Castle Recap: Bamburgh, Craigmillar, Newcastle's Castle Keep

As promised, we have some castle recaps to deliver. A few weekends ago we visited England's Bamburgh Castle and then, the next day, we walked through Scotland's Craigmillar Castle. And just today, the boys and I toured the Castle Keep in Newcastle upon Tyne. (Mike had to work. Boo.)

Sorry about the photo quality...we are still limping along with just our iPhone.

Bamburgh Castle
An astounding castle right by the sea. Stunning views. As you can see from the photos, we were there on a gorgeous day! Homeschooling friends back home: Check out the "History" section of the Bamburgh Castle website. Be sure to click on the books in the library for cool interactive features.

Just to give you an idea of how dramatic and picturesque this castle is, it has been the setting for eight different films between 1952 and 1998, including Roman Polanski's Macbeth in 1970. (Definitely need to rent that one!)

Here's the view from the southeast-facing overlook.

The cannons are a later addition to the castle.

The Norman Keep (straight ahead) was built by William the
Conquerer 900 years ago. Inside the keep, there's an even older
Saxon well.

Taking a breather.

The view, looking out over the village of Bamburgh
and surrounding fields. Beautiful!

Mike and Ollie in The King's Hall, a great room that's
now filled with display cases of antiques, weapons,
artwork, and artifacts.

The rock work in the ceiling of this passageway is awesome.

In the 1700s, the castle was used as a coast guard station, of sorts.
These chains were used to drag ships and their wreckage up onto the beach.

Warrior pose.

The boys each got a plastic sword from the gift shop.



Craigmillar Castle
Just three miles from the city centre of Edinburgh, Scotland, we found Craigmillar Castle. We got there at about 11:00 a.m. and just happened to get in free since a sign on the door of the entry station said that they had already gone to lunch...the gate was open...so in we went.

This castle was really different from Bamburgh in that it is in a basic state of ruin. For instance, where old wooden floors and roofs would have been, there is now nothing. Pigeons were roosting in its rooms. Artists' renderings helped us visualize the way the rooms would have looked, the way the gardens would have looked. I really liked this better, because you had to use your imagination.

This interior courtyard is peaceful and serene. This sycamore
tree, known as Queen Mary's Tree, was supposedly planted
by her.

These stone spiral staircases always make me think of the Sleeping Beauty movie,
when she climbs all the way to the top of the tower and finds the spinning wheel.

View from the top. This castle had tons of nooks and crannies
to explore and tight spaces and stairways. It was so cool.

Outbuildings included a dovecote and a chapel, which is now
where they have set up the public toilet. Seems wrong...

The castle timeline. For you history buffs.

The history books say that Mary Queen of Scots visited
Craigmillar twice in the 1500s. And now we've been there, too!

Newcastle's Castle Keep

The castle keep, or great tower, is all that remains of the castle built in Newcastle in 1080. What's crazy is that before this castle was built here, there was a Norman earth-and-timber castle on the site. And before that, an Anglo-Saxon cemetery on the site. And before that a Roman fort called Pons Aelius.

After paying 4 pounds to get in (just for me, the kids were free),
the first thing we did was climb spiral stone steps all the way
up to the roof.

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Of the 10 bridges that cross the river Tyne in Newcastle, we could see
seven of them from the roof of the castle keep! In this picture:

the Millenium Bridge, completed in 2002, and the High Level Bridge,

completed in 1849.

Behind the boys, here's the Cathedral Church of St. Nicolas'
lantern tower. The stone work has amazing cutaway sections.
Gorgeous!

Looking down from the third story to the second story
into The Great Hall.

The boys watch a train go by from the windows in the
castle wall.

Outside the castle now, we found the old city well.

And a portion of the original city walls.

Playing with the castle keep in the background.

Can you believe these gorgeous blue skies? Who said
it rains all the time here? Dude, I probably just jinxed it.

We walked along the Heritage Trail, which took us down by
the Quayside (pronounced "keyside"), or riverside. But
that's a post for another day...