Outer Bailey Half Moon Battery, Flanking Wall And Bridge

CARLISLE

NY3956SE CARLISLE CASTLE 671-1/6/12 Outer Bailey: Half-Moon Battery, 01/06/49 Flanking Wall and Bridge

GV I

Battery and walls built as an outwork for the Captains Tower (qv); bridge replacing drawbridge. 1542 for Henry VIII by Stephen von Haschenperg; stone bridge added in late C18. Irregularly-coursed red and yellow squared sandstone. Single storey in half-moon shape, built into the inner moat so that its roof is now at ground level. Square splayed gun ports at regular intervals around the sides. Metal safety railings around steps at either side of the cobbled roof, (former gun platform) give access to inner half-moon passage. Flanking wall of similar material acts as retaining wall for the inner moat. At the southern end of this wall and crossing the moat is a single-span segmental-arched bridge; the parapet is of 1919. When no longer required, the moat was completely filled in 1827 and the upper parapet, on the battery and walls, was removed in 1833, so that there was nothing of these fortifications seen above ground until excavated 1917-19 (not to full and original depth). For full details see McCarthy et al (1990).

Listing NGR: NY3970556237