Carlisle Castle - Carlisle, Cumbria (EH)
Carlisle has been an important strategic stronghold for at least two thousand years - the Romans kept a garrison at Luguvalium and the fort and town they built partly survived in 685, when St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, visited. It's close proximity to the border with Scotland meant that it was vulnerable to attack and by the eleventh century, stronger defenses were required. William II of England commenced building and garrisoned the castle, but the earliest surviving parts including the base of the keep and some of the perimeter walls, were built by his successor, Henry I. During Stephen's troubled reign, the north of England was occupied by the Scots and David I completed the stone keep and the city walls. He died at the castle in 1153. The Scots were driven back by the more powerful Henry II and as one of the most prolific castle builders, he strengthened Carlisle's defenses still further by adding a third stone curtain wall, with a new southern gate, seen in the distance below.
The Scots again tried to take the castle and two sieges by William the Lion of Scotland were only just withstood. Henry II again visited the castle in 1186 and commissioned a new chamber for his use. King John was the next monarch to visit Carlisle, but his heavy taxation had made him extremely unpopular and when the northern Barons rose against him, the town of Carlisle welcomed their Scottish supporters, although the castle stayed loyal. Alexander II's attack proved successful however and with no reinforcements, Carlisle castle fell after hard fighting. The damage was considerable.
Carlisle Castle Outer Gatehouse, built 1167, altered 1378-83
In June 1294 the outbreak of war between England and France set off a chain of events which led to an attack on Carlisle castle. King Edward I, using his authority as ‘Lord Superior of the kingdom of Scotland’ called upon John Balliol, the recently crowned King of Scotland, and his barons to perform personal feudal service against the French. In response Balliol declined and signed a treaty with France in October 1295 and in effect declared war on England. King Edward I committed on Robert Bruce, Lord of Annandale, the keeping of the castle of Carlisle on 6 October 1295. The Bruces had previously backed the Scottish cause but Balliol's succession to the throne made that position untenable.
The first Scottish offensive, on 26 March 1296, was an attack on Carlisle Castle from Annandale led by John Comyn. Robert Bruce senior’s garrison repelled the raiders forcing them to retreat to Sweetheart Abbey. At the same time Edward took back Berwick and continued north capturing key castles such as Roxburgh, Edinburgh and Stirling. On 8 July 1296, John Balliol formally submitted to Edward I, resigning his kingdom to the English King. Rather than, as the Bruces hoped, replacing Balliol with the young Robert Bruce, Edward I now intended to rule Scotland directly. John Balliol and the Comyns were taken to London and imprisoned in the Tower of London and John Balliol was then exiled to his lands in France. Carlisle became Edward's depot for the invasion of southern Scotland and the English Parliament met there in 1306-7. The royal apartments were reshaped, further towers built and old damage repaired. Big fixed crossbows, called 'springalds' were mounted on the roof of the keep and on the western postern gate. Carlisle came under attack again in 1315, after the English disaster at Bannockburn and this time Robert Bruce was the attacker rather than the defender. The English garrison was over five hundred men and the commander, Sir Andrew de Harcla, was experienced but it was the weather which saved the castle. The persistent rain meant that Bruce's siege tower got stuck in the mud and mining was impossible. After eleven days, the Scots withdrew. Harcla was rewarded for his loyalty here and at the battle of Boroughbridge in 1322 with the Earldom of Carlisle, but he too became entangled in the murky world of border politics and under suspicion of conspiring with King Robert he was hanged, drawn and quartered on Carlisle's Gallows Hill in 1323. Carlisle saw Edward III with his army in 1335, but with his increasing focus on the claim to the French throne, they never returned and a lasting treaty with Scotland was made after the English victory at Neville's Cross in 1346.
The castle's focus shifted from primarily military to administrative and the outer gatehouse was rebuilt in 1378 as a suitable residence for the Warden of the March. The contract for the work survives and its measurements and terms are unusually precise and still recognisable today. A further siege of the castle, in 1461 by dispossessed Lancastrians and 'hungrie Scottis' meant that in repairing the damage, modern artillery requirements were considered and the first purpose-built gun-tower at Carlisle was built by Richard of Gloucester at about the time he took the throne in 1483 (as Richard III). Stone carvings by Richard's prisoners are on display at the castle, showing religious and profane subjects, along with the badges or emblems of their Lords.
The city and castle defenses were again strengthened a century later by the addition of the Half-Moon Battery seen below and the Citadel at the other end of the city walls. As at the contemporary work at Edinburgh and Pendennis, the rounded constructions provided a wide sweep of artillery against the perceived danger from France and Scotland. The danger passed after the defeat of the Scots at Solway Moss in 1542, but the castle suffered damage of its own accord in 1547 when its magazine exploded, cracking the keep. There were proposals for demolition, but it survived and Carlisle castle became one of Mary, Queen of Scots' many prisons in 1568.
Carlisle Castle Half-Moon Battery, built 1542
On the succession of the Scottish King James VI to the English throne in 1603, it seemed that Carlisle was to end its days of Anglo-Scottish conflict, but under his son Charles I, Carlisle was again under siege by the disenchanted Scots in 1644. The garrison held out for eight months, reduced to eating rats, but surrendered after the king's defeat at the battle of Naseby. Covenanting Scots moved into Carlisle, robbing stone from the old cathedral to repair the city walls and patch up the castle. Their former allies, the English Parliamentarians, drove them out, and in turn, they were removed at the Restoration.
Carlisle later came to bear the brunt of Jacobite activity from Scotland and the castle, understrength and with weak defenses under its Hanovarian army, fell to Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745. His march on south was repulsed however and the Jacobite garrison at Carlisle were captured, their base becoming their prison. The fortunes of the castle continued to decline in the regained peace, until the French Revolution triggered discontent and protest among the people of the town. A large Armoury was built at the castle to fight any Revolution and the garrison was made permanent by the construction of the buildings which now fill the outer ward. The military use of the castle continued and guns were mounted on the keep for the last time during the Second World War.