Shall I be mean and say which Welsh Castle is this?
If you know this castle, this might help . . . Wasn't I mean to tease you all yesterday. It is - of course - beautiful Raglan Castle. If I had shown the photo below, you might have had a sporting chance . . .
I will apologize for the blue smear which is obvious in many of the photos. I obviously put a grubby thumb mark on the lens. Smack wrists.
Anyway, we were out visiting castles yesterday, mainly because we had planned out a day around viewing a cottage near Ross-on-Wye, only to have a last minute phone call cancelling because the vendor had Shingles. So, we went anyway, and started off at Abergavenny, where there is a Fleamarket every Wednesday. It has been several years since we last went and we were looking forward to having a wander round, especially as there are usually a few Militaria stalls. We had a lovely stroll, whilst Danny set off to explore the town and came back later with a coffee to see what we had been interested by. There are a couple of good book stalls (one had some very tempting cookery books and I may get tempted next time . . .) and we met up with some friends of ours from the Fleamarket circuit, which was nice. I spent just £2 on an old horse book. Then it was on to Raglan.
No photo of the main gateway as they "had the builders in" and they had parked their van outside, and there was scaffolding all over the place. So instead, a view of the left hand side of the castle and the bow of the moat.
The entrance into the Pitched Stone Court, above and below.
I stood inside the great hall yesterday, looking out through this beautiful Elizabethan window, and thinking of how its occupants must have felt the day Colonel Fairfax and his cohort of Roundheads came pouring through the gatehouse.
It was built relatively late, this beautiful castle, around the mid 15th C. I doubt they thought then it would ever see war or be besieged or attacked. How wrong history was to prove them.
Here is the business end of things, the red sandstone walls hiding the large kitchen area behind them.
One of the fireplaces in the vast kitchen.
And the other . . .
The view from the rear of the castle, looking across to the Sugarloaf.
More details later.
A wonderful post with some lovely photos - I don't believe I have ever visited this castle so it was lovely to read all about it. Hope you can see the cottage for sale sometime soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks R. Robin. We plan to see a different one on the edge of the Forest of Dean next week if we can get a viewing on the day of choice. It's nicer at Raglan (at anywhere!) in summer, but yesterday's sunshine made up for the lack of foliage on the field margins.
ReplyDeleteLovely post honey. I love Raglan and Abergavenny , the in laws live nearby and we often end up at Abergavenny during a visit. Usk is nice too but many of the antique type shops have now gone though it does have a couple of charity shops. Nice walk down by the river and old railway line too.xx
ReplyDeleteUsk is somewhere I don't think I've been. We LOVE the Usk valley and wouldn't mind being in that area when we relocate, as it's not too far from good roads out of Wales (to visit family). We will be back that way next week as we are viewing a different property on the edge of the Forest of Dean.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the photos, just through my 5th book by Phil Rickman, he doesn't seem to like the Forest of Dean community;) Must be exciting though looking at new places in different parts of the country.
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ReplyDeleteThelma - ref the Forest of Dean folk - Apparently they can be a bit "iffy" with incomers/strangers, which is what my friend who lives over the hill in Herefordshire tells me!
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