The dilemma for the castles constructors

Rainwater alone was not sufficient

Cisterns or water basins which were plastered with water resistant mortar on the inside and externally sealed with compacted clay served at Lemberg Castle for the water supply. If there was a longer siege, these rainwater reservoirs were not sufficient. For this reason the excavation of a well at Lemberg Castle is believed to have been started in the second half of the 13th century.

One of the areas deepest shaft reservoirs

Experts estimate that approximately three years after starting to excavate the well at Lemberg Castle the workers had reached a depth of 94,8 metres. They had succeeded in digging one of the deepest shafts at a castle in the area, but still without finding spring water. It would have been amazing to find water in the Karlstaler rock stratum, this is how geologist call this rock layer. Evidently this geological situation was recognized as a tunnel was excavated joining the shaft with a source on the slope leading to the castle. This tunnel, 131 metres long, runs more or less straight for three quarters of its extension in a south-east direction, then it makes a sharp bend of 25 degrees and continues irregularly until joining the shaft. A dam was used to direct the water, from the source and another seeping water system found in a side tunnel, to the shaft hence creating a reservoir.

The hard toil of the well constructors

Digging was hard work. The shaft is 1,93 to 2,68 metres in diametre, the tunnel is for a large part of its length approximately 2,5 metres high and in average approximately half a metre wide. Scientists could prove that no gun powder was used in the excavation, the shaft and the tunnel were dug by hammer and chisel.

After the destruction