MYTHCONCEPTIONS

Mat Coward

288: SPIRAL STAIRCASES The myth Spiral staircases in castles always turn clockwise. This is to make it difficult for a presumably right-handed invader to fight his way up the stairs, as his sword arm is hampered by the pillar. The “truth” The first bit is easily dealt with: they don’t all spiral in a clockwise direction. Work by the University of Chester found that around 30 per cent of surviving examples turn anticlockwise. Some castles have both. As for fighting on the stairs, military historians argue that it would be bloody difficult whether you were going up or down, and that in any case it was unlikely to happen. If the attacker is at the bottom of your stairs, you’ve already lost the battle. Fighting inside castles was extremely rare…

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Fortean Times (Digital) - 1 Issue, 455

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