Following the departure of the main force of Brits, Germans and Yanks, a skeleton crew remained behind for two extra days of firing in a last ditch attempt to breach the wall. Day 1 (Wednesday, November 4) was devoted to getting the hinged machine up and running.  After an initial misfire reminiscent of Lexington which almost took out the forward capstan, we began to range in on the wall. The final ball of the day - a 300 pounder - thudded against the foundation with such force that it dislodged a number of stones weakened during the previous arrow slot hit by the fixed machine.

But then a suspect allthread eyebolt gave way and on the next cocking, the pulldown rope parted. Meanwhile, the Donny and his Manuscopic were only a happy memory, and it was all the house forklift could do in the mud to cock the hinged machine, so the day ended with diminished hopes.  Still, Andy Smith doggedly soldiered on in the cold and dark, short splicing the broken rope with freezing fingers so the show could go on first thing next morning.

Despite this, and a second pulldown line failure on the hinged machine, multiple shots were fired to good effect. Herewith an account from Brother Marcus Brandt: 

"After some false starts, we finally got the range right, but it was throwing a bit to the right of the wall.  We shifted the ball trough hard to the left which caused the ball to arc to the left and started smacking hell out of the wall.  The first hit was through the hoardings, so Renaud adjusted the hook about 2 mm and that dropped the range about 2 feet ....and when the next ball hit, it turned the battlement into a red mist.... splintered wood and smashed stoned everywhere.  One of the last shots hit the wall so squarely that it broke the treb ball into several pieces.... and you could see the tool marks of the treb ball imprinted in the shattered stones of the wall.  The only thing that tempered our joy was the thought of all you that made it possible not being there to see it."

So while we may not have reduced the wall to rubble, there seems little question that, given an adequate crew and enough time, either of our two machines could breach a similar fortification, a strong indication that siege engines may indeed have accounted for the remarkable thickening of castle walls that coincided with the peak of trebuchet evolution. 

Historical conclusions aside, we had the time of our lives, and there is no way I can adequately express my admiration and fondness for all of the flingers and my gratitude for your coming and giving your all under appalling working conditions. When I signed on to help Nova make it happen less than a month before the filming, things looked pretty bleak. But I knew that if we could somehow mix the essential ingredients - timber framers, timbers, beer, a bit of food and a place to work - then something wonderful would happen.  And it did!

Photo credit: Peter Bull

Photo credit: Dave Gaker