Building a medieval castle

[stonecutter]

Interesting little article on Guedelon, the castle that is being built from scratch using only the methods, tools, and materials available in 13th century France. I spent two weeks with the stonecutters there in 2003, it was a heck of an experience -- closest you'll ever come to stepping inside a time machine (workers are all dressed in medieval garb too).


France's new medieval castle

By Hugh Schofield
BBC News, Paris



Deep in the forests of central France, an unusual architectural experiment is half-way to completion, as a team of masons replicates in painstaking detail the construction of an entire medieval castle.

The Chateau de Guedelon was started in 1998, after local landowner Michel Guyot wondered whether it would be possible to build a castle from scratch, using only contemporary tools and materials.

Today, the walls are rising gradually from the red Burgundy clay. The great hall is almost finished, with only part of the roof remaining, while the main tower edges past the 15m (50ft) mark.

Builders use sandstone quarried from the very ground from which the castle is emerging.

Modern cement did not exist in the 13th Century, so mortar is made from slaked lime and sand. For tools they have basic ironware.

Eccentric pipe dream
In woods surrounding the castle, craftsmen ply all the trades required for so monumental an endeavour. Stone-cutters and carpenters fashion the raw materials. A blacksmith forges the nails. Ropes, baskets and roof-tiles are all made on site.

"The rule is that only what we know from documents that existed at the time is allowed," says Sarah Preston, an English guide.

Only contemporary tools and materials are used in the construction
What started out as an eccentric pipe dream is now an established enterprise, drawing in tens of thousands of visitors from around Europe every year.

And Guedelon is also highly respected in the academic world. Experts are fascinated by what the experiment can teach about medieval building methods.

Rest of article and photos: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10440300.stm

[armored_diplomacy]

I think it´s remarkable that those skills are still used and tought, so they are not lost for ever.
Definitively, a good idea.

[Quietscheentchen]

Interesting experiment, i could imagine that many methods and "tricks" of the medieval builders will be rediscovered. What about modern security measures like helmets, safety shoes, ropes etc.? Are they in use or is really everything as in the medieval times?

[goat89]

This is seriously f*cking cool.
LARP FTW :D

[Jack1981uk]

Cool. But will it be ready for the Zombie wars ;)

[pocoloco]

Would love to get a chance to work there. No, would love to own a medieval castle ;)

[rgjbloke]

Interesting project and I'm sure, the academics are learning much about the medieval building process. I wonder if anybody is going to live in it eventually. If they are, they are going to miss gas and electricity.

[kitatatsumi]

They should give one out of every three workers cholera, just to make it interesting. Seriously, what a great idea.

[AROUETLJ]

I visited the site about two years ago and just about the only piece of modern equipment in use was a pair of safety glasses worn by one of the blacksmiths. To be fair, since I am a stickler for accuracy, some of the 'medieval' costumes weren't 100% accurate. The workmen on the site aren't reenactors, after all. However, it truly is a remarkable project, and there is an excellent collaboration between the academic community (medievalists and archaeologists) and the artisans working on the site.

[stonecutter]

Interesting experiment, i could imagine that many methods and "tricks" of the medieval builders will be rediscovered. What about modern security measures like helmets, safety shoes, ropes etc.? Are they in use or is really everything as in the medieval times?

As AROUETLJ mentioned, there is some safety equipment. I remember seeing some steel toe boots in the quarry, and some of the stonecutters had safety glasses when roughing out the stones for the castle walls (big chips flying everywhere). No helmets though, and the ropes are all hand-made on site (with hemp fiber) and are super strong.
It's in a beautiful little part of France (the oak forests of Burgundy, about 1.5 hours south of Paris) -- if you're interested in medieval history I would highly recommend it.

[Sada]

Is the quarry near the castle? Near or not, a big deal of old works were bringing the building materials to the working place, so if they bring the stones to the castle in wagons pulled by oxes or mules is ok, if they use trucks it´s just a minor sin. I imagine the works in the castle must be sponsorized by some institution, because it must be very expensive. Anyway, the profession of stonecutter is well alive today, there aren´t jobless people among them where I live, they all earn a lot of cash and still know how to use a chisel and a graver. on granite stone.

[Britishhawk]

Is the quarry near the castle? Near or not, a big deal of old works were bringing the building materials to the working place, so if they bring the stones to the castle in wagons pulled by oxes or mules is ok, if they use trucks it´s just a minor sin. I imagine the works in the castle must be sponsorized by some institution, because it must be very expensive. Anyway, the profession of stonecutter is well alive today, there aren´t jobless people among them where I live, they all earn a lot of cash and still know how to use a chisel and a graver. on granite stone.

I bet, when Dover castle was built in 1180 it cost around £6000, in terms of expense that was 60% of the national budget at the time. Can you imagine a nation wanting to build something that cost 60% of annual budget these days?! Crazy.

Of course Dover castle is a much much larger structure than this but it must cost them a fortune still.

[Sada]

In fact, in those times taxes were mostly for paying this kind of buildings. A somewhat ignored in Spain medioeval revolution happened at the end of XV century when the tired peasants rebelled against the warlike and trouble maker nobility and destroyed all but one castle in Galicia, around 100 castle and forts, they new where was the origin of their problems. Ultimately, the nobility won and after hunging some hundreds of peasants, they left alive the rest of rebels for rebuilding the castles.

[deathil93]

Bloody amazing, the costs and time to construct such a building are probably huge.
Great to see that those consturction methods aren't forgotten.

[nemowork]

I bet, when Dover castle was built in 1180 it cost around £6000, in terms of expense that was 60% of the national budget at the time. Can you imagine a nation wanting to build something that cost 60% of annual budget these days?! Crazy.

Of course Dover castle is a much much larger structure than this but it must cost them a fortune still.

But this isnt a castle in the British sense, from the look of it, its more what we would describe as a defended manor house.

Its like trying to compare a battleship and a frigate.

[stonecutter]

Is the quarry near the castle? Near or not, a big deal of old works were bringing the building materials to the working place, so if they bring the stones to the castle in wagons pulled by oxes or mules is ok, if they use trucks it´s just a minor sin. I imagine the works in the castle must be sponsorized by some institution, because it must be very expensive.

The quarry is on-site. In fact, the holes we were making by extracting stone from the quarry contributed to the making of the moat around the castle. If the stones were small enough (ca. 2 x 2 x 1 foot) four men could lift and carry them to the nearest stonecutters' work areas, using a sort of wooden stretcher. Larger stones were hauled away by horse or ox, in wooden carts (photo below).
Government grants may be involved (this project was also envisaged as a way to give locals work and reason to stay in the region), but I'm guessing most expenses are covered by the entry fees collected from the tons of tourists and school groups who visit the work site. Last time I was there in 2006 it cost 7 euros to visit.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/R001-017.jpg


But this isnt a castle in the British sense, from the look of it, its more what we would describe as a defended manor house.

It's actually one of the most successful defensive architectural designs ever -- if I remember correctly, King Philippe-Auguste's reign was plagued by internal strife, his barons were all too busy fighting each other to unify and face common enemies (hell, that's the story of France, basically). Anyway, this particular castle design proved so effective that the castle could easily be defended from onslaught by a relatively small number of men (the original Louvre was a Philippe-Augustian castle, you can still see remnants of the ramparts in the basement, before it was remodeled into a posh royal residence). Philippe-Auguste made these architectural plans available free of charge to all of his nobles, with the result that many were built, and because they were so hard to "crack", internecine warfare died off. It was actually quite a brilliant move by the king. Anyway, just to say, in the BBC photo accompanying the article what you see are the living quarters being built inside the castle; the battlements and walls are in the foreground but are still quite low, they don't stand out. The castle towers are big and full of arrow slots, trust me.... heh.

One of the towers in mid-construction:
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/R001-004.jpg

[Quietscheentchen]

As AROUETLJ mentioned, there is some safety equipment. I remember seeing some steel toe boots in the quarry, and some of the stonecutters had safety glasses when roughing out the stones for the castle walls (big chips flying everywhere). No helmets though, and the ropes are all hand-made on site (with hemp fiber) and are super strong.
It's in a beautiful little part of France (the oak forests of Burgundy, about 1.5 hours south of Paris) -- if you're interested in medieval history I would highly recommend it.

Thanks for your answer.

Original ropes, wow, you guys must have some confidence in those things. I guess you have to keep them as dry as possible?

[stonecutter]

Thanks for your answer.
Original ropes, wow, you guys must have some confidence in those things. I guess you have to keep them as dry as possible?

I befriended the rope maker while I was there, spent some time with him, watching him work. If I remember correctly, he told me a hemp rope the diameter of a man's thumb could be used to pull 2 tonnes, or lift 500 kg. After the rope was woven, there were a bunch of little fibres sticking out of it, kind of like a messy braid. They would pass the rope quickly over a fire to get rid of these, because experience showed that if left in place, these things would wick moisture to the core of the rope, and rot it from the inside out. For complete waterproofing they would also dip ropes in linseed oil.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/Photo006.jpg

[stonecutter]

Ok, a few more photos then since there seems to be some interest:

View of one of the towers and battlement walls under construction; quick-lime slaking and mortar mixing pits in the backgroung.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/R001-005.jpg

View of underside of bridge spanning the dry moat, showing the carpenters' hand-hewn oak beams and mortice and tenon joints. If I remember correctly, 53 oak trees were felled to build this bridge, and the blacksmith forged 600 nails.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/R001-001.jpg

At work in the quarry. Blocks of ferruginous sandstone (really HARD sh!t) were quarried using techniques going back to Roman times.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/Photo028.jpg

Using block and tackle to lift stones up to the wall. Everything (beams, pulleys, rope, etc) hand-made by the different trades working on the site.
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/Photo022.jpg

Wall thickness
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/Photo016.jpg

A stonecutter at work
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/Photo029.jpg

View from inside of tower, showing archery slit:
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/Photo017.jpg

[goat89]

Fantastic 1st hand account buddeh! Bring it on!

[custodes]

There was an hour long show about this on TV 3 years ago. I remember being very impressed but, a little impatient, thinking about how long it would take. It has come a long way. It really looks beautiful but, I don't think the curtain wall will keep many Vikings out. ;-)

I also remember thinking it would be cool to use steel rebar and concrete inside the walls for strength if it still looked looked legit outside. Of course that wouldn't be fitting for the great experiemnt that it is.


The machines for moving the heavy stone are impressive also. Although, the wooden scaffolding was frightening.

Edit: Great new pictures!

[Hexer]

I first read an article about this a few years ago and this project has been fascinating me ever since.

I would love to go there, or even better live and work there.

[CMNot]

This is incredible. I'm driving to Venice in August and am definitely going to stencil this in. As a recent history graduate, it will be awesome to see the actual workings, tooling and machining behind historic technology at first hand and in use.

Thank you very much for posting this.

[Sandgroper]

This is awesome. What's going to happen when it's finished? Will there be people living there, all medieval-like?

[AROUETLJ]

As Stonecutter said, the whole project is pretty much self-financing. They get a constant stream of tourists and schoolchidlren, and they get funding from some research institutes who use it as a laboratory for experimental archaeology.

When the present castle is "finished", the site will probably be enlarged. That's the way most medieval castles evolved. The beauty of the project is precisely the authentic approach, even in the planning.

If anyone is interested, the website is here: http://www.guedelon.fr/

[custodes]

As Stonecutter said, the whole project is pretty much self-financing. They get a constant stream of tourists and schoolchidlren, and they get funding from some research institutes who use it as a laboratory for experimental archaeology.

When the present castle is "finished", the site will probably be enlarged. That's the way most medieval castles evolved. The beauty of the project is precisely the authentic approach, even in the planning.

If anyone is interested, the website is here: http://www.guedelon.fr/

Merci. Nice link.

[Quietscheentchen]

I befriended the rope maker while I was there, spent some time with him, watching him work. If I remember correctly, he told me a hemp rope the diameter of a man's thumb could be used to pull 2 tonnes, or lift 500 kg. After the rope was woven, there were a bunch of little fibres sticking out of it, kind of like a messy braid. They would pass the rope quickly over a fire to get rid of these, because experience showed that if left in place, these things would wick moisture to the core of the rope, and rot it from the inside out. For complete waterproofing they would also dip ropes in linseed oil.
Ah, cool, gotta ask my mom about her experiences with hempropes and -clothing, they used to grow it (only for these purposes, of course ;-) ) in the past, but then it was more and more replaced by synthetic stuff.

[Sousuke]

Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing this! :D

[Titani]

Wow, that's really impressive!

[AROUETLJ]

Here's the blog page of a group of volunteers who regularly work on the project: http://www.benevoleguedelon.com/ Go to "albums photos" on the right-hand side for the photos.

[stonecutter]

A few more pics....

Basket-weaver's hut
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/IMG_1644.jpg

Basket-weaver's hut
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/IMG_1645.jpg

Me beside carpenters' work area (making beams out of felled oak trees)
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/IMG_1646.jpg

Some examples of a stonecutter's work
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/IMG_1649.jpg

[custodes]

That is really nice stone work there stonecutter. I see you haven't embraced the authentic uniform of the project for your picture though. :-)

The basket-weavers hut is a wood tile(shingle) roof, and are the walls waddle and daub? They have dried in an interesting way. Thanks.

[Sada]

The job it´s amazing, Stonecutter. It´s very interesting the first picture, the jar hanging over the fire, I don´t know the name it has that type of jar in french, in spanish are the good old ones "botijos" used for keeping the water cold and fresh, but in the picture it seems it´s used for cooking, never before I´ve seen a "botijo" on the fire.

[Jyllenberg]

I admire more old architecture over modern ones and this kind of projects interest me alot. Building stuff using old technology without modern tools is taking a hell of a lot more time.

Looking forward of the progress!

[nemowork]

It's actually one of the most successful defensive architectural designs ever -- if I remember correctly, King Philippe-Auguste's reign was plagued by internal strife, his barons were all too busy fighting each other to unify and face common enemies (hell, that's the story of France, basically). Anyway, this particular castle design proved so effective that the castle could easily be defended from onslaught by a relatively small number of men (the original Louvre was a Philippe-Augustian castle, you can still see remnants of the ramparts in the basement, before it was remodeled into a posh royal residence). Philippe-Auguste made these architectural plans available free of charge to all of his nobles, with the result that many were built, and because they were so hard to "crack", internecine warfare died off. It was actually quite a brilliant move by the king. Anyway, just to say, in the BBC photo accompanying the article what you see are the living quarters being built inside the castle; the battlements and walls are in the foreground but are still quite low, they don't stand out. The castle towers are big and full of arrow slots, trust me.... heh.

One of the towers in mid-construction:
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c16/yamagatafan/R001-004.jpg

Your right thats a lot more impressive than i imagined. Being near the Scottish border we have a lot of the old style wall and keep castles as well as variations on defended farms and manor houses, its interesting to see other ways people found for doing the same job.

[California Joe]

Very interesting. Beautiful craftsmanship. Thanks for sharing.

[Jobu]

Just watch out for the Mongolians.