Norwich Castle

Norwich is a city on the River Wensum in the beautiful rural county of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom.

Norwich Castle

When the Normans conquered England in 1066, Norwich had 25 churches and a population of over 5,000 English Saxons. With its easy access to Europe via the river Yare made it a thriving trade centre, but the Normans did not realise the potential of the town and area.

The heart of Norwich at that time was based around the ancient crossroads at Tombland where the market place and the houses of the officials who administered the town. The Normans looked for high ground to build their castle. Ninety-eight Saxon homes were demolished to build the William’s royal palace.

Shortly after the castle was built Ralph Guader the Earl of East Anglia, tried to seize it but failed and escaped to France leaving his wife, Emma at Norwich Castle. William’s army of over 300 men, laid seize to the castle for three months and Emma had no choice but surrender.

William returned to Norwich at Christmas in 1075, and ordered that many of the castle’s defenders were executed or had their hands cut off or their eyes cut out. By 1122 the castle was complete and William’s son, King Henry I stayed at the castle.

In 1100, work began on a stone keep to replace the timber castle which was built of flint and faced with stone from Caen, Normandy, France. It took 20 years to complete the task.

The Castle and its fee (the area covered by the outer defences) were controlled by the Sheriff of Norwich, who was responsible directly to the King. The Cathedral Priory was a law onto itself, and controlled the area of the Cathedral precincts which are still walled off to this day.

Small conflicts between the Normans, Saxons and Vikings continued, but eventually the town became stable enough to receive a royal charter from Henry II in 1158 and another one from Richard the Lionheart in 1194.

Bigod Crest

During the Revolt of 1173–1174 when Henry II's sons rebelled against him starting a civil war, Norwich Castle was put in a state of readiness. Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk was one of the more powerful Earls who joined the revolt against Henry. With 318 Flemish soldiers that landed in England in May 1174, and 500 of his own men, Bigod advanced on Norwich Castle. They captured the castle and took fourteen prisoners who were held for ransom. When peace was restored later that year, Norwich was returned to royal control.

The Normans introduced the Jews to Norwich and they lived close to the castle. A cult was founded in Norwich in the wake of the murder of a young boy, William, for which the Jews in Norwich were blamed. In Lent 1190, violence against Jews erupted in East Anglia and on 6^th February (Shrove Tuesday) it spread to Norwich. Some fled to the safety of the castle, but those who did not were killed.

When the barons rebelled against King John in 1215, the Prince Louis of France was invited to seize the throne of England. Louis captured Norwich Castle in 1217 and plundered the town.

The town was again plundered in 1266 by 'disinherited barons'.

In 1297 work began on building the city walls for 37 years. All inhabitants had to contribute to the cost. The walls and the 12 gates helped control the influx of people into the town, and the collection of tolls.

In 1349, the Black Death arrived in Norwich, and further outbreaks of the plague in 1362 and 1369 led to the deaths of over a quarter of the population.

In 1380 a charter was obtained giving the Bailiffs and committee of 'Twenty Four' who were rich merchants, the power the make and alter by-laws. A charter in 1404 replaced the Bailiffs with a Mayor and two Sheriffs, but control of the city was still in the hands of the rich merchants. Two more charters in 1414 and 1417 made Norwich a legal corporation and a county in itself.

In the 14^th century, Norwich Castle was no longer a favourite residency of the King but was used instead as a prison but no prisoners were kept there until the 15th century. 

By 1707 prisoners were escaping due to bad repair of the castle so they were kept in chains. By 1810 only a few were chained up as most prisoners were sentenced to death; flogging was not common at Norwich prison.

It was no different to any other prison and by the late 18th Century the gaoler charged the prisoners for almost everything including, furniture, bed clothes, drink, visitors and for releases. The poor were given a bread allowance and relied on friends or other people for food. 

During 1824 the prison was rebuilt to accommodate 255 prisoners and 250 prisoners in 1845. Tunnels were built from the Shirehall to the castle, to transport prisoners. Tunnels also ran from the Guildhall, the Cathedral and the Crown Derby Pub.  On the 2^nd of August 1887 the prisoners were transferred to the new prison.

While the castle was a prison, Saturday was the day for the hangings on the bridge between the two gatehouses, attracting up to 30,000 onlookers. During 1849 trains were laid on for the hanging of James Bloomfield Rush for the murder of Isaac Jeremy who was the recorder of Norwich) and his bones were buried within the castle walls. Robert Kett was captured and hung from the top of the castle for his rebellion against Edward VI. A hanging in 1854 lasted 5 minutes with the person struggling and the last pubic hanging was in 1867. Some prisoners were burnt at the stake in the castle ditches. 

Norwich Castle was purchased in 1887 to become a museum and still is today, the castle was a prison for 900 years.

Ghosts and Death

Norwich Castle’s oldest ghost is King Gurgunt. During roman times he built a castle at Norwich, and when he died the mound that the castle is now on was built for him and it is thought that he still sits on the mound, with a sword in hand and next to a table piled with silver and gold.

Martha Alden

Kett’s ghost is reported to have been seen hanging from the top of the castle, rotting in a swinging cage.

The most popular and most sighted ghost of the castle is of a woman in black. She was first seen in 1820 by several prisoners who were scared half to death.  She is thought to be wearing Victorian clothing and wanders around the art exhibition area of the museum; she turns the corner and vanishes. This area where she haunts was once part of the prison. She has also been seen in the grounds of the castle, floating around and the staff of the museum have witnessed in this area.

This is Martha Alden, who lived at Attleborough with her husband and on the 18^th July 1807, she murdered her husband by cutting off his head with a billbrook, she then proceeded to take her husbands’ body to a dry ditch in the garden with help from Mary Orvice before moving it two days later to a pond on a nearby common and the body was soon discovered. 

Martha’s defence for killing her husband was that he had beaten her, threatened to kill her and was drinking away their inheritance. Martha’s hanging took place on the 31^st July 1807 to a rowdy Attlebrough crowd, on a hurdle which represented a mark of shame. Once she had died her body was handed over for dissection. The crowd burnt the cottage down that she once lived in, but a few days later a ghostly figure was seen on the castle hill and it was identified as Martha.

Henry Kable and Susannah Holmes

Two of Norwich Castle’s most famous inmates were Henry Kable and Susannah Holmes.

Henry was born in 1763 in Laxfield, Suffolk as the son of Henry Kable and Dianna Fuller. Susannah was born in Surlingham, Norfolk in 1763.

Kable was known for being a businessman, but was convicted of burglary at Thetford, Norfolk, on 1^st February 1783 and sentenced to death. This was commuted to transportation for fourteen years to America, but the American Revolution meant that transportation to there was no longer possible. Henry was returned to the Norwich Castle prison.

Susannah Holmes was sentenced to death after being found guilty of theft from the home of Jabez Taylor. Mr. Justice Nares donned his black cap and sentenced Susannah to be ‘hanged by the neck until she was dead’. The judge who passed sentence then recommended that she be given a reprieve, which was granted by the king.  was then sentenced for transportation to the American colonies for 14 years.

Susannah and Henry began a relationship whilst prisoners.

In 1786 Susannah gave birth in her Castle cell to a baby boy who she called Henry. That same year mother and baby were sent to Dunkirk prison at Plymouth to await transportation. An order from London forbade Henry from going with Susannah and their child. He must have thought he would never see his family again.

Mother and baby were also cruelly separated. Captain Bradley who was in charge of the prison had orders only to receive Susannah and turned her baby away. “The frantic mother was led to her cell execrating (cursing) the cruelty of the man and vowing to put an end to her own life.”

A man called John Simpson, the Norwich prison warder who had escorted mother and child to Plymouth took the baby to London to see Home Secretary Lord Sydney who was finalising plans for the first convict fleet to sail for Australia. Simpson was refused entry but slipped in a side door only to be told that he would have to wait several days to see Lord Sydney.

“Not long after, he saw Lord Sydney descend the stairs and he instantly ran to him. His Lordship shewed an unwillingness to attend to an application made in such a strange and abrupt manner. But Mr. Simpson described the exquisite misery he had been witness to and expressed his fears that the unhappy woman in the wildness of her despair should deprive herself of existence.”

Sydney not only ordered that mother and child be reunited but gave instructions that Henry should be allowed to join them as well. So Simpson collected Henry Kable from Norwich. Together with the baby, they made the final journey to Plymouth and a remarkable reunion.

The new family were transported to Australia in the very first famous fleet of convicts. Susannah and Henry were married among on 10^th February 1788 in Sydney; they were the first to marry in the new colony.

They fought and won the first court case in Australia’s history. Henry became the Colony’s first Chief Constable and the first of these reluctant settlers to step ashore on Australia.

In the years that followed the Kables thrived. At first, conditions were harsh in the primitive hovels gathered round the bay. Famine was ever-present. But Henry was undaunted. He was made an overseer of convict gangs, then a constable and finally Governor Phillip appointed him as the first Chief Constable of New South Wales. As with so much of this young family’s life you simply could not make it up.

Susannah gave birth to ten more children and all but one survived. The family grew rich and powerful. For a while Henry ran a public house called the Ramping Horse, the first stage house in Australia, was named after Rampant Horse Street in Norwich.

The first ship of any size in the new colony was named after their eldest daughter Diana. It was built by Henry as part of a fleet that traded across the Pacific.

Diana married a senior civil servant who had come to help establish the colony. It was Australia’s first ‘society’ wedding. By then her parents had served their sentence and the family had grown wealthier with several estates and trading partnerships.

Henry Kable died in 1846 at the age of 82 ad was buried alongside Susannah who had died 1825.

Ten generations later the dynasty they founded is thriving and meets appropriately enough at Kable’s restaurant in Sydney to remember their celebrated forebears who famously became known as the First Fleeters.

Susannah is regarded as one of Australia’s founding daughters. A few years ago she was voted one of that country’s most influential historic figures.

Westminster Palace

Westminster is known as the Houses of Parliament in the City of Westminster, London but it was once a

Westminster

royal palace.

The Palace of Westminster was strategically important during the Middle Ages, due to its location on the banks of the River Thames. St Edward the Confessor, built Westminster Palace at about the same time as he built Westminster Abbey (1045–50). The oldest existing part of the Palace, Westminster Hall, dates from the reign of King William II.

Westminster was the monarch's principal residence in the late Medieval period and the Parliament, the Curia Regis (Royal Council), met in Westminster Hall (although it followed the King when he moved to other palaces). The first official Parliament of England, met in 1295 and almost all subsequent Parliaments have met there.

Westminster became increasingly important as the centre of government and royal authority during the reign of King Henry III. Westminster Hall was built north of the great hall around 1270, and the Court of Common Pleas to be located within the Palace, as well as Courts of the King's Bench and of Chancery.

In 1245, the first mention is made of a royal throne which stood on a dais against the south wall of Westminster Hall. The throne symbolised the King's continuous presence at the ceremonial heart of the Palace, and was occupied during great occasions of state.

In 1310, the Chancery (the administrative branch of the Crown) established its headquarters in the Hall. These developments firmly established Westminster as the royal seat of government.

Henry III regularly occupied the palace during public occasions. The King was expected to make generous gifts of alms, and Henry did not stint in this respect. To mark great feasts, he distributed vast quantities of food to the poor. In order to accommodate the numbers, the old and sick were fed in Westminster Hall, the children in the Queen's Chamber, and the remaining poor in the Painted Chamber.

Elizabeth of York

Two important women in history were born at Westminster: Elizabeth of York and Margaret Tudor. Elizabeth of York was born on 11^th February 1466 and was the eldest child of King Edward IV and Queen Elizabeth Woodville. Margaret Tudor was born on 28^th November 1489 at Westminster Palace as the eldest daughter of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and was the elder sister of Henry VIII.

The Gunpowder Plot is a well known plan to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill the King during the State Opening of England's Parliament on 5^th November 1605, as the prelude to a popular revolt in the Midlands during which James's nine-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was to be installed as the Catholic head of state. The plot failed and the conspirators were executed.

On 16^th October 1834, a fire broke out in the Palace after an overheated stove used to destroy the Exchequer's stockpile of tally sticks set fire to the House of Lords Chamber in which both houses were destroyed. Westminster Hall was saved thanks to fire-fighting efforts and a change in the direction of the wind. The Jewel Tower, the Undercroft Chapel and the Cloisters and Chapter House of St Stephen's were the only other parts of the original Palace to survive.

Immediately after the fire, King William IV offered the almost-completed Buckingham Palace to Parliament, hoping to dispose of a residence he disliked. The building was considered unsuitable for parliamentary use, however, and the gift was rejected.

In his speech opening Parliament in 1835, the King assured the members that the fire was accidental, and left it to Parliament itself to make "plans for [its] permanent accommodation." Each house created a committee and a public debate over the proposed styles ensued. The neo-Classical approach, similar to that of the White House and the Federal Capitol in the United States, was popular at the time and had already been used by Soane in his additions to the old palace, but had connotations of revolution and republicanism, whereas Gothic design embodied conservative values. The committee in the House of Lords announced in June 1835 that "the style of the buildings should be either Gothic or Elizabethan". On 14 July 1835 a Royal Commission was appointed and the chairman was Charles Hanbury-Tracy and the other members were Edward Cust, Thomas Liddell, the poet Samuel Rogers and the artist George Vivian. The Commission accepted the recommendation of a competition, and architects began submitting proposals following some basic criteria.

During the bombing of London during the Second World War, Westminster was hit by bombs on fourteen separate occasions. One bomb fell into Old Palace Yard on 26^th September 1940 and severely damaged the south wall of St Stephen's Porch and the west front. The statue of Richard the Lionheart was lifted from its pedestal by the force of the blast, and its upheld sword bent, an image that was used as a symbol of the strength of democracy, "which would bend but not break under attack". Another bomb destroyed much of the Cloisters on 8^th December.

Warwick Castle

Warwick Castle

Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, is a medieval castle built by William the Conqueror in 1068 and the original wooden motte-and-bailey castle was rebuilt in stone in the 12th century. During the Hundred Years War, the castle was refortified, resulting in one of the most recognisable examples of 14th century military architecture. It is recognised as the home of the most powerful family of the 15^th century: the Nevilles.

An Anglo-Saxon settlement was established on the site in 914 with fortifications instigated by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great. Ethelfeda established one of ten settlements which defended Mercia against the marauding Danes as its position allowed it to dominate the Fosse Way, as well as the river valley and the crossing over the River Avon. Though the motte to the south-west of the present castle is now called "Ethelfleda's Mound", it is in fact part of the later Norman fortifications, and not of Anglo-Saxon origin.

William the Conqueror built a castle at Warwick in 1068 to maintain control of the Midlands as he advanced northwards. Building a castle in a pre-existing settlement could require demolishing properties on the intended site and four houses were torn down to make way for the castle. William appointed Henry de Beaumont, the son of a powerful Norman family, as constable of the castle and in 1088, de Beaumont was made the first Earl of Warwick. He founded the Church of All Saints within the castle walls by 1119; the Bishop of Worcester, believing that a castle was an inappropriate location for a church, removed it in 1127–28.

In 1153, the wife of Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, was tricked into believing that her husband was dead, and surrendered control of the castle to the invading army of Henry of Anjou, later King Henry II. Roger de Beaumont died on hearing the news that his wife had handed over the castle. Henry later returned the castle to the Earls of Warwick as they had been supporters of his mother during the civil war between Stephen of Blois and Empress Matilda (The Anarchy 1135–54).

Thomas Beaumont

During the reign of King Henry II the motte-and-bailey was replaced with a stone castle in which the new castle took the form of a shell keep with all the buildings constructed against the curtain wall. During the barons' rebellion of 1173–74, the Earl of Warwick remained loyal to King Henry II, when the castle was used to store provisions. The castle and the lands associated with the earldom passed down in the Beaumont family until 1242 when Thomas de Beaumont died the castle and lands passed to his sister, Lady Margery, countess of Warwick and when her husband died soon afterwards she married John du Plessis in December 1242.

During the Second Barons' War of 1264–67, William Maudit, a supporter of King Henry III and the castle was taken in a surprise attack by the forces of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester in 1264. Maudit and his wife were taken to Kenilworth Castle and held until a ransom was paid. After his death in 1267, the title and castle passed to his nephew William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick. Following William's death, Warwick Castle passed through seven generations of the Beauchamp family, who over the next 180 years made additions to the castle.

The line of Beauchamp earls ended in 1449 when Anne de Beauchamp, 15th Countess of Warwick, died and Richard Neville became the next Earl of Warwick through his wife's inheritance of the title. Richard is known as The Kingmaker as he helped Edward of York to claim the crown.

During the summer of 1469, Neville rebelled against King Edward IV and imprisoned him in Warwick Castle. Neville attempted to rule in the king's name however, constant protests by the king's supporters forced the Earl to release the king. Neville was killed at the Battle of Barnet, fighting against Edward IV in 1471.

George Plantagenet

Warwick Castle then passed to his son-in-law, George Plantagenet. George was executed in 1478 and his lands passed onto his son Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick; however, Edward Plantagenet was only two at his father’s execution so his lands were taken in the custody of The Crown. After the Battle of Bosworth, Edward Plantagenet was held in the Tower of London until he was executed for high treason by Henry VII in 1499.

While in the care of The Crown the castle underwent repairs and renovations using about 500 loads of stone. The castle, as well as lands associated with the earldom, was in Crown care from 1478 until 1547, when they were granted to John Dudley with the second creation of the title the Earl of Warwick and during his appeal for ownership of the castle Dudley said of the castle's condition: "... the castle of its self is not able to lodge a good baron with his train, for all the one side of the said castle with also the dungeon tower is clearly ruinated and down to the ground". Warwick Castle fell into decay due to its age and neglect, and Dudley made no repairs to the castle.

Queen Elizabeth I visited the castle in 1566 during a tour of the country, and again in 1572 for four nights where a timber building was erected in the castle for her to stay in, and Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, left the castle to the Queen during her visits. When Ambrose Dudley died in 1590 the title of Earl of Warwick became extinct for the second time.

In 1604, the castle was given to Sir Fulke Greville by King James I and was converted into a country house. Whilst the castle was undergoing repairs, it was involved in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. The conspirators involved awaited news of their plot in Dunchurch in Warwickshire and when they discovered the plot had failed they stole cavalry horses from the stables at Warwick Castle to help in their escape.

Fulke Greville 

When the title of Earl of Warwick was created for the third time in 1618, the Greville family were still in possession of Warwick Castle. Fulke Greville spent over £20,000 (around £3 million today) renovating the castle making it "a place not only of great strength but extraordinary delight, with most pleasant gardens, walks and thickets, such as this part of England can hardly parallel".

On 1^st September 1628 Fulke Greville was murdered in Holborn by his manservant: Ralph Haywood—a "gentleman"—who stabbed the baron in the back after discovering he had been left out of Greville's will. Greville died from his wounds a few days later.

Under Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke, the castle’s defences were enhanced in 1642 in preparation for attack during the First English Civil War when garden walls were raised, barricades of beams & soil to

mount artillery were constructed and gunpowder & wheels for two cannons were obtained. Greville was a Parliamentarian, and on 7^th August 1642 a Royalist force laid siege to the castle. Greville was not in the castle at the time and the garrison was under the command of Sir Edward Peyto. William Dugdale, acting as a herald, called for the garrison commander to surrender the castle, but he was refused. The besieging army opened fire on the castle, to little effect.

... our endeavours for taking it were to little purpose, for we had only two small pieces of cannon which were brought from Compton House, belonging to the Earl of Northampton, and those were drawn up to the top of the church steeple, and were discharged at the castle, to which they could do no hurt, but only frightened them within the castle, who shot into the street, and killed several of our men.

The siege was lifted on 23^rd August 1642 when the garrison was relieved by the forces of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, and the Royalists were forced to retreat to Worcester. After the Battle of Edgehill in 1642, prisoners were held at Warwick Castle.

During the Second English Civil War prisoners were again held at the castle. A garrison was maintained in the castle complete with artillery and supplies from 1643 to 1660, at its strongest it numbered 302 soldiers. In 1660 the English Council of State ordered the castle governor to disband the garrison and hand over the castle to Robert Greville, 4th Baron Brooke.

The state apartments were found to be outmoded and in poor repair. Under Roger and William Hurlbutt, master carpenters of Warwick; extensive modernization of the interiors was undertaken, 1669–78. To ensure that they would be in the latest taste, William was sent down to Dorset to make careful notes of the interiors recently finished at Kingston Lacy for Sir Ralph Bankes to designs by Sir Roger Pratt. On 4 November 1695 the castle was in sufficient state to host a visit by King William III.

Francis Greville, 8th Baron Brooke, undertook a renewed programme of improvements to Warwick Castle and its grounds. The 8th Baron Brooke was also bestowed with the title Earl of Warwick in 1759, the fourth creation of the title. With the recreation of the title, the castle was back in the ownership of the earls of Warwick. Daniel Garrett's work at Warwick is documented in 1748; Howard Colvin attributed to him the Gothick interior of the Chapel. Lancelot "Capability" Brown had been on hand since 1749. Brown, who was still head gardener at Stowe at the time and had yet to make his reputation as the main exponent of the English landscape garden, was called in by Lord Brooke to give Warwick Castle a more "natural" connection to its river. Brown simplified the long narrow stretch by sweeping it into a lawn that dropped right to the riverbank, stopped at each end by bold clumps of native trees. A serpentine drive gave an impression of greater distance between the front gates and the castle entrance.

Brown's maturing scheme in 1751 and remarked in a letter: "The castle is enchanting. The view pleased me more than I can express; the river Avon tumbled down a cascade at the foot of it. It is well laid out by one Brown who has set up on a few ideas of Kent and Mr Southcote."

In 1754 the poet Thomas Gray, a member of Walpole's Gothicising circle, commented disdainfully on the activity at the castle:

... he [Francis Greville] has sash'd the great apartment ... and being since told, that square sash windows were not Gothic, he has put certain whimwams withinside the glass, which appearing through are to look like fretwork. Then he has scooped out a little burrough in the massy walls of the place for his little self and his children, which is hung with paper and printed linnen, and carved chimney-pieces, in the exact manner of Berkley-square or Argyle Buildings.

Greville commissioned Italian painter Antonio Canaletto to paint Warwick Castle in 1747, while the castle grounds and gardens were undergoing landscaping by Brown. Five paintings and three drawings of the castle by Canaletto are known, making it the artist's most often represented building in Britain. Canaletto's work on Warwick Castle has been described as "unique in the history of art as a series of views of an English house by a major continental master".

Greville commissioned Brown to rebuild the exterior entrance porch and stairway to the Great Hall. Brown also contributed Gothick designs for a wooden bridge over the Avon.

The Princess Tower at Warwick Castle 

In 1802 George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick of the new creation, had debts amounting to £115,000 (£9 million as of 2014). The earl's estates, including Warwick Castle, were given to the Earl of Galloway and John FitzPatrick, 2nd Earl of Upper Ossory, in 1806, but the castle was returned to the earls of Warwick in 1813. The Great Hall was reroofed and repaired in Gothic taste in 1830–31 by Ambrose Poynter. Anthony Salvin was responsible for restoring the Watergate Tower in 1861–63. The castle was extensively damaged by a fire in 1871 that started to the east of the Great Hall. Although the Great Hall was gutted, the overall structure was unharmed.

Restoration and reparations carried out by Salvin during 1872–75 were subsidised by donations from the public, which raised a total of £9,651 (£770 thousand as of 2014).

Blarney Castle

County Cork, Ireland

“Home of the Blarney Stone”

Blarney from the Sky

Have ever heard about the Blarney Stone? No? Why not? The Blarney Stone is said to be magical and grant anyone who kisses it good luck. The Stone is at Blarney Castle in my family’s home county of Cork.

Blarney’s History

The Blarney Castle that we see today is the actually the third castle to have been built. The first building was a 10th century was a wooden structure n was replaced around 1210 by a stone structure which had the entrance of twenty feet high on the north face. This building was demolished for foundations. In 1446 the third castle was built by Dermot McCarthy, King of Munster of which the keep still remains standing.

The castle was subsequently occupied at one time by Cormac McCarthy, King of Munster, who is said to have supplied four thousand men from Munster to supplement the forces of Robert the Bruce (the claimant to the Scottish crown) at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Legend has it that the Scottish King gave half of the Stone of Scone (now known as the Blarney Stone) to McCarthy in gratitude and was incorporated in the battlements.

Elizabeth 1st

The Earl of Leicester was commanded by Queen Elizabeth I to take possession of the castle. Whenever he endeavoured to negotiate the matter McCarthy always suggested a banquet or some other form of delay, so that when the Elizabeth asked for progress reports a long missive was sent, at the end of which the castle remained untaken and Elizabeth was said to be so irritated that she remarked that the earl's reports were all 'Blarney'.

The castle was eventually invested by Cromwell's General, Lord Broghill, who, planting a gun on Card Hill opposite and above the lake below the present mansion or new castle, succeeded in breaking the tower walls. However, when his men entered the keep, he found two old retainers; the main garrison had fled by the underground caves situated below the battlements known as the Badgers Caves. There are three passages, one to Cork, one to the lake and one seemingly to Kerry. At any rate, all had gone together with the reputed gold plate.

A subsequent owner of the estate endeavoured to drain the lake at the bottom of which the plate was supposed to have been thrown. The estate was forfeited by Donogh McCarthy, 4^th Earl of Clancarthy, who supported James II in the Williamite Wars, the property passed to the Hollow Sword Blade Company who subsequently sold it to Sir James St. John Jefferyes, Governor of Cork in 1688.

His son, by same the name, was Minister Plenipotentiary for England at the court of Charles Battle of Poltawa. He was rewarded with a full length portrait of the king and a ruby gilted sword which he subsequently sold to drain and improve all his land surrounding the castle. At the beginning of the eighteenth

Blarney at Night

century during the reign of Queen Anne, Sir James St. John Jefferyes built a Georgian gothic house up against the keep of the castle as was then the custom all over Ireland. At the same time the Jefferyes family laid out a landscape garden known as the Rock Close with a remarkable collection of massive boulders and rocks arranged around what seemed to have been druid remains from pre-historic times. Certainly, many of the yew trees and evergreen oaks are extremely ancient. In 1820 the house was accidently destroyed by fire and the wings now form a picturesque adjunct to the keep, recently in the 1980s rearranged to give a better view of the keep. The Jefferyes intermarried on 14th January 1846 with the Colthurst family of Ardrum, Inniscarra and Ballyvourney, Co. Cork, and Lucan, Co. Dublin. The early children dying, Lady Colthurst decided to build the new castle in Scottish baronial style south of the present keep. This was completed in 1874 and has been the family home ever since.

For more info go to http://www.blarneycastle.ie/

Bunratty Castle

County Clare, Ireland

I remember visiting Bunratty when I was a little girl of 6 years old with my family on a holiday to the land of

our ancestors. Bunratty Castle (in Irish is Caisleán Bhun Raithe, meaning "Castle at the Mouth of the Ratty") is a large 15th century castle in Clare, and is located in the centre of Bunratty village.

The site on which Bunratty Castle stands was in origin a Viking trading camp in 970.

Robert De Muscegros, a Norman, built the first defensive fortress in 1250. His lands were later granted to Thomas De Clare by King Henry III who built the first stone castle on the site with a large town of 1,000 inhabitants.

In 1318, Richard De Clare, Thomas’s son, was killed in a battle between the Irish and the Normans and the castle and town were completely destroyed. The castle was restored for the English King but was laid to waste in 1332 by the Irish Chieftains of Thomond under the O'Briens and MacNamaras. It lay in ruins for 21 years until it was rebuilt by Sir Thomas Rokeby but was once again attacked by the Irish and the castle remained in Irish hands.

The powerful MacNamara family built the present structure around 1425 but by 1475 it became the stronghold of the O'Briens, the largest clan in North Munster. They ruled the territory of North Munster where they lived in great splendour. The castle was surrounded by beautiful gardens and it was reputed to have a herd of 3,000 deer.

Under Henry VIII's 'surrender and re-grant' scheme, the O'Brien's were granted the title 'Earls of Thomond' and they agreed to profess loyalty to the King of England. The reign of the O'Briens came to an end with the arrival of the Cromwellian troops and the castle and its grounds were surrendered.

Bunratty Castle and its lands were granted to various Plantation families, the last of whom was the Studdart family. They left the castle in 1804, allowing it to fall into disrepair, to reside in the more comfortable and modern Bunratty House that they had built in 1804 and the reasons for the move were bound up in family arguments over the eldest son marrying his first cousin.

Bunratty returned to its former splendour when Viscount Lord Gort purchased it in 1954 and the extensive restoration work began in 1945 with the help of the Office of Public Works, the Irish Tourist Board and Shannon Development. It was then opened to the public in 1962 as a National Monument and is open to visitors year round. It is the most complete and authentically restored and furnished castle in Ireland.

Sheriff Hutton Castle

The Ruins of Sheriff Hutton

Sheriff Hutton Castle is in the village of Sheriff Hutton in North Yorkshire. The castle is now a ruin but it was once it was a magnificent dwelling, of princely proportions; a classic quadrangle, with a magnificent hall.

Sheriff Hutton was once held by Bertram de Bulmer, the Sheriff of York who died in 1166. It was then passed to the Neville family and in 1382, John Neville, secured a license to crenellate the walls making it a castle.

The original castle was built by Bertram de Bulmer who was Sheriff of York during the reign of King Stephen. The stone castle was later built at the western end of the village by John, Lord Neville in the late fourteenth century. In 1377, John obtained a charter for a market on Monday and an annual fair on the eve of the exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14).

The castle passed to John's son, Ralph Neville, the first Earl of Westmorland. Upon Ralph's death in 1425, the Neville estates were partitioned. The younger Ralph retained the title and the Durham estates and Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, later known as "Warwick the Kingmaker", inherited the Yorkshire estates, including Sheriff Hutton.

Upon the death of Richard Neville at the Battle of Barnet in 1471, his lands were given to Richard, Duke of

King Richard III in The White Queen

Gloucester, brother of Edward IV. Richard often stayed at the castle during his tenure as Lord of the North and its proximity to York made it convenient to Richard.

In 1484, Richard III (Duke of Gloucester) established a royal household for his nephewsthe young Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of George of Clarence, and John, Earl of Lincoln. In July 1484, Richard established the Council of the North that lasted for 150 years, with its chief headquarters at Sheriff Hutton and Sandal Castle.

In 1485, while awaiting for the invasion of Henry Tudor, Richard sent his niece, Elizabeth of York, her sisters, and the Earls of Warwick, Lincoln, Lord Morley and John of Gloucester, to the castle as he knew that if Tudor won he would never dare go to Yorkshire.

The castle became the property of Henry VII and, in 1525, Henry VIII granted it to his son, Henry Fitzroy, who had been newly created as Duke of Richmond and Warden-General of the Marches.

In 1537 Thomas Howard, the second Duke of Norfolk made repairs to the castle but, following the Council's relocation to York in the mid sixteenth century, the castle went into decline. In 1572 Henry, Earl of Huntingdon paid for repairs on the castle in the hope that the President of the Council would use the castle as a residence, and he described it as an 'olde Castell aamoste ruinated.'

In 1618 Sheriff Hutton was acquired by the Ingram family in 1622, and stone from the castle was used to build Sheriff Hutton House. The castle remained in the Ingram family until the early twentieth century, by which time the ruins were being used as a farmyard. It was designated a scheduled ancient monument in the 1950s, and has recently undergone some repairs by English Heritage.

The years haven't been kind to this great building, and although it's scale is still impressive, it has fallen to virtual ruin.

I have never been to Sheriff Hutton nor Yorkshire but it is defiantly on my list of places to visit.

The Tower of

London

The Tower of London

The Tower of London is such an iconic symbol of London and has dominated London's skyline for nearly a millennium. It is like the Hollywood sign in LA or the  Eiffel Tower in Paris. The Tower has a fascinating past which is both amazing and bloody.

The tower wasn't just a defence for London or a place to keep thieves, traitors and criminals but it was also a royal palace for the royal family.

In 1066 William Duke of Normandy conquered England for the Normans, therefore ending Saxon rule in Britain. The Saxons that still lived in England were not happy with their new ruler. In 1078, William had a great stone fortress built in the heart of the city. No-one had seen a building of magnitude in this corner of Europe before. William wanted his fortress to stand as his legacy to England and to show his wealth and power. It captured the hearts and minds of the Londoners and today the world.

Throughout the ages, Kings and Queens have added, expanded and changed the Tower.

William never saw the Tower finished but his great-great-great grandson Henry III had a great impact on this iconic fortress. Henry transformed it into the Tower of London that millions visit each year; a royal palace by improving and expanding, building beautifully decorated lodgings for himself and Queen Eleanor.

The King did not spend a great deal of time at the Tower – he stayed only 11 times in his 56 years

London's First Zoo

reign. Although it was important that the Tower was fit for a king, it was not a favourite residence.

Henry used the Tower specifically as a bolt-hole in times of political crisis. During his reign, lions, a polar bear and an elephant were kept at the Tower, all diplomatic gifts from other rulers.

Henry’s eldest son, Edward, became Edward I of England. He built the outer defences of the Tower of London including the rooms known as the Medieval Palace. He moved the London Mint into the Tower and kept prisoners there too.

Edward was known for fighting the Scottish but before then he fought the Welsh, sending the head of the Welsh Prince Llewellyn “the Last” to decorate the Tower of London. This made his eldest son the first English Prince of Wales in 1301.

Edward III was the next King to make his mark on the Tower. His father Edward II was not particularly interested in politics and war. Edward extended the wharf part way along the riverfront to help with loading and unloading goods, especially military supplies for the Hundred Years’ War between England and France.

The need for storage space was such that crossbows and armour were kept in former royal lodgings

St Thomas' Tower

in St Thomas’ Tower. Edward’s military successes in the Hundred Years’ War also led to two kings being imprisoned at the Tower: Edward’s brother-in-law, David II of Scotland, was held at the Tower for 11 years after his capture in 1346 and John II of France was captured by Edward’s son, the Black Prince, in 1356.

Richard II’s reign began and ended at the Tower. His magnificent coronation procession set out from the Tower to Westminster Abbey in 1377. In 1399, it was at the Tower that he was pressured to sign away the crown to his cousin, Henry, son of the powerful John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

Richard used the fortress as a place of refuge in times of political crisis. However, in 1381, while he was riding out to Mile End to talk to the leaders of the Peasants’ Revolt, rebels surged into the Tower seeking ‘traitors’. Some went to the royal lodgings, sat on the king’s bed and asked Richard’s mother, the famously beautiful Joan of Kent, to kiss them! Joan fainted.

Archbishop Simon Sudbury, one of the architects of the hated Poll Tax, was rather less fortunate – he was dragged from the Tower and murdered on Tower Hill.

The Tower was a key stronghold in the conflict now during The Cousins’ War also known as The War of the Roses from 1455 to 1485. In 1460, Yorkist forces besieged the Tower where cannons were set up on the other side of the Thames to bombard the fortress and Henry’s men were forced to surrender. With his Yorkist rival installed as King Edward IV, the deposed Henry was on the run. Captured in 1465, he was taken ‘as a traitor and criminal’ to the Tower.

Five years later he was released by his supporters and briefly reinstated as king, but it was not to

Henry VI ~ A Prisoner

last. Henry was overturned once more and returned to the Tower where he died in mysterious circumstances on 21 May 1471.

Edward’s supporters claimed he died of grief, although others said his corpse bled on the pavement when it was laid out in St Paul’s. According to tradition, he was stabbed while praying in the Wakefield Tower.

Henry possibly suffered from catatonic schizophrenia which made him unfit to rule. For over a year he didn’t recognise anyone or seem to understand anything. When he recovered, he had no memory of the time he’d been ill.

Edward had his brother George Duke of Clarence executed in the Tower for plotting with France. Clarence was drowned in a barrel of Malmsey wine on the 18^th February 1478. His younger brother, Richard, benefited from the outlandish execution. According to Tudor chroniclers, Richard was in the Tower when Henry VI died. One writer alleged Henry was ‘strykked with a dagger’ by Richard himself.

One of the greatest mysteries in history took place at the Tower of London in 1483; the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower.

The 'Princes in the Tower' were Edward (1470-1483) and Richard (1473-1483), the sons of Edward IV. Shortly after Edward was crowned Edward V, he and his brother disappeared and were never seen alive again.

Edward and Richard were the only surviving sons of King Edward IV. Edward was born in 1470 while Richard was born in 1473. Edward IV had come to the throne as a result of the Wars of the Roses and managed to restore a certain amount of stability to the country.

Edward and Richard ~ The Princes in the Tower 

Edward IV died suddenly on 9 April 1483 and his eldest son was proclaimed Edward V at Ludlow. The boys' uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was named as protector. Elizabeth Woodville and her supporters attempted to replace Gloucester with a regency Council. As the new king, Edward V, travelled towards London from Ludlow Castle in Wales, he was met by Gloucester and escorted to the capital, where he was lodged in the Tower of London. In June, Edward was joined by his brother, the Duke of York.

The boys were declared illegitimate because it was alleged that their father was contracted to marry someone else before his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville thus making their marriage invalid and their children bastards.

In July 1483, Richard, Duke of Gloucester was crowned Richard III. The two boys were never seen again. It was widely believed that their uncle had them murdered. To this day no one knows what really happened to them.

Henry VIII executed two of his wives at the Tower on the charge of adultery which only one was guilty of.

Anne Boleyn, had proved unable to bear a living son for the King and Henry was anxious to marry a woman who could, he accused Anne of adultery and treason which she was innocent of. Henry VIII's fifth wife was the cousin of Anne and an alluring teenager named Catherine Howard. Henry married Catherine three weeks after his divorce to Anne of Cleeves and rumours of Catherine's past and present love affairs reached a furious Henry. She was arrested at Hampton Court Palace and later taken to the Tower of London where she was beheaded in February 1542, aged about 21.

When Henry only legitimate son Edward IV laid on his deathbed at the age of 15 his advisors feared his sister, Mary, would bring back the Catholic Faith so they had Edward name his cousin

Lady Jane Grey ~ The Nine Days Queen

Jane Grey as his heir.

Jane was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII through his younger daughter Mary. In May 1553, she was married to Lord Guildford Dudley, a younger son of Edward's chief minister, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.

When Mary heard the news of her brother’s death and usurping of the throne she headed towards London with an army. Jane was imprisoned in the Tower where she was convicted of high treason in November 1553, which carried a sentence of death, although her life was initially spared. Wyatt's rebellion of January and February 1554 against Queen Mary I's plans to marry Philip of Spain led to the execution of both Jane and her husband on Tower Green.

Lady Jane Grey had an excellent humanist education and a reputation as one of the most learned young women of her day. She was a pawn in the political game of her family and one of the saddest figures in the history of the Tower.

Mary also imprisoned her half-sister Elizabeth in the Tower of London in 1554 for suspected involvement in a plot against her, led by the traitor Sir Thomas Wyatt but it soon became clear that there was not enough evidence against Elizabeth, and she was released into house arrest in the country.

When Elizabeth entered into the Tower as a prisoner she said ‘Oh Lord! I never thought to have come here as a prisoner.’ In 1559, Elizabeth returned to the Tower under very different circumstances; for her coronation.

On 14th January, after the traditional celebrations, she left the fortress to ride through the City of London to Westminster Abbey.

The Tower from the sky

When the Stuarts came into power after the death of Elizabeth, the Tower was hardly used by the Royal household but as a fortress.

Now the Tower of London acts as a major tourist attraction bring in millions of visitors each year. I really enjoyed my visit there and want to go again. I advise that if you ever go to London the Tower is the place to visit but mind out for the ghosts.