Fascinating historic weapons unearthed at Kenilworth Castle

An historic discovery to fire the imagination has been made - eight 13th century catapult shots found outside the walls of Kenilworth Castle. The perfectly preserved shots, weighing from just 1kg to 125kg, are said to have been launched during the 1266 siege of the Warwickshire castle, during England's civil war.

English Heritage revealed the find on Tuesday, June 11, made during work to improve accessibility at the tourist attraction. Will Wyeth, from English Heritage, said: "We could immediately link these findings to the 1266 siege because of similar finds recovered during an archaeological excavation of Kenilworth Castle in the 1960s.

"However, it’s not every day we get lucky enough to stumble across historical remains like this by chance. Imagine the surprise of the team working when they unearthed these impressive stone projectiles that are nearly 800 years old. These would have caused some serious damage fired from war machines."

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Kenilworth Castle was under siege for 172 days in 1266, a military contest seen as one of the most significant of Henry III's reign. It came amid the king's conflict with rebel nobles, during which the monarch tried to reclaim the castle by force. He used weapons including 60,000 crossbow bolts and nine siege engines including catapults in an to attempt to breach the 14-feet thick castle walls.

Eventually it fell with those inside suffering starvation and disease and surrendering. Work has been going on at the site for four months to make pathways easier to use and more disability friendly, funded by a grant from the FCC Communities Foundation. Archaeology Warwickshire has been commissioned to record any discoveries made during this time.

Doctor Cathy Coutts, from the organisation, said: "Once the project contractors had found one catapult shot, our archaeologist on site was then able to uncover a further seven. As these shots were found pretty much where they would have fallen, we’ve been able to extrapolate where the siege camps could have been located, which has been exciting to consider."

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