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Castle Sween. General view of main entrance from exterior of Castle Sween.

SC 359771

Description Castle Sween. General view of main entrance from exterior of Castle Sween.

Catalogue Number SC 359771

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of AG 13247

Scope and Content Main entrance of Castle Sween, Knapdale, Argyll Sween Castle was probably begun in the late 12th century by Suibhne, the first of the MacSween lords of Knapdale. In 1262, the family lost Knapdale to the king's ally, the earl of Menteith, and subsequently became Irish landowners and mercenaries. The gate is cut through the wall's central buttress which provides a fighting platform for defenders. This arrangement is important to the dating of Sween because it is typical of other castles known to have been built around 1200. During sieges, defenders dropped a variety of things on attackers including: stones; boiling water; perhaps boiling oil (expensive); wasp-nests and bee-hives; slops; and very occasionally, Greek Fire - the extremely costly medieval equivalent of napalm. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/359771

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap

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Attribution: © RCAHMS

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