When is a castle not a castle? Well, it depends on its purpose. Take the Queen’s royal residences, of which she has a few. Her official ones include Buckingham Palace, Holyrood Palace and Windsor castle. The latter is definitely a castle – started in the 11th century by William the Conquer and built up over […]
Today, less about a specific castle and more about three P’s – the portcullis, privy and pele tower. Portcullis is a grilled door made from iron clad wood, usually oak. Invented by the Romans in 200s BC and incorporated into castles in the 12th century. In later developments, the portcullis was linked to the drawbridge, […]
I’ve shifted to the east coast and Orford Ness, which is a spit of land mainly made up of shingle. As well as hosting a lighthouse, there’s a castle. The castle has a distinct design – three rectangular towers triangulating a circular keep – and was built by Henry II in 1173. The castle is […]
The year after William the Conqueror’s invasion in 1066, he ordered the construction of Nottingham castle. The wooden structure was replaced with stone in Henry II’s reign. Close to the royal hunting grounds of Tideswell, known as the King’s Larder, and Sherwood Forest, which has of course been made famous by Robin Hood Whether Robin […]
Who hasn’t built a sandcastle on a beach? Well, if you’re like me, when you do, you dig out a circle and pile the sand high, then when the tide rises, you watch the little circular ditch fill with water. Eventually, the castle disintegrates, eroded by the waves. When the Normans brought along their motte […]
Leeds Castle isn’t in Leeds. Nor is it anywhere near Yorkshire. It sits in the middle of Kent. The name of the castle originates from the Saxon chief who owned the land – Leed, who built a wooden structure. Then, like so many fortifications, it changed numerous times over the centuries. The castle turned to […]
Yesterday I briefly visited Kenilworth for a joust, today I’m back again for my letter K. Kenilworth is jam packed with history and famed for two notable inhabitants: John of Gaunt and Robert Dudley. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and a son of Edward III, took ownership of the castle and constructed a great […]
I’ve picked something a little different for J. Not a castle itself, but something associated with castles of the medieval period – Jousts. You might have seen the movie The Knight’s Tale, starring the late Heath Ledger, and the modern retelling of the chivalrous world of jousts and Chaucer. The backdrop of the tiltyard, the […]
The letter I almost drew a blank on my castle hunt. None in England or Wales, however, much to my delight, I discovered Scotland has Inverurie Bass, which is the remains of a Norman motte and bailey. I’d no idea that the Norman design of castle reached so far north. Inverurie is NW of Aberdeen […]
There is this romantic perspective of castles. We can probably blame Disneyland for the illusion: the image of a castle is often of rings of walls, towers and a great keep occupying the centre. The reality is not quite the same. Castles were constructed over huge timeframes – centuries. They often changed hands, past from […]
The Quiet Writer 