The treadwheel crane, or treadmill crane, sounds like something from Astérix or the Flintstones. But at Guédelon in France, not only do they have one: they’re using it to help build their brand new castle. ▪ More about Guédelon: https://www.guedelon.fr/
Camera: Simon Gillouin
Editor: Michelle Martin https://twitter.com/mrsmmartin
Producer: Axel Zeiliger https://block8production.com
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The round of applause at the end didn't feel justified…!
That's so cool
As you can see from this letter from the master builder of Beaumaris to Edward I, project management hasn't changed very much. Boss, we don't have the budget:
To their very dear lordships the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer of our lord the King, James of St George and Walter of Winchester send greeting and due reverence.
Sirs,
As our lord the king has commanded us, by letters of the Exchequer, to let you have a clear picture of all aspects of the state of works at Beaumaris, so that you may be able to lay down the level of work for this coming season as may seem best to you, we write to inform you that the work we are doing is very costly and we need a great deal of money.
You should know:
(i) That we have kept on masons, stone cutters, quarrymen and minor workmen all through the winter, and are still employing them, for making mortar and breaking up stone for lime; we have had carts bringing this stone to the site and bringing timber for erecting the buildings in which we are now living inside the castle; we also have 1,000 carpenters, smiths, plasterers and navvies, quite apart from a mounted garrison of 10 men accounting for 70s. a week, 20 cross-bowmen who add another 47s. 10d. and 100 infantry who take a further L6 2s. 6d.
(ii) That when this letter was written we were short L500 for both workmen and garrison. The men's pay has been and still is very much in arrear, and we are having the greatest difficulty in keeping them because they simply have nothing to live on.
(iii) That if our lord the king wants the work to be finished as quickly as it should be on the scale on which it has been commenced, we could not make due with less than L250 a week throughout the season; with it, the season could see the work well advanced. If, however, you feel we cannot have so much money, let us know, and we will put the workmen at your disposal according to whatever you think will be the best profit of our lord the king.
As for the progress of the work, we have sent a previous report to the king. We can tell you that some of it already stands about 28 feet high and even where it is lowest it is 20 feet. We have begun 10 of the outer and four of the inner towers, i.e. the two for each of the two gatehouse passages. Four gates have been hung and are shut and locked every night, and each gateway is to have three portcullises. You should also know that at high tide a 40-ton vessel will be able to come fully laden right up to the castle gateway; so much have we been able to do in spite of all the Welshmen.
In case you should wonder where so much money could go in a week, we would have you know that we have needed – and shall continue to need – 400 masons, both cutters and layers, together with 2,000 minor workmen, 100 carts, 60 waggons and 30 boats bringing stone and sea-coal; 200 quarrymen; 30 smiths; and carpenters for putting in the joists and floor-boards and other necessary jobs. All this takes no account of the garrison mentioned above, nor of purchases of materials, of which there will have to be a great quantity.
As to how things are in the land of Wales, we still cannot be any too sure. But, as you well know, Welshmen are Welshmen, and you need to understand them properly; if, which God forbid, there is a war with France and Scotland, we shall need to watch them all the more closely.
You may be assured, dear sirs, that we shall make it our business to give satisfaction in everything. May God protect your dearest lordships.
P.S. And, Sirs, for God's sake be quick with the money for the works, as much as ever our lord king wills; otherwise everything done up till now will have been of no avail.
Public Record Office, E 101/5/18, no.11; original in Norman French
What a waste of time and money using 1000 year old techniques. Huge waste
…but does it increase build speed by 20%?
This looks like that from the Evan Almighty movie.
Go to Chesterfield where they have a 14th century treadmill crane in the museum. It had previously been in the church tower since it was in use.
I wonder, just how long it took a building crew to build a similar castle back in the day ? would that castle have been built in 5 years, 10 years ?
Very cool
Menj el Gdanszkba, a kikötői daru sokkal nagyobb!!
Thank you for using the metric scales. It really helps to understand.
it would be difficult if only pounds were used.
how did you came to the conclusion that that crane was fictional? it is on historical depictions all over Europe.
There will be murder holes 😂😂 best line in the video ❤
No need for a gym membership if you've got a castle to build.
From drawings I have seen of these devices, they usually had a cam lock safety system to keep the load from going backwards not a break.
I've known about this project for years. It's great to see how far they've come.
The ancient Romans used treadmill technology to power "pumps", rotating/tilting containers of water around the wheel structure of very large treadmills, or a series of treadmills, in deep mines to keep them dry for workers to get at the precious metals, or used for many other reasons in construction. Those people on the treadmills were typically slaves, and in many cases, captured enemies or criminals from their judicial system. Many times, this was a death sentence, given the fumes released (along with sheer exhaustion over the course of the time on the treadmill) that came from mining and the slaves(s) on the treadmill were directly above where the miners were working on very large treadmills designed to have numerous people walking to power these (often times) giant pieces of equipment. The worst position had to be those who walked on the very top of the outside of the treadmill, when more manpower was needed, along with those on the inside of the bottom of the structure, as seen on this video. Total concentration must have been needed to stay on the "sweet spot", or fall off the top. Imagine the torture when extra speed was needed, and the slaves were forced to almost run on the treadmills while staying in time with others on various other points of the structure.
The head-bashing-on-the-axel issue probably meant the treadmill diameter had to have been a little over twice the height of its operator. So if someone was 6 ft, and the axel diameter was 1 ft, the total treadmill diameter would have to be 13+ ft for comfortable operation. A wider diameter also meant you had more leverage and could lift more weight, – so it would be a win-win design consideration.
He never KNEW about this tech?
I saw illustrations of it, and later refinements in medieval and renaissance illustrations and art when I was a pre-teen [Huge interest in renaissance art at the time].
My question is, What's the street address of the CAVE he grew up in?
I think if there was a fixed bar in front of the walker to look or hold on to, it would be safer. It might also be more efficient perhaps, as you can use your arms to hold yourself up while your legs move.
God this project is amazing but docs about it really annoy me, im really into construction through history but every documentary about this place hyper fixates on the human element
This Guédelon project is one of the most amazing things I've seen on Youtube. Been thinking of learning French to go and visit the place.
Are you making any more videos at this location Tom?
Have seen those cranes before. But where you actually is trying one out, is new, and very interesting due to the apparent risk of getting dizzy.
That's a lot of rope to wind. I am surprised that they didn’t just tail it, like we do on boats.
Interesting how you can just walk several large stones up a vertical wall.
2:35
Lady: Work smart.
Tom: Work hard.