England 2006
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The Balettie Bunch invade England!
More pictures can be found here in our England 2006 photo gallery.
UK 2006 - Day 5(c): Throwing StonesPart
9 of the England 2006 trip report:
After
the explorations of Warwick Castle (see last
journal/trip report entry), there was a
scheduled trebuchet show For a bit of historical
background, a trebuchet was used in midieval
times as a siege engine to attack a castle or
fortified structure by throwing things at or
over the walls. Heavy projectiles were thrown to
break walls and objects ranging from flaming
projectiles to horrifying payloads (dead
animals, human bodies, etc.) in order to
intimidate the enemy.
A group associated
with Warwick Castle has built, from 13th Century
plans, an authentic trebuchet that is used for
demonstrations... we were fortunate to be able
to see this mighty machine in
action.
While we were waiting for the
show to start, we had some really nice views of
the River Avon, which ran alongside Warwick
Castle and flows down towards
Stratford-upon-Avon. There were swans here,
too:
In this picture, the
payload is being prepared with the lever arm
still in the unloaded (vertical) position:
Here, the trebuchet
is fully "loaded", with the lever arm pulled
down into the horizontal position by men who
walked in the "hamster cage wheels" to pull this
arm into position against the counter
weights:
When they released
the lever arm, it threw the projectile into the
air, some several hundred yards downrange. This
is an animated GIF I made of several rapid-fire
photos (I love my camera!). Click on it to see a
much bigger (and better) version!!! In the last
couple of frames, I put a red circle around the
projectile as it went sailing off into the
forest!!!
After the show, we were
able to cross an old footbridge over the Avon
and get some close-up looks at this magnificent
replica:
Box
o'projectiles:
While we were across
with the trebuchet, we were presented with some
really nice views of Warwick Castle from this
side of the Avon:
Warwick is also home
to a number of peacocks and peahens... here's a
really colorful guy:
This was a fantastic day
in England... we really had a great time, seeing
such amazing sites, having fun with our dear
friends, and spending amazing quality time
together as a family.
These times are
going to become fewer and fewer as the kids get
older... this was really a special day.
This way for more adventures!!!!!
-or-
... back to the Adventures in England page!
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