Bastion de Caisson

Purpose / Function

Built to protect the Grand Caisson canal lock situated on the Maidensveil Falls on the Crystalflow River at the present-day town of Havelock.

Architecture

Early Carolingian-style keep, constructed of local limestone with sandstone and gravel fill in the eight-foot-thick walls. The battlements boast prominent machiolations protecting the base of its landward walls and an inner portcullis provides a secondary defense and kill zone behind the main gates of iron-reinforced wood.

The bailey is small, and much of the footprint of the keep is a large four-story building anchored by two round towers whose foundations lie below the river bed. The keep is not intended for long term residence for more than about two dozen people, and it has little in the way of war engines or counter-siege attack options.

The most distinctive feature of the Bastion is the Grand Caisson, a canal lock attached to the Bastion and only accessible from inside the walls. Boats needing passage up on down the river enter a short canal beside the falls, then enter a watertight chamber, or caisson, which is then hoisted or lowered in a tall stone tower filled with water to provide neutral buoyancy to the level of rest of the river.

History

It was built over 800 years ago and is rumored to have been built by Sincére Foquet (Paladin Sincére the Pure).

Type

Castle

Parent Location

Havelock (town)

Owner

Baroness Gwenore Larousse

Owning Organization

Order d'Ecluse