A castle well was a

water well A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

built to supply

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

to a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

. It was often the most costly and time-consuming element in the building of a castle, and its construction time could span decades. The

well A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

– as well as any available

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

s – provided a protected source of

for the castle garrison in peace and war and also for any civil population seeking refuge during a

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

. In

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

times, external wells were often poisoned, usually with a decomposing body, in order to force a garrison to surrender. But wells sunk within the castle itself could not be poisoned from outside during a siege.

Construction

Wells often had to be sunk a considerable depth in order to tap the nearest geological stratum holding sufficient water, the actual depth depending on the height of the castle and level of the

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

. This was particularly challenging in the construction of

hill castle A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles a ...

s. In addition, there was also the problem of providing sufficient oxygen for well diggers as they dug the well out of the rock by hand. In order to supply fresh air to the well diggers during construction, a dividing wall, usually of wood, was built into the well shaft, any gaps being stuffed with straw and pitch to make it as airtight as possible. Over the projecting "chimney" so formed, a fireplace was built that sucked air through the well shaft below. Fresh air (and hence oxygen) circulated through the artificially built U-shaped pipe so created, its two halves being separated by the dividing wall. This supplied fresh air at the "bend" which provided the diggers with sufficient oxygen.

Notable examples

Many of the deepest castle wells in the world are in Germany. They include those at

Kyffhausen Castle The Imperial Castle of Kyffhausen () is a medieval castle ruin, situated in the Kyffhäuser hills in the Germany, German state of Thuringia, close to its border with Saxony-Anhalt. Probably founded about 1000, it superseded the nearby Kaiserpfalz, ...

(), Königstein Fortress (152 metres) and the Hohenburg in Homberg (150 metres). In addition there is the well at Stolpen Castle (82 metres) which is the deepest well driven into

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

in the world. According to historic sources there was once a castle well over 197 metres deep at

Regenstein Castle Regenstein Castle () is a ruined castle that lies three kilometres north of Blankenburg (Harz), Blankenburg in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is a popular tourist destination where, each year, a knight's tournament and a garrison festival a ...

near Blankenburg in the

Harz Mountains The Harz (), also called the Harz Mountains, is a Mittelgebirge, highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The nam ...

. This was, however, filled in long ago. The well located in

Zbiroh Zbiroh () is a town in Rokycany District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,500 inhabitants. Administrative division Zbiroh consists of five municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 census): *Zbiroh ( ...

castle (now château) in the Czech Republic is 163 metres deep.https://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/nazi-wartime-secrets-revealed-in-castle-well - Nazi wartime secrets revealed in castle well By comparison, the deepest castle well in England is at

Beeston Castle Beeston Castle is a former Castle, Royal castle in Beeston, Cheshire, Beeston, Cheshire, England (), perched on a rocky sandstone crag above the Cheshire Plain. It was built in the 1220s by Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester (1170–123 ...

(113 metres).Lise Hull: ''Understanding the Castle Ruins of England and Wales''
page 122
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References

Literature

* Axel W. Gleue: ''Wie kam das Wasser auf die Burg - Vom Brunnenbau auf Höhenburgen und Bergvesten''. 1st edn., Verlag Schnell und Steiner, Regensburg, 2008, {{ISBN, 978-3-7954-2085-7. Castle architecture Water wells