UK Trip Day 4 part 1

[den]

And so Aaron & I headed off to Norfolk to visit a castle at Castle Rising - Castle Rising Castle - and a few other places.

The castle looks like this from the air


I paused at the village green to get a photo of the newly restored sign


And then we were away.

Daffodils in the moat


The drawbridge, now replaced by a permanent bridge


Gate house


The castle was built in the 12th Century, then enlarged in the 12th/13th Century. It was the mint during the Anarchy, and produced pennies for King Stephen.






The main entry and grand stairway




The wooden interiors fell away several hundred years ago. The brickwork in the upper wall, opposite me, used to be the main entry into the Great Hall. When the floor fell in, the entry was bricked up and turned into a fireplace for the rooms in the square tower. Here, Aaron looks down the well




Looking up at the "Murder Hole" in the entry stairway. In the event of invasion, the hole let defenders in the upper floors atteck the invaders caught here by a portcullis. Defenders could shoot arrows, and dump chamber pots onto the heads of attacking troops.


A room inside the tower.








When the floor of the main rooms fell in, the custodians carved walkways into the this walls so they could move around the castle.




Some old graffiti