MegaSack DRAW - 6pm Christmas Eve - LIVE on our YouTube Channel
We’re off on holiday to North Wales next week, so armed with our English Heritage cards we can get into the Welsh castles for nowt! This has got me thinking about my favourite castle.
After careful consideration I think it has to be Beaumaris, for its sheer brutal military presence.
Not a castle to be messed with. There are a hundred ways to end up dead before you even get to the door, and a hundred more if you manage to get through. An untouchable projection of force.
The 13th century equivalent of this.
I also like Bodrum because it is in a beautiful setting and Dover because it looks so grand that Hitler insisted that it wasn’t damaged during the war, a foolish decision tactically as a good portion of Royal Navy intelligence was hiding in it with binoculars, radios and maps, plotting and scheming.
What’s your favourite and why?
Roy?
Roy
Favourite castle? Aren't they all much the same? (apart from Roy of course)
I used to get into beaumaris for free as i lived nearby
trully awesome place and a very clever design using high tide as the only way in
.
since i see this everyday (view when i turn my head to the right) it could be one mine. sadly most of the actual castle/walls demolished by the victorians when they ploughed the trainline through... (the castle keep in newcastle)
bamburgh is probably my favorite although never been inside, just like looking at it from the beach/whilst eating our dinner in the camper at sunset 🙂
went to harlech castle on the way back from the dyfi, that was great too although we nearly got blown off the top
bearnecessities - MemberI'm a ruins man, myself.
Likewise, Rievaulx Abbey was always one of my favourites.
Durham.
Because I lived in it for a year, ate in the great hall for 3 years, and had the best laughs of my life in and around it.
That was practically my front door. In, up the stairs, i had a room on the back side overlooking the River Wear. With access to the roof for [s]sunbathing[/s] fire escaping.
Are you a wizard?
Donnottar castle too, mates got married there 😀
Not exactly. But when i play with my 'wand' it's magic.
Takeshi's
Cliffe Castle
http://www.bradfordmuseums.org/venues/CliffeCastle/
I've been going there since infant school - its barmy and I love it
@ theotherjonv
Because I lived in it for a year, ate in the great hall for 3 years, and had the best laughs of my life in and around it.
Bet you still did most of your serious drinking in Cuth's, though. 😉
+1 for carreg cennen.
Couldn't believe what a great place it was after stumbling across it on a drive out. Kids loved the cave.
I like kilchurn and carnasserie mainly because they're always empty and my dad used to let us run around shooting each other with home made bows and soft arrows.
Fort George, nr Inverness. Never invaded, and still in use. A great visit if you are up there. Just don't expect the wife and daughter's to be quite as amazed by the scale of it...
[sweeping generalisation] there's nae shiny baubles to look at [/sweeping generalisation]
For promoting the idea that you don#t need too may walls when building a castle - Tantallon
[img]
[/img]
If you're on an island, why not take advantage of the self-cleaning moat facilities offered by the tides - Kisimul
[img] http://www.visitscotland.com/cms-images/2x1/about/nature-geography/coasts-islands/kisimul-castle-barra [/img]
Castle Stalker - a room with a view
[img]
[/img]
And if you can't decise whether you need a castle or a ship - Blackness Castle
[img] https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRyctnEF8MIcnUa19AVbGPGj919NfujD6KoymVz4D6X6DuUHzte [/img]
Don't really know what to say - Kelburn Castle
[img]
[/img]
Not really a castle, more of a palace, but a favourite because it was a youth hostel so £15 or so a night. Known as the Castle of Spite, it was built by the Widow of a Duke of Sutherland following a dispute over his will. the clock tower has clocks on 3 faces, not the one facing Sutherland - she wouldn't give them the time of day. Sadly looks like it became too expensive for the SYHA to maintain and is now closed with no plans to reopen - Carbisdale
[img]
[/img]
Manorbier castle.. I even got married there
Neuschwanstein?
[img] https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSEI_8P06kkWPk4X-eGVpl3ya-Raibp7pyg0QK5TwM9pu4b93o_gA [/img]
Bet you still did most of your serious drinking in Cuth's, though
Did I shite!
When i was there, the Undercroft was the place to be. Although, with its limited opening hours, most proper evenings started straight after Castle tea with a trip to the back room of the Shakey (when it was the back room, not the new back room, I mean the middle room now)
And away trips were almost always to either Mary's or Trevs; before they went mixed, that was the place to go to have no success at all with girls.
[img] http://www.maritimephotographic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Horse-Sands-Fort-in-the-Solent.jp g" target="_blank">http://www.maritimephotographic.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Horse-Sands-Fort-in-the-Solent.jp g"/> &h=433&w=650&zc=1&q=92[/img]
Solent forts, along with Hurst Castle.
Bit of history here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/hampshire/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8340000/8340239.stm
Barbara Windsor
Bamburgh for me, but always been fascinated by Crac de Chevaliers (sp?)
You need to look here [url= http://cadw.wales.gov.uk/?lang=en ]Cadw[/url]
Cadw is the Welsh Government’s historic environment service working for an accessible and well-protected historic environment for Wales.
and because everyday is a skool day Cadw is a Welsh word meaning ‘to keep’ or ‘to protect’.
and for me anything in Wales is brilliant
Carrisbrooke - projecting bastions are where it's at!
I've got a massive soft spot for Pendennis too
[img] http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/content/properties/pendennis-castle/portico/pendennis-castle-and-headland [/img]
Both of them were kept on the cutting edge of military tech for years.
I believe Pendennis had nuclear artillery capable of reaching France at one point (but can't find anything online to back that up)
@ theotherjonv
You're dating yourself there!
Mary's was still segregated when I was there (had a bit of luck hunting in that particular environment as it goes), but Trev's was co-ed by that time!
Most of the Castle rahs I knew used to have a couple in the Castle bar then come down the Bailey for some proper high jinks in Cuth's when they'd got some dutch courage 😀
Hmmm, you're dating yourself by describing me as a Castle rah. I was there in the first year of mixed intake, and castle was so unpopular i was assigned it in place of my first choice. Granted, it got steadily more Rah through the 3 years I was there, but if you call me that again, i'll take great offence.
And the place for a proper session was the Catholic chaplaincy (not a catholic, not even religious, but father jess was always up for a non-denominational lock in)
@ theotherjonv.
Fair enough - at least you didn't go to Hatfield.
I ended up at Cuth's having cocked up my application and filled in an open application by mistake - turned out OK - great three years.
Spending my time studying something I was really quite interested in, boozing, playing sport and occasionally a bit of shagging.
If I had my time again..............
Mary's or Trevs; before they went mixed, that was the place to go to have no success at all with girls.
if you went to Castle it's no surprise - you wouldn't know what to do with one anyway 😀
[Hild Beder here]
Two pages and no one has mentioned:
[img]
?1254766774[/img]
Loads of palmerston follies round our way, some still in some sort of military use and others are council depot, library/community centre, garden centre, reclamation yard and so on...
Best kept one open to public (some open days and a few businesses including a bike/fitness coaching one) near us is Crownhill Fort:
[img]
[/img]
Of course folklore fans and scientologists will love Tntagel Castle which is pretty lovely if not a lot of the actual castle left!
[img]
[/img]
My favourite overall is [url= http://www.fort-liberia.com/ ]Fort Libéria, in Villefranche-en-Conflent, Pyrenees. [/url]
[img]
[/img]
It is sooooo cool, it even has an underground staircase all the way back down into the fortified town. And you can get to it on the coolest mountain railway EVER.
w@nker
{directed at Brakes}
dannyh, brakes, theotherjonv - Castle, Hild/Bede and Cuth's and you're arguing about who's the rah? Surely all of you are appearing somewhere on [url= http://lookatmy****ingredtrousers.blogspot.co.uk/ ]here[/url]?
I was one of the plebs from up the hill
I was one of the plebs from up the hill
Oh, one of [i]them[/i]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ brakes
I actually meant to apply to Hild Bede, but I was such a snot-nosed halfwit at that point in my life I managed to put an open application in by mistake.
I actually rocked up to Hild Bede on my first day to find I wasn't meant to be there(!)
In the end it didn't make an awful lot of difference to my three years.........
I didn't realise you had to select a college either and ended up at Hild Bede - maybe I got your place.
I respect anyone who went to Durham, unless you went to the famous Hatfield college of course.
At least we can agree that NO-ONE likes Hatfield(!)
About to graduate from Collingwood! Durham wasn't originally my first choice so I just copied a friend's choice of college which was lazy but it's worked out ok. Often regret passing up the opportunity to live with wizards etc though.
Re castles, I like this one. Less is more.
[url= https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8460/8067367645_91c2d6863b_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8460/8067367645_91c2d6863b_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/dhTnkB ]Ardvreck Castle, Loch Assynt[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/47117548@N07/ ]Asher H[/url], on Flickr
Not a castle to be messed with. There are a hundred ways to end up dead before you even get to the door, and a hundred more if you manage to get through. An untouchable projection of force.
[Bill Bailey] The week point in castle's defences though is the gift shop, you just have to distract the old lady behind the till and you're in [/Bill Bailey]
Some great examples on this thread.
Carcassonne is pretty amazing, not so much a castle as an entire fortified town - even if it was restored with debatable historical accuracy.
When I was a kid, we used to spend Easter hols in Snowdonia, and for sheer, running around finding odd passages and staircases and getting lost Caernarfon was hard to beat.
Friends have just returned from India, and some of the castles / fortresses there sound astonishing. I want to go.
[url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfalzgrafenstein_Castle ]Burg Pfalzgrafenstein[/url]
And away trips were almost always to either Mary's or Trevs;
Mary's was full of some of the most awful looking women I've ever met. And I had a giant rug from Trevs's front entrance way, liberated in my final year.
I think I was about 8 when they started teaching us castles at school, from the basic motte and bailey, through to the concentric stuff built by Edward II. Exactly the kind of history you want as an 8 year old!
Beaumaris is an absolute beauty.
[img] https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTbNwsPOPCkoeMPfPPYLkfU_WCysQP-TLEDG17t9Z4s42acO3bB [/img]
Caernarfon is also pretty awesome.
I always had a soft spot for Conwy, especially the way they planned ahead so the M56 could go past it:
[img] https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRx4mYgcb8Y7BSq5_1RQHtjfPZsOTgIyMYX2HIJKOdQpliZJu1Dcg [/img]
Jodhpur is pretty impressive:
[img] https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQFieK99PKgiJIitcPWqFvi52nCqSgSjt5izXIqPDYpW4zC2NexfA [/img]
[img] http://lyndesfarnetheatreprojects.wordpress.com/why-lyndesfarne/ [/img]
Lindisfarne for me, the only exciting part of being dragged around Northumbria by my parents as a young lad
Skipton, its not massively impressive, but exactly what I imagined a castle should be like when I was a kid. And it's handy for the shops.














































