Why were concentric castles easier to defend

The rings of walls around the heart of the castle could be any shape. Most of these castles were either square or polygonal. However, these concentric designs were almost always symmetrical, unless rocky terrain or difficult surroundings prevented such a picture-perfect layout.

First came basic motte and bailey earthworks; then we had timber castles; and then stone castles. Concentric designs were an evolution of the stone castles — still built of rock, but made to be extremely defensive and hard to capture. Building concentric castles started in the mid s, and the best examples were built in the s and early s.

The first example of this design was Caerphilly Castle in Wales — which was built in about Here, for the first time, the castle was designed to make the two rings of curtain walls into two separate obstacles for attackers to overcome.

Here, each wrapping wall was considered individually. Designers began to consider each different wall to be a separate obstacle for invaders to overcome. The furthest of these would have been the shortest to allow defenders to spot an enemy as they approached.

Similarly, the curtain wall closest to the edge of the castle would have been longest to give those defending the castle the greatest height advantage over their enemy.

Some of the towers constructed within concentric castles were round rather than square. This is the case in both Beaumaris and Caernarfon. Making the towers round made it hard for the enemy to dig underneath in an attempt to topple the towers sapping and many engineers of the time felt they were also stronger than their square counterparts.

Caernarfon Castle even had towers built within its towers, which made them an incredibly strong defence. While considered strong, concentric castles did have two major weaknesses: They were incredibly expensive to build and they made it hard for troops to engage from a safe position.

Most motte and bailey castles had a circular wall made from sturdy tree trunks called a palisade. The easiest way to replicate this is to stick together rows of small wooden sticks like popsicle sticks, coffee stirrers, or even dry twigs from outdoors. Tape or glue each piece of the wall in place carefully. Users questions. Why was a concentric castle easy to defend? Castles primaryhomeworkhelp. The Concentric castle was developed in the 12th and 13th centuries and offered the best protection against attack.

The word concentric means one circle inside another this referred to the walls of this type of castle. Concentric Castles can be described as "a Castle within a Castle". They had two or three walls around the keep. Instead, inside the outer wall, there was another wall connecting a series of towers. The inside walls were built higher than the outside walls.