Dunnottar Castle (Scottish castle)
Stonehaven, Grampian, stands on a real dream of a castle site – a hard red rock full with a variety of large pebbles and rocks like raisins in a fruitcakephoto… Read More »Dunnottar Castle (Scottish castle)
cromwell
Montagu Palace (Beaulieu Abbey) & Beaulieu Abbey Church
Formerly the 14th century Great Gatehouse of Beaulieu Abbey, Palace House is set in glorious grounds and gardens with immaculate spreading lawns and walkways overlooking the Beaulieu River. The House… Read More »Montagu Palace (Beaulieu Abbey) & Beaulieu Abbey Church
Dirleton Castle (UK)
Lothian, Scotland, ruins of a romantic castle; destroyed in 1650; fine gardens Dirleton Castle is one of the few proper Medieval Castles still remaining today which most people would consider… Read More »Dirleton Castle (UK)
The Berkeley Castle
Gloucestershire, after 850 years still remains the home of the Berkeley family who gave name to various places from Berkeley Square in London to Berkeley University in California; a Norman… Read More »The Berkeley Castle
Bishop’s Waltham Palace
Bishop’s Waltham, Southampton, Hampshire
The last Bishop of Winchester to reside at Bishop’s Waltham left in a dung cart disguised as a farm labourer! He was escaping from Oliver Cromwell’s troops after unsuccessfully defending his palace, which was torn down and never rebuilt. Bishop’s Waltham was at the peak of its importance during the medieval period when it was the seat of the bishops of Winchester.
The palace once stood in an enormous park of some 10,000 acres. Most of the remains to be seen today date from the 12th and 14th centuries. There are substantial parts of the Great Hall and three-storey tower, and the moat which once surrounded the palace can be seen in places. A brick wall which once encircled the palace is still in place. Nearby is the abbot’s fish pond. Conservation is now complete on part of the north-east range of guest rooms, latterly a farmhouse. Inside is an exhibition on the history of Bishop’s Waltham Palace. Bishops Waltham Palace
Aberystwyth Castle
In the marvellous sweep of Cardigan Bay stand the ruins of one of Edward I’s late 13th century castles. Of the seven major English strongholds he established in Wales, Aberystwyth has fared least favourably in the survival stakes. Now little more than a few fragmented chunks of masonry displayed in a well-kept public park, the castle has lost its imposing hold on the town.
At one time guarded by one of the largest Iron Age forts in West Wales, Aberystwyth has been a place of strategic importance throughout history. The first Norman castle, built on a site further south, was begun by Gilbert de Clare but this has long since disappeared, having been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times during 200 years of political and family feuding. When Edward I begun his castle in 1277, it was a magnificent lozenge-plan concentric building of two stone curtain enclosures, flanked by sturdy round towers. Each curtain had a twin-towered gatehouse, the smaller outer gate leading to a barbican, and the inner gatehouse a substantial fortress with domestic accommodation. Excavations have revealed that a great hall stretched from this gatehouse to the south tower of the inner curtain, some 60ft long (18.3m) and 42ft wide (12.8m).