Tips for visiting British castles

Tip 1 

Join English Heritage and The National Trust. Between them, and their sister organisations, they look after a large number of castles in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as many other historical buildings and places of scenic beauty. An annual membership grants free entry to most of their properties, and other benefits. You can join when you visit your first castle, or online. However, there are also castles that are privately owned and are therefore either not open at all, or are not covered by the above memberships. Some castles, such as Windsor which is a royal residence, only allow public access to part of the site.

Tip 2

Plan your castle visiting with care. There are some parts of the country that are awash with castles, and it is quite possible to visit several in a day. However, you need to allow enough time to do each castle justice, and not exhaust yourself, so, for most visitors, one before lunch and one afterwards is quite sufficient. Your planning should also take into account the fact that some castles only open for limited seasons. Also, during the summer months there are often events at castles that should not be missed, such as battle re-enactments, or displays of medieval crafts, etc, and you should plan your visits to take in as many of these events as you can.

Tip 3

Learn some background history. The main period of castle building in England and Wales was between the 11th and 16th centuries, which were turbulent, and often lawless, times, during which kings and powerful people sought to defend their territories and demonstrate their power. Knowing the reason why a castle was built, and possibly rebuilt and/or extended many times, helps towards an understanding of why a castle looks as it does today. It is also useful to understand the basic structures of castles at various times, and to distinguish between, say, a motte-and-bailey arrangement and a fortified manor house.

Tip 4

Watch the weather. Many castles in Britain are ruins, sometimes due to enemy action but more often because of the ravages of time. You can still have a great day at a castle ruin on a rainy day, but expect to get wet unless you dress appropriately! Bare stone gets slippery underfoot when wet, so wear sensible footwear and watch your step.

Tip 5

Be prepared to exert some energy! Not surprisingly for defensive structures, castles were often built on hilltops, and so a steep uphill walk is needed before the visit even begins. However, take your time and have a good look at the castle’s exterior while you pause for breath. Imagine yourself as a potential invader! When inside the walls, you are likely to find many paths to walk along, buildings and structures to visit, and stairs to climb. Be patient, especially on busy days, as you climb hundreds of steps in a spiral staircase, and be prepared to have to squeeze past other people who are coming down. Some castle buildings are enormous, and visiting every part is good exercise!

Tip 6

Keep an eye on the kids. Although the people who own and maintain ancient castles take all reasonable precautions to prevent accidents, such as covering wells and fencing off dangerous drops, they cannot guard against every eventuality, and these buildings were put there long before health and safety laws came into force! So it is up to you to make sure that everyone has a great time but does not do anything stupid. This includes making sure that they do not climb on exposed stonework (which will get worn away if everyone does this) and drop litter around the place.

Tip 7

Enjoy the experience. You can learn a lot from a castle visit, and it is certainly worth buying the guidebook. You will probably find boards placed around the castle describing each room and section, and there may be an audio guide that you can take round with you, playing the commentary into your earpiece as you reach each point of interest. Don’t overlook the castle grounds, as these are often pleasant places to walk, especially if an effort has been made to maintain them by, for example, reproducing the planting schedule of the original kitchen gardens. Also, have a look round the local town or village, as this may well have been founded at around the same time as the castle and have many stories to tell. Take your camera with you, but take note of any restrictions placed on photography.

Tip 8

Come back soon!

© John Welford

Billingsgate Market

The buildings in this photo offer a marked contrast in architectural styles! The one on the right is the old Billingsgate fish market on the north bank of the River Thames near the Tower of London.

The site was used as a fish market from at least the 13^th century, when fish were landed at a wharf and sold to traders, although other goods were sold here as well.

From 1698 it was laid down that only fish would be sold here. The building in the photograph dates from the 1870s.

It became the custom for Billingsgate porters to wear large flat hats on which loads of fish were balanced. The name Billingsgate also became used to describe the sort of abusive and expletive-laden language that they tended to use!

The site was abandoned in 1982 when a new market was opened further down-river, which allowed the original building to be restored to its former splendour.

© John Welford

St Kilda

St Kilda is a group of islands off the west coast of Scotland that very few people ever get to visit. The islands lie 66 kilometres (41 miles) west of Benbecula, which is one of the Western Isles. The islands have not had a permanent population since 1930, when the declining number of islanders agreed that they no longer had a future on these bleak islands.

The only people to be found there now are military staff and a nature warden.

It is the wildlife of St Kilda that sets it apart from other islands and is one of the reasons why it was declared a World Heritage Site in 1986. It has a remarkably high bird density per acre of land, its high cliffs (among the highest in Europe) being home to huge numbers of endangered birds including puffins and gannets. When the island was occupied the inhabitants used the birds as a food source, climbing down the cliffs to capture them, but such activities were never likely to endanger any bird species, given the huge numbers involved.

The sea around St Kilda is also vital as a marine conservation area, harbouring as it does zones of marine biodiversity that are just as important as those on land.

Evidence of former human habitation – which began more than 2,000 years ago - can be seen from the abandoned stone cottages and walls that divide the fields that were once used for growing subsistence vegetable crops. The islands were renowned for the brown St Kilda sheep which were left behind when the islanders left and now roam free. 

© St Kilda

Watermills in Great Britain

Water has been used to power machinery for thousands of years. There were watermills in ancient Greece and it was the Romans who brought the technology to Britain. However, it was not until the Anglo-Saxon period that they were developed and used on a large scale. Domesday Book, which was the record that the Normans made of their new possessions in the 1080s, counted more than 5000 watermills in England.

Overshot and undershot watermills

The simplest arrangement for a watermill is for a wheel, fitted with paddles, to be placed in a stream such that the flow of the water turns the wheel and the wheel’s axle acts as a shaft to power machinery, such as stones for grinding corn. This sort of watermill is termed an undershot mill, and was the earliest type of watermill.

However, a more efficient arrangement (by about four times) is for the water to hit the top of the wheel and be caught in buckets, the weight of which then forces the wheel to turn. The extra efficiency comes from the fact that the water can be used for longer, because, on each turn of the wheel, several buckets will contain water and their weight will be considerably greater than that of the empty buckets on the other side. By contrast, with an undershot wheel the force comes from hits on one paddle at a time.

The larger the wheel, the more buckets can drive it. The “Lady Isabella” wheel at Laxey on the Isle of Man was built in 1854 and is the largest overshot wheel in the world, at 72 feet in diameter and 6 feet wide. It has 168 buckets around the rim, a quarter of which will contain water at any one time. When the wheel was operating for its original purpose of draining the local mines, this weight of water was sufficient to raise 250 gallons of water a minute from 1,000 feet below ground. Although the mines have long since closed, the wheel still turns as a tourist attraction.

The other main advantage of an overshot wheel is that the flow of water can be regulated more easily, as it has to be directed along a channel from a millpond or other reservoir, which is often provided by means of a weir that partially dams the stream or river. The more control that can be had over the flow of water, the more regular can be the supply of power to the machinery being driven.

Tidal mills

Another source of water power is provided by tides in coastal estuaries. The usual arrangement is that a mill pond is filled by the incoming tide that flows through a sluice gate which is closed when the tide turns. The water in the pond is released to flow over the wheel as the tide runs out. The disadvantage of such a mill is that it can only run at certain times of the day.

There are two such mills in England that have been restored to working order and now operate for visitors. Woodbridge Tide Mill in Suffolk originally had a 7-acre reservoir. A mill has stood on this site since 1170. Eling Tide Mill in Hampshire takes advantage of the double tides that flow in the Solent, thus allowing it to run for up to seven hours a day. There was a mill recorded on this site in Domesday Book but the current mill is probably around 200 years old.

Uses of watermills

As mentioned above, watermills have long been used to power pumps. However, in southern England, from the mid-16^th century up to the introduction of steam power in the late 18^th century, the iron industry used water power to drive a variety of machinery. Massive hammers were used to crush the ore, while other machines pushed air into the bellows that kept the furnaces hot. The ponds that supplied the water are still known as “hammer ponds” to this day.

Gayle Mill in North Yorkshire (see picture) is an example of a mill that has had several uses throughout its history. It was originally built in 1776 as a cotton-spinning mill but was later used for processing flax and then wool. The original waterwheel was replaced in 1878 by a set of water turbines, which at one time provided electrical power for the local community and was at other times a sawmill. However, the mill has now been restored as a woodworking workshop, with the water power driving a number of lathes and other machines.

These uses are of course on top of the use to which most watermills were originally put, namely to grind corn into flour. However, over the centuries windmills came increasingly to take over the function of flour milling in many areas, partly because of the greater certainty of wind over water. This was especially the case in the drier, eastern parts of the country where wheat was grown in greater quantities and the flatter terrain provided fewer opportunities for fast-flowing streams to drive millwheels.  

Like windmills, most watermills have fallen into disrepair over the centuries and have been demolished. However, many former watermills, to a greater extent than the more awkward-shaped windmills, have found other uses as waterside houses, restaurants and the like.

© John Welford

Places associated with Lady Jane Grey

Lady Jane Grey, the “Nine Days Queen” had a very short life, being executed on 12^th February 1554 at the age of 16. Her life was a sheltered one, in that she spent most of her childhood being educated and she did not travel much. The number of places that are associated with her, and which can be visited today, is therefore limited.

Bradgate Park, Leicestershire

It has long been assumed that Jane Grey was born here, in October 1537, but it is possible that she was born in London and was only brought to the family home of the Greys a little later. However, there is no doubt that she spent much of her life here, especially in her earlier years.

Bradgate Hall and Park had been owned by the Grey family since the 15^th century, with the building of the Hall having been begun in 1490. It is fortunate that the estate has been preserved virtually intact down to the present day, having been presented to the people of Leicestershire by a descendant of the Greys in 1928.

Visitors can therefore wander over most of the 850 acres of the park, which forms part of ancient Charnwood Forest to the north-west of Leicester. This area has many features of interest to geologists, botanists and zoologists, with unusual species of plants, birds and animals to be seen, including herds of red and fallow deer. Some of the world’s oldest fossils have been found here.

However, the house that Jane Grey grew up in is mostly a ruin, although some parts are better preserved than others. Bradgate Hall is easily seen from the main track that runs across the southern part of the Park and visitors can walk through the ruins, although deadly nightshade plants have been allowed to grow here!

Sudeley Castle, Gloucestershire

Jane Grey found life at Bradgate not much to her liking, as her parents often treated her unkindly. However, she was much happier when, in the spring of 1547, Katherine Parr, the surviving last wife of King Henry VIII, invited her to join her household. Jane had, in effect, been “bought” by Katherine’s new husband, Thomas Seymour, as a potential bargaining chip in his dynastic ambitions, but for the nine-year-old Jane this was a welcome release.

At first, Jane stayed at Seymour House in London, but in the summer of 1548 she travelled with Katherine Parr, who was heavily pregnant, to Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire, which had recently been given to Thomas Seymour by the young King Edward VI.

Jane’s stay at Sudeley was short, because Katherine died shortly after giving birth to a daughter, in September of that year, and Jane acted as chief mourner at her funeral. She returned to Bradgate Hall where she remained with only a few brief interludes in London, even after her marriage to Guildford Dudley in May 1553.

Much of the castle that Jane Grey would have known was destroyed during the 17^th century after the Civil War, the current Sudeley Castle being mostly a 19^th century restoration. That said, the west wing of the castle does date largely from the 16^th century. The chapel contains the tomb of Katherine Parr and there is a stained glass window that features Jane Grey.

Sudeley Castle is open to visitors on a limited basis because it is still a family home. General admission is granted to the gardens, grounds and special exhibitions (housed in the west wing of the castle), but access to the castle apartments is only by conducted tour on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The gardens are well worth seeing, especially as they have been designed to reflect past ages, including those of the Tudors. They include a knot garden, a herb garden and the formal Queens’ garden that is lined by yew hedges.

The Tower of London

This is where Jane’s life came to a premature end on the executioner’s block. She was beheaded on Tower Green, as had been two former wives of King Henry VIII, namely Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. Private executions out of the public gaze were granted to royal persons, whereas others took place on Tower Hill, outside the Tower walls.

On the day of her execution Jane watched her husband being led away and saw his headless corpse return on a cart shortly afterwards, before her turn came. She met her end with great courage, although she panicked for a moment when she was blindfolded and could not feel her way to the block.

Visitors can see the execution site and the chapel of St Peter ad Vincula where she was buried. However, Jane was housed during the weeks before her execution at the house of the head gaoler, so there is no cell or dungeon to visit that was once her prison.

The admission price to the Tower of London is not cheap, so visitors will want to get their money’s worth by seeing as much as possible of the various towers and buildings within the complex that constitute the site. Among the attractions are the Crown Jewels and many displays and exhibitions that tell the fascinating story of a fortress that has been standing for nearly a thousand years. Tours are led by yeoman warders who wear the same uniforms that would have been seen by Lady Jane Grey during her final days.

© John Welford

Anglo-Saxon architecture

Modern knowledge of Anglo-Saxon architecture is limited by a number of factors. One is that many of their buildings, particularly domestic dwellings, were wooden, and so have not survived. Another is that people of later ages built over the top of earlier foundations, thus obliterating or confusing the evidence of what was there before.

Often this was accidental, but in the case of the Normans there were deliberate attempts to build from scratch as a way of imposing themselves on the defeated native population after the Conquest of 1066. This meant that many buildings, such as churches, were swept away and new ones built in the Norman style. However, there were also many that survived or were adapted rather than destroyed, and some can still be seen to the present day.

Knowledge of Anglo-Saxon domestic architecture comes largely from archaeology, but also from descriptions in early writings. During the early Anglo-Saxon period, from the 5^th to the 7^th centuries, most people would have lived in wooden huts, either raised above the ground on stout wooden posts or incorporated into workshops such that the working part would have been sunk below ground level.

The typical wall construction was “wattle-and-daub” which consisted of panels woven from thin strips of wood and made watertight by applying a mixture of mud, clay and animal dung. This was a technique that goes back to ancient times and was certainly not unique to the Anglo-Saxons. Roofs would have been made from reed thatch or wooden shingles.

Many early settlers lived in isolated buildings, such as in forest clearings, or two or three families might live in closer proximity. The earliest villages would have been small, with the most dominant family having a larger house or hall, built on a rectangular pattern, in which members of the extended family would also live.

Some Anglo-Saxon sites have been excavated that show that several large buildings were built close together, either as monastic sites or royal palaces. For example, at Yeavering in Northumbria King Edwin built a palace based on an earlier Iron Age hill fort. The earliest buildings were a wooden fort with parallel palisades, to which were added a large timber hall and an amphitheatre. The hall was later rebuilt with the new structure being over 100 feet in length, with an earlier pagan temple replaced by a Christian church and cemetery.

The arrival and spread of Christianity in England from the early 7^th century onwards led to the building of churches and monastic buildings and the development of more formal villages in which the population worked on shared fields and lived within easy walking distance of the church. Village boundaries would be marked by raised earthworks, which in some cases would have had a defensive purpose but were often there to prevent farm animals from wandering and protect them from wolves and other wild animals once a wooden fence had been erected on top.

Larger communities were formed within more extensive earth walls, sometimes based on much older settlements such as Roman towns and cities. The development of the “burh”, meaning a defended place and the origin of the “borough”, was accelerated when the Vikings threatened the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 9^th century.

Although most early churches were wooden, like the houses, these were often rebuilt in stone, especially in the burhs. A typical Saxon church was small and rectangular, but tall with a high roof. The windows were small and few, so the interior would have been dark and lit by candles.

An excellent example of a late Saxon church is St Martin’s at Wareham in Dorset, built on the wall that borders the north side of the town, the boundaries of which are clearly traceable some 1,300 years after they were built. The original 8^th century church was destroyed by the Danes in 1015 but soon rebuilt. Later alterations did not change the basic design of the church, many features of which are original. The church is still in use to this day.

Another remarkable survival is Greensted Church is Essex, part of which is wooden and, although its dating as belonging to the Saxon period has been questioned, was certainly built (or rebuilt) in the Saxon style from split oak tree trunks that are more than 900 years old. It is believed to be the oldest wooden church in the world.

At Deerhurst in Gloucestershire a Saxon church tower can be seen, built in five stages at different dates. Close by are the remains of another Saxon building, which was clearly a chapel consisting of a nave and chancel, both rectangular and each measuring about 40 feet in length.

Although Saxon churches generally followed a rectangular pattern, it is known that the cruciform shape was introduced before the Conquest. Although most such churches did not have fully developed transepts, a few did, such as that at Breamore, Hampshire. Another feature often found in Saxon ecclesiastical buildings is the apse, this being a semicircular projection at the eastern end which can be seen in Romanesque buildings throughout Europe.

Other typical Saxon features include pilaster strip-work (narrow bands of stonework standing proud of a vertical surface and defining a series of panels) and quoining (the use of large stones at wall corners, sometimes arranged to give an alternate “long and short” appearance with each course).

There are around 400 examples of Anglo-Saxon church buildings in England, although these vary from foundations on which later buildings were erected to a very few examples that have survived virtually complete from when they were built. Strangely enough, some of the best survivals have been of buildings that ceased to be churches centuries ago and were only recognised for what they really were in relatively recent times. This is true of the well-preserved examples at Bradford-on-Avon (Wiltshire) and Bradwell-on Sea (Essex). The latter building was a grain barn for much of its existence.

The fact that such buildings, if left alone, can survive for around 1,000 years (the chapel at Bradwell-on-Sea is around 1,400 years old) is testament to the skill of their builders. By sticking to simple methods of stone construction, and not over-reaching themselves, the Anglo-Saxons showed that they could build to last.

© John Welford

St Paul's Cathedral, London

The itinerary of every tourist who visits London should include St Paul’s Cathedral. This is the seat of the Bishop of London, and the place where many great state occasions take place, such as royal weddings and celebrations, and the funerals of famous people.

However, what you see today is not what the architect, Sir Christopher Wren, originally planned. A scientist by training, Wren’s experience as an architect consisted of only two buildings, but one of those was the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford, a circular domed building, modelled after a classical Roman design. He was also a great admirer of St Peter’s Basilica at Rome, with its massive dome designed by Michelangelo.

Not surprisingly, when it came to submitting designs for the new St Paul’s Cathedral, a dome was always going to be a prominent feature. Indeed it was only a matter of days after the Great Fire of 1666, which destroyed Old St Paul’s and much of the surrounding city, that 34-year-old Wren presented his first ideas, leading some cynics to wonder who really started the fire! King Charles II quite liked Wren’s plan, which was to rebuild the whole area on a grand classical plan with broad avenues, but this was too radical for most people, especially as the pressing need was to build new houses as fast as possible.

Plan B consisted of a cathedral in the shape of a Greek cross, surmounted by - you’ve guessed it - a massive dome. However, the clergy objected to this as being too “Romish”, meaning “Catholic”. If you visit the Cathedral today, one thing you can see (by appointment) is a scale model of this design, and decide for yourself if this would have been better or worse than what you see today.

Plan C was therefore a compromise. Wren could have his dome, but a small one, please, and surmounted by a tall spire, which was the dominant feature of the old cathedral. Wren eventually got to work in 1675, nine years after the fire, and proceeded steadily to build the walls. King Charles had given Wren a little leeway, in the shape of a clause in the contract that allowed for “variations, rather ornamental than essential”. Wren took this to mean that he had virtual carte blanche to do what he wanted, but he erected screens around the walls so that prying eyes could not see what he was up to. When the screens came down, it was too late for anyone to change was what obviously under construction, namely a huge dome in place of a spire, as well as several other neo-classical (and thus pagan) features that the clergy would never have sanctioned.

From beginning to end, St Paul’s took 33 years to build, which was a remarkable achievement in itself. By the time it was finished in 1708, King Charles was long dead, which is why the statue outside the cathedral entrance is of Queen Anne. The West Front is impressive in its own right, being based on a classical temple design, with a double colonnaded portico, flanked by towers, and a pediment displaying in stone the conversion of St Paul.

You will also be struck by the whiteness of the stone from which St Paul’s was built, and which has recently been cleaned. This is Portland stone, one of the world’s finest building stones, brought by sea from Dorset to the Thames by barge. If you visit Portland today you can see where the blocks of stone were lowered onto the barges, and there are even a few blocks lying around that were rejected as being sub-standard.

Inside the nave, you will be struck by how light and airy the space is. There is no “dim religious light” here, and there is as much plain glass as stained. There are also no pillars or screens to block your view along the length of the building, which comprises one continuous space. The only pillars in the building support the arches of the broad aisles and the dome.

There are many memorials to famous people in St Paul’s, some of which were rescued from the ruins of the old cathedral. These include a memorial to John Donne, the poet of “no man is an island” fame, who was also Dean of St Paul’s. Prominent memorials include those of Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington. Most of the memorials will be found in the crypt. However, only a plaque commemorates Sir Christopher Wren. This reads “Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice”; “Reader, if you seek a monument, look around you”.

American visitors will almost certainly want to visit the American Memorial Chapel in the apse behind the High Altar. Although St Paul’s escaped relatively unscathed from the wartime bombing that created a second “Great Fire”, the apse was one part that was destroyed and had to be rebuilt. This chapel contains the roll of honour of 28,000 American servicemen who died during World War II whilst stationed in the United Kingdom.

The choir stalls are worth a second look, as they were carved by Grinling Gibbons, Britain’s greatest ever woodcarver. Gibbons also decorated the casing of the organ, which was once played by Mendelsohn.

However, the outstanding feature of St Paul’s has to be the dome, which is the world’s second largest after St Peter’s. You can stand at the centre of the cathedral and look straight up above you, nearly 200 feet, bearing in mind that those relatively slender columns on either side of you are supporting a total weight of 65,000 tons! Or you can make the climb up a series of staircases to the top of the dome.

259 steps up, you come to the Whispering Gallery, from which you can look down into the cathedral interior. The peculiar geometry of the dome means that words spoken in an ordinary voice on one side of the gallery can be heard perfectly clearly on the far side, 112 feet away.

Keep going upwards, and at 378 steps you reach the Stone Gallery that runs around the base of the dome itself, above the colonnade. From here, at 173 feet above floor level, you get a wonderful, relaxed view over London.

The dome is really three domes, with a conical brick structure sitting on top of the inner dome and supporting the wood and lead fabric of the outer dome. A series of staircases between the cone and the outer dome allows you to reach the Golden Gallery at the top of the dome, just below the ball and cross at the very top. This is 280 feet above ground level and you will have climbed 530 steps to get here. The view from here is amazing, but there is not a lot of room at this level and your visit may have to be brief. Whether you would have fancied being hauled up to here in a basket from street level, once a week, is another matter. This is what happened to Wren in his later years as he inspected the work in progress, and in 1708, at the age of 76, he witnessed his son putting the final stone in place.

When I first visited St Paul’s, more than 40 years ago, it was possible to go even higher, into the golden ball that supports the cross, but this is no longer allowed. At that time, St Paul’s, at 355 feet, was the tallest building in London, but it has now been outstripped by several buildings in the “Square Mile”, which is the name given to the Central Business District that is only about a mile away.

On one of my visits some years ago I came across a cathedral guide who was clearly fed up with being asked questions all day. In the Whispering Gallery, a party of schoolchildren were clustered round and one of them, gazing up into the interior of the dome, which is covered with murals depicting incidents from the life of St Paul, asked, “How did they get to do those paintings, all the way up there?” The guide replied, “Long brushes”. I’m sure Sir Christopher would have been amused.

© John Welford

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

Wicken Fen, which is a few miles south of Ely in Cambridgeshire, is Britain’s oldest nature reserve, being cared for by the National Trust since 1899. It comprises 254 hectares of fen and reedbeds and is a rare survivor of the wetland wilderness that once covered virtually the whole of East Anglia.

The importance of the site can be seen from the fact that it is a National Nature Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Area of Conservation, and a RAMSAR site – this being an international wetland designation.

For centuries, the site was managed by sedge-cutting and peat-digging to create a habitat that is rich in wildlife, particularly invertebrates. It is an important site for molluscs, water and other beetles, caddis flies, spiders and bees.

Bird species are regularly seen here include great crested grebe, snipe, reed warbler and bittern.

There are several open water areas within the Fen that attract water birds, and hides are available from which these can be seen and photographed. There are miles of tracks and boardwalks that connect the hides and other features of interest.

© John Welford