Field trip: Alnwick Castle (update: another castle!)

[Dasquian Belargic]

Northumberland is the most northern county of England, with a lot of coastline, so it's no surprise that it has a lot of castles whose purpose was to defend against the possibility of invasion. Alnwick Castle is one of the oldest, and dates back to the Norman conquest. Since 1096, it has been besieged many times by Scottish and English forces, and provided a key stronghold during the War of the Roses.

During the Second World War, girls were evacuated to the castle to live under the supervision of the Duke and Duchess until the war was over. It is the second largest still inhabited castle in England (with the Percy family - who have now lived in and owned the castle for 700 years - in residence from the end of October to the beginning of April). A lot of the furniture inside the family residence dates to the Regency period and there were some really stunning pieces – including an amazing dining room and a library like something out of a fairytale.

Most recently, the castle was used for many exterior shots in the Harry Potter movies (I'll point those out in my pictures), and also providing locations for: Blackadder, Elizabeth, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, The Virgin Queen.

Anyway, onto pictures. My camera isn't the best ever, and the sun didn't seem keen on staying out for long, but we go :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/tehwofl/alnwick/DSCF1535.jpg
Welcome to the castle. There is currently a fair bit of working going on, to restore and renovate parts of the castle, so please excuse the rather large green metal thing on the left hand side of the picture!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/tehwofl/alnwick/DSCF1566.jpg
Sheep grazing where the moat used to be. One of the Duchesses decided that she didn't like the view from her bedroom window, and so had the entire area you see man-made into hills and fields and even moved the river so it passed beneath her window.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/tehwofl/alnwick/DSCF1543.jpg
The highest window on the left face of this tower is where the aforementioned Duchess lived. She also had a big chunk of the castle wall removed (the space to the left) in her quest for the perfect view.

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The gun terrace, where volunteer soldiers defended against possible invasion during the Napoleonic era.

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Harry 'Hotspur' Percy – first went into battle at age 8, was knighted at age 11 and – upon opening his helmet visor to get some fresh air – was hit in the mouth seconds later by an arrow, and killed instantly. Oops! Henry IV had his body hung, drawn, quartered and displayed around England, whilst his head was mounted on a pole at York's gates.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/tehwofl/alnwick/DSCF1552.jpg
Hogwarts! All of this side of the castle was used in exterior shots for the Harry Potter movies.

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/tehwofl/alnwick/DSCF1553.jpg
The lawns on which Harry and Ron receive their first flight lessons from Madame Hooch.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/tehwofl/alnwick/DSCF1554.jpg
A view of the path leading to the Barbican.

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Peeking through what I assume is an archery hole.

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The lawns where the Womping Willow tree was, hehe. Also where the heretics were burned at the beginning of Elizabeth! Nice.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/tehwofl/alnwick/DSCF1565.jpg
Up on top of the walls here you can statues. Originally these were used to create the impression that there were always archers on guard, to defend the castle, but the third Duchess decided she liked them so much that she had them placed all throughout the castle walls, in all kinds of poses. Her son didn't like them, so had the majority of them destroyed when he took over – but there are still some left!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/tehwofl/alnwick/DSCF1568.jpg
A view from a courtyard looking up at the part of the castle where the Percy family now live. You will just have to take my word for it when I say it was very impressive inside, since we weren't allowed cameras or phones inside!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/tehwofl/alnwick/DSCF1571.jpg
As you can see, I wasn't very consistently accurate in my efforts as an archer... but I do have the honour of being the only person, today, to hit the very centre of the target. Take that, Robin Hood! :)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Awesome! I totally think that we have pictures of me at that castle as a small child. We = my parents. :p But the cannons look familiar.

I love castles. :D

[Morgan Evanar]

Wanna see that castle

ffffffffffff

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Holy smokes! That's so freaking awesome! So much green, too. The castle itself is impressive, and the 'archers' always on duty' statues is pretty ingenious, I gotta admit :)

[Hartus Kenobi]

Nice pics :)

[Dasquian Belargic]

I can't seem to find any pictures of the interior/state rooms, aside from this one shot of the dining room: http://www.alnwickcastle.com/largepreview.php?id=327 Click download for a larger view :) Just to give you some idea of what it was like inside (they still eat meals at this table)! All the paintings on the walls are originals, and of ancestors of the current occupants.

[Lykaios]

Now I understand your message in facebook :p

And..WOW! just...WOW! Those are amazing and the picture of the inside...one more WOW!

[Callista]

I reeeally wanna visit! This is so neat!! And go you archer lady!

[Dasquian Belargic]

All those hours spent studying Legolas in Lord of the Rings really paid off ;)

I think we are going to visit either another castle, or stately home, over this weekend. So watch this space for more pictures and history I guess :)

[Dasquian Belargic]

Today we visited another castle!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/tehwofl/bam1.jpg

Like Alnwick, Bamburgh is another castle in Northumberland - England's last line of defense against the Scots! It is believed to have been built in the year 547, so it's rather old. Since then, it has undergone significant renovation.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/tehwofl/bam2.jpg
Part of the keep, flying the cross of St George

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/tehwofl/bam15.jpg
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Some coats of arms

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One of the many guns, for defending against invaders who come by sea

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/tehwofl/bam4.jpg
:cool:

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The castle is built on top of a big basalt outcrop, so it looks pretty badass.

If you'd like to see some pictures far better than my own, check out: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Bamburgh_Castle

or: http://www.bamburghcastle.com/ for info on the castles extensive history!

[Captain Untouchable]

That's not quite the picture I'd have taken with the cannon... :lol

I used to love visiting castles when I was little. Need to find someone to go with. Preferably someone with a car... :uhoh

[Dasquian Belargic]

Well, I was with my mother. I didn't want to seem too crass :mneh :lol

[Atreyu]

Wow, this brings back memories. I saw these 2 castles (plus numerous others) when my family was in Britain back in 1988. For some reason though we never went inside, only saw them from the outside (closed perhaps?)

Funnily enough I always thought Alnwick Castle was a lot smaller than that. I do remember all the statues on the battlements though. :) I also had a postcard of Bamburgh Castle which made it look so massive. (EDIT: A-ha - the postcard had a similar picture to this from the same angle: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bamburgh_with_Castle.JPG)

[Dasquian Belargic]

Alnwick is huge compared to Bamburgh, especially when it comes to the state rooms. More impressive too, I have to say, even if Bamburgh bills itself as "Englands finest castle." Their armory was pretty sweet, though I had to laugh at the room which was decked out all in a French style just incase Napoleon invaded... you know, so the occupying French would be nice and comfortable once they had inevitably taken the castle :lol