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Blackness Castle Historic Scotland Site On the Banks Of the River Forth
Built in the 15th century by one of Scotland's most powerful families, the Crichtons, Blackness was never destined as a peaceful lordly residence, its enduring roles were those of garrison fortress and state prison.
In the 16th century, the castle's defences were strengthened to make it one of the country's most formidable artillery fortifications. Besieged and damaged in 1650 by Cromwell's army, it was used, after its restoration, to incarcerate Covenanters.
After the 1707 Treaty of Union, Blackness ceased to be a state prison and became a minor garrison. During the wars with France between 1759 and 1815 it held prisoners of war, then in 1870 was converted to an ammunition depot. Finally in the 1920s, the castle was conserved as an ancient monument.
This property is managed by Historic Scotland.
Warwick Castle is a medieval castle developed from an original built by William the Conqueror in 1068. Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England, situated on a bend of the River Avon. The original wooden motte-and-bailey castle was rebuilt in stone in the 12th century. During the Hundred Years War, the facade opposite the town was refortified, resulting in one of the most recognisable examples of 14th century military architecture. It was used as a stronghold until the early 17th century, when it was granted to Sir Fulke Greville by James I in 1604. Greville converted it to a country house and it was owned by the Greville family, who became earls of Warwick in 1759, until 1978 when it was bought by the Tussauds Group.
Seen looking across a wild meadow from the banks of the river Bain is the 15th century Tattershall Castle an iconic landmark in the Tattershall/Coningsby area of Lincolnshire.
Castle Drogo is a country house near Drewsteignton, Devon, England. It was built from 1911 and was finished in 1930 for Julius Drewe (businessman and founder of the Home and Colonial Stores) to designs by architect Edwin Lutyens, and is a Grade I listed building.
Castle is white cake with chocolate ganache filling and strawberry buttercream filling. Turrets are rice cereal treats and cones are ice cream cones covered with fondant.
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.
Kenmure Castle
Kenmure Castle is a country house in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. The site was occupied from the Middle Ages, and the house incorporates part of a 17th-century castle. This was remodelled in the 19th century, but the house has been derelict since the mid-20th century. It was the seat of the Gordon family of Lochinvar, later raised to the peerage as Viscounts of Kenmure. The castle is located in The Glenkens, 1 mile (1.6 km) south of the town of New Galloway. The ruin is a category B listed building and a scheduled monument.[1][2]
The present castle stands on a partly natural mound, which may have been modified for defence in the early Middle Ages.[2] The Lords of Galloway, rulers of a semi-independent kingdom in south-west Scotland until the 13th century, may have had a fortress here. Kenmure has been suggested as a possible birthplace in 1249 of John Balliol, later King of Scotland, whose mother Dervorguilla was daughter of Alan, the last independent Lord of Galloway.[3] It later belonged to the Douglas and Maxwell families.[4]
Kenmure became a property of the Gordon family from 1297, when they arrived from Berwickshire. The Gordons built a castle on an island in Lochinvar, some 6 miles (9.7 km) to the north.[5] An early castle which stood here was destroyed or damaged by opponents of Mary, Queen of Scots, who marched through the south-west after they defeated her supporters at the Battle of Langside (1568).[6]
Sir Robert Gordon of Lochinvar was created a baronet in 1626, and in 1633 his son Sir John Gordon was created Viscount of Kenmure by Charles I in 1633. The core of the present building is the castle which was largely erected in the 17th century, though possibly including earlier building work. The castle was laid out on the west and south sides of a courtyard, with the north and east sides formed by a high wall. The entrance gate in the north wall was flanked by towers at the two northern corners.[3] The 6th Viscount took part in the Jacobite Rising of 1715 and was subsequently beheaded and his estates forfeit. By 1790 Kenmure Castle was described as a ruin.[4]
The viscountcy was restored to Captain John Gordon in 1824, though it has been dormant since the death of his nephew, the 8th Viscount, in 1847. The castle was extensively remodelled and modernised in during the 19th century, when the courtyard wall and the north-east tower were removed with the use of gunpowder.[6] The south range was rebuilt in around 1840,[2] and in 1879 the Sheffield-based architect Matthew Ellison Hadfield was employed to remodel the west range.[7] Further extensions were made in 1908.[7] Around 1958 the building was partly demolished and the roof removed. The remains of the castle were listed in 1971, and the site was scheduled in 1998.[2]
A 17th-century sundial from Kenmure is now in Dumfries Museum.[3]
CC From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clanyard Castle was the largest, most splendid castle in the Wigtonshire, Kirkmaiden Parish area, residence of a branch of the Gordons of Kenmure and Lochinvar. Clanyard, or Cloynard, probably comes from the Norse word klungr for brambles, any rough ground, crags or rocks. Only parts of the west gable and north wall survive from what was once a great L-plan tower house. Built in the 16th C. by the Gordons of Kenmure, Castle Clanyard was abandoned by 1684. A fragment of a stone bearing a carved guilloche motif from the tower is incorporated in the S corner of the meal barn at Castle Clanyard farm.
A 16th Century legend has it that young McDouall of Logan and Gordon of Clanyard were both in love with the same maiden, the daughter of M'Kinna of Portcorkerie. Gordon, by fair means or foul, had the young lady taken to Cardoness Castle, near Gatehouse of Fleet - the residence of another branch of the Gordon family.
Hearing of this MacDouall gave pursuit with his men and overtook the party on the sea-shore at Killeser. A conflict ensued and the maiden was freed, but her rescuer, MacDouall of Logan, was slain. According to the tradition, about 40 men fell, and between 30 and 40 small cairns still remain in the small plantation at Ardwell to mark the graves.
CC Wikia
CORSEWALL CASTLE
Little remains above the basement of 15th century keep and castle, except the vaulted basement with the beginning of a stair. It formerly rose to three storeys, and was surrounded by a ditch. The tower 12.8m long by by 10.2m wide over walls 2.4m thick above a plinth, which has been mostly ripped away. There are two loops, a rough hole of the doorway with the base of the stair beside it, a shoot from an upper storey latrine, and a hatch in the vault for hoisting supplies. Symson in 1684 calls Corsewall "a considerable house, but now wholly ruinous".
Brief History
The lands of Corsewall are mentioned in a charter of David II as being the property of Sir Alan Stewart of Dreghorn who was the ancestor of the Darnley Stewarts. It passed in 1333 to the Campbells of Loudoun. A seven-foot-long cannon was found here in the second half of the 18th century, and a number of gold coins, a ring and some silver plate were discovered in 1802.
CC SCA
Galdenoch Castle
A tower said to have been built between 1547 and 1570. It has been a good example of the L-plan, but is now a ruin, with walls about 3'6" thick measuring to an average height of about 20', though the west wall is broken down to a height of 8' at one point. The castle is surrounded by farm buildings and the ground floor is used as a byre.
RCAHMS 1912.
Generally as described by RCAHMS although the castle survives to a height of about 35 feet and the west wall is entire. The east wall bears a plaque with the date 1547.
Visited by OS (RD) 21 February 1968
This 16th-century L-plan tower-house, built for Gilbert Agnew of Lochnaw, stands adjacent to Meikle Galdenoch farmhouse. It comprises three principal storeys and a garret, and has a vaulted ground floor (6.95m by 4.4m within walls 1.15m thick) and an entrance in the re-entrant angle. Although access to each floor is provided by a turnpike-stair rising within the wing, a mural stair gives independent access to one of two second-floor chambers. The tower is
Himeji Castle (姫路城 Himeji-jō) is a hilltop Japanese castle complex located in Himeji, in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.
The castle is regarded as the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, comprising a network of 83 buildings with advanced defensive systems from the feudal period.
The castle is frequently known as Hakuro-jō ("White Egret Castle") or Shirasagi-jō ("White Heron Castle") because of its brilliant white exterior and supposed resemblance to a bird taking flight.
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Photograph taken by
Jos van der Heiden (2015)
Outpost fortress in the middle of the ocean. Perfect place for princess to hide when her kingdom is in danger. Or maybe not? While she is making her hair and enjoying the Sun, her guards aren't as cautious as they should be. While they are enjoying their lunch and drinking, a bunch of orcs are trying to climb up to the castle living qurters.
This was my castle entry for Classic Castle Colossal Contest VI 2008.
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.
The very historic Edinburgh Castle in the City of Edinburgh in Scotland (UK).
The castle is illuminated in poppy red in commemoration of Remembrance Sunday, November 14th 2021.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Castle
www.flickr.com/photos/stuart166axe/tags/royalbritishlegion/
Photograph taken by and copyright of my regular photostream contributor David and is posted here with very kind permission.
Outpost fortress in the middle of the ocean. Perfect place for princess to hide when her kingdom is in danger. Or maybe not? While she is making her hair and enjoying the Sun, her guards aren't as cautious as they should be. While they are enjoying their lunch and drinking, a bunch of orcs are trying to climb up to the castle living qurters.
This was my castle entry for Classic Castle Colossal Contest VI 2008.
Various exhibitions inside the castle in Darłowo, Poland.
The Castle of Pomeranian Dukes is the main highlight of Darłowo. Erection of the castle was an initiative of Bogusław V the Duke and the construction of the castle began in 1352. It was built on an inriver island. From the tower you can enjoy extensive views over the town and the local countryside. Its original interiors house the museum of Darlowo’s history, and it includes many interesting items such as paintings, sculpture, furniture, weapons, objects made from amber, maps and much else.
Zamek Książąt Pomorskich w Darłowie - jedyny w Polsce nadmorski gotycki zamek wybudowany na planie zbliżonym do kwadratu z wieżą wysokości 24 metrów. Budowę zamku rozpoczęto w 1352 roku za panowania Bogusława V, na ten okres datuje się też początek współpracy miasta z Hanzą. W XVIII i XIX wieku w zamku znajdowały się magazyny i więzienie, od 1930 roku muzeum. W zamku można zwiedzić wysoką wieżę z bardzo wąskim wejściem, z której rozpościera się widok na miasto i okolice, wystawę ptaków oraz wystawę morską z wieloma wystawami tematycznymi. Można także zobaczyć zabytkowe meble, narzędzia tortur, kolekcję sztuki wschodniej, fotografie sprzed lat oraz inne pamiątki.
From Wikipedia
Denbigh Castle, which was built during two phases, was based on designs attributed to Master James of St George. In the first period, commencing 1282, parts of the outer ward were constructed. These outer defences included the southern and western walls and the eastern towers. Later work on the inner ward began including parts of the curtain wall and the castle's main gatehouse. The borough's new town walls were also began during this period.
The castle is sited on a rocky promontory in the Vale of Clwyd.
But in 1294 Denbigh was attacked and taken during the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn halting the work on the incomplete town and castle. Following its recapture a year later, Henry de Lacy substantially revised the plans in the second phase of building work. This time the inner ward's curtain wall were refortified with thicker and higher walls.
The main gatehouse was heavily buttressed with a three octagonal towers and a drawbridge: two towers faced outwards and a third interior tower, (the Badnes Tower), inside the main gateway. This three-towered triangular gatehouse now created a heavily defended passageway that had murder-holes, portcullises in series, two wooden doors, and enfilading arrowslits. One gatehouse tower contained the porter's lodgings while the other served as the prison.
During the same period, the Great hall and the eastern domestic ranges including the kitchen tower, the pantry and the postern gate were completed. When the town walls were enlarged, the eastern section was defended by several large D-shaped towers such as the Countess Tower and Goblin Tower.
De Lacy died in 1311 before building work ceased on the town and castle defences. The new English borough eventually removed all traces of the original Welsh fortifications.
History
An 18th-century engraving of Denbigh Castle by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck.
The current Denbigh Castle was built on the site of a former Welsh stronghold held by Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the brother of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. The Welsh castle originally belonged to Llywelyn the Great. In 1230, an Abbot from England visited Llywelyn the Great at his new castle in Denbigh.
The current stone castle was begun by Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln in the Lordship of Denbigh given to him by Edward I after the defeat of the last Welsh prince, Dafydd ap Gruffudd in 1282. The Welsh castle was then torn down and work began on a new English fortress. At the same time, De Lacy was also granted a Royal Charter to create a new English borough and town.
But in 1294, the incomplete castle was besieged and captured by Welsh forces during the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn. During the subsequent siege, an English force under de Lacy was defeated trying to retake the castle. However the revolt collapsed and Denbigh was returned to de Lacy a year later. Building work then resumed. Following some defensive improvements, the castle and walls were substantially complete by 1305.
In the 1290s, Edward I had issued a second Royal Charter as the market town of Denbigh had rapidly expanded beyond the town walls and its borough boundaries. By 1305 there were titled 183 settlers living outside the town walls and only 52 inside the town's defences. The castle and its precincts were being superseded by the area outside the walls which had developed into the town's market centre. A Carmelite Friary was also established in the town just outside the town walls.
In 1400, the forces of Owain Glyndŵr attacked Denbigh. The town was badly damaged but the castle resisted a siege and was not captured.
The curtain walls of Denbigh castle.
During the Wars of the Roses, Jasper Tudor, the Lancastrian Earl of Pembroke, tried twice and failed to take the castle in the 1460s.
In the 16th century Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, held Denbigh Castle and its Lordship between 1563 until his death in 1588.
During the English Civil War, the castle was repaired by Royalist Colonel William Salesbury of Rug. King Charles I of England stayed there briefly in September 1645. The following year, the castle endured a six-month siege before finally being forced to surrender to Parliamentarian forces. The castle was then slighted to prevent its further use. For the remainder of the war part of the castle was used as a prison for captured royalists.
Following the restoration of Charles II in 1660, the castle was abandoned and allowed to fall into decay.
Sizergh Castle has been home to the Strickland family for over 760 years, and for many of those years the family played a major role in national events. For example, a Strickland carried the English banner at Agincourt. But a gradual decline in family fortunes during the 17th century - in part through support for the Jacobite cause - left the Stricklands short of the money needed to renovate Sizergh in tune with prevailing fashions.
This is a drawing by MacGibbon & Ross and shows Glasclune 130 years ago, at which date the south-east angle turret (see previous photo) had yet to lose its conical roof. Note that as well as the various splayed gun-loops that the castle had, every window had a shot-hole below it.
In the distance to the right, the north end of the castle consists of three parts. The left-hand and lower section is the north gable of the main block - now collapsed. The round tower on the extreme right is the north-east tower of the Z plan, an arc of which is still standing, although much less than shown here. The centre and tallest section is the secondary stair tower, that went up the re-entrant angle formed by the east wall of the main block and the north-east tower.
Braemar Castle was built in 1628 in a commanding position overlooking the River Dee. It is an L-shaped tower, built primarily as a hunting lodge for the Earl of Mar.
The following link is very informative:
Dramatically situated high on the hill that overlooks Llangollen, Dinas Bran must be one of the most romantic and magical places in Britain.
In song and story it is the castle of the Holy Grail! Although the stone ruin of Castell Dinas Bran is medieval, it stands on the site of an ancient Iron-Age hill-fort. The ditch and earth banks that enclose the southern and eastern parts of the fortress date to the Iron Age. It was the home of the Princes of Powys until the 8th century, but the hilltop had strategic value long before they came here.
The word, "Dinas," has its origins in the Iron Age and it is found in the names of Iron Age hillforts throughout Wales. In the Dark Ages, Dinas Bran was associated with King Elisedd (see Eliseg's Pillar). There are much earlier stories though and the castle is named after Bran the Blessed, a deified hero from Welsh and Irish mythology. His name means "Raven" and his story also connects to the legend of the ravens on Tower Hill in London.
Dinas Bran is also known as Castle Corbenic in the legend of the Holy Grail. Corben is a French word for crow or raven and means Bran in Welsh. In Welsh myth, Bran went on a long journey from Harlech to Ireland to recover a magical vessel of plenty - a Cauldron of Rebirth which was the forerunner of the Grail. Like the Grail King, Bran was wounded by a spear and the land became a wasteland until he was healed. It is said that the wound was in the groin and would not heal leading to loss of potency. The link between the sexual vigour of the king and the fertility of the land is common to many cultures. Later, his head was cut off, but continued to speak. Following his instructions, Bran's head was taken to the hill that was to become the site of the Tower of London. It was buried and as long as it remained there it would guard the land. Strange that the present day ravens at the Tower are still said to perform that function.
Caerphilly Castle (Castell Caerffili), Glamorgan, 19 April 2019. It was built, next to the site of an old Roman fort, by Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, in 1268-90 as part of the Norman invasion of Wales, although the local Welsh prince, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, burnt the partly constructed castle in 1270 but subsequently he was defeated and later killed in 1282. It was again attacked by Morgan ap Meredudd during the rebellion by Madog ap Llywelyn in 1294 and again by Llywelyn Bryn in his rebellion of 1316 but ultimately the Anglo-Norman conquest of Wales succeeded. In the English Civil War, South Wales was Royalist but the Parliamentarians took Caerphilly in 1646. They may have subsequenly slighted the Castle although subsidence may have been the main cause of it's partial collapse. The Marquess of Bute restored the castle in 1928-39. The castle is the biggest in Wales, second in the UK. It had the most elaborate water defences of any British castle and introduced the concentric wall defences to Britain. Pictured is the castle from the south with the South Lake and, to the right, the Outer Main Gatehouse. To the left is the bridge to the Western Island, an important part of the defensive system and may have been to shelter the town's population in time of seige.
Ashford Castle is a medieval castle near Cong in County Mayo, Ireland on the shore of Lough Corrib.
The castle was built in 1228 by the Anglo-Norman de Burgo family following their defeat of the O'Connors, the Royal House of Connacht, who are still extant in the person of the O Connor Donn.The de Burgo's would build several such castles throughout the province, including one on the mouth of the River Corrib around which was to grow the City of Galway, but Ashford would remain their principal stronghold in the vastness of a wild and untamed province. The principal legacy of the native O'Connors is to be seen at the gates of the Estate in the form of the magnificent Romanesque Augustinian Abbey of Cong. It is in this Abbey that Ireland's last High King Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair died and from which came the greatest relic of his Court, the Cross of Cong created to hold a piece of the True Cross and now in the National Museum of Ireland.
After more than three and a half centuries under the de Burgo's, Ashford passed into the hands of a new master, when following a fierce battle between the forces of the de Burgo's and those of the English official Sir Richard Bingham, Lord President of Connaught, a truce was agreed and the castle fell to Bingham in 1589 who adds a fortified enclave within its precincts. In 1715 the estate of Ashford is established by the Browne Family (Baron Oranmore) and a lodge in the style of a 17th Century French chateau was added to the medieval splendour of the castle.
The Estate was purchased in 1852 by Sir Benjamin Guinness, he extended the estate to 26,000 acres, built new roads, planted thousands of trees and added two large victorian style extensions. On his death in 1868 the estate passed to his son Lord Ardilaun, an avid gardener who oversaw the development of massive woodlands and rebuilt the entire west wing of the castle. He also subsidised the operation of several steamboats, the most notable of which was the Lady Eglinton, which plied between the villages of the Upper Lough Corrib region and Galway City, thus opening the area to increased commerce. In a time of agitation by tenant farmers in the Land Wars of the late 19th Century, epitomised by the action of tenants at nearby Lough Mask House (home of Captain Charles Boycott) he was considered by many to be an 'improving' landlord. Although some of these were not always successful, particularly the Cong Canal also known as the "Dry Canal. It was built to link Lough Mask and Lough Corrib but was a failure, primarily due to its inability to hold water. Despite such setbacks the love borne by he and his wife Olive, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Bantry for the Castle and the estate was deep and best epitomised by that fact that when he was ennobled in 1880 he derived his title from the island of Ardilaun, which formed part of the Estate on Lough Corrib.
The Castle remained in the hands of the family and its Iveagh Trust until it was sold to Noel Huggard in 1939; he opened the estate as a hotel, which it became renowned for the provision of its country pursuits, such as angling & shooting.
In 1951 the film director John Ford came to the west of Ireland to film what would become a movie classic The Quiet Man. Starring John Wayne and Maureen O Hara, Ashford Castle and its grounds, as well as nearby Cong formed the backdrop for much of the action in the film.
In 1970 Ashford Castle was bought by John Mulcahy who oversaw its complete restoration and expansion, doubling its size with the addition of a new wing in the early 1970s, building a golf course and developing the grounds and gardens. While in 1985 a group of Irish American investors, which included Chuck Feeney and Prescott Bush purchased Ashford. The Castle was sold on by these investors in 2008 and is now in the possession of the Galway-based property investor Gerry Barrett and his family.
In its time the castle has played host to many notable guests, including: HM King George V of the United Kingdom, his consort Queen Mary, Oscar Wilde (his father Sir William Wilde had an estate adjacent to Ashford and where the author, playwright and poet spent much of his childhood), U.S. President Ronald Reagan, HRH the Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, John Wayne, HSH Prince Rainier III of Monaco & his consort HSH the Princess Grace.
The official site for the castle - www.ashford.ie/index.php
Yoros Castle (Turkish: Yoros kalesi) is a ruined castle at the confluence of the Bosphorus and the Black Sea, to the north of Joshua's Hill, in Istanbul, Turkey. It is also commonly referred to as the Genoese Castle, due to Genoa’s possession of it in the mid-15th century.
Strategically set near the confluence of the Bosphorus and the Black Sea, the future site of Yoros Castle was settled by the Phoenicians and Greeks prior to the Byzantine period for trading and military purposes. The Greeks called the area Hieron (Sacred Place). The remains of temples, including Dios, Altar of the Twelve Gods, and Zeus Ourios (Zeus, granter of fair winds) were discovered in the area, dating to centuries BCE.
Yoros Castle was intermittently occupied throughout the course of the Byzantine Empire. Under the Palaiologos dynasty during the decline of the empire, Yoros Castle was well fortified, as was the Rumeli Kavagi on the opposite side of the Bosphorus. A massive chain could be extended across the Bosphorus between these two points, cutting off the straits to attacking warships, similar to the chain across the Golden Horn which was used to defend Constantinople during the last Ottoman siege by Sultan Mehmed II.
The ruins of the citadel and surrounding walls still exist, though the mosque, most of the towers, and other structures are gone. Yoros Castle and the village of Anadolu Kavagi are a popular day trip from Istanbul. Typically, the site is not supervised and visitors are free to climb all over the ancient walls. However, there are currently archaeological excavations going on and visitors are unable to enter the castle. Greek inscriptions remain etched on the walls of the castle to this day, along with the symbol of the Palealogus family, who ruled Byzantium until its fall. The military importance of the site cannot be overstated. In fact, much of the area surrounding Yoros Castle is today in the hands of the Turkish military, who have closed off areas to visitors.
Bamburgh Castle is a castle on the northeast coast of England, by the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland. It is a Grade I listed building.
The site was originally the location of a Celtic Brittonic fort known as Din Guarie and may have been the capital of the kingdom of Bernicia from its foundation in c. 420 to 547. After passing between the Britons and the Anglo-Saxons three times, the fort came under Anglo-Saxon control in 590. The fort was destroyed by Vikings in 993, and the Normans later built a new castle on the site, which forms the core of the present one. After a revolt in 1095 supported by the castle's owner, it became the property of the English monarch.
In the 17th century, financial difficulties led to the castle deteriorating, but it was restored by various owners during the 18th and 19th centuries. It was finally bought by the Victorian era industrialist William Armstrong, who completed its restoration. The castle still belongs to the Armstrong family and is open to the public.
Thank you, in advance, to those of you who take a moment to leave a comment and/or fave my photo. I appreciate it tremendously.
The architecture of Sleeping Beauty Castle is a composite of French and Bavarian castles from the Middle Ages.
When you walk through the castle toward the carousel, if you look down right as you come out and see that gold thing in the ground, it's a rail road spike, which is actually the very center of the park before ToonTown opened.
Dunstanburgh Castle on the Northumbrian coast stands in splendid isolation on a rocky volcanic outcrop, It is regularly listed among that county’s four great castles along with Bamburgh, Alnwick and Warkworth. However it has certain claims to fame which set it apart from the other three.
Bamburgh was mostly royal while Alnwick and Warkworth are closely associated with the Percy family, the brooding Earls of Northumberland who were clearly the inspiration for ‘House Stark’ in TV’s Game of Thrones. I can easily imagine Ned Stark riding out of either of them. Dunstanburgh, on the other hand, is firmly part of the House of Lancaster. While the other castles all show considerable internal development with stone buildings this is curiously lacking in Dunstanburgh’s present state. It is as if the rocky peninsular was walled off to create a large space within which an army could pitch camp - a similar phenomenon also occurs at Scarborough Castle, another rocky coastal castle with very little inside its ample perimeter. Whether these castles were intended to be the gathering place for an army landed in adjacent harbours is a moot point.
Even Wikipedia questions the reasons for its building saying: “It is uncertain exactly why Thomas [Earl of Lancaster] decided to build Dunstanburgh. Although it was located on a strong defensive site, it was some distance from the local settlements and other strategic sites of value. Thomas held some lands in Northumberland, but they were insignificant in comparison to his other estates in the Midlands and Yorkshire and until 1313 he had paid them little attention”. My best guess is that it was a jumping off point for any army headed north into The Borders or Scotland but Wiki suggests the Earl may have wanted a bolthole away from King Edward II in the south of England.
Another oddity at Dunstanburgh is the great gatehouse which we see dominating the site today but which only served as a gatehouse for a few decades. A major design change was to block in the great archway with a wall to turn it into a magnificent keep and residence while a much lesser gate - almost a tradesman’s entrance by comparison - was built around the side with a narrow approach from the front above a flooded mere.
Primary construction took place on the site between 1313 and 1322, during the troubled reign of Edward II which saw Earl Thomas taking a leading part in the death of the king’s hated favourite, Piers Gaveston. The site may originally have been an Iron Age fort in the centuries BC but had been apparently untouched since. The medieval master mason who built it may have previously worked on Conway, in Wales, and it is possible to see echoes of Conway in the present building. Briefly in royal hands the castle was soon back with Lancaster and it was the great John of Gaunt who initiated the blocking and changes to the gatehouse about 60 years later.
The gatehouse’s external barbican was removed and the great gateway was closed off with stout wall while another wall was built about 20 metres behind the gatehouse to create a small inner ward or bailey which was both shorter and easier to defend than the main precinct. A 1384 Scottish attack on Dunstanburgh was defeated and when a later Duke of Lancaster became Henry IV Dunstanburgh became a royal castle.
With various kings busy down south, Dunstanburgh came under Percy control at times but it had to be besieged by the Yorkists after the fickle Earl of Northumberland was trusted with it and then kept changing sides during the so-called Wars of the Roses.
There was a small harbour to the south, at the foot of the hill, while the wide valley between the present golf course and the castle was once flooded from this harbour entrance to create a large lake. The harbour is now lost due to its entrance being closed by a seawall.
I must stress that Dunstanburgh is NOT a disabled friendly site, far from it. Despite our best efforts to get close before walking the visit was a bit of a death march for me at times. When I finally reached the gatehouse I found I did not have the strength to climb to the top - so do not expect any views from up there in this set. Best advice is to pick good weather, stout shoes and allow plenty of time.
Fine painted hexagonal 15c goblet / wine glass pulpit with paintings of the 4 Doctors of Latin Church. . ; St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory, and St. Jerome; - Church of St James, Castle Acre, Norfolk
Here's a work in progress picture of a castle I've been working on for about a week now. However, I took this yesterday and I have already made quite a few changes (refer to notes above)(and below)
Stuff to broad to be noted:
1. There are 3 more trees in there
2. There are people (of course)
3. There are 162 gray cylinders, and about that many gray studs.
This is the ruins of Castle Rising Castle, near the village of Castle Rising.
When we got to the car park, I noticed a school party. So as soon as we paid and got in, I went all the way around taking pictures of the castle. By the time I completed one lap of the castle mound above, the secondary school kids started to come in. So I went out, had a little look at the village and road then back in.
Weren't here for long but at least I got my photos of the castle. I missed going inside it, but then those students were probably inside doing school work or something.
It is north of King's Lynn, and south of Sandringham.
Castle Rising Castle is a ruined castle situated in the village of Castle Rising in the English county of Norfolk. It was built in about 1138 by William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel, who also owned Arundel Castle. Much of its square keep, surrounded by a defensive mount, is intact. It is currently owned by Lord Howard of Rising, a descendant of William d'Aubigny.
The ruins are Grade I listed.
Ruins of Castle and Eleventh Century Church, Castle Rising - British Listed Buildings
Castle, c1138 for William d'Albini II. Barnack limestone with carstone,
Sandringham sandstone and flint. Hall keep with footings to domestic
buildings in carstone to north, surrounding circular rampart with parts of
curtain wall, gateway through rampart and bridge across deep encircling
ditch. Keep (c24m x 21m x 15m high) ashlared walls now with panels of
coursed local stone. East facade: 3-storeyed forebuilding to right breaking
forward with tiled saddle roof, to left the enclosed outside stairway of
keep. 2-bay forebuilding of ashlar with central pilaster strip and clasping
buttresses to angles, all having shafts to ground and 1st floors; 2 large
semi-circular headed windows to 1st floor, string course above with figure
ccrbels; 3 square openings to 2nd floor; left return with similar window
as east to 1st floor, tall semi-circular headed blank arch below blocked
with local stones and having side shafts. Wall to roofless outside stairs
with ashlar clasping buttress with shafts at angles, central ashlar pilaster
strip having remains above of postern stair; high blank arcade to left and
right, that to left of 6 semi-circular headed arches with cushion capitals
to lost shafts, rear of arcade with chevron indentations, zig-zag string
course below, remains of two circular openings above now containing grotesque
corbels; blank arcade to right of 6 intersecting semi-circular headed arches
with roll mouldings. Keep wall above to rear with central ashlar pilaster
strip, openings to 1st and 2nd floors, clasping buttress to left angle.
South Facade: 4 panels of roughly coursed local stones replacing original
ashlar, ashlared pilaster strips between and clasping angle turret buttresses
with engaged shafts and small stair light; battered plinth; 1 slit opening
per panel to ground floor, 1st floor with varied openings, 2nd floor with
small bullseye to each of 1st three bays, opening of double semi-circular
headed light to 4th bay. Entrance to right to attached outside stair:
semi-circular headed doorway with side shafts, a frieze of corbels above
and a blank arcade of two arches, cornice and 2 circular openings with
grotesques as to left of east facade. North facade as south. West facade
of 4 bays articulated by ashlar pilaster strips, battered plinth, altered
blank arches in ashlar to 2nd, 3rd and 4th bays, continuous with pilaster
strips, but with ashlared forebuilding to left. Interior: floorless; in
two parts, Great Hall to north, Great Chamber to south; basement to west
of Great Hall with pier and double groined vault; service rooms above
including kitchen with circular hearth of on-edge tiles to south-west angle
having circular chimney above through angle turret. Grotesque corbels for
roof of great hall. Remains of chapel in south-east corner of 1st floor
with blank arcading to south and west wall of nave, semi-circular chancel
arch with cushion capitals to shafts and decorative mouldings; one bay
chancel with raised floor, rib vaulting having figure head bosses at
crossing, zig-zag string course below sill of east window. Forebuilding
to north-east: newel stair with ashlared walls and vault; antechamber, to
Great hall on 1st floor, semi-circular headed doorway to Great Hall of 3
orders with side shafts having cushion capitals, each supporting a zigzag
and roll moulding; doorway converted to fireplace and blocked with C15
encaustic heraldic tiles inserted c1840. 1st floor room of 2 bays with rib
vaulting springing from foliage corbels of late C13, vaulting crosses the
semi-circular headed window rear arches with attached shafts. 2nd floor
room an addition, now with internal buttresses and remains of vaulting,
cushion capital to shaft of former external clasping turret buttress of keep
now low at north-west angle; C19 fireplace to south. Bridge: across ditch
to east; revetment of various local stones and erratics, 4-centred head
in brick to arch, parapet with some brick. Gateway through rampart: roofless
in variety of local stone with limestone dressings, semi-circular arches
to front and rear, returns between arches having to left one recess and
doorway to part newel stair, to right 2 recesses, all with semi-circular
headed arches. Small length of curtain wall to south of gateway on rampart,
mainly of 14th brick with some stone, stone facings lost. Ruins of Cll Parish
church: c30m north of keep of the castle, partly within earth rampart; a
variety of local stone: rubble of carstone, Sandringham sandstone, flint
and erratics. 3-cell plan of nave, central tower and apsed chancel. Part
walls of complete plan remaining. Nave with remains of opposing south and
north doorways, low bench around nave walls, to west of south doorway part
of C16 fireplace with some herringbone brickwork. Apse with round headed
single splayed lights to north and east with Roman tiles in internal
dressings. The church was superceded by the C12 church of St. Lawrence (q.v.
6/4) c260m to north, it was subsequently covered by the castle ramparts.
Excavated in early C19 when font base said to fit the stem of font now
in church of St. Laurence was discovered. From 1331-58 the Castle was the
residence of Isabella, wife of Edward II and accomplice to his murder in
l327. The Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument Norfolk No. 3 in the care
of English Heritage, R.A. Brown Castle Rising, HMSO, 1978.