 |
CastleUK Blog
April 2009 |
The blog page, a place where I can record and then archive my monthly updates and what's new in our hunt for castles UK.
This months castles are from Brecknockshire and Herefordshire and there only 10 miles apart.
March, its time to go castle hunting, somewhere new, in Wales and the Marches, to fill our boots and we did just that, a list of castles as long as my arm, how many can you see in three days, we hunted down 29, without the rain, we would have got more. I hate the rain, it just stops you in your castle hunting tracks, it's ok at first, stop in the Smart, nip out when there's a break, trouble is my camera got a big len, it's hard to keep the water off it, you can't get the pictures you want, when you have to keep your back to the rain. After a couple of hours dodging the drops, your wet and then its time to throw the towel in, go back to Hay-on-Wye and then to the hotel. We stopped in the Baskerville Arms in Clyro, where there is of course a castle, the Baskervilles were related to the Dukes of Normandy and first came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066. Arthur Conan Doyle was a family friend of the builder of Baskerville Hall and he learnt of the local legend of the hounds of the Baskervilles, which he translated into probably the most famous case for his celebrated detective Sherlock Holmes.
In the middle of the month, Grand Designs on Channel 4 went back to Hellifield Peel, a castle we know very well. I like to think that up to press, this peel is CastleUk's one and only success story, which all started in 2007 when we went castle hunting in and around Skipton. So after visiting the market and the castle in Skipton, we went see find the ruin of Hellifield Peel, only to find it had windows and a roof but we didn't know why. Soon an email from Grand Designs cleared up the mystery, it asked if we knew of any castles that owners wanted to restore and they also told us about the peel. When the peel was shown on TV, my page got a ton of hits and so did my link to there website which was new and nowhere to be seen in a Google search. I emailed them to wish fellow castle hunters a big thank you for there work saving a castle and Karen emailed me back, saying she would give us a tour next time we where in the area. When they opened as a B & B in July 2007, we made them wallpaper of the month and did all we could to help, later in the year Karen gave us our tour and the place inside and out is exceptional, the view from the top is to die for. For the last couple of weeks my page as been red hot again but now there website is first and CastleUk is second in a Google Hellifield Peel search, so our work is done here and the only thing we were going to do, is stop there in November but on checking again, I see there now just about full booked for the rest of the year, the power of TV, so that's one thing for us to do next year but I'll book early this time!!
Click on the pictures, for more information. |
|
Farleigh Hungerford Castle, OS 173/ST 801-576 Somerset England, is this months wallpaper, its my Easter wallpaper and I like the picture to include a church or this time a castle chapel.
The picture was taken in early September 2008, when we visited The Shambles Victorian village in Newent, Gloucestershire and couldn't miss hunting down a couple of castles. I was standing on the foundations of the inner bailey curtain wall and the view is of the chapel of St Leonard, with the remains of the inner gatehouse to the fore, with the two storey outer East Gate behind. Crowded with fine family monuments and bedecked with wall-paintings, the chapel stands above a crypt where the lead coffins of 16th and 17th century Hungerfords are still visible. These have 'death masks' of the deceased indented into them and are probably the best examples of their type in Britain. |
|
Hay Tump, OS 148/SO 226-422 Brecknockshire Wales, is a late 11th or early 12th century earthwork motte and bailey fortress and was probably founded by William Revel, a knight of Bernard Neufmarché. The circular, flat-topped motte is well-preserved but its summit was disturbed for World War II civil defence and the site of the bailey is the levelled north-eastern platform, which is now partly a car park. The site is visible from the road. Nice little, good looking motte here and you can get a good view of it. The trouble I had was rain, tried for three days to get a picture, in the end I just went for it, rain spots on the camera len and all. |
|
Hay Castle, OS 148/SO 229-423 Brecknockshire Wales, is an 11th century earth and timber ringwork fortress and was probably founded by William fitz Osbern. The small knoll, crowned by an oval rampart, was scarped to create steeper sides, Bernard Neufmarché may have founded the stone castle in the early 12th century, when adding the free-standing four storey residential keep, built to protect the northern entrance of the timber palisade. The site is visible from the road. In the middle of the town of books and the castle is part of Hay Castle Bookshop, I believe that if you ask, you can look round the site but with the rain, we said we'll look tomorrow but tomorrow never comes, we'll look next time. |
|
Clifford Castle, OS 148/SO 243-456 Herefordshire England, is a substantial 11th century earthwork motte and bailey fortress, founded by William fitz Osbern. Standing on a cliff above a fording point on the River Wye, Walter de Clifford founded the stone castle in the early 13th century. The site is a private residence, with no public access and is only visible from the road. Entry is by appointment only and you must first write to the castle to request a visit but there are very good views from the roads, which is all we did. Do you want a super looking castle, that's just up your street, big earthwork motte and bailey, with stone to boot, yes, yes, yes, its well worth the time you spend drooling, from afar. |
|
Huntington Castle, OS 148/SO 248-538 Herefordshire England, is either a late 12th or early 13th century earthwork motte and bailey or an earth and timber ringwork and bailey fortress, founded by William de Braose. In 1228, Reginald de Braoses founded the stone castle when adding a keep and the mound may be its buried remains. The site is freely accessible in daylight hours, park by the Village Hall and the castle is opposite. Although there is a village hall, what they mean to say is middle of nowhere, which is great. Straight out of the Smart and in, luckily some of the trees had been pruned back so the site was easy to view. This is another great site, may be better that Clifford, it's smaller but you can see and touch everything, even a few drops of rain didn't stop us going round and round and round, castle hunting at its best. |
|
