers to make them collapse.

MAIN ACTIVITY Split your class into five evenly sized groups. Give each group the ‘Medieval Siege Weapons’ table and illustration (on pages 53–54). Assign one type of to each group and ask them to: A siege tower being pushed towards a curtain wall during a siege re- 1. read the information about their siege weapon enactment. 2. find their siege weapon being used in the illustration 3. discuss the pros and cons of using that weapon at Pevensey. Finally, ask each group to feed back what they found out and have a whole-class discussion about which weapons would be most/least effective against Pevensey Castle’s defences.

MORE LEARNING IDEAS

A being pushed by For younger students, ask them to act out different siege tactics, siege re-enactors. e.g. scaling a ladder, pushing a battering ram, digging a , loading and firing a siege , hiding behind a mantlet.

PEVENSEY CASTLE www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/pevensey-castle/schools 52 OF 66 MEDIEVAL SIEGE WEAPONS

Name How it worked Pros and cons The tower was built high enough The tower protected the attackers so that when it approached a inside as they approached the siege wall, or tower, it could drop enemy castle, but it had to be on a platform down that let soldiers level ground and didn’t work if cross over it. there was a .

This was usually a huge felled tree The ram could break down a that was pushed on wheels into strong door but needed battering ram a castle door or wall to break to get to it before the it down. was pulled up.

Like a , the could fling a stone weighing up to The mangonel could launch 25kg. The stone sat in a cup, held over a moat but had mangonel down by a rope – when the rope to be aimed carefully so the was released, the cup threw the hit its target. stone into the air.

This was a sloping board that This provided good cover for the covered attacking archers on the archers but it needed holes to let mantlet ground as they aimed arrows at the archers see where to aim. a castle.

Miners, or ‘’, would have This was a skilled operation that crept up to the base of the walls needed trained miners. Square under the cover of a hurdle (frame) towers were easier to undermine and mined into the foundations. than round ones.

A siege tower, catapult and battering ram being used in a re-enactment.

www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/pevensey-castle/schools 53 OF 66 MEDIEVAL SIEGE WEAPONS

A medieval castle being besieged, with the attackers using various siege weapons including a battering ram, , a siege tower and mantlets.

www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/pevensey-castle/schools 54 OF 66