Bart Bear's Blog

It is now two years since the Oldies were off over the other side of the world on their big trip, and there are still lots of pictures to show you from that trip. This one is the entry into Caernarfon (which the English call Carnarvon castle). The castle was built by the English King, Edward 1 around 1282. It was one of a series of castles built to keep the Welsh under control. Dad says that the Welsh are fiercely independent people and have never been under control. Anyhow, lots of you have seen Caernarfon on the TV, because it is here that the Princes of Wales are invested in their office. The last one was Prince Charles in 1969, too long ago for lots of you to have seen, but the castle is used as the site for lots of TV movies. The castle is sort of a semi-ruin. The walls are mostly OK but almost all of the wooden bits have gone, the only bits left are in rooms that have been restored. The stone stairs are still there and you can go up onto the battlements. You have to be careful up there as some of the walls have big gaps in them and, as you can see from the small photo, there are scary things moving around up there.

Labels: buildings, castle, Wales

The oldies saw lots of castles while they were on their UK tour, but this one was the best of the lot. It is Caerphilly Castle in southern Wales. It is a huge castle, the second largest in the UK. It has a big moat around it with two dams to keep it full. The castle was built in the late 13th century by Gilbert de Clare, the English lord of Glamorgan, to keep the Welsh out of south Wales. It hasn't been altered much since then, so it is a great example of what medieval castles were like. I like the way that one tower has split and partly toppled. Dad says that it is because the castle is slowly sinking into the water-logged ground; he may be right, it happens sometimes. I also like the collection of siege engines inside one of the courtyards. One thing I would really love to do is to fire big rocks from a real trebuchet. Actually, if I sat in the bucket of a trebuchet and had my parachute with me it might be a fun ride.

Labels: buildings, castle, Wales