Recent I went castle hopping in Cornwall, UK as part of my little road trip in the area, here's the few castles I visited.
Tintagel was the highlight of the trip because of its spectacular views along the coastline. I believe the castle itself dates back to around the 13th century, parts of it is on the mainland and other parts on the island next to it.
This diagram gives you a better idea of the site layout. From the "you are here" mark, visitors can walk on the cliff top and cross the bridge to the island to see the castle. The original bridge has broken down years ago and there's a new bridge now, that's one of the main attraction at Tintagel. Then there's another path that takes visitors down towards the sea looking up to the bridge.
I took the latter path instead of crossing the bridge. You'll understand why in a minute. Can you see the castle on top of the cliff on the left?
The view at the end of the path was quite something. The viewpoint looks out into the sea, and don't let the beautiful blue sky fool you. Boy! Was it windy! The waves were crashing non stop against the side of the cliffs. That said, the sight of the bridge looked so majestic from here.
I went closer towards the bridge and got a better view of the main bridge here. There's a gap in the center. That one inch gap is by design, and represents the jump from the old world to the new world. Or new to old, depending on which direction you're heading. There's also a flight of stairs leading to another bridge also connecting to the island. So it seems one can get to the island and see the castle via two different routes.
Sadly I never got to cross neither of the bridges. Nor did I get to see Tintagel Castle that day because it was so windy and they had to close the castle. I could barely see in front of me! Guess I need to come back another time.
The next castle I went to was Pendennis Castle, some 60 miles further down south in Cornwall. Pendennis was built in 1540-41 by Henry VIII. Henry VIII is famous for having 6 wives, of which he beheaded two, divorced two, one died and luckily the sixth survived him. Anyway, I digress. Henry was worried about the French and Spanish invading England from sea and ordered many castles and forts to be built around this area during his reign.
Pendennis was built on a headland with a circular tower, giving it full advantage to look out for and stop hostile visits.
The castle, or rather fort isn't very tall. You don't want to build a structure that enemies can see from miles away and blow you up. The tallest part was the small tower, then there's the main round rooftop, and finally the ground level of circular bastion. Each level serves their own purpose during the wars
I walked around the rooftop, there's a 360 degree view of the surroundings where you can see far far away. The land opposite is the other side of the Fal estuary. It's this estuary that Pendennis was tasked to protect to stop the enemy furthering inland and reach the English shore.
Artillery fanatics will love it at Pendennis. There's a plethora of different types of guns on display here. They date back to when the castle was first built, to those used in the two past wars. It was quite interesting to walk around the site and see them all. They even converted an old shed built in 1805 used to store guns into a mini museum.
The last castle I visited during my trip was Launceston Castle. This was the oldest of them all, thought to date back to 1067 after William the Conqueror conquered England in 1066. Originally Launceston Castle was just a wooden castle, and it was rebuilt with stone a century later. Precise dates are rather fuzzy here, it is, after all, nearly a thousand years ago!
The castle is built on a mound, that's a little hill with a flat top. One had to cross a bridge and climb the stairs up the steep hill to enter the castle.
Here's the view looking back down when I got to the top of the stairs.
The castle has a round tower which we will go up to in minute. Let's take a walk around the courtyard on the ground level first. Can you hear these walls screaming "I'm old!!!"
This is the view looking up through the tower from ground. Of course in the old days, one wouldn't be able to see the sky from here because the Lords and Earls lived in the castle. Do you see the railings at one o'clock, the recess at five o'clock and the opening between six and seven o'clock?
I'm standing behind the railings now. There used to be a room here for the Earl, but that's gone now. If you use a bit of imagination, you can see where the floor used to be, below the window opposite. And the recess on the right used to be the fireplace.
Going one level up, you can see where I was standing on the ground looking up earlier on, and by the railings on the level below.
The views from the top of the castle looks down to Launceston village, and the surrounding areas. It's quite some view, and has a very "I own this land" feel. There used to be castle walls surrounding and protecting the castle. Apart some tenacious parts that have refused to crumble, nearly all of it is gone now.
As I left Launceston Castle via the entrance that had stood for nearly a thousand years, I couldn't help thinking how much longer it will be standing here for.
