Castle review thread.

[SuburbanFarmer]

“Cliff”.

[Montegriffo]

“Cliff”.

Yes a cliff, these angles show it better.





This shot shows its height above the river.

[Montegriffo]

Off to Warkworth


Bamburgh


and Dunstanburgh today...

[Ex-California]

Scotland?

I swear I've seen Bambaugh in a surf video. On a swell that little wave in the foreground of your photo gets good

[Montegriffo]

Scotland?

I swear I've seen Bambaugh in a surf video. On a swell that little wave in the foreground of your photo gets good

Almost Scotland, Maybe 40 or 50 miles short of the border. Just left Dunstonburgh on the way to Bamburgh now.

[Montegriffo]

Damn, it's starting to feel a bit like homework having to do these reviews.

Yesterday was a good day. I hadn't planned on coming over to the Eastern side to visit Northumberland so I got some bonus castles as a benefit of coming to see my unwashed northern scum mates.
First castle of the day was Warkworth about 50 miles north of Newcastle. Once again built to subdue the border raiding skirt wearers.


Origins in the early to mid 12th century this was not defended by it's occupiers in the invasion of 1173 because of its inadequate walls and the garrison withdrew to Newcastle.
The unusual thing about this castle is its keep atop the steep motte.
First of all there's it's unique cross shape rather than the usual square.
Secondly there's the fact it was built two centuries later than the gatehouse and towers whereas the keep is usually the first stone building to go up.
Most of all this is not really a keep at all in the traditional sense as it was not built for its defensive capacity. This was not the place of last refuge that you ran to when the castle was under attack.
The great tower as it's called was built for living in and entertaining. A great hall in the centre of the building has stairwells on either side. One ran directly into two large barrel roofed wine cellars and the other into the beer cellar.
Another unusual feature of this tower is a lightwell running right down the centre. This was to let light and air into the inner chambers and doubled up as a water collector with a large stone tank at the bottom (an important feature as there is no well inside the keep). In the tank room you can see numerous ducts which channeled the water to the kitchens and garderobes (latrines).

While looking around we were treated to a falconry display and educational talk.

In keeping with my aims, Wankworth was visited in 1292 by Ed I but he didn't stay the night instead opting for the royal residence at nearby Bambrough.




Monty's tower (Montague's)


Tunnel from gate house to great tower running under what was the chapel.


lightwell







Reviews for Dunstanbourgh and Bambourgh got eaten by the dog Miss, I'll do them later after I've been to Prudhoe castle and driven back along Hadrian's wall to Cumbria.

[Montegriffo]

So...
Dunstanburgh, I think this may have been my favourite castle visit so far.



Built on a tall wedge shaped promontory with steep cliffs falling to the sea behind it there is only one direction that you can approach this castle from. The nearest car park is one and a half miles away in the nearby village so you have to walk along the coastal path for about 20 mins to get to it.
The approach rises gently at first but steepens sharply the nearer you get to it.
It's easy to imagine yourself an anxious attacker weighed down in his armour struggling up the slope getting more and more disheartened as the dominating gatehouse with its twin bastions looms larger and larger.



Because of the impossibility of attacking from the rear, protected by the sheer cliffs, all the defensive structures are at one end of the walled enclosure. The curtain wall nearest the sea has long since fallen off the cliff.




You can climb a spiral staircase to an observation point above the window on the right hand tower of the gatehouse.

The two thin structures were observation towers and you can see the now inaccesable spiral staircases rising to their tops.

Built by Earl Thomas of Lancaster between 1313 and 1322. Thomas was opposed to his cousin King Edward II and his ''special freind'' Piers Gaviscon and was an important and powerful Baron second to the King only in terms of riches and influence.
Thomas was part of the plot which captured and murdered the King's lover and was executed for treason in 1322.
Edward II was later killed by rebellious Barons disaffected by his poor leadership and his effeminacy. The method of his death is rumoured to have been a red hot poker rammed up his anus. This may have been a way to leave no visable marks on the body and a punishment for his sodomy.

Whilst not the finest castle I've seen the atsmospheric location on the rugged Northumbrian coastline and the walk up to the entrance makes it a truly awesome experience.

[Montegriffo]

Yesterday's third castle Bamburgh was not open by the time we left Dunstanburgh so we did a slow drive by and it is firmly in my list of must visit places next time I am in this part of the country.
The biggest casle I've seen yet it is in a well preserved state.

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.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamburgh_Castle

[Montegriffo]

Right, on to today's excursions...

First off Prudhoe castle.

Built in around 1080 and getting its stone keep and walls in 1200 Prudhoe guards a strategic crossing of the Tyne river and is distinguished by being the only castle on the Scottish borders never to have been taken by the Scots.
Now in ruins, it contains a Georgian residence built inside the walls next to what's left of the Norman keep. A mill pond feeding the castle's watermill sits in front of the gatehouse.



One unusual feature is a two story latrine built it the thickness of the curtain wall.

[Montegriffo]

Next a return to Hadrian's wall to Vindalanda the fort famous for the hundreds of wooden tablets found there. Containing everything from shopping lists to salacious gosip the tablets have given us an insight into everyday life in Roman Britain.







replica towers in wood and stone..