Published on 12, July, 2020
Inspired by an off-the-cuff remark I made in another thread, I thought I would actually start this thread off.
Please share your favourite castle (or Mediaeval Abbey, Friary, or Priory), if possible with a picture and saying a little bit about it.
I will kick off with Corfe Castle. A picturesque ruin in Dorset (belonging to the National Trust), and as a bonus can be reached by steam train from Swanage with one of the finest 'railway views' in Britain! A good view from the castle as well
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As children we grew up in a deprived inner city area with no castles. However several Sundays a year, my father took the whole family to Roundhay park which was on a direct bus route and at the city edge. There I finally experienced some fresh air and my first castle. I must have visited this castle over 50 times in my childhood because we followed the same long routes through the park and woodlands.
Many years later I was reading a book about the park and discovered that this castle wasn't the medival relic that I had imagined. But in fact a 19th century folly. And the it had only existed as a partially built castle gate. And nothing else.
Yep, you had some weird property owners in the 19th century. More money than sense... or taste sometimes.
Unless you knew at the time, it looks very impressive and from the picture looks as if it would fool most people.