Carpenter Oak & Woodland: Full Size Roman Siege Catapult for Sale on eBay
Leading timber-framing company Carpenter Oak & Woodland has placed for
sale on eBay a full-size recreation of a Roman war machine.
BATH, England (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) October 2, 2008 --
eBay may be the place that most people find their next computer, summer
dress or favourite gadget, but wannabe siege barons can now find
something of interest there too – a full-size
Roman war machine, or ‘ballista’.
The ballista is a faithful recreation, built in 2002 for the BBC ‘Building
the Impossible’. It was built by a team of
experts and fired – to prove that the Roman’s
written account of their siege methods (there are no surviving drawings)
are accurate. The successful firing sent a stone ball 115 metres, but
did damage the war machine in doing so.
Built by expert timber framers from Carpenter
Oak & Woodland, the ballista has since lain, disassembled, in
the company’s Scotland timber yard. It has now
been decided that it should have a new home, so the company is selling
it on eBay.
Although it requires some restoration – it can
be restored as a demonstration piece rather than as a fireable weapon –
Carpenter Oak & Woodland is also offering to restore, deliver and
reassemble the completed war machine to any location in the UK.
Andy Parker, commercial director of Carpenter Oak & Woodland, wants it
to go to a good home. “We have built three
different war machines – and one of these, a
trebuchet, resides now at Warwick Castle and is fired every day. It has
attracted tens of thousands of tourists. So it would be ideal for many
English castles or recreation venues. Of course, someone may want to use
it to lay siege to a neighbour’s castle,
though of course it isn’t a fireable weapon –
even if it were, it would need around half a dozen skilled operators in
order to do it, and all of those have been dead for 2000 years.”
The ballista is 7.5 meters tall, it is 8.5 meters long and weighs 12
tons. “Clearly, this isn’t
something that we’re going to send by post or
courier, and unless you have a big team of lifters and a massive
articulated truck then you won’t get it very
far. That’s why we are also offering
restoration, delivery and assembly.”
The war machine has gone on sale on eBay and will be listed for 10 days.
You can see a video of the ballista being built at: Web: http://www.carpenteroakandwoodland.com/ballista
About Carpenter Oak & Woodland
Carpenter Oak & Woodland has built more bespoke timber-frame buildings
than any other company and has appeared on Channel 4’s
Grand Designs 3 times. The company’s skills
have also been vital when recreating timber war machines such as this
ballista and the trebuchet at Warwick Castle.
See the original story at: http://eon.businesswire.com/releases/carpenter_oak/war_machine/prweb1418184.htm
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