Castle siege: make a medieval trebuchet - Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery

Build your own fully working model trebuchet and see how far you can get your projectile to travel. We’ll provide all the parts for you to assemble.

Then visit the RAMM Garden to use our larger model catapults to attack the castle. How much damage can you inflict on the sturdy walls and battlements?

Catapults have been used by armies since ancient times. The Greeks invented the ‘ballista’ which, like a crossbow, generated force from the tension of the bow arms. The Romans used an ‘onager’ which got its power from torsion created by twisted animal hair or sinew.

By the medieval period, they were using ’trebuchets’ to launch large projectiles, mostly rocks or lead balls, at castle fortifications and were very successful at breaking down the walls. They used a counterweight to swing the long arm up, releasing the projectile and trebuchets were, perhaps, the most terrifying weapon defenders faced.