Defending Dover Castle

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A Virtual tour of Dover castle
Defending Dover Castle
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Emily Fermor
Rachel Hill
Elizabeth Pankhurst
Jessica Whitfield
Emily Gorham
Faith O'neill
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Defence was vital at all castles especially at

Dover castle
As Dover castle was right on the cliff it had to
have good defence because if the attacking army
defeated Dover castle it could cause havoc in
the rest of the country.
In this power point you will find out about the
weapons and defence mechanisms used at Dover
Castle.
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Click here to see information about the portcullis
The portcullis
Click here to see information about murder holes
Murder holes
Click here to see information about arrow loops
Arrow loops
Click here to end the slide show
Click here to see information about the draw -
bridge
The draw-bridge
Click here to see information about weapons
weapons
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The Portcullis
When the castle was under attack the portcullis
was quickly lowered so that enemies couldnt get
into the castle very quickly. The portcullis was
made of iron and had spikes on the end.
Here is a picture of a portcullis
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Dover castles draw bridge!
A draw-bridge is a raisable bridge, normally made
from wood. It can be allowed to let people pass
and put down to deny access to the castle!!
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Murder Holes!!!!!!!!!!
Murder Holes are holes just inside the Gate
house. The are Holes where the guards would pour
boiling water or stones sometimes boiling
Wax. This would be done to kill enemies so they
couldnt attack the castle. Click this action
button to see a Murder Hole.
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This is a picture of a murder hole.
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Weapons
In Medieval times they would have used lots of
different weapons.
Getting into the castle There were lots of
different siege weapons which the enemy would use
to get into the castle. The were big catapults
called trebuchets. There were siege towers which
were used for getting into the castles. There
were battering rams which were on wheels, they
would be wheeled up to the door of the castle and
then they would push the log inside it and it
would break the door down
Defending the castle There were also lots of
weapons used for defending the castle. One of the
most important was the crossbow. They would fire
arrows down on the enemy from the castle walls.
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Trebuchet
Crossbow
Siege Tower
Battering ram
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The arrow loops
Arrow loops, allowed defenders to fire their
arrows from cover. There are different styles of
arrow loops. Before 1190, they were usually a
vertical slot, like the first picture shown.
They were 2 inches wide on the outside, and
averaged between 3 to 12 inches in length.
During the 13th century, the ends of the slits
became more rounded, and were known as oillets.
In addition, the cross arms came into use. Some
loops were massive e.g. up to 17 feet long, with
triple cross arms.
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OLD ARROW LOOPS