Castles!- Large Photos

[captmarga]

Château de Tennessus is something of a mystery to historians..... But I believe it was recently featured on cable (History?  Discovery? One of those related...).  Yes, it's a B&B - and as I recall, owned by an English couple and their 2 daughters.  I think you could also get the whole castle for a weekend!   It was a great show...Curran and I both drooled through the whole thing.

Capt Marga

[DonaCatalina]

Still in France today, we visit Chateau de Hautefort
The ancient fortress dates back to the early middle ages, as proved by the first document quoting its existence as early as 987. It is described as an "ever existing" big and "unassailable" fortress!
A house of Gouffier de Lastours, who won fame during the first Crusade, the chateau then became the seigneurial home of the famous troubadour Bertran de Born, whose pranks, temper and "sirventès" (songs) brought him all sorts of mishaps. Dante immortalized Bertran in the "Divine Comedy" depicting him roaming in Hell with his head in his hand. Betran de Born was the evil genius who inspired Henry III, (the Young King) to rebel against his father Henry II (the Old King)

[NoBill Lurker]

Château de Tennessus is something of a mystery to historians..... But I believe it was recently featured on cable (History?  Discovery? One of those related...).  Yes, it's a B&B - and as I recall, owned by an English couple and their 2 daughters.  I think you could also get the whole castle for a weekend!   It was a great show...Curran and I both drooled through the whole thing.

Capt Marga

It was one of many featured on " Key's to the Castle - France " on HGTV awhile back.

What a great show that was! 

[DonaCatalina]

Now for something a change of scenery we will visit Dunnotar Castle in Scotland.
Dunnottar Castle is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a precipitous rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about two miles (3 km) south of Stonehaven. Its surviving buildings are largely of the 15th-16th centuries, but an important fortress certainly existed on this site from Dark Ages. The Annals of Ulster record a siege of Dún Fother in 681, the earliest (probable) written reference to the site. Dunnottar is also a mentioned site for a battle between King Donald II and the Danish Vikings in 900 AD, and a raid into Scotland via land and sea by King Aethelstan of Wessex in 934 included an attack on Dunnottar. William the Lion used Dunnottar as an administrative complex.

[DonaCatalina]

Kasteel Doorwerth is our destination today since we haven't been to Belgium in awhile. Doorwerth Castle was known, in earlier times, as Dorenweerd Castle. The present spelling of its name dates from around 1800.
In 1260 there was a wooden fortress on the site, which was destroyed by a warlord of the bishop of Utrecht. 20 years later it had been rebuilt in stone, and was again besieged and plundered. The original castle measured about 30 x 40 feet, with walls over 4 feet thick. The staircases connecting the 2 storeys were built within the walls. The castle is reputed to be haunted. Several people claim to have photographed apparitions there.

[DonaCatalina]

Caernarfon Castle (Welsh: Castell Caernarfon) was constructed at Caernarfon in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, by King Edward I of England, following his conquest of Gwynedd in 1283. Map coordinates are 53° 8' 21.5" N, 4° 16' 36.8" W if you have a chance to look at this in google earth. What makes this castle slightly more unique (aside from its state of preservation) is the existing city walls that completely surrounds the original village attached to the castle itself.

[DonaCatalina]

Not too far away is Caerphilly Castle. map coordinates 51° 34' 33.96" N, 3° 13' 13.08" W . Unlike many other Welsh castles, Caerphilly Castle was not built by Edward I in his crack-down on the Welsh lords, but by Gilbert 'the Red' de Clare, a powerful, redheaded nobleman of Norman descent, as a response to a dispute between him and the Prince of Gwynedd, Llywelyn the Last. Construction lasted from 1268 to 1272.

[DonaCatalina]

For a little warmer Sunday, we're going to Italy, and Castello di Salamarzana in Fucecchio. The origins of the town are linked to the counts Cadolingi, a powerful family from Pistoia who came here for the prestige and power that they had been taken away by the Bishop of Pistoia once he came to power. The Cadolingi established the pivot of their new territorial seigniory in Fucecchio, which was chosen for its position equidistant from the big Tuscan cities. Around the year 1000, these Pistoia-born nobles raised the castle of Salamarzana in this land abundant with roads and rivers. This structure was near the church of San Salvatore, present here since the first half of the 10th century.

[DonaCatalina]

Once again its Monday and we find ourselves in France. Château d'Angers on a rocky ridge overhanging the river Maine, was one of the sites fortified by the Romans because of its strategic defensive location. In the 9th century, the fortress came under the authority of the powerful Counts of Anjou, becoming part of the Angevin empire of the Plantagenet Kings of England during the 12th century.

[NoBill Lurker]

Now that is one gorgeous castle! 

Just love all the rounded turrets! 

[Jack Daw at Work]

I hope today is an Irish castle.

[brier patch charlie]

Jack, I was thinking the same thing!

[DonaCatalina]

Well of course in honor of Saint Patrick's Day we'll be going to Ireland.
Carrickfergus Castle is a Norman castle in Northern Ireland, situated in the town of Carrickfergus in County Antrim. Carrickfergus Castle was built by John de Courcy in 1177 as his headquarters, after he conquered eastern Ulster.

[DonaCatalina]

Now for those of you who may have been offended by a castle in Northern Ireland (Ulster) 
We have Dromoland Castle.
Dromoland Castle is a castle, now a luxury hotel with golf course, located near Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare, Ireland. The present building was completed in 1835, and apparently removed or sealed off the original spiral staircase. However the first building constructed here seems to have been a 15th or early 16th century tower. This is recorded as being erected by Thomas, the son of Shane Mac Anerheny.

[Jack Daw at Work]

The loo shot is my fave!