Dunstanburgh is great for the walk from Craster
Beaumaris for being the most advanced concentric castle.
Castle Rushen for being almost all intact.
Caerlaverock for being triangular
Love Charles Fort, but Wales smashes it when it comes to castles. I vote Pembroke
On the subject of castles I heard a podcast with the author of this book about historic buildings and the myths surrounding them. Interesting.
https://triskeleheritage.triskelepublishing.com/historic-building-mythbusting-by-james-wright/
Windsor
Bodium
Cary
Mowcop Castle
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Llanstephan has a lovely setting
It certainly has. I holidayed at Llanstephan a few times with my folks and I loved walking up to the castle and sitting on the remaining wall on the seaward side, it’s just high enough to sit on and have your feet on the grass outside. I used to watch A-10’s doing practice strafing runs on the Pembrey ranges, I could see the smoke from the cannon, then a sound like a sheet of corrugated steel being ripped in half, and on the other side Dylan Thomas’ boat house at Laugharne. I had my first car by that time, a ‘54 split-screen Morris Minor, which I’d drive over to Pendine Sands.
Local - Clitheroe
British - Dunstanburgh
French - Pierrefonds
Just for something s bit different this is Grianan of Aileach (aka Greenan Fort) in Co Donegal. It's my favourite as I could see it from my bedroom window when I was a kid, and we used to mess around on the terraces and climb through the long wall tunnels.
Haha, Mow Cop is ace, was my local castle growing up. Favourite proper castle is also local - Beeston Castle. Loved going there on school trips.
Goodrich.
It's proper castle shaped, looks like the thing you have in your head when you think medieval British castle, and is mostly accessible, so you can have a proper "knights of the round table" experience
Krak De Chevalier
I mean, what's not to like, look at the thing. Even the name is cool.
Edo Castle
The picture is actual just a part of the Edo complex (Fujimi Yagura) which covered acres and acres, and must have been astonishing to behold
Castell Carreg Cennen is really pretty good.
Came to say the same, it gets extra points for having a cave inside where you can walk down to reach an underground spring, very useful under siege. It was also accidentally sold as part of a nearby farm sale and their decendents still own it today.
Chepstow.
Orford.
Pix later 🙂
Can't beat a good hill fort or even a Roman camp. (Caerwent)
Dunnottar Castle on a cloudy misty day, that pic above looks photoshopped to me , maybe not as the occasional sunny day has been known in Stonehaven
Christchurch
Corfe Castle in Dorset. Brings back memories of happy childhood holidays and the odd audax that goes past it.
onehundredthidiotFull Member
Hermitage castle because it’s a proper fortress.
That is impressive!
Edo Castle
The picture is actual just a part of the Edo complex (Fujimi Yagura) which covered acres and acres, and must have been astonishing to behold
Ye-es, but the signs around it all say "this section burned down in 1635 and was rebuilt in 1638. It burned down again in 1642 and was rebuilt in 1643. It burned down again in 1654 and was rebuilt... (etc)" - so it maybe wasn't the best at being an actual castle!
My castle-love comes from primary school history classes, which mainly focused on the early sort (motte and bailey) and then bashed straight into the concentric castles mainly found in Wales for suppressing the revolting locals.
So Beaumaris is the daddy. Conwy is a personal favourite just because living in the NW we used to go past it fairly regularly. Caernarfon is pretty good too.
Also shout out to Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, built in the 12th Century in the middle of the desert. Hot as balls, but really pretty cool
@harry_the_spider you need to get yourself on to here https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/holiday-cottages/find-a-holiday-cottage/callies-cottage/
You get a key to the castle and get to be there overnight, Pendennis is good, but the best over night stay is carrisbrooke on the Isle of Wight https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/holiday-cottages/find-a-holiday-cottage/bowling-green-apartment/ It was ace riding my bike round the castle after hours!
Corfe Castle in Dorset.
There used to be a round of the SAMS (Southern Area Mountain Bike Series) there. Spectacular course with an absolute ripper of a descent off the rolling grassy hill. Terrifyingly fast, the hill dropped away at about the same rate as the bike would drop after getting air off the rollers, the result being you'd be off the ground for what felt like ages.
Castle Coefinn, Lismore
https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6895425
I am told that the Game of Thrones location scouts were interested but the locals were not having it.
Nottingham Castle is also a shit castle. It’s supposed to be all Robin Hood and dastardly sheriff and it’s actually a manor house built in the late 1800’s – admittedly on the site of the famed Norman castle but not remotely castle-like.
On which subject - Lindisfarne - castle on the outside, Roaring Twenties party pad on the inside.
Pretentious selection - Helsingor (Elsinore) Castle in DK-land.
Well, Blarney is a solid 3/10. They really have milked a "visitor experience" out of it.
Rochester is way more spectacular.
New
Upon Tyne or Under Lyme?
Barnard, for me
The North East of Scotland has some great castles, and some mansions with turrets on top too. I was going to suggest Dunottar but someone got there first.
I'm not sure I'd call it a favourite but I stayed near Skenfrith Castle a couple of years ago and I had a great time wandering around it on a sunny afternoon.
I like Pembroke Castle mainly because of the memories of my kids running around on the massive map!
Sorn. For no reason other than my son is getting married there on Saturday. https://sorncastle.com/
He used to work for the family that built Castel Coch up there on page 1, and while he was doing so met his bride to be. He then managed the Sorn Castle and Estate for a while.
Stirling.
A proper castle: pivotal role in much of Scottish history, guarding the lowest crossing point of the River Forth, and Europe's largest medieval banqueting hall.
Makes me go "wow" every morning on my morning dog walk.
maine XXXX
Here are mine
Rhuddlan Castle - Round the corner from where I grew up. More history than some of the more famous bigger castles down the coast.
Denbigh Castle - because with its town walls it is huge, but completely missed by everyone heading to Conwy and Caernarfon
Castell y Brere - surrounded by towering mountains (inc Cader Idris), miles from anywhere, and built by the Welsh not English. It feels like not just the castle was abandoned, but the valley it sits in was abandoned as well, to just a couple of farms.
Maiden Castle, the size is truly without taking into account how old it is and that it must have all been hand dug
I spent a lot of time working at Windsor Castle, so that ranks quite highly for me. Definitely a "show castle", but walking out past the Round Tower in the wee small hours of a freezing foggy winter morning is very evocative. Plus just being allowed to do the stuff we used to do there makes it pretty special.
In a similar vein - did a gig at Sterling Castle - dinner in the Hall, followed by a scottish marching band in the courtyard outside lit by flaming torches.
We spent a week living in Clytha Castle (Landmark Trust property) with the inlaws when my nephew was tiny and the MIL was terminally ill, but still functional. That has good memories. A toy castle, but fun to experience.
In terms of "proper" ones, the north/west coastal welsh ones have always done it for me. Caenarvon, Conway, Beaumaris, Harlech.
I think I prefer ruined castles to intact ones. Many of the intact ones are fairly gentrified inside and I think the fun I had as a kid running around ruined ones and getting into imaginary swordfights makes them the winners for me.
I haven't been to Raglan Castle, but I nearly went on a recent holiday and looking at some pictures of it I reckon I should definitely go there at some point:
Castle Sween as I grew up a mile from it as a kid, good memories of the area, and also MacLellans Castle in the centre of my town where I also grew up as a kid (and still live in town)
Castle Sween, oldest castle on Scottish mainland
