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The castle was built on land previously owned by the St Martin family, but when Sir Lawrence de St Martin died in 1385 it was handed over to John, the fifth Baron Lovell for reasons unknown.[2] It was built using locally quarried Tisbury greensand,[3] with William Wynford as the master mason,[2] after Baron Lovell had been granted permission by Richard II in 1392.[4] It was inspired by the hexagonal castles then in fashion in parts of the Continent, particularly in France; but its own six-sided design is unique in Britain, as is its inclusion of several self-contained guest suites.
After the fall of the Lovell family following Francis Lovell's support of Richard III, the castle was confiscated in 1461 and passed through several owners until bought by Sir Thomas Arundell of Lanherne in 1544.[4] The Arundells were of an ancient Cornish family, with wide estates in Wiltshire. The castle was confiscated when Sir Thomas — a staunch Roman Catholic — was executed for treason in 1552, but in 1570 was bought back by his son, Sir Matthew Arundell, later a Sheriff and Custos Rotulorum of Dorset.[5] The Arundells, led by Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour, subsequently became known as some of the most active of the Catholic landowners in England at the time of the Reformation; thus they were naturally Royalists in the English Civil War. During that conflict, Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour, was away from home on the King’s business and had asked his wife, Lady Blanche Arundell, aged 61, to defend the castle with a garrison of 25 trained fighting men. On 2 May 1643 Sir Edward Hungerford, with 1,300 men of the Parliamentarian Army, demanded admittance to search for Royalists. He was refused and laid siege, setting about the walls with guns and mines. After five days the castle was threatened with complete destruction. Lady Arundell agreed to surrender, and the castle was placed under the command of Colonel Edmund Ludlow. Lord Arundell had died of his wounds after the Battle of Lansdowne, and his son, Henry 3rd Lord Arundell, next laid siege to his own castle, blew up much of it and obliged the Parliamentary garrison to surrender in March 1644.[4]
The family slowly recovered power through the English Commonwealth and the Glorious Revolution, until the eighth Baron, Henry Arundell, borrowed sufficient funds to finance rebuilding. This was done by the prominent Palladian James Paine. Paine built Wardour New Castle, but left the Wardour Old Castle as an ornamental feature. In stylistic terms the New Castle is not a castle at all, but a symmetrical neoclassical country house with a main block built around a central staircase hall and two flanking wings. Paine integrated the ruins of the Old Castle into the surrounding parkland, intending it to be viewed as a romantic ruin.
The castles, old and new, have been featured in several films. The Old Castle appeared in the 1991 Kevin Costner feature Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and the New Castle served as the dance school in Billy Elliot. The cover of Sting's album Ten Summoner's Tales was photographed inside Old Wardour Castle.
View of the castle or Rapperswil, form the lake, with some houses of the old town. Rapperswil is located on the shore of the lake of Zürich.
Caerphilly Castle is a medieval fortification in Caerphilly in South Wales. The castle was constructed by Gilbert de Clare in the 13th century as part of his campaign to maintain control of Glamorgan, and saw extensive fighting between Gilbert, his descendants, and the native Welsh rulers. Surrounded by extensive artificial lakes – considered by historian Allen Brown to be "the most elaborate water defences in all Britain" – it occupies around 30 acres and is the largest castle in Wales and the second-largest castle in the United Kingdom after Windsor Castle. It is famous for having introduced concentric castle defences to Britain and for its large gatehouses. Gilbert began work on the castle in 1268 following his occupation of the north of Glamorgan, with the majority of the construction occurring over the next three years at a considerable cost. The project was opposed by Gilbert's Welsh rival Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, leading to the site being burnt in 1270 and taken over by royal officials in 1271. Despite these interruptions, Gilbert successfully completed the castle and took control of the region. The core of Caerphilly Castle, including the castle's luxurious accommodation, was built on what became a central island, surrounding by several artificial lakes, a design Gilbert probably derived from that at Kenilworth. The dams for these lakes were further fortified, and an island to the west provided additional protection. The concentric rings of walls inspired Edward I's castles in North Wales, and proved what historian Norman Pounds has termed "a turning point in the history of the castle in Britain".
Beersel Castle (Dutch: Kasteel van Beersel) is located in the Belgian town of Beersel, Flemish Brabant, south of Brussels. It has 3 massive watchtowers, and is surrounded by a wide moat.
The castle was first mentioned in the 12th century. The present fortress was constructed by Godfrey of Hellebeek between 1300 and 1310 as a defensive base for Brussels. The castle was damaged during the war of succession of Brabant (1356-57), but was repaired just after that. During the rebellion against Maximilian of Austria, Beersel supported Maximilian, and the castle was besieged, taken and plundered by the troops of Brussels in 1489. It was only partially destroyed, and was restored after the war. (wikipedia.org)
An HDR layer has been used.
Canon 7D - Sigma 10-20mm
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. Copyright © 2011 David Herreman . All rights reserved.
Tynemouth Castle is located on a rocky headland (known as Pen Bal Crag), overlooking Tynemouth Pier.
The moated castle-towers, gatehouse and keep are combined with the ruins of the Benedictine priory where early kings of Northumbria were buried.
The coat of arms of the town of Tynemouth still includes three crowns commemorating the tradition that the Priory had been the burial place for three kings.
Little is known of the early history of the site. Some Roman stones have been found there, but there is no definite evidence that it was occupied by the Romans.
The Priory was founded early in the 7th century, perhaps by Edwin of Northumbria. In 651 Oswin, king of Deira was murdered by the soldiers of King Oswiu of Bernicia, and subsequently his body was brought to Tynemouth for burial.[1] He became St Oswin and his burial place became a shrine visited by pilgrims. He was the first of the three kings buried at Tynemouth.
In 792 Osred II, who had been king of Northumbria from 789 to 790 and then deposed, was murdered. He also was buried at Tynemouth Priory.[1] Osred was the second of the three kings buried at Tynemouth.
The third king to be buried at Tynemouth was Malcolm III, king of Scotland, who was killed at the Battle of Alnwick in 1093.[1] (This is the same Malcolm who appears in Shakespeare's Macbeth.) The king's body was sent north for reburial, in the reign of his son Alexander I, at Dunfermline Abbey, or possibly Iona.
In 800 the Danes plundered Tynemouth Priory,[1] and afterwards the monks strengthened the fortifications sufficiently to prevent the Danes from succeeding when they attacked again in 832. However, in 865 the church and monastery were destroyed by the Danes. At the same time, the nuns of St Hilda, who had come there for safety, were massacred. The priory was again plundered by the Danes in 870. The priory was destroyed by the Danes in 875.
Norman rule
Earl Tostig made Tynemouth his fortress during the reign of Edward the Confessor. By that time, the priory had been abandoned and the burial place of St Oswin had been forgotten. According to legend, St Oswin appeared in a vision to Edmund, a novice, who was living there as a hermit. The saint showed Edmund where his body lay and so the tomb was re-discovered in 1065.
Tostig was killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066 and so was not able to re-found the monastery as he had intended.
In 1074 Waltheof II, Earl of Northumbria, last of the Anglo-Saxon earls, granted the church to the monks of Jarrow together with the body of St Oswin (Oswine of Deira), which was transferred to that site for a while.
In 1090 Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland decided to re-found Tynemouth Priory, but he was in dispute with William de St-Calais, the Bishop of Durham and so placed the priory under the jurisdiction of the priory of St Albans. Monks were sent from St Albans in 1090 to colonise the new monastery.
However, when the abbot of St Albans visited in 1093, Prior Thurgot of Durham met him and prevented the usurpation of the rights of Durham.
In 1091, seamen from William II's ships plundered Tynemouth and one victim appealed to St. Oswin, whose shrine was in the priory, and the next day the ships were all lost on the rocks of Coquet Island in fair weather. Thereafter, William Rufus held St. Oswin in great reverence.
In 1093 Malcolm III of Scotland invaded England and was killed at Alnwick by Robert de Mowbray. Malcolm's body was buried at Tynemouth Priory for a time, but it is believed that he was subsequently reburied in Dunfermline Abbey, in Scotland.
In 1095 Robert de Mowbray took refuge in Tynemouth Castle after rebelling against William II. William besieged the castle and captured it after two months. Mowbray escaped to Bamburgh Castle, but subsequently returned to Tynemouth. The castle was re-taken and Mowbray was dragged from there and imprisoned for life for treason. In 1110 a new church was completed on the site.
Tynemouth Priory viewed from Tynemouth pier shows the strategic and dramatic nature of its headland setting
It is believed that at the time of Robert Mowbray's capture in 1095 there was a castle on the site consisting of earthen ramparts and a wooden stockade.
In 1296 the prior of Tynemouth was granted royal permission to surround the monastery with walls of stone, which he did. In 1390 a gatehouse and barbican were added on the landward side of the castle.
Much remains of the priory structure as well as the castle gatehouse and walls which are 3200 feet (975 m) in length. The promontory was originally completely enclosed by a curtain wall and towers, but the north and east walls fell into the sea, and most of the south wall was demolished; the west wall, the gatehouse and a section of the south wall (with original wall walk) remain in good condition.
Edward II
In 1312 King Edward II took refuge in Tynemouth Castle together with his favourite Piers Gaveston, before fleeing by sea to Scarborough Castle. These events were dramatised by Christopher Marlowe in his play Edward II, published in 1594. Act 2 Scene 2 of the play is set 'Before Tynemouth Castle'; Act 2 Scene 3 is set 'Near Tynemouth Castle'; and Act 2 Scene 4 is set 'In Tynemouth Castle'.
Tynemouth Priory was also the resting place of Edward's illegitimate son Adam FitzRoy. FitzRoy accompanied his father in the Scottish campaigns of 1322, and died shortly afterwards on 18 September 1322, of unknown causes, and was buried at Tynemouth Priory on 30 September 1322; his father paid for a silk cloth with gold thread to be placed over his body.[2]
The Oratory of St Mary, or Percy Chapel
In 1538 the monastery of Tynemouth was suppressed when Robert Blakeney was the last prior of Tynemouth. At that time, apart from the prior, there were fifteen monks and three novices in residence.
The priory and its attached lands were taken over by King Henry VIII who granted them to Sir Thomas Hilton. The monastic buildings were dismantled leaving only the church and the Prior's house. The castle, however, remained in royal hands.
New artillery fortifications were built from 1545 onwards, with the advice of Sir Richard Lee and the Italian military engineers Gian Tommaso Scala and Antonio da Bergamo. The medieval castle walls were updated with new gunports.[3] The castle was the birthplace of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland in 1564, during the period when his father, the 8th Earl, was guardian of the castle.
In May 1594 George Selby and Thomas Power, lieutenant of Tynemouth Castle, captured two fugitives from the court of Anne of Denmark who had stolen some of her jewels. Power kept Jacob Kroger, a German goldsmith, and Guillaume Martyn, a French stableman, as prisoners at Tynemouth for five weeks until they were returned to Edinburgh for summary trial and execution.[4]
Parish church
The church remained in use as a parish church until 1668 when a new church was built nearby. The ruins of the church can still be seen. Beneath them is a small (18 feet by 12 feet) chapel, the Oratory of St Mary or Percy Chapel. Its notable decorative features include a painted ceiling with numerous coats of arms and other symbols, stained-glass side windows, and a small rose window in the east wall, above the altar.
Tynemouth priory, 1867 proof engraving by William Miller after J M W Turner. The lighthouse, since demolished, stands on the far right of the promontory.
For some time a navigation light, in the form of a coal-fired brazier, had been maintained on top of one of the turrets at the east end of the Priory church. It is not known when this practice began, but a source of 1582 refers to: "the kepinge of a continuall light in the night season at the easte ende of the churche of Tinmouthe castle ... for the more safegarde of such shippes as should passe by that coast".[5] As Governor of Tynemouth Castle, Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland is recorded as having responsibility for the light's maintenance; and he and his successors in that office were entitled to receive dues from passing ships in return.
In 1559, however, the stairs leading to the top of the turret collapsed, preventing the fire from being lit.[5] In 1665, therefore, the then Governor (Colonel Villiers) had a purpose-built lighthouse erected on the headland (within the castle walls, using stone taken from the priory); it was rebuilt in 1775.[6] Like its predecessor, the lighthouse was initially coal-fired, but in 1802 an oil-fired argand light was installed and by 1871 it displayed a revolving red light. In 1841 William Fowke (a descendant of Villiers and his successor as Governor) sold the lighthouse to Trinity House, London.[6] It remained in operation until 1895, when it was replaced by St. Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay to the north. Tynemouth Castle Lighthouse was subsequently demolished, in 1898.[7]
At the end of the 19th century the castle was used as a barracks with several new buildings being added. Many of these were removed after a fire in 1936. The castle played a role during World War I and World War II[8] when it was used as a coastal defence installation covering the mouth of the river Tyne. The restored sections of the coastal defence emplacements are open to the public. These include a guardroom and the main armoury, where visitors can see how munitions were safely handled and protected.
More recently the site has hosted the modern buildings of Her Majesty's Coastguard; however the new coastguard station, built in 1980 and opened by Prince Charles, was closed in 2001.[9]
Present-day
Tynemouth Castle and Priory is now managed by English Heritage, which charges an admission fee.
In 2002, it doubled as a castle for a tourist advert for the Isle of Mull.
Built by Moorish occupiers before the eleventh century and enlarged after the reconquest of Arcos two centuries later. .
View from the top of Castle Hill towards Emley Mast, Huddersfield West Yorkshire
Emley Mast is a tapered, reinforced concrete tower. It is the tallest freestanding structure in the United Kingdom at a height of 1,084 feet (330 m). Reaching the Tower Room at the top of the concrete part of the tower at 900 feet (274 m) involves a seven-minute journey by lift. The antenna structure above this is a further 184 feet (56 m). Its foundations penetrate 20 feet (6 m) into the ground and the whole structure, including foundations, weighs 11,200 tonnes. It was designed by Ove Arup and Partners. When it was built, it was the third-tallest freestanding structure in Europe, after the Ostankino Tower at 1,772 feet (540 m) and the Fernsehturm Berlin (current height 1,207 feet (368 m).
The top of the tower is 1,949 feet (594 m) above sea level due to the site's elevated position on the Eastern edge of the Pennines.
In 2002, the UK Government declared Emley Tower a Grade II Listed Building of 'significant architectural or historic interest'.
My first castle since a very long time. December 2011 in fact. I always wanted to build a small (something that would fit on a 32x32 baseplate) but detailed castle ( so it wouldn't hurt too much my lego budget because it is so small). Done.
Mautendorf Castle is built on the site of an old Roman fort that dates to 326 AD or earlier. It was built around the 13th century. One of the owners was warcriminal Herman Göring. Nowadays there is also the agricultural museum located.
The castle of Lohra is located in central Germany, in the region of north Thuringia.
It is situated on the edge of a nature reserve, surrounded by hills and beautiful scenery. The castle of Lohra is one of the biggest in the area. It dates back to the Middle Ages. Today, the site includes about fifteen buildings from different periods. The basic structures such as the fortifications are medieval. Notable features include a ruined 11th Century tower, a Gothic and Romanesque double chapel, a manor house from the Renaissance period, a group of buildings from the 17th Century and stables and grain stores that were built in the 19th Century. Today it's part of the Open Houses Network.
The castle is only accessible by a little farm track. Since we discovered it about 10 years ago, we love that building, especially the chapel - and come back whenever we get the opportunity.
Edinburgh Castle dominates Scotland's capital city from the heights of the volcanic Castle Rock. There was a hill fort here during the Iron Age and it has been a royal castle since at least the 12th Century when David I reigned.
The Castle Amerongen was built in 1673 on the site of a previous stronghold that had been burned in 1672 by the French.
The current building was designed by the architect Maurits Post as a baroque palace for the owners Godard Adriaan van Reede and his wife Margaretha Turnor. In the main hall a central staircase with painted ceiling was built by Willem van Nimwegen. Other ornaments were added in the early 20th century by P.J.H. Cuypers. The gardens contain historical elements and the walls predate 1673. Near the entrance bridge dating from 1678 is a wooden clock tower from 1728 that contains the original clock of the same date.In the north-east corner of the gardens is an orangerie dating from the 1880s, and the north wall was raised during the period when the German Emperor / King of Prussia, Wilhelm II was residing there 1918-1920. He abdicated in Amerongen then moved to Huis Doorn.
Originally posted to: petermolnar.eu/castle-cat/
Not knowing the place has a winter 'close' our original goal was visiting Castle Eltz - when we learnt that entry is not possible, [Nora](norahamucska.eu) started looking for alternatives. This is how we ended up in Cochem and the Castle of Cochem.
This is the cat guarding the castle who, just like many other cats before, spotted us from the other side of the area and walked straight to Nora.
Goodrich Castle is a Norman medieval castle ruin north of the village of Goodrich in Herefordshire, England, controlling a key location between Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye. It was praised by William Wordsworth as the "noblest ruin in Herefordshire"[1] and is considered by historian Adrian Pettifer to be the "most splendid in the county, and one of the best examples of English military architecture".[2]
Goodrich Castle was probably built by Godric of Mappestone after the Norman invasion of England, initially as an earth and wooden fortification. In the middle of the 12th century the original castle was replaced with a stone keep, and was then expanded significantly during the late 13th century into a concentric structure combining luxurious living quarters with extensive defences. The success of Goodrich's design influenced many other constructions across England over the following years. It became the seat of the powerful Talbot family before falling out of favour as a residence in late Tudor times.
Held first by Parliamentary and then Royalist forces in the English Civil War of the 1640s, Goodrich was finally successfully besieged by Colonel John Birch in 1646 with the help of the huge "Roaring Meg" mortar, resulting in the subsequent slighting of the castle and its descent into ruin. At the end of the 18th century, however, Goodrich became a noted picturesque ruin and the subject of many paintings and poems; events at the castle provided the inspiration for Wordsworth's famous 1798 poem "We are Seven". By the 20th century the site was a well-known tourist location, now owned by English Heritage and open to the public.
Architecture
A castle, with a large circular tower facing the viewer, with an angular spur jutting out from the base of the tower; a metal fence is in the foreground, with green vegetation around it.
The south-eastern tower shows the characteristic right-angled "spur", designed to prevent its undermining during a siege.
Goodrich Castle stands on a high rocky sandstone outcrop overlooking the River Wye. It commands a crossing of the river, known as Walesford or Walford, Ross-on-Wye, about 26 kilometres (16 mi) from Hereford and 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) from Ross-on-Wye.[3] The castle guards the line of the former Roman road from Gloucester to Caerleon as it crosses from England into Wales.[4]
At the heart of the castle is an early Norman square keep of light grey sandstone, with Norman windows and pilaster buttresses.[5] Although the keep had thick walls, its relatively small size – the single chambers on each floor measure only 5.5 by 4.5 metres (18 by 15 ft) internally[6] – would have made it more useful for defence than for day-to-day living.[7] The keep originally had a first-storey door for safety, this was later turned into a window and the entrance brought down to the ground floor.[2] The keep would originally have had an earth mound built up against the base of it to protect against attack, and the stone work remains rougher in the first few courses of masonry.[7]
Around the keep is an essentially square structure guarded by three large towers, all built during the 1280s from somewhat darker sandstone.[1] On the more vulnerable southern and eastern sides of the castle, ditches 27 metres (90 ft) long and 9 metres (28 ft) deep have been cut into the rock,[8] exploiting a natural fissure.[5] These towers have large "spurs", resulting from the interface of a solid, square-based pyramid with the circular towers rising up against the walls. This feature is characteristic of castles in the Welsh Marches, including St Briavel's and Tonbridge Castle, and was intended to prevent the undermining of the towers by attackers.[9]
A castle, with a flat fronted tower facing the viewer with a stained glass window in the middle of it; a stone causeway is on the right of the picture, leading to a gateway to the right of the tower – a partially filled arch is supporting the causeway.
The gatehouse is reached by an exposed causeway covered by the barbican to the right of the picture. The chapel window can be seen in the left-hand tower.
The castle's fourth corner forms its gatehouse. Here the classic Edwardian gatehouse design has been transformed into an asymmetrical structure, with one tower much larger than the other.[10] The gatehouse included portcullises, murder-holes and a drawbridge. Beyond the gatehouse lies a large barbican, inspired by a similar design of the period at the Tower of London and possibly built by the same workmen, designed to protect the causeway leading to the gatehouse.[11] The barbican today is only half of its original height, and includes its own gate, designed to trap intruders within the inner defences.[12] The gatehouse and barbican are linked by a stone causeway.
The gatehouse's eastwards-facing tower contains the chapel, an unusual arrangement driven by a lack of space, with a recently restored east window of reset 15th-century glass designed by Nicola Hopwood, which illuminates the priest's seat, or sedile.[13] The 15th-century window frame itself replaced an even taller, earlier 13th-century window.[14] The chapel's west window is modern, and commemorates the British scientists, engineers and servicemen involved in radar development who died between 1936 and 1976.[nb 1] The altar itself is particularly old, possibly pre-dating the castle.[15]
The bailey was designed to include a number of spacious domestic buildings. These include a great hall, a solarium, kitchen, buttery and pantry,[10] with a luxuriously large number of garderobes and fireplaces.[16] The large towers provided additional accommodation.[10] The design of the domestic buildings was skilfully interlocked to support the defensive arrangements of the bailey.[16] The great hall for example, 20 by 9 metres (66 by 30 ft), was placed in the strongest position overlooking the river Wye, allowing it to benefit from multiple large windows and a huge fireplace without sacrificing defensive strength.[15] Water for the castle was originally raised from the courtyard well, but was later piped in from a spring across the valley;[17] the castle kitchens had acquired running water by the beginning of the 17th century.[1] The design of the buildings ensured that the servants and nobility were able to live separately from one another in the confined space of the castle, revolutionary at the time.[18]
Beyond the main bailey walls lies the stable block, now ruined but with a visible cobble floor.[19] The stables and the north and west sides of the castle were protected by another, smaller curtain wall, but this is now largely ruined.[20] Accounts suggest that the original stables could hold around 60 horses, although by the 17th century they had been expanded to accommodate more.[21]
History
Medieval history
11th and 12th centuries
A square stone keep dominates the picture, sat behind a patch of green grass; the keep has a doorway at ground level, with two windows irregularly placed above it.
The Great Keep replaced Godric of Mappestone's original earth and timber fortification on the site in the mid-12th century.
Goodrich Castle appears to have been in existence by 1101, when it was known as Godric's Castle, named probably after Godric of Mappestone, a local Anglo-Saxon thane and landowner mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.[5] Victorian historians, however, believed the castle to date back further to the pre-Norman conquest days of King Canute,[22] and the site may have been among a small number of Saxon fortifications along the Welsh border.[23] By Norman times, Goodrich formed part of the Welsh Marches, a sequence of territories granted to Norman nobles in, and alongside, Wales. Although Goodrich lay on the safer, English side of the border, the threat of raids and attacks continued throughout most of the period.[24]
During the 12th century the attitudes of the English nobility towards the Welsh began to harden; the policies of successive rulers, but especially Henry II, began to become more aggressive in the region.[25] In the mid-12th century Godric's original earth and timber fortification was dismantled and replaced by a tall but relatively small square keep built of stone,[2] sometimes known as "Macbeth's Tower".[26] The keep was designed to be secure and imposing but relatively cheap to build.[27] It is uncertain, however, precisely who was responsible for this rebuilding or the date of the work, which may have been between 1120 and 1176.[28]
At the beginning of the 12th century, the castle had passed from Godric to William Fitz Baderon, thought to be his son-in-law, and on to his son, Baderon of Monmouth, in the 1120s.[29] England descended into anarchy, however, during the 1130s as the rival factions of Stephen and his cousin the Empress Matilda vied for power. Baderon of Monmouth married Rohese de Clare, a member of the powerful de Clare family who usually supported Stephen, and there are records of Baderon having to seize Goodrich Castle during the fighting in the region, which was primarily held by supporters of Matilda.[30] Some suspect that Baderon may have therefore built the stone keep in the early years of the conflict.[2][nb 2] Stephen went on, however, to appoint Baderon's brother-in-law, Gilbert de Claire, the Earl of Pembroke, and Gilbert de Clare eventually acquired Goodrich Castle himself.[29] Gilbert's son, Richard de Clare, known as "Strongbow", succeeded him in 1148, and Richard is another candidate for the construction of the keep.[28] In 1154 Richard fell out of favour with King Henry II because of the de Clares' support for Stephen, and the castle was taken into royal hands. Some argue that the king himself may have ordered the construction of the great keep.[1]
13th and 14th centuries
Part of a castle, with a huge semi-circular arch containing two smaller Norman arches dominating the picture. Through the arches, a ruined pillar can just be made out.
The private solarium was incorporated into the defensive walls during the expansion under William de Valence.
During the following reigns of King Richard I and his brother John, the castle and manor were held by the Crown. King John, however, lost many of his lands in France which in turn deprived key English nobles of their own estates – John became concerned about possible opposition to his rule. Accordingly, in 1203 John transferred Goodrich Castle and the surrounding manor to William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, to partially compensate him for his lost lands on the continent.[31] Marshal was a famous English knight with reputation as a heroic warrior, and he expanded Goodrich by building an additional towered curtain wall in stone, around the existing keep.[5] Marshal had to intervene to protect Goodrich Castle from Welsh attack, most famously in 1216 when he was obliged to leave Henry III's coronation feast in Gloucester to hurry back to Goodrich to reinforce the castle.[32]
Marshal's sons inherited the castle after their father's death; Marshal left the castle to his eldest son, William, who in turn gave it to his younger brother, Walter.[32] After William's death, however, Marshal's second son, Richard, took over the castle. Richard led the baronial opposition to Henry III and allied himself with the Welsh, resulting in King Henry besieging Goodrich Castle in 1233 and retaking personal control for a period.[32] Walter was eventually given Goodrich back once more, but died shortly afterwards in 1245.[33]
The castle briefly reverted to the Crown again, but in 1247 passed by marriage to William de Valence, half brother to Henry III.[34] De Valence was a French nobleman from Poitiers and a noted soldier who spent most of his life fighting in military campaigns; Henry arranged his marriage to Joan de Munchensi, one of the heiresses to the Marshal estate. The marriage made Valence immensely rich and gave him the title of Earl of Pembroke.[33]
A massive castle tower, sat on top of a rugged rock outcrop; a massive angular stone spur juts out from the base of the tower towards the viewer.
The massive south-east tower
The Welsh border situation remained unsettled however, and in the decades after 1250 security grew significantly worse, as the Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd conducted numerous raids into English territories.[24] The Wye valley and Goodrich were particularly affected by these raids.[35]
Accordingly, William de Valence began to build a much larger castle around the original keep from the 1280s onwards, demolishing Marshal's earlier work.[35] As part of the extremely expensive construction work, Valence used oak trees drawn from several royal forests.[36] Valence was building at the same time that his nephew Edward I was constructing his major castles in the north of Wales, and the concentric castle that he built at Goodrich is both very similar in design and a rarity in England itself.[2] Valence's son, Aymer de Valence built an additional line of outer defences before his death in 1324, including the external barbican,[10] inspired by that at the Tower of London, and for which the earlier Valence barbican at Pembroke may have been an experimental forerunner.[12] The effect was an early success in converting a fortress into a major dwelling, without damaging its defensive arrangements, and influenced the later castle conversion at Berkeley.[37]
The castle then passed to Aymer's niece, Elizabeth de Comyn, a well-connected young noblewoman. By the middle of the 1320s, however, England was in the grip of the oppressive rule of the Marcher lords Hugh le Despenser the older and his son Hugh Despenser the younger, the royal favourites of King Edward II.[38] As part of a "sweeping revenge" on their rivals, especially in the Marches, the Despensers illegally seized a wide range of properties, particularly from vulnerable targets such as widows, wives whose husbands were out of favour with the king or unmarried women.[39] Upon her inheritance, Hugh le Despenser the younger promptly kidnapped Elizabeth in London and transported her to Herefordshire to be imprisoned in her own castle at Goodrich.[1] Threatened with death, Elizabeth was finally forced to sign over the castle and other lands to the Despensers in April 1325.[40] Elizabeth then married Richard Talbot, the 2nd Baron Talbot, who seized back the castle in 1326 shortly before Queen Isabella of France landed in England and deposed both the Despensers and her husband Edward II; Talbot and Elizabeth regained their legal title to the castle the following year.[41] Richard later received permission from Isabella's son Edward III to create a dungeon under the keep for holding prisoners.[42]
15th and 16th centuries
An stained glass window, with three columns and some curved pieces of glass at the top, surrounded by blackness. A blue river traces its way through the glass, surrounded by yellow, orange and red background glass.
The current stained glass window in the chapel was designed in 2000 but used 15th-century glass.
Goodrich remained the favourite home of Richard Talbot's descendants for many years. During the early years, the security situation in Wales remained of concern. Owain Glyndŵr rebelled against English rule in 1402 and Welsh forces invaded the Goodrich area in 1404 and 1405. Gilbert Talbot was responsible for fighting back the Welsh advance and securing the castle.[43] As time went on, however, the threat began to diminish. During the 15th century the Talbots considerably expanded the size of the lord's quarters in the castle[15] and provided additional accommodation for servants and retainers.[43]
The Talbots became the Earls of Shrewsbury in 1442, shortly before the Wars of the Roses in which they supported the Lancastrian faction.[10] The wars meant that the Talbots were frequently fighting elsewhere in England, and often staying at their castle in Sheffield.[36] John Talbot died in the Lancastrian defeat at Northampton in 1460, and the castle was forfeited and transferred to the Yorkist William Herbert. John's son, also called John Talbot, later made his peace with the king, however, and regained control of his lands and Goodrich Castle before his death in 1473.[44]
By the 16th century the castle was becoming less fashionable as a residence. Goodrich was too distant from London to be a useful power base, and was gradually abandoned in favour of more stylish residences,[45] Goodrich continued to be used as a judicial centre however; the antiquarian John Leland noted that some of the castle was used to hold prisoners for the local court during the 1530s, and the castle ditch was sometimes used to store confiscated cattle taken from local farmers.[46]
In 1576 Gilbert Talbot and his wife Mary stayed at Goodrich Castle and sent his father a gift of local produce, a Monmouth cap, Ross boots, and perry.[47] Gilbert Talbot died in 1616 with no male heir and Goodrich passed into the hands of Henry Grey, Earl of Kent.[44] The Greys chose not to live at Goodrich, but instead rented the castle to a series of tenants.[48]
English Civil War
Ruined foundations of buildings, some patches of ground covered in cobblestones; at the far and near ends of the foundations the stonework is built up to around a metre tall; a castle wall can be seen in the background left.
What remains of the stables, destroyed by Colonel John Birch during a night attack in May 1646
Goodrich Castle became the scene of one of the most desperate sieges during the English Civil War in the 1640s, which saw the rival factions of Parliament and the king vie for power across England. In the years before the war, there had been a resurgence of building at the castle. Richard Tyler, a local lawyer, became the tenant and constable of the castle, and during the early 1630s there had been considerable renovation work.[48]
Shortly after the outbreak of war, the Earl of Stamford, with support from Tyler, garrisoned the castle for Parliament until December 1643, when increasing Royalist pressure in the region forced his withdrawal to Gloucester.[49] The castle was then occupied by a garrison led by the Royalist Sir Henry Lingen.[50] The occupation was not peaceful, with Royalist troops burning surrounding farm buildings – Tyler himself was imprisoned by Lingen, although not before he had begun to sell off his livestock and other moveable property.[51] Some references to Goodrich Castle during this period refer to it as Guthridge Castle, a variant on the name Goodrich.[52]
As the Royalist situation deteriorated, the south-west became one of the few remaining Royalist strongholds.[53] Lingen, with 200 men and 90 horses at Goodrich Castle, conducted raids on Parliamentary forces in the region, representing a continuing challenge.[54] No action had been taken, however, to strengthen the castle's defences with more modern 17th-century earthworks, and the castle remained essentially in its medieval condition.[55]
In 1646, the Parliamentary Colonels John Birch and Robert Kyrle marched south from their successful Siege of Hereford and besieged the castle, with the aim of eliminating one of the few remaining Royalist strongholds.[50] There was some personal animosity between Lingen and Birch, and both were outspoken, impulsive men.[54] Birch's first move was to prevent further attacks from Lingen, and on 9 March he burned the weakly defended stables in a surprise night attack, driving away the Royalist horses and temporarily denying the Royalist forces' mobility.[56] Birch was unable to press home his advantage however, and over the next few months Lingen succeeded in replacing some of his horses and resumed his attacks on Parliamentary forces.[57]
A squat black mortar, the end gapped with a wooden plug on which is carved "Roaring Meg"; the mortar has wooden supports with black metal brackets.
The "Roaring Meg" mortar used against the castle in March 1646
In June, Birch returned and besieged the castle itself.[55] He found that it was too strong to be taken by direct attack, and instead began laying down trenches to allow him to bring artillery to bear on the structure.[57] Parliamentary attacks broke the pipe carrying water into the castle, and the cisterns in the courtyard were destroyed by exploding shells, forcing the garrison to depend on the older castle well.[55] With the castle still holding out, Colonel Birch built an enormous mortar called "Roaring Meg", able to fire a gunpowder-filled shell 85–90 kilograms (187–198 lb) in weight, in a local forge.[58]
Birch concentrated his efforts on the north-west tower, using his mortar against the masonry and undermining the foundations with his sappers.[59] Lingen responded with a counter-mine dug out under Parliament's own tunnel.[60] This would probably have succeeded, but Birch brought his mortar forward under the cover of darkness and launched a close-range attack on the tower, which collapsed and buried Lingen's counter-mine.[57] Down to their last four barrels of gunpowder and thirty barrels of beer, and with a direct assault now imminent, the Royalists surrendered.[61] According to tradition, the garrison left to the tune of "Sir Henry Lingen's Fancy".[26]
Despite the damage, Tyler was able to move back into his castle, which was now protected by a small Parliamentary garrison.[62] After investigation by Parliamentary agents Brown and Selden, however, the castle was slighted the following year, which rendered it impossible to defend.[63] The Countess of Kent, the new owner of the castle, was given £1,000 in damages, but chose not to rebuild the fortification as it was by then virtually uninhabitable.[26]
18th and 19th-century history
A watercolour painting, with a dark castle in the middle surrounded by dark green painting and a swirling, dark sky.
The picturesque ruins of the castle inspired many artists' work, including David Cox, who produced this watercolour in 1815.
After the Civil War, Goodrich Castle remained with the Earls of Kent until 1740, when it was sold by Henry Grey to Admiral Thomas Griffin.[64] Griffin undertook some restoration of the castle but retained it as a ruin.[1]
During the 1780s the concept of the picturesque ruin was popularised by the English clergyman William Gilpin. Goodrich Castle was one of the ruins he captured in his book Observations on the River Wye in 1782, writing that the castle was an example of the "correctly picturesque" landscape.[65] By this time, the castle was in a slow state of decay. Theodore Fielding, an early Victorian historian, noted how the "castle's situation, far from human dwellings, and the stillness which that solitude, insures to its precinct, leaves contemplation to all the solemnity, that is inspired by the sight of grandeur sinking in dignity, into decay".[66] The Regency and Victorian watercolour artists David Cox and William Callow also captured Goodrich Castle and its landscape in paint, again invoking the picturesque, romantic mood of the setting at the time.[67]
The castle was praised by William Wordsworth as the "noblest ruin in Herefordshire".[1] Wordsworth first visited Goodrich Castle in 1793, and an encounter with a little girl he met while exploring the ruins led him to write the poem We are Seven in 1798.[68] Other poets from this period were also inspired by the castle, including Henry Neele in 1827.[69]
By the 1820s, visitors could purchase an early guidebook at the site outlining the castle's history,[70] and Victorian tourists recorded being charged six-pence to wander around the castle.[71] In the early 1820s, the antiquarian Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick attempted to purchase the site, with the aim of converting the castle back into a private dwelling, but was unable to convince the owners to sell.[72] Instead, Meyrick built the neo-gothic Goodrich Court in a similar style next door, which greatly displeased Wordsworth when he returned to Goodrich in 1841 and found the view spoilt by the new building.[73][nb 3] The new bridge over the river Wye, built in 1828, and the 1873 railway line added to the number of visitors.[74][nb 4]
Goodrich Castle then passed through various hands, until in 1915 the Office of Works began discussions with its then owner, Mrs Edmund Bosanquet; large-scale collapses of parts of the north-west tower and curtain wall in 1919 contributed to Bosanquet's decision to grant the castle to the Commissioner of Works in 1920. The Commissioners began a programme of repairs to stabilise the ruin in its current state.[1]
The gatehouse and castle from the north-east.
This is a very fine castle, of great architectural interest and with a long and stirring history. I don't think most of my photos do it justice, but I have tried to pick out the best of the bunch. I'll start with the best one!
Rothesay Castle stands right in the centre of the town, although somewhat further from the shore line than it used to (presumably it is the shore that has moved not the castle!). The site was chosen because there was a low rocky mound upon which to build. The more interesting question is why build a major fortress here on out-of-the-way Bute in the first place? There are probably two answers to that:
Firstly, possession of Bute was for centuries very desirable to both the Scots on the mainland and the Norsemen that occupied all the other Western Isles, not only because it was more fertile than most of the other isles, but more importantly because it was strategically important to them both. The Scots didn't want the Norse right on their backdoor step (particularly when the English were knocking on the front door), and were reluctant to venture further west leaving occupied Bute behind them. For the Norse, Bute gave their longships an ideal base from which to prey upon all shipping using the Clyde and plying the Ayrshire coast, as well as the perfect jumping off point for military expeditions onto the mainland.
The second reason for such a major fortress being built here is that Bute was an important Stewart possession.
Caerphilly Castle is undoubtedly one of the mightiest fortresses in Wales - and perhaps one of the grandest medieval buildings in Western Europe. Works on the castle begun in 1268, ordered by ‘Red’ Gilbert de Clare, Lord of Glamorgan. After his death in 1295, the castle was taken over and modernized by his son in law, Hugh Despenser. In 1326, during a rebellion against the despised Despenser and weakened King of England, Edward II, the two hole themselves up in Caerphilly but were captured elsewhere in Wales - and brutally executed. In late 1300s, the Castle became unused and gradually begun to decline and disintegrate. Some repair work was undertaken by Earl of Warwick in 1428-1429. A Civil war battlement was constructed alongside the castle in 1642, although it’s debated if it was ever actually used. The ruinous castle passed into the hands of the Marquesses of Bute in 1776. Vast renovations were undertaken by Fourth Marquess of Bute during 1928-1939.
Castle 5069 Isambard Kingdom Brunel is pictured at an unknown location, probably in the late fifties or early sixties. The loco was allocated to Plymouth Laira at the time and was withdrawn on 21 February 1962, and cut up at Swindon three months later. The nameplate is one of the longest for the Castle Class.
Photo by David Nicholas
castle schwerin
(germany)
Camera: Fujifilm Finepix HS50 EXR
or Samsung S9
© 2019 - 03 by Richard von Lenzano
richard.von.lenzano@gmail.com
Leslie Castle stands close to the hamlet of Leslie, 3 miles south of the village of Insch in Aberdeenshire. It is an L-plan house, with a square stair tower containing the front door, in the re-entrant angle. The ground floor is vaulted in the usual manner, to make the building as fireproof as possible. It was built in 1661, quite late in the castle building period, and while Clan Leslie like to claim it as their own, the present structure was built by William Forbes, who had married the Leslie heiress. I had the opportunity to buy it as a roofless ruin in the late 1970s, for 10,00 pounds that I didn't have! It was finally restored ten years or so ago. This photograph was taken not long after by my wife Diana.
Dowhill Castle lies mostly unheard of in the hills south-west of Loch Leven. Unlike most abandoned castles, there's more to this place than just a few old walls. There's a fully fledged first floor to this place with a couple of staircases that lead up to the top, although the top itself is covered in nettles so I wouldn't recommend standing on it in case you fell through the floor.
Being able to grab this photo of the front of the castle, bathing in glorious sunlight wasn't as straightforward as you'd imagine due to waist high nettles surrounding the place. I eventually found a protracted route through the woods that brought from the back of the castle to this side. I think it was worth the effort.
Getting to this castle is reasonably easily, although there's no parking for it and the paths up to it seem to be part of the Dowhill Estate so I had the feeling I wasn't meant to be here. Then again, a 4x4 passed me as I was walking up and all I got was a friendly wave so the estate clearly wasn't too bothered that I was here. It probably helps that when I'm out and about, I'm lugging a large tripod and a camera bag with me.
If you want to see a fully detailed explore of the castle (plus some extras), then check out the short film I made about my experiences here.
Dunguaire Castle (Irish: Dún Guaire) is a 16th-century tower house on the southeastern shore of Galway Bay in County Galway, Ireland, near Kinvarra. The castle's 75-foot tower and its defensive wall have been restored to excellent condition, and the grounds are open to tourists during the summer. It is thought to be the most photographed castle in Ireland.
The castle was built by the Hynes clan in 1520, a family who may have been associated with the area since 662, when the site is believed to have once been the royal palace of Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin, the legendary king of Connacht and progenitor of the clan. Dunguaire Castle was transferred in the 17th century to Oliver Martin, (father of Richard Martin fitz Oliver). It remained in his family until it was purchased in the early 20th century by the surgeon and poet Oliver St. John Gogarty. Gogarty began restoring the castle and established it as the meeting place for the leading figures of the Celtic Revival, such as W.B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Augusta, Lady Gregory, and John Millington Synge.
Lydford Castle is a medieval castle in the town of Lydford, Devon, England.
The first castle or Norman fort on this site was built following the Norman conquest of England, but was abandoned by the middle of the 12th century.
The second castle was built in 1195, it had a stone tower with a surrounding bailey, and rapidly became used as a prison and court to administer the laws in the Forest of Dartmoor and surrounds. The tower was rebuilt in the middle of the 13th century, probably in the 1260s by Richard, the Earl of Cornwall. It was redesigned to resemble a motte and bailey castle, an antiquated design for the period but one that was heavily symbolic of authority and power. In 1342 the castle, still being used as a prison and courtroom. The castle acquired a bad reputation for injustice in the 14th century, and complaints about "Lydford Law" persisted for centuries. In the early 19th century, however, Dartmoor Prison was constructed, and Lydford ceased to be the centre for legal administration. The castle had fallen into ruin by the middle of the century.
In 1932, Lydford Castle passed into the hands of the state, and in the 21st century is run by English Heritage as a tourist attraction. Historian Andrew Saunders has described the castle as architecturally significant, being "the earliest example of a purpose-built gaol" in England.
Corfe Castle
Corfe Castle, Dorset, United Kingdom
Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates back to the 11th century and commands a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage. The first phase was one of the earliest castles in England to be built using stone when the majority were built with earth and timber. Corfe Castle underwent major structural changes in the 12th and 13th centuries.
In 1572, Corfe Castle left the Crown's control when Elizabeth I sold it to Sir Christopher Hatton. Sir John Bankes bought the castle in 1635, and was the owner during the English Civil War. His wife, Lady Mary Bankes, led the defence of the castle when it was twice besieged by Parliamentarian forces. The first siege, in 1643, was unsuccessful, but by 1645 Corfe was one of the last remaining royalist strongholds in southern England and fell to a siege ending in an assault. In March that year Corfe Castle was demolished on Parliament's orders. Owned by the National Trust, the castle is open to the public and in 2010 received around 190,000 visitors. It is protected as a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Corfe Castle was built on a steep hill in a gap in a long line of chalk hills, created by two streams eroding the rock on either side. The name Corfe derives from the Old English ceorfan, meaning 'a cutting', referring to the gap. The construction of the medieval castle means that little is known about previous activity on the hill. However, there are postholes belonging to a Saxon hall on the site.The hall may be where Edward the Martyr was assassinated in 978.
A castle was founded at Corfe on England's south coast soon after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The royal forest of Purbeck, where William the Conqueror enjoyed hunting, was established in the area.Between 1066 and 1087 William established 36 such castles in England. Sitting as it does on a hill top, Corfe Castle is one of the classic images of a medieval castle, however despite popular imagination, occupying the highest point in the landscape was not the typical position of a medieval castle. In England, a minority are located on hilltops, but most are in valleys; many were near important transport routes such as river crossings.
Unusually for castles built in the 11th century, Corfe was partially constructed from stone indicating it was of particularly high status. A stone wall was built around the hill top, creating an inner ward or enclosure. There were two further enclosures: one to the west, and one that extended south (the outer bailey); in contrast to the inner bailey, these were surrounded by palisades made from timber. At the time, the vast majority of castles in England were built using earth and timber, and it was not until the 12th century that many began to be rebuilt in stone. The Domesday Book records one castle in Dorset; the entry, which reads "Of the manor of Kingston the King has one hide on which he built Wareham castle", is thought to refer to Corfe rather than the timber castle at Wareham. There are 48 castles directly mentioned in the Domesday Book, although not all those in existence at the time were recorded. Assuming that Corfe is the castle in question, it is one of four the Domesday Book attributes to William the Conqueror; the survey explicitly mentions seven people as having built castles, of which William was the most prolific.
Corfe's keep dates from the early 12th century.
In the early 12th century, Henry I began the construction of a stone keep at Corfe. Progressing at a rate of 3 to 4 metres (10 to 13 ft) per year for the best part of a decade, the work was complete by 1105. The chalk of the hill Corfe Castle was built on was an unsuitable building material, and instead Purbeck limestone quarried a few miles away was used. By the reign of King Stephen (1135–1154) Corfe Castle was already a strong fortress with a keep and inner enclosure, both built in stone. In 1139, during the civil war of Stephen's reign, Corfe withstood a siege by the king. It is thought that he built a siege castle to facilitate the siege and that a series of earthworks about 290 metres (320 yd) south-south-west of Corfe Castle mark the site of the fortification.
The south-west gatehouse, which allowed access from the outer bailey to the west bailey, dates from the mid 13th century.
During the reign of Henry II Corfe Castle was probably not significantly changed, and records from Richard I's reign indicate maintenance rather than significant new building work. In contrast, extensive construction of other towers, halls and walls occurred during the reigns of John and Henry III, both of whom kept Eleanor, rightful Duchess of Brittany, in confinement ar Corfe. It was probably during John's reign that the Gloriette in the inner bailey was built. The Pipe Rolls, records of royal expenditure, show that between 1201 and 1204 over £750 was spent at the castle, probably on rebuilding the defences of the west bailey with £275 spent on constructing the Gloriette. The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England noted the link between periods of unrest and building at Corfe. In the early years of his reign John faced lost Normandy to the French, and in further building work at Corfe coincided with the political disturbances later in his reign. At least £500 was spent between 1212 and 1214 and may have been focused on the defences of the outer bailey.[15] R. Allen Brown noted that in John's reign "it would seem that though a fortress of the first order might cost more than £7,000, a medium castle of reasonable strength might be built for less than £2,000". The Pipe Rolls show that John spent over £17,000 on 95 castles during his reign spread; he spent over £500 at nine of them, of which Corfe was one. Additional records show that John spent over £1,400 at Corfe Castle.
One of the secondary roles of castles was to act as a storage facility, as demonstrated by Corfe Castle; in 1224 Henry III sent to Corfe for 15,000 crossbow bolts to be used in the siege of Bedford Castle. Following John's work, Henry III also spent over £1,000 on Corfe Castle, in particular the years 1235 and 1236 saw £362 spent on the keep. While construction was under-way, a camp to accommodate the workers was established outside the castle. Over time, this grew into a settlement in its own right and in 1247 was granted a market and fair by royal permission. It was Henry III who ordered in 1244 that Corfe's keep should be whitewashed. Four years previously, he also ordered that the keep of the Tower of London should be whitewashed, and it therefore became known as the White Tower.
In December 1460, during the Wars of the Roses Edmund Beaufort and his army marched from the castle destined for the Battle of Wakefield. During the march the army split at Exeter so the cavalry could reach the north quicker, and on 16 December 1460 some of his men became embroiled in the Battle of Worksop, Nottinghamshire. Beaufort and the Lancastrians won the skirmish.
Post-medieval
The castle remained a royal fortress until sold by Elizabeth I in 1572 to her Lord Chancellor, Sir Christopher Hatton. Ralph Treswell, Hatton's steward, drafted a series of plans of the castle; the documents are the oldest surviving survey of the castle.
Lady Mary Bankes defended the castle during two sieges in the English Civil War.
The castle was bought by Sir John Bankes, Attorney General to Charles I, in 1635. The English Civil War broke out in 1642, and by 1643 most of Dorset was under Parliamentarian control. While Bankes was in Oxford with the king, his men held Corfe Castle in the royal cause. During this time his wife, Lady Mary Bankes, resided at the castle with their children. Parliamentarian forces planned to infiltrate the castle's garrison by joining a hunting party from the garrison on a May Day hunt, however they were unsuccessful. The Parliamentarians gave orders that anyone joining the garrison would have their house burned and that no supplies were to reach the castle. Initially defended by just five people, Lady Bankes was able to get food through and swell the garrison to 80. The Parliamentarian forces numbered between 500 and 600 and began a more thorough siege; it went on for six weeks until Lady Bankes was relieved by Royalist forces. During the siege the defenders suffered two casualties while there were at least 100 deaths among the besieging force.
In the 17th century Corfe Castle was demolished by order of parliament.
The Parliamentarians were in the ascendency so that by 1645 Corfe Castle was one of a few remaining strongholds in southern England that remained under royal control. Consequently it was besieged by a force under the command of a Colonel Bingham. One of the garrison's officers, Colonel Pitman, colluded with Bingham. Pitman proposed that he should go to Somerset to and bring back a hundred men as reinforcements, however the troops he returned with were Parliamentarians in disguise. Once inside, they waited until the besieging force attacked before making a move, so that the defenders were attacked from without and within at the same time. Corfe Castle was captured and Lady Bankes and the garrison were allowed to leave. In March that year, Parliament voted to slight (demolish) the castle, giving it its present appearance. In the 17th century many castles in England were in a state of decline, but the war saw them pressed into use as fortresses one more time. Parliament ordered the slighting of many of these fortifications, but the solidity of their walls meant that complete demolition was often impractical. A minority were repaired after the war, but most were left as ruins. Corfe Castle provided a ready supply of building material, and its stones were reused by the villagers.
After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the Bankes family regained their properties. Rather than rebuild or replace the ruined castle they chose to build a new house at Kingston Lacy on their other Dorset estate near Wimborne Minster.
The first archaeological excavations were carried out in 1883. No further archaeological work was carried out on the site until the 1950s. Between 1986 and 1997 excavations were carried out, jointly funded by the National Trust and English Heritage. Corfe castle is considered to be the inspiration for Enid Blyton's Kirrin Island, which had its own similar castle. It was used as a shooting location for the 1957 film Five on a Treasure Island (film).
Corfe Castle is on a hill overlooking the village which bears its name
Corfe Castle's outer gatehouse
In the 1980s, Ralph Bankes bequeathed the entire Bankes estate to the National Trust, including Corfe Castle, much of the village of Corfe, the family home at Kingston Lacy, and substantial property and land holdings elsewhere in the area. In the summer 2006, the dangerous condition of the keep caused it to be closed to visitors, who could only visit the walls and inner bailey. The National Trust undertook an extensive conservation project on the castle, and the keep was re-opened to visitors in 2008, and the work completed the following year.
During the restoration work, an "appearance" door was found in the keep, designed for Henry I. The National Trust claims that this indicates that the castle would have been one of the most important in England at the time.
The castle is a Grade I listed building, and recognised as an internationally important structure. It is also a Scheduled Monument, a "nationally important" historic building and archaeological site which has been given protection against unauthorised change. The earthworks known as "The Rings", thought to be the remains of a 12th-century motte-and-bailey castle built during a siege of Corfe are also scheduled. In 2006, Corfe Castle was the National Trust's tenth most-visited historic house with 173,829 visitors. According to figures released by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, the number of visitors in 2010 had risen to nearly 190,000.
Gwrych Castle was erected between 1819 and 1825 at the behest of Lloyd Hesketh Bamford-Hesketh, grandfather of Winifred Cochrane, Countess of Dundonald. From 1894 until 1924, when the Countess died, it was the residence of the Dundonald family (Family nae of Cochrane). The Countess left the castle in her will to King George V and the then Prince of Wales (who later became King Edward VIII). However, the gift was refused and the castle passed to the Venerable Order of Saint John. In 1928, Douglas Cochrane, 12th Earl of Dundonald, purchased the castle for £78,000, selling the contents to meet the cost.
During World War II, the Government used the castle to house 200 Jewish refugees run by the Jewish Zionist youth movement Bnei Akiva. Following the war, the castle left the Dundonald family and was open to the public for twenty years. It was called "The Showpiece of Wales" at this time, and attracted many visitors. It was also used as a training venue for the English World Middleweight boxing champion Randolph Turpin in the early 1950s. In the early 60s it was an occasional venue for the famous motorcycle Dragon Rally and in the 70s it was used as a centre for medieval re-enactments, attracting tourists with such events as jousting and mock banquets.[citation needed] One such "occasional" use was the holding of the British Youth Festival's event for left-wing youngsters and students in the summer of 1961. Organised principally by members of the Lancashire branch of the Young Communist League, the ten-day event was notable not only for the attendance and performance of Robin Hall and Jimmie Macgregor, but also for the swarm of journalists, led by the now-defunct News of the World.
Gwrych Castle
The castle was last open to the public in 1985. Thereafter, it started to decline. It was bought in 1989 by Nick Tavaglione, an American businessman, for £750,000. However, his plans to renovate the building were not carried out. As a result, the castle was extensively looted and vandalised, becoming little more than a derelict shell, although it was used in 1996 as the backdrop for Prince Valiant, a film starring Edward Fox, Joanna Lumley and Katherine Heigl. It is currently open for guided and self-guided tours but part of the site is closed due to some dangerous parts of the castle.
During the period of Tavaglione's ownership, historian Mark Baker campaigned for the castle to be brought back to its days of glory—a campaign that he started when he was twelve years old. Baker was instrumental in forming the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust, dedicated to ensuring the castle's future. The condition of the property was monitored by the Trust, who lobbied Conwy council to compulsorily purchase the property, eventually placing enough pressure on the American owner, who put it up for sale in March 2006.
City Services Ltd, trading as Clayton Homes and Clayton Hotels, bought the castle in January 2007 for £850,000, after it failed to reach its £1.5m reserve price at the 2 June 2006 auction. On 30 April 2007, Clayton Hotels announced a 3-year project, costing £6,000,000, to renovate the castle and convert it into a 90-bedroom 5-star hotel, creating 100 jobs. The project was subject to planning permission, but had the support of the Trust. Clayton Hotels spent about half a million pounds on its plans, clearing the site and rebuilding areas.After Clayton Hotels was placed in administration, new developers obtained fresh planning permission in November 2012 from Conwy County Borough Council for the castle to be converted into a luxury hotel with 75 bedrooms and associated facilities. On 13th June 2018, Gwrych Castle and its estate was sold to Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust, enabled by a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund.
Ballyteige Castle was the seat of the Anglo-Norman Whitty family and there are several historical references to various members of the family from as early as 1247. Sir Richard Whitty was summoned to parliament as a baron by Edward III (1312-1377). Members of the Whitty family managed the rabbit warren at „the Burrow‟. The family lost possession of their stronghold in 1654 following the Cromwellian plantation.
If Framlingham Castle is a castle without a keep then nearby Orford Castle is a solitary keep without a castle. Orford once had a compact castle on this site but quarrying and stone robbing has been so complete that the outer walls and even some of their foundations have disappeared. One reason why the keep survived was that it was regarded as a navigation aid for passing ships. It was a signal tower during the Napoleonic Wars.
www.flickr.com/photos/barryslemmings/albums/7215766898257... to see the whole set.
Prior to the building of Orford Castle, Suffolk had been dominated by the Norman Bigod family, who held the title of Earl of Norfolk and owned key castles at Framlingham, Bungay, Walton and Thetford. King Henry II confiscated these four castles from the rebellious Hugh Bigod but returned Framlingham and Bungay to Hugh in 1165. Henry then decided to build his own royal castle at Orford, about 12 miles from Framlingham. Construction work began in 1165, finishing in 1173. Henry II's plan may have been to establish a strong royal presence on the coast to keep an eye on the Bigods but also to create a point-of-entry into their territory where he could land and provision an army quickly. The sea would be the quickest and safest route for re-supply.
The design of the Orford keep is unique, and has been termed "one of the most remarkable keeps in England" by historian R. Allen Brown. The 90-foot (27 metre) high central tower was circular in cross-section with three rectangular, clasping towers built out from the 49-foot (15 metre) wide structure. The tower was based on a precise set of proportions, its various dimensions following the one to the root of two ratio found in many English churches of the period. Much of the interior is built with high-quality ashlar stonework, with broad, 5 foot 6 inch (1.7 metre) wide staircases linking the floors. The best chambers were designed to catch the early morning sun, while the various parts of the keep were draught-proofed with doors and carefully designed windows. Originally the roof of the keep, above the upper hall, would have formed a domed effect, with a tall steeple above that.
The keep was surrounded by a curtain wall with flanking towers and a fortified gatehouse protecting a relatively small bailey; these outer walls, rather than the keep, represented the main defence of the castle. The nearby marshes were drained to turn the village of Orford into a sheltered port. The castle, including the surrounding ditch, a palisade and stone bridge, cost £1,413 to build, with the work possibly being conducted by the master mason Alnoth. Some of the timbers were brought from as far away as Scarborough and the detailed stonework was carved from imported Caen stone.
The design of the keep has attracted historical interest. Traditional explanations for its unusual plan argued that the keep was a transitional military design, combining both the circular features of later castles with the square angled buttresses of earlier Norman fortifications. More recent scholarship has critiqued this explanation. Historians now believe that the design of Orford Castle was instead probably driven by political symbolism. One historian argues that the plain, simple elegance of the architecture would, for mid-12th century nobility, have summoned up images of King Arthur, who was then widely believed to have had Roman or Greek links. The banded, angular features of the keep resembled the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, then the idealised image of imperial power, and the keep as a whole, including the roof, may have been based on a hall that had been recently built in Constantinople by John II Komnenos. The Orford keep is said to have been an object of delight to King Edward I and may have inspired his own later castle building, in Wales, where Caernarvon Castle is also said to have been inspired by the walls of Constantinople. Perhaps it was also inspired by Orford.
Orford Castle today is easily accessed from the village of Orford and has a small car park. Disability access is poor and certainly not suitable for wheelchairs. I managed to get into the building but found the spiral staircase especially daunting and very hard work. However I did manage to get to the top - with several rest breaks along the way - and was rewarded by a splendid view of the Suffolk coast.
A 2002 excavation of the heaps of spoil and deep ditches around the site confirmed the presence of three towers in the lost curtain walls and has suggested another three lost towers plus a gateway tower. This gateway was reached by a high-walled passageway which led over the castle's moat via a bridge. The building is now in the care of English Heritage and their recently reprinted guidebook contains an imaginative construction of the castle in its prime.
Ruins of two castles 3miles north of Wick in Caithness. Girnigoe was built in mid 15th century. Sinclair castle was built in the early 17th century and then connected to the earlier castle by a drawbridge over a ravine.
Castle Stalker in Argyl, on a small island in Loch Laich. It was also Castle Aargh! in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
I am sorry not to have caught up with looking at other people's photos - I realise I am always moaning but now I have done my neck an injury and I am struggling!
Re-opened to the public in the July of 1996 after twenty years of extensive excavation and restoration, Laugharne castle stands on a low ridge overlooking the wide Taf river estuary and perhaps is today better know for its associations with the poet Dylan Thomas instead for its picturesque location. One of a string of fortresses controlling the ancient road of communication along the south Wales coast line the castle as a long and chequered history. It was originated as a Norman earth and timber stronghold, mentioned in about 1116 as the castle of Robert Courtemain, (but the first record of the Norman castle is dated 1189), re-built in stone during the 13th and 14th centuries by the various successive generations of the de Brian family. Great parts of their works still survive, including the domed round keep tower and the protuding mighty gatehouse of the inner bailey constructed in a warm red-brown sandstone with distinctive green stone addictions.
In the year 1488 the lordship and castle passed to the earls of Northumberland, and in 1584 to Sir John Parrott, said to have been the illegitimate son of Henry VIII. The castle was converted into a luxurious Elizabethan manor house by Perrot and reverted to its military functions only during the Civil War: after a week long siege and bombardment, it fell to a night attack of the Parliamentarian troops in the year 1644. In the following centuries the romantic ruins of Laugharne castle became the backdrop for a magnificent Georgian and Victorian garden, recreated using exclusively Victorian flowers and plants.
Laugharne has also inspired two great modern writers, who worked in the garden gazebo overlooking the river. Richard Hughes wrote its novel 'In Hazard' here and Dylan Thomas, Laugharne most famous resident, worked in the castle on its 'Portrait of the artist as a young dog'.
Vista of 13C keep & inner bailey.
Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission.
© Roger A Perriss. All rights reserved.
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Coity Castle in Coity, Bridgend, is a Norman castle built by Sir Payn "the Demon" de Turberville (fl. 1126), one of the legendary Twelve Knights of Glamorgan supposed to have conquered Glamorgan under the leadership of Robert FitzHamon (d.1107), Lord of Gloucester. Now in ruins, it stands in the community of Coity near the town of Bridgend, in the County Borough of Bridgend. Very close to the castle is the battlemented parish church of St Mary the Virgin, dating from the 14th century.
The castle began as a late 11th century ringwork. A rectangular stone keep and the main curtain wall were added by the Normans in the 12th century, under the de Turberville family. The three-storey keep was primarily a defensive structure.
Extensive reworking took place in the 14th century, when a domestic range was attached to the keep by the middle gatehouse. New stone vaults replaced the earlier timber floors. The central octagonal pier for the vaults is still prominent among the castle ruins. An adjoining chapel wing with a tall east window was added to the first floor at the eastern end of the domestic range in the 15th century.
During the 16th century Coity Castle, by then owned by the Gamage family, underwent a complete remodelling of the living quarters, including the addition of a storey, new windows and two chimney stacks. The principal chambers lay on the upper floors. The range of domestic apartments comprised a central first-floor hall set above a vaulted undercroft, from which it was reached by a grand spiral stair. To the west were ground-floor service rooms, probably including a kitchen, with ovens. The base of a ruined large malting kiln remains. On the far side of the range, a tower projecting from the curtain wall contained latrines. The second floor housed private apartments.
I decided to take some night pictures from the castle and its surroundings. Personally I think they came out pretty good, given the fact that there was almost no man made light there.
Dunluce Castle is a now-ruined medieval castle in Northern Ireland. It is located on the edge of a basalt outcropping in County Antrim and is accessible via a bridge connecting it to the mainland. The castle is surrounded by extremely steep drops on either side, which may have been an important factor to the early Christians and Vikings who were drawn to this place where an early Irish fort once stood.
A local legend states that at one point, part of the kitchen next to the cliff face collapsed into the sea, after which the wife of the owner refused to live in the castle any longer. According to a legend, when the kitchen fell into the sea, only a kitchen boy survived, as he was sitting in the corner of the kitchen which did not collapse.