M.BRADY~

Thor's Hammer silver pendant, Viking, 9th-10th century AD

July 20th 1304 saw the Fall of Stirling Castle.

Edward I of England laid siege to the  Castle as part of the the  Scottish Wars of Independence.  

Stirling was, and indeed still is a formidable castle and the Scots were holding out so Longshanks ordered the building of the trebuchet or as it became known “The Warwolf”  the work on it commenced within sight of the castle walls. According to medieval sources five master carpenters and 49 other labourers were given the task of constructing this siege weapon, the biggest of its kind ever to be built. It took three months to finish it and according to modern estimates, the trebuchet would have risen to a height of 300 to 400 feet. It could effectively raid stones at a wall 200 yards away, hurled at a speed of 120 miles per hour.

Witnessing the construction of such a mammoth trebuchet, it is claimed the Scots tried to surrender to Edward but Edward sent back a part of the Scottish garrison into the castle so that he could still test his trebuchet’s prowess.

When used against the Stirling castle, the trebuchet destroyed the gatehouse and was as formidable in its use as its size. Given its size, it could toss stones of up to 300 pounds in weight which, when thrown against the Stirling Castle, effectively demolished the parts of the curtain wall where they hit.

Other mentions of the trebuchet is that Edward ordered the payment of 10 shillings to the workers and the overall construction of the trebuchet itself cost upwards of 40 pounds, and of another worker being paid for guarding the material used to construct the trebuchet. Apart from these, no detailed mentions of the weapon exist nor are any remains of it today, not surprising as it would mainly have been made of wood and to e moved elsewhere it filled up to 30 wagons.