| Located at the western end of the Stanegate, | | | | defense), as great a height as was practicable in |
| the Roman roadway that crossed northern | | | | the form of a tower and in it was built the castle |
| England, the Cumbrian city of Carlisle has long | | | | keep, itself the living quarters, etc.A single |
| been valued for its strategic value. In 1092, some | | | | gateway breached the wall's southern side, so |
| 500 years after the Romans abandoned the post, | | | | visitors from the city could enter the castle. All in |
| the Normans established themselves at the site, | | | | all, Carlisle is an outstanding example of a |
| which had been in Scottish hands since 1068. | | | | stone-enclosure castle. As early as the 12th |
| Recognizing the potency of the location - Scotland | | | | century, Henry I began strengthening Carlisle |
| is a mere 10 miles away and the site stands on a | | | | Castle in stone and enclosing the city with |
| bluff overlooking the River Eden - Carlisle was | | | | masonry walls. He probably started work on the |
| deemed the ideal place to erect a castle.In the | | | | castle's oldest surviving structure, the Great Keep, |
| Middle Ages, Carlisle became a key forward | | | | in about 1122, but it was his successors who |
| outpost for England's monarchs during their long | | | | actually completed the massive stone rectangle. In |
| struggle against the Scots when the castle | | | | its heyday the keep stood over 65 feet high. |
| changed hands repeatedly from the 12th to the | | | | During the 18th century Jacobite Rising - an |
| 18th century.. The Scottish King David I first took | | | | abortive attempt to place Bonnie Prince Charlie on |
| the castle in 1136, but lost it to Henry II. | | | | the British throne - a first floor chamber served |
| Alexander, King of the Scots, took it again in 1216 | | | | as a prison. Jacobite prisoners licked the stones of |
| but lost it to Edward I of England who later | | | | their cells, which were reputedly a source of |
| staged his invasion of southern Scotland from the | | | | moisture, to quench their thirst.Besides the Great |
| castle. Bonnie Prince Charlie was the last Scot to | | | | Keep, the inner guardhouse (known as the |
| successfully take the castle, in a six day battle, | | | | Captain's Tower), remnants of the royal |
| but soon thereafter lost it again to the Duke of | | | | apartments and other domestic buildings survive |
| Cumberland.Later, the castle became a depot for | | | | from the medieval period. Queen Mary'' Tower, |
| arms and ammunition and a barracks for the | | | | named for its most famous prisoner, Mary, |
| military, which remained there throughout the | | | | Queen of Scots, dates to the 14th century. It |
| Second World War. Even though extensive | | | | now holds the museum of the King's Own Royal |
| modifications over the centuries have | | | | Border Regiment.During the 1540s, Henry VIII |
| transformed the original stronghold into a powerful | | | | initiated the first of several major modernization |
| artillery fortress, the layout of the castle remains | | | | projects to refit the castle for artillery. Over the |
| true to its medieval origins. A masonry cross-wall | | | | course of the next 350 years, the ongoing |
| and ditch separate the site into inner and outer | | | | presence of the army and the castle's continued |
| baileys and a stone curtain wall frames the entire | | | | use as a military depot and armory forced further |
| complex.A bailey is an enclosed courtyard, | | | | alterations to the structure, as weapons |
| typically surrounded by a wooden fence, earthen | | | | technology evolved and the fortifications |
| or stone wall and overlooked by the motte. A | | | | decayed.Today the castle no longer fears the |
| castle could have more than one bailey, | | | | impact of battle and aging on its battlements. The |
| sometimes an inner surrounded by a lesser wall | | | | sturdy red walls, which starkly contrast with the |
| and an outer surrounded by a strong wall. The | | | | green fields at their base, stand as an everlasting |
| motte was a mound built in the center of the | | | | reminder of the turmoil that plagued the |
| bailey with very thick walls (the last wall of | | | | borderland between England and Scotland. |