The Castle Thread.

These are photos of the Chateau at Culan which is the department on Cher just north of a town called Montlucon. Which is about as central France as you can get. This Chateau was built between the 12th and 15th centuries. It's one of the oldest inhabited castles in the world.

Dave, I haven't got a clue why this abbey ended up in it's current state? I assume it just got neglected through the years?

I found this on the English Heritage site:
Rievaulx Abbey was founded by St Bernard of Clairvaux in 1132 and became one of England’s wealthiest monasteries before its dissolution by King Henry VIII in 1538.

The last of my pictures was taken at Helmsley Castle, also situated in the North York Moors National Park.

Berry Pomeroy Castle

The castle, now a romantic ruin, is reputed to be one of the most haunted in the British Isles. It has numerous legends associated with it, and although now only a shell of its former glory, it retains an air of its troubled history.

History
The lands around the present castle were originally bestowed upon Ralph de Pomeroy by William the Conqueror, as reward for his loyalty and support during the Norman invasion, and the subsequent battle of Hastings. The Norman structure, still seen in the gatehouse of the present ruin, dates from the end of the 13th Century, when Henry de Pomeroy (the 9th generation of Pomeroy's) started the construction of the castle. The structure had been completed by Henry's death in 1305.

The castle remained in Pomeroy hands until the late 1540's, when the castle was bought or acquired by other means by the influential Sir Edward Seymour. Edward was the Lord Protector, and the brother of Jane Seymour, third wife to Henry VIII. Edward commissioned the building of a mansion house within the confines of the Norman castle, creating the resultant mixture of architecture seen today.

Edward Seymour made a lot of enemies as Lord Protector, and he was ousted by the Earl of Warwick and imprisoned in the Tower of London in October 1549. With 29 charges against him he was sentenced to death and executed on January 22nd 1552.

Somehow the castle remained in Seymour hands, and continued to be occupied by them up until 1688, when it was abandoned as an abode. There is some evidence that a proportion of the rooms remained inhabitable up until the reign of George the IV, and the castle has remained in guardianship of the Seymours, currently the 19th Earl of Somerset. In 1977 English Heritage took over the maintenance of the castle, and have continued to carry out restorations to the present day.

Ghosts and Legends
The castle has been the scene of numerous ghostly sightings and strange phenomena. The most enduring ghosts seem to be the terrifying apparitions of a White Lady and a Blue Lady. The White Lady haunts the dark dungeons, and rises from St Margaret's Tower to the castle ramparts, where she has been seen beckoning to witnesses (as recently as 1987). According to the legend she is the spirit of Margaret Pomeroy, who was imprisoned in the dungeons by her sister Eleanor. Eleanor was jealous of both her beauty and her affections for the man she had designs upon. Margaret slowly starved in the dungeons, a long drawn out and painful death. Whether she is the source of the feeling of unease and horror some people experience at the castle is unknown.

The Blue Lady is not confined to specific areas of the castle and is supposed to lure people into parts of the ruin. Traditionally she is seen as the ghost of the daughter of one of the Norman Lords of the castle. She was raped by her father, who then strangled the resulting child in one of the upper rooms.

In other tales it is she who strangles the child, haunting the castle in anguish. When seen, her face is said to portray this suffering. She is regarded as a death portent to members of the Seymour family.

Sir Walter Farquar (Dr Farquar) is said to have seen the spirit while he was attending to the wife of one of the Stewards in the 19th Century. She died soon afterwards although she seemed to be making a full recovery.

Another popular tradition relates to the heroic fate of two brothers (Pomeroys), who were besieged at the castle at some point in its history. To save face from a long drawn out defeat, they dressed in full armour, mounted their horses, and rode off the top of the castle ramparts and precipice below. The area was known thereafter as the Pomeroy's leap, and is associated with anomalous noises such as screams and dull thuds. This story may have origins in a real life event, although the occurrence does not appear in written history.

The castle has been the scene of many other ghostly sightings and phenomena. Strange lights have been witnessed, voices have been heard, and there have been reported cold spots and freak winds, although the latter is always possible in an open ruin. Other apparitions reported include a lady in a grey dress, the ubiquitous Cavalier, and strange shadows with no earthly presence to cast them.

Often on bank holidays the castle host medieval days, Carol and I picked one such day to visit.














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Only their spirits Brett, I understand they meet on Halloween's night, only the brave walk the castle on this night of the year

These are some pictures of the 3 castles in Bellinzona in Switzerland (The Italian Speaking part) that make up a UNESCO World Heritage site. The three castles are called Castelgrande, Montebello and the Sasso Corbaro. Bellinzona was a city of immense strategic importance as its location is where several traditional mountain passes meet. These being the Nufenen, St. Gotthard, Lukmanier and San Bernardino passes.

Castelgrande is the oldest. There's been a castle of sorts on its site for almost 2000 years. Around 774 AD it gained bigger fortifications and watch towers under Frankish control after they gained the Bellinzona from the Longobards. It was further strengthened by Emperor Otto III around 1000AD and then it came under the control of Henry II of Germany. In the late 11th century after the Investiture Controversy which cause 50 years of Civil war in Germany, control of the castle went to the Hohenstaufen Dynasty of Swabia who then made it the jurisdiction of the city of Como. Emperor Frederick II then gained control of the castle and improved it further. It was then besieged several times in the 13th century and the Rusca family of Como then built a second castle called Montebello. The Ruscas were then driven out of nearby Como and fled northward to their new Castle. Milan then attacked Bellinzona and captured the Castelgrande castle but let the Ruscas stay in the newer castle. Milan then under control of the powerful Visconti family built a city wall behind the two castles to keep invaders out and to tax the traffic of trade flowing through all the different passes. As you can guess, money poured into the coffers and Castelgrande was upgraded again. Then the controlling Visconti Duke died in 1402 and Bellinzona was controlled by the neighbouring Swiss cantons of Uri and Obwalden. Milan tried to buy Bellinzona back from th Swiss, they were rejected and then attacked the city and wrestled control of the City back to Milan. However the Swiss attacked the city several times. They failed to beat the Milanese completely but after the Battle of Giornico in 1478 a small Swiss force of 600 managed to defeat 10,000 Milanese troops. In the aftermath of this the Duke of Milan built a third castle much higher than the other two castles and called it Sasso Corbaro.

Milanese control then evaporated in 1499 when Louis XII invaded Milan itself. In 1500 the citizens of the city ousted the French and then Bellinzona formally joined the Swiss Confederation later that year. It then become part of the Helvetic Republic after Napoleon's invasion of Switzerland in 1798. 5 years later Bellinzona became part of the canton of Ticino. After the congress of Vienna in 1815 Switzerland was recognised as an neutral and independent country. The castles were no longer needed to protect Bellinzona against the Swiss. Castelgrande was used as an Arsenal and a prison.

Anyway here a few pictures.

Castelgrande


From Castelgrande towards Montebello







From Castelgrande towards Montebello and then the Sasso Corbaro in the top right corner.





Sasso Corbaro


This is the view northwards from Castelgrande. It gives us an idea of how much of a bottleneck Bellinzona is



The city wall between the two castles

Dave,

great pictures of Berry Pomeroy castle but don't you think one of the knights looks like Matt Lucas ;D