Is there any truth to the story that all castle staircases turn clockwise to help right-handed defenders?
The first in the Triskele Heritage 2021-22 Winter Series of lectures.
Following on from the popular Lockdown Lectures which, ran from January to May 2021, this new series of monthly lectures by buildings archaeologist James Wright will examine commonly held myths about the mediaeval period.
A widely repeated story holds that all staircases in mediaeval castles turn clockwise so that right-handed defenders were free to swing their weapons at an opponent, whereas any attackers trying to advance up the stair would find their sword arm hampered by the central newel post. Is there any truth to this story? Were castle staircases really designed to be a military feature? Do anti-clockwise staircases exist? Are there any other explanations? How and why did this story develop?
The speaker, James Wright (Triskele Heritage), is an award winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period. He is the author of the popular Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog.
All you need to do is register via Eventbrite and – when the time for the talk rolls around – grab your favourite beverage of choice, get comfy and enjoy.
The event will take place at 17:00GMT on Thursday 18 November 2021 .
Booking is now available via Eventbrite.
Due to our licensing agreement with Zoom tickets for each event will be limited to 495 places. If you cannot make it after booking, please do return your ticket so that someone else can enjoy the talk instead.
Please note that this live event will not be recorded and made available online afterwards.
If you have a question about the event – in the first instance please see our FAQs section. The answer will almost certainly be in there.
*** If you have any problems accessing this event please email with your booking reference to james@triskeleheritage.com ***
