Paramahansa Yogananda

On May bank holiday Saturday, a last-minute decision led us to visit Caernarfon Castle. We had initially intended to have lunch in Caernarfon but as we travelled along the A55 we remembered my recent purchase, a book called ‘The Extra Mile’, which leads the traveller of the motorway and bland service station catering to nearby independent cafes and farm shops. Our journey was a last-minute decision so I didn’t pick the book up as we left but I remembered the book has a website. From there we were able to find the delightful Betty Berkins coffee shop which is situated near Holywell in the middle of nowhere.

The coffee shop looked rather small from the outside, but like ‘The Tardis’ it is bigger on the inside! We knew it was going to be good when we were asked if we had booked. We were seated on a cosy table by a window and when the food arrived, we weren’t disappointed. Comfortably replete we re-joined the A55 and continued on our journey to Caernarfon.

We enjoyed the newly installed viewing platform (the reason for our visit), which allows disabled access to the roof area and the spectacular views that can be seen from that height. Despite the easy access we did encounter one of the very narrow spiral staircases that I remembered from our previous visit, many years ago. Not a pleasant experience for me, it was a bit like looking down off the top of a cliff.

Feet firmly back at ground level we enjoyed a refreshing alfresco drink in the afternoon sunshine. The hawk display added to our experience as we watching it fly backwards and forwards, sometimes settling on the low roof above us. On one occasion, much to the surprise of its handler the hawk deciding to land on the head of someone near to him.

We then visited The Royal Welsh Fusilier Museum which is situated within two towers within the castle. The museum is very informative and we spent a longer time than expected, causing us to rush the later parts of the museum before it closed for the day.

We set off home via the scenic route through Snowdonia, intending to stop off for an evening meal on the way home. The timings didn’t quite work which led to us dining in our local Miller & Carter instead.

Barnard Castle in Teesdale is a historic market town which takes its name from the castle around which it grew. The castle, an English Heritage property, was named after its 12th Century founder, Bernard de Balliol, and was later developed by Richard III whose boar emblem is carved above a window in the inner ward. The church of St Mary’s benefited from the patronage of the king with much work carried out including the founding of a chantry. The chancel arch bears corbels with the portraits of Richard and Edward IV and there is a carved boar beside the east window of the south transept.

The castle looks down to the tumultuous River Tees below, popular with canoeists, anglers and for riverside walks along the Teesdale Way, Deepdale and Flatts Wood.

Although badged as a castle, Hampton Court is more accurately described as a fortified manor house. Access to the house is by guided tour and we were shown round by the housekeeper who gave us a potted history of the house and the various owners of the property.

Hampton Court has been standing among pastures and parkland beside the River Lugg for 600 years. The original manor house – of which substantial parts remain – was built by Sir Rowland Lenthall on land that was a wedding gift from King Henry IV when he married the king’s cousin, Margaret Fitzalan. Rowland fought under Henry V at Agincourt. Our Herefordshire Hampton Court is nearly a century older than the other with the same name. ‘The powerful Coningsby family bought the house from the Lenthalls and stayed here for 300 years, extending and changing it. In the nineteenth century it was bought by Richard Arkwright, son of the famous inventor and industrialist. Richard’s son John, carried out another ambitious remodelling of the house. The family stayed there until 1912.

In the twentieth century it passed through various hands and much of the original furniture was sold. It was rescued in the 1990s by the American millionaire, Robert Van Kampen, who furnished it magnificently according to his idea of how an English country manor should look. It was sold again after his death.*

Adjacent to the house is the orangery (seen to the left in the above photograph) where sandwiches, cakes and light lunches are served. We were spoilt for choice and the food was delicious.

The gardens which are stunning have been recently redesigned as they had fallen into disrepair over the years. There are several different areas to the garden which include; Flower gardens enclosed by the original victorian walls, kitchen garden, moated pavilions, Wisteria Walk, herbaceous borders, yew maze, sunk garden and dutch garden.

The water features in the garden are fed by the river Lugg to where the water is returned after it reaches the final water feature in the water circuit, the sunk garden.

These photographs were taken during my visit in June. There a few photographs of the gardens in July on the Hampton Court website.

*From the Hampton Court promotional leaflet

Kenilworth Castle stands on a low hill that was once at the heart of a 1,600 hectare (4,000 acre) park and surrounded by a vast man-made lake. The spectacular ruins, built mostly from the local red sandstone, reveal much of its medieval and Tudor past.

The castle is approached from the south by a causeway that acted initially as a dam for a lake (the mere) and later also as a tiltyard (jousting arena). At its outer end are the remains of the Gallery Tower, which guarded the entrance and later served as a spectators’ gallery for the tiltyard. Beyond is a large defensive earthwork known as the Brays.

At the further end of the causeway is Mortimer’s Tower, the main medieval entrance to the castle. It was built as part of King John’s ring of stone defences for the outer bailey between about 1210 and 1215, in front of a simpler, 12th-century gatehouse. Even in their ruined form, both gatehouses are remarkable survivals.

The outer curtain wall to the west and south has many buttresses but only two towers – Mortimer’s Tower at the south-east angle and the Swan Tower at the north-west. The north curtain wall was deliberately destroyed during the Civil War to make the castle indefensible, and only Lunn’s Tower at the north-east angle survives. To the east, between Lunn’s Tower and Mortimer’s Tower, is the semi-octagonal Water Tower.

Within the castle, on the higher ground to the west, lies the inner court, which is now enclosed by buildings on three sides. The apartments that formerly closed the inner court to the east, ‘King Henry’s Lodgings’, no longer survive.

On the north side is the massive sandstone keep or great tower, the defensive heart of the castle as well as the main residence during the 12th century. The two main floors were probably built in the 1120s, most of the top stage being added by King John about 1210–15. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, introduced the large grid windows on the first floor in about 1570–71 to light a great room for entertaining. The north wall was demolished in 1649–50. On the west side is the forebuilding, which Dudley remodelled as an approach to the privy garden (see below).

To the west of the forebuilding is the magnificent sweep of buildings constructed from 1371 by John of Gaunt. His great hall is the centrepiece, an architectural masterpiece intended to convey his princely status and aspirations. The interior has vast traceried windows and a huge bay, and originally had no fewer than six fireplaces. The walls are decorated with stone panelling and would have displayed prized tapestries.

To the right are the remains of the kitchen, twice the size of a normal aristocratic kitchen, and the Strong Tower, which housed larders and lodgings. At the south end of the great hall are the Saintlowe Tower and the site of the state apartments. The apartments, which were on the first floor, are now lost, but their elegant entrance oriel survives.

At the east end of the state apartments and juxtaposed with the great tower to the north is the four-storey block known as Leicester’s Building, constructed by Robert Dudley in 1571–2 specifically to accommodate the queen during her progresses through the country. Elizabeth I used the building in 1572 and again in 1575. The block featured large glazed windows with superb views, huge fireplaces, and a luxuriously decorated and furnished chamber for dancing, a passion shared by Elizabeth and Dudley.

The rest of the castle’s interior, the outer court, is divided into three areas: the left-hand court, running south-west around the inner court; the right-hand court, north-west of the inner court; and the base court, stretching north from Mortimer’s Tower. Within the base court are the 16th-century stables built by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, and an early 14th-century collegiate chapel.

Leicester’s Gatehouse, built by Robert Dudley on the north side of the base court, provided a grand new entrance to the castle, and gave access via a long bridge to the hunting ground created by Dudley north of the mere. After the Civil War, the building was converted into a residence, using stonework and interiors from elsewhere in the castle.

Clun castle was built in the late 11th century to proclaim Norman dominance over this part of the Welsh Marches. It later became home to the Fitzalans, and important ruling family.

After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the border between Wales and England remained an usettled area. William the Conqueror granted lands here to his followers to defend the border. These men became the powerful marcher lords, ruling their lands independently of royal control.

One of them, Picot de Say, is thought to have built the castle, high on a natural spru guarding the Clun valley. In 1155, the castle passed by marriage of Isabella de Say to William Fitzalan, and was owned by the powerful Fitzalan family for the next 400 years.

Clun was at the centre of a vast lordship know as the honour of Clu, over which the Fitzalans excercised unlimited authority, administering a mixture of Welsh and English law.*

*From a signboard by the castle remains

All that remains of the original furnishings is an older masonry altar slab and an altar stone.

On the altar stone sits a priceless treasure, a stone Pieta carved in the characteristic delicate style of the chivalric Gothic period of the second decade of the 15 century, which has unfortunately lost its original polychromatic covering and has been completely cleaned. It was in all probability brought here from a village pilgrimage church consecrated to the Virgin Mary, while a renaissance altar extension from 1645 has disappeared.*

*From Predjamski Grad (Predjama Castle) by Dr. Ivan Stoper

Hay Castle is currently in need of a little TLC…

Hay Castle is very much under threat. The castle and manor are in desperate need of conservation to prevent further deterioration. The Norman keep is unstable and unsafe for entry. The famed archway is impassible. The east wing of the Jacobean manor remains roofless and derelict, and its decorated stone walls are collapsing.*

History

Hay Castle is one of the great medieval structures on the border of England and Wales. Built in the late 12th century by the powerful Norman Lord William de Braose, its history is long and turbulent. The castle was sacked by Llewelyn II, the last prince of Wales, in 1233 and rebuilt by Henry III. Centuries of turmoil followed until the 15th century, when the castle passed into the hands of the Beaufort Estates. Castle House, a Jacobean mansion, was built alongside the tower in 1660.

The remains of the castle include a four-story keep and a beautiful arched gateway. The multi-gabled Jacobean manor was severely  damaged by fire in 1939 and again in 1977. Owned by bibliophile Richard Booth since the 1960’s, the site was purchased in 2011 by the Hay Castle Trust.*

*Hay Castle Trust

Once  Old Sarum was a major centre of government but all that remains today are the great earth banks and ruined remains of the former buildings.

Uniquely, it combines evidence for a royal castle and cathedral within in a massive Iron Age fortification. During the century and a half when its castle and cathedral coexisted, Old Sarum was a major centre of government.

The earliest fortification was probably raised around 400 BC. Following the arrival of the Romans, Old Sarum begins to feature in recorded history as Sorviodunum, and it was intermittently occupied during the Middle Ages, when its formidable defences became an advantage during the Danish wars of the early 11th century.

However ; it was William the Conqueror’s decision in about 1070 to build a castle in the middle of the old earthworks that was to transform the site. He effectively divided the old hillfort in two, creating an inner set of fortifications which became home to a complex of towers, halls and apartments, and a huge outer enclosure or bailey. The hillfort was also chosen as the site for the new cathedral, and under Old Sarum’s most powerful and influential bishop, Roger (1102-39), both castle and cathedral were rebuilt on a grand scale.

Yet neither castle nor cathedral remained occupied for long. In 1220 the cathedral was moved to Salisbury, in the valley below, and only a handful of people continued to live within the castle or ramparts beyond about 1400. Old Sarum lived on, however, and as a notorious ‘rotten borough’ it continued to elect members of parliament until 1832.*

Standing on top of the earthworks provides an excellent view of Salisbury Cathedral formerly known as New Sarum.

* Introduction to the English Heritage Old Sarum guidebook