Description
This model of Harlech Castle in wood is very close to representing the actual castle. It was the last of the great Edwardian castles to be completed during King Edward I’s lifetime, and exhibits the ultimate concepts in castle construction. It has been said that Harlech was the favorite castle of James of St George who was a professional castle designer. This model is cut from ¾” pine or fir stock, cut into very thin strips, requiring very careful cuts with a table saw. This model is clearly the most challenging of all the wood castles in this collection.
The castle is located on an immense crag at the edge of Cardigan Bay in northwest Wales. It consists of a rectangular inner bailey with four powerful round towers at the corners and a massive gatehouse in the front center. The towering walls of the inner bailey were surrounded by much lower walls surrounding the middle bailey (the middle bailey was also referred to as the park or list). The walls of the middle bailey were made low enough that archers from the tall inner walls could shoot over them to the ground beyond. The front approach to the castle was protected by a ditch, crossed by a bridge with a drawbridge at each end. The first drawbridge was protected by two small towers, making a partial barbican (a small forward castle). The second drawbridge was protected by a larger front gate in the outer wall surrounding the middle bailey.
The right and back of the castle were defended by a long outermost wall surrounding an outer bailey (not shown in the model). The land sloped rapidly in the outer bailey, and the approach to the back of the castle is by a long flight of stairs. This part of the castle is not shown in the plans but can be constructed as a temporary wall.
As long as the harbor was open to the castle, Harlech Castle was unassailable. During the Welsh rebellion of 1294, thirty-seven men defended Harlech against the entire Welsh army. The castle fell to Owen Glendower in the early 1400s, helped by a French fleet that cut off supplies from the sea to the castle. Forty men, the famous “Men of Harlech,” defended the castle against Glendower. In 1409, it required a ferocious attack of 1000 professional soldiers, led by John Talbot, to retake the castle for the king of England. As late as the 1640s, Harlech was the last of the royalist castles in Wales to fall to parliamentary forces. Even during this Civil War, the Harlech garrison was only fifty strong. This is the ultimate definition of a castle: a stronghold that can be held by a minimal number of soldiers for an extended period of time against a much larger and stronger force.
