Templar Castles in Outremer

In 1217- 18 the Templars demolished the late-12th -century fort of Le Destroit and replaced it with the much larger castle of Atlit.

Le Destroit was built on a system of foundations excavated from the rock. It commanded a defile through a low ridge parallel to the shore, along which the north- south road ran until modern times .These fortifications played a vita l role during t he Third Crusade, but in 1220 Le Destroit was demolished by the Templars and was replaced by the stronger fortress of Arlit. Today only the rock-cut foundations and some of the lower course of masonry remains. The tower (2) originally consisted of a vaulted chamber with a staircase within its north wall (2a) leading to an upper chamber; this hypothetical reconstruction is based upon similar towers within the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The stone-cut foundation plinth contained cisterns on its eastern ( Id) and western ( Ie) sides, plus rock-cut supports for an entrance stair on the south ( Ib). Peg-holes on the western slope ( Ic) may have been for a wooden stair to a wall between two main yards (3).The inner yard (4) contained rows of rock-cut mangers, once covered by simple wooden roofs. Whether any of t he outer rock-cut areas were roofed is unknown.   ---   Crusader castles in the Holy Land 1192-1302