The western barbican shows why breaching one obstacle did not mean entering Conwy. Some of Britain's earliest surviving stone machicolations stand above the approach. Multiple portcullises let defenders drop another barrier after attackers forced the first gate. The space between barriers became a confined killing zone, where murder holes allowed the garrison to attack people trapped below. The entrance worked as a coordinated defensive machine rather than a doorway with stronger hinges.
Chapter · 22:41-23:52
The western barbican's layered killing zone
Early stone machicolations, repeated portcullises, and murder holes made the western entrance a sequence of traps rather than a single gate to break.