Kenilworth Castle

 

Recently B wanted his usual lift to a pub at Balsall Common to meet friends for lunch so while he was there D and I visited nearby Kenilworth Castle.

History of the Castle 

(if you've read my previous posts on Kenilworth Castle I would skip this bit!)

• The first castle at Kenilworth was built in the 1120's by Geoffrey de Clinton (the Royal Chamberlain) who had been given the land by Henry I.  He built the Great Tower (Norman Keep) and also founded Kenilworth Priory.
• In the early C13th King John added an outer circuit wall and built a dam to retain a large lake.  The castle was now strongly defended and withstood a siege in 1266.
• John of Gaunt, son of Edward III, built the Great Hall and its apartments.
• C15th Lancastrian kings visited to hunt and Henry V built a retreat at the end of the lake called "The Pleasance in the Marsh".
• In 1563 Queen Elizabeth I gave the castle to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. He turned the castle into a palace fit to entertain her building apartments and a privy garden for her use.
• After the Civil War fortifications were removed and in 1650 Leicester's Gatehouse was turned into a residence by Colonel Hawkesworth, a Parliamentarian Officer.
• In 1958 Lord Kenilworth gave the castle to the people of Kenilworth and it has been managed by English Heritage since 1984.

You approach the castle walking through an area that was once the jousting ground where  tournaments were held in.

Mortimer's Tower - built by King John around 1210 . It may later have taken its name from Roger Mortimer, one of the Marcher lords, who held a tournament at the castle in 1282.

The Great Tower or Norman Keep

Queen Elizabeth I's apartments

Dudley's Gatehouse built by Robert Dudley in 1571/2.

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First of all we had a look round the Elizabethan Garden.

The Queen's Privy Garden was a private garden created for Elizabeth I by Robert Dudley in 1575.  The garden was recreated by English Heritage in 2009.  The design was based on descriptions by Robert Langham in the C16th who had sneaked into the gardens.  Archaelogical surveys and historical research were also used to help plan the garden.

The fountain is the centre piece of the garden.  The new fountain, like the original, is made of white Italian Carrara marble. Two Athlants (Atlas figures) support a sphere that discharges jets of water.

Lunn's Tower

It was the Easter School holidays so busier than I would have liked! but we had lunch in the Stables.  Cheese and onion toasties followed by two cakes that we shared.

After lunch we continued to walk around the castle.

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It was unbelievably windy so while D went to the top of one of the towers and took the following photos I sat on a wall in a sheltered spot!

Part of the Great Hall

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Looking over the area that would once have been a lake.

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We bought a few items from the shop and then just had time to visit a local farm shop before picking up B.

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Photos taken by D and I with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

Reference:

English Heritage website and guidebook to Kenilworth Castle