How To Build A Medieval Castle From Scratch | Secrets Of The Castle | Timeline

Historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Peter Ginn and Tom Pinfold turn the clock back as they learn how to build a medieval castle using the tools, techniques and materials available in the 13th century.

Although Britain has some of the finest remaining castles of the medieval period, many of their secrets have been lost to time.

Peter and Tom set to work straight away, learning the skills of the medieval stonemasons to construct a beautiful spiral staircase. After digging stone out of the quarry, they take it to the tracing floor, where every stone is marked out using the most closely guarded knowledge of the medieval castle builders: geometry. Then each step is hand-carved, a three-day task, before being winched into place using the treadmill-powered crane.

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[gormauslander]

There are so many phrases like "daily grind" and "pothole" that now hold a level of significance I'd never imagined.

[lionelspencer-ward]

We live in France, in the Paris area. When my daughter was ten years old (six years ago now) she visited this site several times on school trips. There are of course tons of interesting things they learned but one thing was discreetly pushed by teachers. The master builders room, where the full- size plan of the spiral staircase was laid out.
Mathematics can be a 'dry' subject at school, with many children thinking it is a waste of time. The division of circles and the bisection of angles is taught at this age in French schools. The children were not shown how the staircase was constructed but were asked how could they create twelve equal steps on the circle drawn on the floor.
The 'aha moment' occurred and the connection between the classroom and real life was deliberately created and indelibly marked in the child's mind.
The timing of the visit and the age of the children was not an accident.

[cappadocia]

my hats off to the French for making a great learning site for people and children. and creating a living history project!

[tackyman]

Gotta love Ruth. She's so enthused about whatever she is doing.

[easymac]

This is incredible. I was just thinking "I'd like to learn more about medieval times, too bad there weren't cameras back then." Then I discover this series with people doing exactly that, deducing what it was probably like and documenting it on video. Absolutely fantastic what is being done here, I cannot wait to see more.

[bimscutney]

For everyone commenting about “non period” construction items being used they have to follow modern safety standards as well in order to conduct this project.

[leftyfourguns]

This whole series is absolutely incredible. So grateful you're allowing us to watch them for free as well. It's so fascinating getting to see how they actually worked back then. The assembling of the wooden furniture in particular is almost exactly like Japanese sashimono, but developed completely independently from each other on opposite sides of the world. It just goes to show that no matter how far we are separated by time or space, we're still connected, we're all humans

[ericvandenhaas]

Hats off to the French for doing this, this is what _real_ historical science is all about. Truly an amazing project, wish there were more men with these skill sets. Modern western world and we are losing most of our life skills Castle looks amazing

[faelnicolini]

So... is that the R E A L History Channel?

I need more documentaries like that in my life, not stupid pawn house or alien conspiracy shows

[dtaylorchuckufarle]

Note To Self: Never go to Medieval times without Ruth.

[TannerRawlings]

cue archeologists 1000 years from now excavating france...
"Okay, so Theres 2000 year old castles, 1000 year old primitive electronics, aaaannnnd a, castle the same age as the electronics? what?..."
*Thus began the 50 year pop-culture obsession with cybernetically enhanced medieval knights*

[Algernon]

Don't know why but I teared up a few times watching this, its fascinating how humans are able to create such things with our minds alone.

[frankieamsden]

I love Peter. He's always so appreciative of Ruth's cooking

[LabGrownDracula]

I really appreciate that the guys never said anything like "you've got it easy" to Ruth, because her tasks are just as labor intensive as their's and arguably more essential.

[dianewalker]

I like how the head stone mason says that he is a conductor and he listens for the music of the Stone masons, which should have a rhythm.

[johnmurphy]

As a third generation GC/home builder (and someone who loves history), this is awesome, the way the they did things back then that we take for granted now is incredible, love that 1300s chalk line :)

[claidheamhdalaimh]

This is one of the best documentaries that I've ever seen. I love castles and the entire medieval period. The use of period tools and clothing makes the castle building so much more authentic. It was nice to be able to see the various trades needed to make the building of a castle possible as well. I hope I can find the other videos in the series.

Another fine documentary from the folks at Timeline. Thank you for posting this Timeline - World History Documentaries.

[gusjohnnson]

I just watched this in my Medieval History class, and boy, was this fantastic! I'm going to watch it again with my family tonight.

[Peahjay]

As a lover of history I love these documentarys. I also love thes series becaus they explain eveything and as a blind person I am grateful. It reminds me of some of my favorite USA History teachers same excitement.

[grammgale]

My dad died in 1977. He was a welder, a brick layer and a teacher where he taught welding as well in the high school he helped build.Yes, he had a degree. It takes an education for all that people don't realise. He just happened to have one. I thought he could do anything! He just about could! After my mother died 3 yrs ago at 92. I have 3 of the metal end tables, with shelves he made her with glass tops. I already had a small one since I was 19! It has a fiberglass top. I used it for everything. This time, my HP printer sits on it! It use hold my turntable stereo as well. I wish I had the stereo he had given me at 19 for my birthday! The tables were wrought iron tables. So, he taught the students how to make them and they were so proud to take something to take home to mom and dad!