Castles!- Large Photos

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The Copertino Castle (Italian Castello di Copertino) is a castle in Apulia, southern Italy. It is located in the city of Copertino, north of Gallipoli on the heel of Apulia, between Manduria and Galatina. Copertino was built for the defence of the peninsular of the Salento. The castle was originally built in the Norman period, and altered significantly for Alfonso Castriota by Charles V's renowned fortifications expert Evangelista Menga in 1540, in response to significant military developments including the use of gunpowder. The alterations included a ditch and majestic bastions with 90 arrow slits to allow cannon movements. Copertino therefore incorporates an Angevin keep, being later enlarged to a quadrangle plan with a tapered rampart at each of the four corners. The entrance portal is in Catalan-Durazzesque style, conceived as a triumphal arch, with the entrance to the family chapel of St Mark to the right of the entrance vestibule. The chapel itself is decorated with 15th Century frescoes by the mannerist painter Gianserio Strafella.

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Candleston Castle is a castle located near the village of Merthyr Mawr, in south Wales between Bridgend and the sea.
Despite its name it was a fortified manor house built during the later parts of the 14th century. It was altered many times eventually becoming abandoned as some time in the 19th century. Most of the manor has been overwhelmed by sand dunes and Candleston Castle is on the edge of this area.
It is thought that the name "Candleston" may be a corruption of "Cantilupeston", and that the castle may have belonged to the Norman-Welsh de Cantilupe family.

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Vajdahunyad Castle is a castle in City Park, Budapest, Hungary, that was built between 1896 and 1908, designed by Ignác Alpár. It is a copy in part of a castle in Transylvania, Romania, that is also called Vajdahunyad, though it is also a display of different architectural styles: Romanic, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.
Originally it was made from cardboard and wood for the millennial exhibition in 1896 but it became so popular that it was rebuilt from stone and brick.
Today it houses the Agricultural Museum.
The statue of Anonymus, also displayed in the Castle court, was a chronicler in the XII century (probably of King Béla III). He wrote the first history books on the ancient Hungarians, mostly based on legends. Superstition says that by touching his pen you will receive good luck.

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The Hunyad Castle (Romanian: Castelul Huniazilor or Castelul Corvine?tilor, Hungarian: Vajdahunyad vára) is a castle in Transylvanian Hunedoara, present-day Romania. Until 1541 it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, and after the Principality of Transylvania.
It is believed to be the place where Vlad III of Wallachia (commonly known as Dracula) was held prisoner for 7 years after he was deposed in 1462.
The castle is a relic of the Hunyadi dynasty. In the 14th century, the castle was given to John Hunyadi knyaz Serb, or Sorb by Sigismund king of Hungary as severance. The castle was restored between 1446 and 1453 by his grandson John Hunyadi.

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Archaeological research shows that Essaouira has been occupied since prehistoric times. The bay at Essaouira is partially sheltered by the island of Mogador, making it a peaceful harbor protected against strong marine winds.
Essaouira has long been considered as one of the best anchorages of the Moroccan coast. The Carthaginian navigator Hanno visited and established a trading post there in the 5th century BC. Around the end of the 1st century BC or early 1st century AD, Juba II established a Tyrian purple factory, processing the murex and purpura shells found in the intertidal rocks at Essaouira and the Iles Purpuraires. This dye colored the purple stripe in Imperial Roman Senatorial togas.
In 1506, the king of Portugal, D. Manuel I ordered a fortress to be built there, named "Castelo Real de Mogador". The fortress fell to the local resistance of the Regraga fraternity four years later. For awhile the city was called "Souira", "The small fortress". The Castle actually consists of two parts, one on an island. The passage to the old port was between the two.

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In the 16th century Birse Castle was a Gordon stronghold. The castle is located in the Forest of Birse, Aberdeenshire,  Scotland. Originally a three-storey tower house, it was re-built in 1911 into its current L-plan structure, which is now a category B listed building.

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Wallingford Castle is generally thought to have been built by Robert D'Oyly between 1067 and 1071 on orders from William the Conqueror, at the same time as Oxford Castle, to the Norman motte and bailey design, though it has been suggested that Miles Crispin may have founded it. It was strengthened by Brien FitzCount before the wars between King Stephen and Empress Matilda, and Stephen's forces attacked it many times, before he was in turn attacked by the soon-to-be King Henry II. FitzCount established a prison within the castle, called Cloere Brien.
It was described as "most securely fortified by impregnable walls". Ealdred of Abingdon, Edward I, Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, Maurice de Berkeley, Waleran de Beaumont, Henry of Almain, Walter Langton, Robert de Ferrers, Owen Tudor, Margaret of Anjou, Charles of Orléans, Sir Richard Browne, John Clotworthy and Judge David Jenkins were all imprisoned here.
The castle grounds (including the remains of St Nicholas College, two sections of castle wall and the motte hill) are now open to the public, and more information can be found at Wallingford Museum.

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Bäckaskog Castle in Kristianstad Municipality, Scania, southern Sweden, was originally a monastery built in the 13th century. It was transformed into a castle in the 16th century. The castle is located on the isthmus between Ivö Lake (Scania's largest lake) and Oppmanna Lake.

The monastery was closed down by the Danish Crown in 1537 during the Reformation. In 1584-1653, the noblemen Henrik Ramel and his son Henrik Ramel Junior gave the castle its present appearance.

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Burg Bernstein is in Bernstein im Burgenland in Austria. Map coordinates 47.406528, 16.251972
High above the Tauchen valley, it is Burgenland's highest castle.
In 860 the whole region was part of the archbishopric of Salzburg. Erimbert, a liege of the archbishopric, handed the region located at the Pinka over to his servant "Miles" Jacobus. The village name Rettenbach was not mentioned yet, but the old Slavic name of the nearby hamlet Grodnau (= the village belonging to the castle) is a sign of the existence of a nearby castle, which only could have been castle Bernstein.
Since 1199 the castle was part of Hungary. Miczbán de genere Akos was named as the owner. It is not exactly known, when the castle was handed over to Frederick II, Duke of Austria, and how long it was his property; but in 1236 Béla IV of Hungary conquered the castle. Some years later (in 1260) he gave it to count Henry II of Güssing. This noble dynasty descending from the counts of Wildon. (Styria) owned the country until 1308, when Iban II adopted the name Count of Bernstein.

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The Castelo do Ansiães is a Portuguese castle in Carrazeda de Ansiães, Bragança, Portugal. It has been listed as a National monument since 1910. Map coordinates 41.203, -7.306
The archaeological researches made in the mount where is located the Ansiães Castle reveal an occupancy with around five thousand years. The defensive walls wew probably built during the Moorish occupancy of the territory.
This Castle and the locality of Ansiães were quite important around 1160 until 1510.

[Jack Daw at Work]

So much stone for such small countries.

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Château d'Azay-le-Ferron is a fifteenth-century castle and seventeenth century manor located in the Commune of Azay-le-Ferron. It also features a Garden à la française and a French landscape garden dating to the seventeenth century. The first Château was constructed by Prégent Frotier in the late fifteenth century, on land which had belonged to Nicolas Turpin de Crissé in the 13th century, then became part of the barronie of Preuilly in 1412. The tower of the first château, dated 1496, still stands, incorporated into later structures of the seventeenth century.

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Glenarm Castle, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, is the ancestral home of the Earls of Antrim. The main house has been much modified over the years. But surrounding it are extensive remains of the outer walls and barbicans.
There has been a castle at Glenarm since the 13th century, and it is at the heart of one of Northern Ireland's oldest estates.

John Bisset, expelled from Scotland in 1242 for murdering a rival during a tournament, promised to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but instead he acquired lands in Ireland between Larne and Ballycastle from Hugh de Lacy, the Earl of Ulster. Bisset made Glenarm his capital, and by 1260 had built a castle at the centre of the present village. The former village courthouse incorporates some of its walls and an immured human skeleton was found there in the 1970s.

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The Chateau de Beersel , is located in the Belgian town of Beersel, south of Brussels. It has 3 massive watchtowers, and is surrounded by a wide moat. Map coordinates 50.7657, 4.2999
The castle was first mentioned in the 12th century. The present fortress was constructed by Godfrey of Hellebeek between 1300 and 1310 as a defensive base for Brussels. The castle was damaged during the war of succession of Brabant (1356-57), but was repaired just after that. During the rebellion against Maximilian of Austria, Beersel supported Maximilian, and the castle was sieged, taken and plundered by the Brusselians in 1489. It was only partially destroyed and restored after the war.

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Castillo de Loarre is a Romanesque fortress in Huesca province, Aragon, Spain. It commands a magnificent situation in the foothills of the Pyrenees overlooking the vast plains of Sotonera south to Huesca and beyond.
map coordinates 42.325556, -0.611944
The complex was built largely during the 11th and 12th centuries, when its position on the frontier between Christian and Muslim lands gave it strategic importance. The first of the two major building programs began ca. 1020, when Sancho el Mayor (r. 1063-94) reconquered the surrounding lands from the Muslims. At least three towers, two of which survive, the Homage tower (Torre del Homenaje) and the "Tower of the Queen" (Torre de la Reina), as well as a chapel dedicated to Saint Mary of Valverde and connecting walls are attributed to this campaign. The Homage tower was built in an isolated position in front of the fortifications, to which it was connected by a wooden bridge. It contained a basement and five floors. The Torre de la Reina, comprising a basement and three floors, is particularly noteworthy for three sets of twin-arched windows, with columns of exaggerated entasis and trapezoidal capitals that have been related to both Lombard and Mozarabic architectural forms. The chapel is composed of a single-cell nave with an eastern apse covered by a semicircular vault. The original timber roof of the nave was replaced by a vault at the end of the 11th century.