Located just 10 miles from the Scottish border, Carlisle serves as an important administrative nerve centre for the neighbouring county providing political and financial support for the region as a whole. It was this close proximity to Scotland that shaped and influenced the direction of the history of the town of Carlisle and Carlisle Castle was often relied upon as a place of security in which English forces could rest before carrying out mass scale skirmish expeditions into the Scottish lands as a whole.

Carlisle Castle was the brainchild of William II of England who routed the Scottish population that originally lived in Carlisle in order to annex the region for the control and pleasure of England. The creation of the castle was not merely intended to add further insult to the already devastating injury that William had inflicted upon the Scottish nobility but was also used as a means of securing his newly acquired land from Scottish reprisals. It was rumored that even after the castle was successfully completed and identified as being an extremely secure structure indeed, that William was forever fearful that the Scots would exact revenge for his arrogance. Over the course of history, it would seem that his fears were well founded indeed.

The castle was seized and controlled by King David of Scotland, however his victory was a short lived one as the English were able to take back the castle only a few years after the fact. Despite only holding onto the castle for such an acutely short period of time, the mere fact that the English had finally been punished for the annexation of the region was more than enough to give considerable good cheer to the citizens of Scotland.

The most significant battle in the history of the castle took place in 1745 during the course of the Jacobite invasion and after this bloody battle had reached its inevitable conclusion, the strategic value of the castle became defunct, thanks to the Act of Union that combined England and Scotland as one. This quirk of history goes to show one thing: the pen really is mightier than the sword.

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