Castles of Cumbria: #3 Kendal Castle Howe

Castle Howe is the site of Kendal's original, motte and bailey castle and can be found hidden between Beast Banks and Gillingate, tucked away behind buildings but easily accessed via a number of footpaths. It's about twenty minutes walk from the town centre. There's not much to see apart from the hump of the motte and evidence of defensive ditches. The remains of the bailey are now parkland.

Thoughtfully, there is a plaque showing an artist's impression of what the motte and bailey castle would have looked like in Norman times, with an exlanation of what a motte and bailey castle is and why there are so many around.

The monument on the top of the motte isn't a war memorial, but an obelisk commemmorating the centenary of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. I think it would be safe to assume that the monument wasn't erected by Jacobite sympathisers or Catholics.

There's a good view to be had across the valley where you can see Kendal's other castle on the hill opposite. You can almost imagine someone looking across at the tempting-looking mound of high ground commanding the river and thinking, "There's a good spot to build a nice stone castle over there. Shall we move? Should I nip down to Lancaster and obtain a 'Licence to Crenellate'?"

Castles of Cumbria: #2 Kendal Castle

Located as it is on the edge of the Lake District, many people believe that Kendal is in the Lake District. It isn't. Although the town houses the HQ of the Lake District National Park, Kendal itself is actually outside of the National Park boundary and so has to content itself with the old "Gateway To The Lakes" soubriquet. Certainly, the town deserves this description better than Morecambe, for example, that makes the same claim despite being at the end of a ten mile detour off the M6, 20 miles or so to the south. Some gateway. You can see the fells from the prom, I suppose; but I can see the fells too, out of my office window in Barrow and we don't make bogus claims to being a gateway to the lakes. Unless you arrive by sea, that is.

Still, poor old Morecambe has to try hard to attract visitors these days, so good luck to them. It attracts tourism, I suppose, but Kendal has the more powerful claim. It was, after all, the adopted home of the legendary Alfred Wainwright whose fellwalker's guides to the Lake District's fells are considered definitive.

But I digress (get used to it): Kendal can also boast of being home to not one but TWO castles. The site of the original Norman motte and bailey can be found at Castle Howe on the western, "town" side of the River Kent, but it's more obvious brother, Kendal castle, can be found on a hill overlooking the town tucked away behind the houses and business premises on the eastern side of the river.

Annoyingly, Kendal can also lay claim to the site of a Roman fort at Watercrook.

Now that's just greedy.

Here are some photos of Kendal castle. Although a greatly ruinous castle, walking up there stretches the legs, exercises the lungs and gets you away from the incessant traffic that weaves it's way through the tortuous one-way system.

Once up there, you are rewarded with some great views of the fells to the north and the town nestling in the valley below.

Castles of Cumbria: #1 Brougham Castle

So this is Brougham Castle, near Penrith in Cumbria. I'm told that it's pronounced "Broom", not the more intuitive "Bruffam". I'm glad I never had to ask directions for it, as I would have embarrassed myself.

Luckily, it's clearly visible right by the side of the A66 a couple of miles southeast of Penrith. You can't miss it. And it's well worth checking out if you like this sort of thing. You can even go up to the top of the keep via stairs.

I'd been wanting to visit this ruinous beauty for some time but you can only visit it between Easter and the end of summer.

The site is maintained by English Heritage, an admission fee may apply

The castle has been built on the corner of the platform of a former Roman Fort on a site overlooking the river Eamont. What is now the A66 has been a strategic East-West route of the Pennines for millenia and it is no surprise that there are various castles and forts dotted along the route and the adjacent Eden Valley: There are castles to be seen at Brough, Penrith, Appleby (not ruined, still occupied but in private hands) and various other obscure and enigmatic piles of rubble in the area.

Anyway, Brougham. Here are some photos I took:

Here, a poorly-dressed man can be seen, preventing people from entering the gatehouse. He seems to be pointing out the runners for the portcullis.











These medieval stonemasons certainly knew what they were doing:


The Keep:

This is a view from upstairs inside the keep, looking out towards one of the numerous arrow slits

Don't worry if you don't have a head for heights - there are railings! I presume there were floors in the olden days.


Note the well in the courtyard: Handy when you're being besieged by marauding Scots. Under normal circumstances, some nice running water from the nearby River Eamont will do the trick - ideal for thwarting cholera and all manner of delightful medieval diseases.



And at the bottom, looking up...


Mindless vandalism isn't the sole preserve of modern times. There are a number of places within the castle where graffiti has been carved into the stonework, very neatly in some instances:

The Great Hall:

Of course, by the Tudor era castles were, by and large, obsolete. As threats internal and external receded, the ruling classes preferred to live in grand houses and halls rather than draughty old castles. Brougham fell into ruin. That is until in one last hurrah, Brougham castle was actually restored by the amazing Lady Anne Clifford. It was only after she died that the castle finally fell into total decay.

Check out the Countess Pillar close to the castle right by the A66 on the westbound side.

My First Blog by Wrenmeister, aged 45 3/4

And so to blog. I've finally decided to start blogging.

I hope to make you laugh a little, cry a little, maybe even make you think a little - what's that from? - I've got many boring and anal things to share, such as my ongoing project to write dull things about the castles of Cumbria to make use of all the photos I've accrued of various ruins.

I also have about 200 photos I took in Belgium...I'm not selling this very well, am I?

I may do a history of pastry at some point.

Riveting stuff.