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Dolwyddelan Castle is an unusual castle in North Wales because it is one of the few that was originally constructed by the Welsh (and not the English). It is located near Dolwyddelan in the County of Conwy in North Wales. It was built in the 13th century by Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Gwynedd and North Wales, roughly between 1210 and 1240. It consisted of two rectangular towers (only one of which now remains, as shown in the photo) linked by an irregular curtain wall.
The castle was essentially a guard post along a major route through North Wales. In 1283, it was captured by the English forces of King Edward I, during his conquest of Wales. The castle was then modified and strengthened for occupation by an English garrison.
English troops maintained a military presence there until 1290. As the long-term English strategy of control in Wales developed into military and administrative centres accessible by sea, the inland castles such as Dolwyddelan became obsolete.
As a point of interest, the castle was used for the outdoor location shots of “Ulrich’s Castle” in the cinema film “Dragonslayer” (Disney/Paramount 1981). Some of the other location shots were done in the surrounding area also.
Tonbridge’s first castle was a simple fort of earth and timber, thrown up – like hundreds of others – by Norman invaders for self-protection soon after they arrived in 1066. It stood on land overlooking the Medway crossing which William the Conqueror had given to his kinsman Richard Fitzgilbert. Local labour would have been used to shift the 30,000 tonnes of earth required to form the moat and the motte – the ’castle mound’ which still survives. A wooden keep would have been built on top of the motte, with an adjacent area, the bailey (now the Castle Lawn) protected by a fence of stakes.
TOWN AND CASTLE WELL WORTH A VISIT
Bodiam Castle is a late medieval moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, UK. It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II, ostensibly to defend the area against French invasion during the Hundred Years' War. Of quadrangular plan, Bodiam Castle has no keep, having its various chambers built around the outer defensive walls and inner courts. Its corners and entrance are marked by towers, and topped by crenellations. Its structure, details and situation in an artificial watery landscape indicate that display was an important aspect of the castle's design as well as defence. It was the home of the Dalyngrigge family and the centre of the manor of Bodiam. Ownership of Bodiam passed through several generations of Dalyngrigges, until their line became extinct, when the castle passed by marriage to the Lewknor family. During the Wars of the Roses, Sir Thomas Lewknor supported the House of Lancaster, and when Richard III of the House of York became king in 1483, a force was despatched to besiege Bodiam Castle. It is unrecorded whether the siege went ahead, but it is thought that Bodiam was surrendered without much resistance. The castle was confiscated, but it was returned to the Lewknors when Henry VII of the House of Lancaster became king in 1485. Descendants of the Lewknors owned the castle until at least the 16th century. By the start of the English Civil War in 1641, Bodiam Castle was owned by John Tufton. He supported the Royalist cause, and sold the castle to help pay fines levied against him by Parliament. The castle was subsequently dismantled, and was left as a picturesque ruin until its purchase by John Fuller in 1829. Under his auspices, the castle was partially restored before being sold to George Cubitt, and later to Lord Curzon, both of whom undertook restoration projects at Bodiam. The castle is protected as a Grade I listed building and Scheduled Monument. It has been owned by The National Trust since 1925, donated by Lord Curzon on his death, and is open to the public.
Cinderella's Castle at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and yes I did remove the people from the photo, so that I could use it on a Christmas card.
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.
Conwy Castle is a medieval fortification in Conwy, on the north coast of Wales. It was built by Edward I, during his conquest of Wales, between 1283 and 1289. Constructed as part of a wider project to create the walled town of Conwy, the combined defences cost around £15,000, a huge sum for the period. Over the next few centuries, the castle played an important part in several wars. It withstood the siege of Madog ap Llywelyn in the winter of 1294–95, acted as a temporary haven for Richard II in 1399 and was held for several months by forces loyal to Owain Glyndŵr in 1401.
Following the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, the castle was held by forces loyal to Charles I, holding out until 1646 when it surrendered to the Parliamentary armies. In the aftermath the castle was partially slighted by Parliament to prevent it being used in any further revolt, and was finally completely ruined in 1665 when its remaining iron and lead was stripped and sold off. Conwy Castle became an attractive destination for painters in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Visitor numbers grew and initial restoration work was carried out in the second half of the 19th century. In the 21st century the ruined castle is managed by Cadw as a tourist attraction.
UNESCO considers Conwy to be one of "the finest examples of late 13th century and early 14th century military architecture in Europe", and it is classed as a World Heritage site.
Alnwick Castle is the second largest inhabited castle in England, the first being Windsor Castle, and has been the home of the Percys, Earls and Dukes of Northumberland since 1309. The earliest mention of Alnwick Castle in the history books appears soon after 1096 when Yves de Vescy became baron of Alnwick and erected the earliest parts of the Castle.
The Castle of Mey (formerly Barrogill Castle) and surrounding lands belonged to the Bishops of Caithness. The castle of Mey was built between 1566 and 1572, possibly on the site of an earlier fortification, by George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness. Originally a Z-plan tower house of three storeys, it had a projecting wing at the south-east, and a square tower at the north-west. The Castle passed to George Sinclair"s younger son William, founder of the Sinclairs of Mey, although it later became the seat of the Earls. The Castle"s name was changed to Barrogill, and it was extended several times, in the 17th and 18th centuries, and again in 1821 when Tudor Gothic style alterations were made, to designs by William Burn. Barrogill passed out of the Sinclair family in 1889, on the death of the 15th Earl, and in 1928 it was purchased by Captain Imbert-Terry. The Castle was used as an officers" rest home during the Second World War, and in 1950 the estate farms were sold off.
The castle was in a semi-derelict state when, in 1952, it and its policies (attached lands) were purchased by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, the widow of King George VI who had died earlier in the year. The Queen Mother set about restoring the castle for use as a holiday home, removing some of the 19th-century additions, and reinstating the Castle"s original name. She regularly visited it in August and October from 1955 until her death in March 2002, the last visit being in October 2001.
In July 1996 The Queen Mother made the property, the policies and the farm over to the Queen Elizabeth Castle of Mey Trust, which has opened the castle and garden to the public regularly since her death. It is now open in summer season.
The castle sits on a flat topped mound surrounded by steep ground on three sides, around which the approaching driveway winds, dominated by the castle above.
Wide angle view of Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire. The castle was given to the town of Kenilworth in 1958 and has been managed by English Heritage since 1984. it is a Grade I listed building.
A rare medieval red-brick castle in Tattershall, Lincolnshire, built by Ralph Cromwell.
© James Rudman. Countryside July 2010.
Ornate clock tower at Lumley Castle. Lumley Castle in County Durham is named after Sir Ralph Lumley, who converted his family manor house into a castle in the late 14th century.
It later became the residence of the Bishop of Durham, and also part of Durham University. Nowadays the castle is an elegant hotel.
Takara Castle Jenny with beautiful silver pigtails!!
the January monthly Castle doll.
My favorite Jenny ever!
The castle is best known as one of the prisons of Mary Queen of Scots, who was held here on four occasions. It was here that she became involved in the plot that ultimately led to her bloody execution at Fotheringhay
As usual with Z-plan towerhouses, the two angles of the main block that do not have large towers built off them, have angle-turrets (or bartizans) built to defend them. Notice how the centre axis of the turret is behind the axis of the wall corner, meaning that the turret is set back into the wall. The Victorians, being cleverer engineers, often aligned the two axes, so that their turrets hang further out.
One of the claims to fame of the Menzies family is that Menzies of Culdares from nearby Glen Lyon, introduced the Larch tree to Scotland!
Castle Air Museum
B-52 Panorama
The aircraft on display at Castle Air Museum is a "D" model of the Stratofortress which served on active duty from 1957 until 1982. It served with the Strategic Air Command for its entire career and saw combat in the skies over Vietnam. For a time, it was stationed at U-Tapao Air Base in Thailand and at Anderson Air Force Base, Guam. It last served with the 93rd Bomb Wing at Castle Air Force Base, Atwater, California. Located under the wing of the aircraft on display is one AGM-28 Hound Dog missile.