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This small castle in Southern Moravia was built in the 16th Century. After complete devastation in the communist era of Czech Republic, the new owner, Alessando Alagia from Italy began with reconstruction in 2008, now using the castle for weddings and cultural actions.
Sandal Castle is a ruined medieval castle in Sandal Magna, a suburb of the city of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, overlooking the River Calder. It was the site of royal intrigue, the opening of one of William Shakespeare's plays, and was the source for a common children's nursery rhyme.
Caerlaverock Castle, stronghold of the Maxwell family from the 13th Century. This is the second Caerlaverock castle, the original one was abandoned soon after building it - as it was sinking into the mud.
The stained glass in St Margaret's Chapel in Edinburgh Castle dates from 1922 and was designed by Douglas Strachan. The chapel itself dates from the 12th century and commemorates Saint Margaret of Scotland.
This, in addition to Sarventikar, is another castle that belonged to our family, who descend from Sempad von Botha, the Constable (Armenian: Սմբատ Սպարապետ, Սմբատ Գունդստաբլ - Smbat Sparapet, Smbat Gúndestabl) (1208–1276) (also Smpad and Smbat). He was an Anglo Teutonic noble, whose family had intermarried in Cilician Armenia, an older brother of King Hetoum I. He was an important figure in Cilicia, acting as a diplomat, judge, and military officer, holding the title of Constable or Sparapet, supreme commander of the Armenian armed forces. He was also a writer and translator, especially known for providing translations of various legal codes, and the creation of an important account of Cilician history, the Chronique du Royaume de Petite Armenie (Chronicle of the Kingdom of Little Armenia). He organized and fought in multiple battles, such as the Battle of Mari, and was trusted by his brother King Hetoum to be a key negotiator with the Mongol Empire. At the time of Sempad's birth there were two key dynasties in Cilicia, the Rubenids and the Hetoumids, and he was related to both. Sempad was the son of Constantine of Baberon, and Partzapert (third cousin of Leo II of Armenia). Other siblings included John the Bishop of Sis, Ochine of Korykos, Stephanie (later wife of King Henry I of Cyprus), and Hetoum, who became co-ruler in 1226.
The pend leading into the courtyard of Castle Campbell.
The Campbell Earls of Argyll used Castle Campbell as their Lowland base. As such, it was ideal. It was safe and secure, giving them protection from their many enemies, while providing them with easy access to the centres of power - Stirling, Falkland and Edinburgh.
The Earls (and later Marquises') of Argyll bowed to no man other than the king - and not always the king. They were regularly the Chancellors of Scotland as well as Regents, which meant that many great men would have entered through this pend, usually cap in hand!
John Knox came here and 'dispensed the Lord's Supper on a great occasion in 1556' in the presence of the 4th Earl.
With Father Francolon incorporating all the features he liked into the Castle, a remarkable structure with nine separate styles of architecture emerged. From the medieval, crenellated battlements at each end of the Castle, to the beautiful Gothic front door, Miramont stands as a tribute to one man's dream.
Shingle-style Queen Anne, Romanesque, English Tudor, Flemish stepped gables, domestic Elizabethan, Venetian Ogee, Byzantine, Moorish, and half-timber Chateau are used randomly throughout the four stories. For example, the Grand Staircase has two sets of windows, each in a different architectural style.
With the building stair-stepping up the mountain, the front door is on the first level and the back door is on the fourth. All floors had at least one exit to level ground. Miramont is over 14,000 square feet, has over 40 rooms, including eight-sided rooms, a sixteen sided room, a solarium which was once a conservatory greenhouse, arched doors and windows, with rarely a room with four square corners.
At the time the Francolons lived here, there was an underground tunnel leading from Montcalme Sanitarium through which the Sisters of Mercy delivered meals, and potentially there were other tunnels and escape routes, as well as hidden compartments within fireplaces. This was an era of great unrest and revolution in France, from which the Francolons emigrated, and it is believed that he built his Colorado home with this in mind.
Edlington Castle.
Couldn't help but take some quick shots of this little find. North of Alnwick this C13th Castle still stands but barely against the backdrop of beautiful Northumberland.
Copyright Sofia Hassen
Tamworth Castle, a Grade I listed building, is a Norman castle overlooking the mouth of the River Anker into the Tame in the town of Tamworth in Staffordshire, England. Before boundary changes in 1889, however, the castle was within the edge of Warwickshire while most of the town belonged to Staffordshire.
Carew Castle is low-lying, but still prominent in the flat land around the tidal reaches of the Carew river. The castle stands at the end of a ridge at a strategically excellent site commanding a crossing point of the then-still navigable river.
The modern entrance to the castle is from the east, following the medieval route through the bailey, within which lie low grassy footings of the later medieval service buildings. These were protected by a gatehouse, a wall and a massive rock-cut ditch. Excavations have shown that this ditch was in fact a recut of a much earlier one, dug as part of a defensive system cutting off the ridge in pre-Norman, perhaps Iron Age times.
It is first mentioned in 1212, when for some reason, King John seized it for a short time when passing through Pembroke on his Irish expedition. By this time it is probable that the first stone structure, the Old Tower, had been built to protect the original castle entrance. The castle remained in the hands of the influential Carew family who built, in various phases, the strong medieval castle that stands today. Its history, however, was without major incident until about 1480, when Sir Edmund Carew disposed of it to Rhys ap Thomas. Rhys, basking in the gratitude of King Henry VII for the support he had given him after his landing at Milford Haven, was able to spend significant sums on the castle, and set about converting it into a home worthy of an influential Tudor gentleman. It was he who built the gatehouse which leads from the bailey into the outer ward of the castle.
From this small, square gatehouse, there is a fine view of the outside of the inner ward. The early 13th-century 'Old Tower' is abutted on the north by the late 13th-century hall and polygonal, projecting chapel tower; the rounded end of the Elizabethan wing lies beyond on the north corner. To the south lie the early 14th-century gatehouse and the late 13th-century south-east tower. Rhys ap Thomas later heightened some parts and much of the battlemented top is in fact his rather less-than-serious military work. The main gate to the inner ward is surprisingly unsophisticated; only an outer door, five murder holes in the vault above, an inner door with no less than three bar-holes and a portcullis.
The castle in the late 13th and early 14th century was in the hands of Sir Nicholas de Carew, who constructed many of the stone buildings which surround the small, compact inner ward. On the east (right) side is the ruinous three-storey tower in the corner which may have been balanced by a similar tower on the north-east, removed by a later Tudor wing. The early first-floor hall, built over a vaulted basement, and a fine projecting chapel tower, still stand intact. The fine windows on this courtyard side and the ornate fireplace inside the hall are the work of Sir Rhys ap Thomas. The chapel was housed on the first floor of the semi-octagonal chapel tower and has an attractive cross-ribbed vaulted ceiling, and a piscina and an aumbry (cupboard) on either side of the east window. Above the chapel was a private room.
The curtain wall on the south side was slighted after the Civil War and much of the present wall is modern. The early 14th-century western range consists of the Great Hall and two projecting towers, one at each corner. The Great Hall occupied the full length of the building at first-floor level over vaulted ground-floor storage rooms, which are now ruinous and open to the sky. The hall had a minstrels' gallery on the south, a fine series of windows and two fireplaces. Rhys ap Thomas confined his additions here to the oriel window on the north, and, on the south, the rich three-storied porch over the steps which lead into the hall. On the porch are the arms of Henry VII, of Arthur, prince of Wales, and of Arthur's wife, Catherine of Aragon, (right) probably put there as a courtesy to the royal family who attended a great tournament held by Rhys at the castle in 1507. This splendid and costly event was undoubtedly one of the most lavish entertainments in the history of Wales.
Castle. 1068, C12, C13, C14, C19. Restored C20. Built for William I. Coursed and squared stone and herringbone rubble, with ashlar dressings and slate roofs. PLAN: quadrangular curtain wall, east gateway and lodges, observatory tower, Lucy Tower (keep), west gate, Cobb Hall (north-east angle tower). EXTERIOR: restored curtain wall has a crenellated parapet and wall walk. East gateway, C11, extended C14, has a restored double chamfered gateway and above, semicircular tourelles, each with a doorway. Between them, a pointed wall. Under the entrance arch, a C11 tunnel vault. Inside the gateway, a pair of crenellated mid C19 lodges in the form of a barbican. Semicircular western ends, 2 storeys, each with 3 stone mullioned double lancets on each floor, with hoodmoulds. Between them, a pointed archway with crenellated crest. On the north wall inside the gateway, a reset canted C15 oriel window with 3 ogee headed lancets and crocketed pinnacles, from a house in the High Street opposite St Mary's Guildhall. Square observatory tower, C11, to south-east, has C14 eastern additions and extensive mid C19 remodelling. String course, corbelled and crenellated C19 parapets, single lancet windows. West side has a garderobe shaft in the form of a buttress, flanked to left by a pointed doorway with a lancet above it. East side has square corner towers. South side has sham arrow slits. Above, to east, a chamfered pointed doorway and a similarly chamfered ogee headed doorway, C14. In the south-west corner, a C19 round tower with stepped rectangular lights. To the south, the motte and Lucy Tower, late C12, restored C19. Roofless. Polygonal plan with string course, plain buttresses, and consolidated parapet. Projecting north-eastern gateway with billeted round arched outer opening and segmental inner opening with hoodmould. South-western minor entrance has a segmental head. To the south-west, a small roofless chamber. Square west gatehouse, C11, rebuilt 1233, has a blocked round headed opening with an inserted doorway flanked by the remains of barbican walls. Above, 2 slit windows and a blocked access doorway to the right. Cobb Hall, C13, reduced in height and remodelled C19, has a semicircular outer face with slit windows, and a square inner face with a chamfered doorway flanked by single slit windows. Crenellated parapet. EH Listing
Alnwick Castle was the location for many of the scenes in Harry Potter - flying broomsticks and all that. A fantastic place to visit. So many of our castles are ruins - it was nice to go to one that was still in such good condition.