This is the place where I record and then archive my monthly updates and what's new in our hunt for castles UK.

In December I was behind with the website, well it was Christmas, so to catch here's a couple of December bits from the CastleUK Facebook page.
We had a great 2 night stop in the Talbot Hotel, Oundle, with a visit to the Abbey Precinct at Peterborough, 2 fortified sites near Helpston and Fotheringhay Castle, famous as the birthplace of King Richard III in 1452 and the trial and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.
The New Street and inner courtyard facades of the Talbot, which is one of Britain's most haunted hotels, were rebuilt with stone from Fotheringhay Castle in 1630 and the stone mullion windows and timber staircase overlooking the inner courtyard are, reputedly, also from the castle. The staircase is believed to have been used by Mary Queen of Scots when descending to her execution at the castle on 8 February 1587. We stayed in the Mary, Queen of Scots room at the top of the staircase and the Castle Stopper did hear a sigh. Oundle is a nice little town with a good Thursday market, if you need to hunt around Peterborough the Talbot is the place to stay.
Well after finding the site of the Battle of Bosworth 1485 and then King Richard III himself, Sir Tony Baldrick Robinson with Channel 4's Time Team goes and finds the site of the Battle of Hastings 1066. Like Bosworth which was fought on a Roman road, it all makes sense the one thing you need when moving an army are roads, the programme used aerial technology called LIDAR to map the terrain at Battle, it showed the traditional site would have been too boggy for the Norman cavalry. The Normans would have taken the road along the ridge, now the A2100, if they were going to head north and within that there was a narrow pass, where Harold could have built his shield wall. So on the mini roundabout, 100m east of Battle Abbey's precinct wall is where the battle took place, Time Team claims Harold fell at this site but after fighting all day it could still be the traditional Battle Abbey site. The rise in ground up to the mini roundabout is the site of the Battle of Hastings, like Bosworth, any old hill will no longer do and a new picture of the battle site is on my to do list.

For more information, click on the pictures or the Facebook link