March 22, 2021 • 26 mins
Castles have fascinated visitors worldwide for their beauty, size, and history. We explore some history and aspects of British castles. While Jack names his top five castles in Britain in this episode, he has previously identified 11 of the most beautiful castles in Britain (four of which he discusses in this episode). Click on the word TRANSCRIPT to get a transcript of this podcast with an audio player at the bottom.
[00:46] Castles
[02:55] Windsor Castle
[05:02] Strategic Aspects of Castles and a Little History
[09:51] Characteristics (Parts) of Castles
[12:11] Postcards
[12:38] Castle Lighting
[14:32] Jack's Top Five Castles of Britain
[16:12] Arundel Castle
[21:23] Heating & AC-How do they do it?
[23:29] Castle For Sale by Owner?
[25:00] Size and Age of Castles in Britain
Dream. Learn. Plan. Prepare. Go to Guidester/Virtual-Vacation
Season 1: Episode 3
#Hever #EileanDonan #Caernarfon #Windsor #Arundel #royals #keep #bailey #curtainwall #moat #portcullis #turret #Wales #Scotland #NorthernIreland #England #travel #europe #vacation #traveleurope #travel #europe #vacation #traveleurope #travelguide #tourguide
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jack (00:00):
The Normans were the first great castle builders.
The Normans were the ones thatreally began England and Britain
on this castle building quest, ifyou will, they were great builders.
The Normans get somewhat of a badrap as being conquerors, William the
Conqueror it's in his name, but theywere builders actually first and
foremost, and they brought structureand castles and strongholds to Britain.
Arnold (00:21):
Travel to Europe is off limits for the time being, but we can still keep
the flame of wanderlust alive throughthe Virtual Vacation with Guidester,
the weekly podcast, where host JackBaumann, founder of Guidester and travel
enthusiast Arnold Stricker, dive intonew destinations, exploring their unique
history, culture and special vibe.
You will also get insidertips about these destinations.
You won't get from other sources.
(00:43):
Now let's join our host, theGuidester himself, Jack Bauman.
Now, if you'd like to play chess,there are two pieces that look like
something that came out of the middleages and they're called Rooks or the
layman's term is probably castles.
And we're going to talk about castlestoday Jack, because I've never
been in one of these in England.
(01:03):
I would think that they would be reallycold and damp and dreary and dark.
Am I right.
Jack (01:08):
Some of them are, some of them are grand and magnificent and cozy.
Certainly some draft though.
There's no getting away around that.
And that's one of thereasons they have tapestries.
It's actually where tapestries camein, really just to keep the air
in and keep it warm and livable.
But yes.
There's many stereotypes withcastles and British castles.
(01:29):
Some of them are true.
Some of them are not true.
And the beauty of British castles,British meaning England, Scotland, and
Wales, the island of Britain, thereis an unbelievably immense diversity
of castles in Britain, whetherit's England, Scotland, and Wales.
Actually, Wales has more castlesper capita, per square mile
than any country in the world.
Arnold (01:50):
Wow
Jack (01:51):
Castles everywhere.
Now, many of them are ruined.
Many of them were built byEdward the first in the 12th
century, 13th century, rather.
And they're not lived in, butCardiff Castle is still lived
in or still habitable rather.
The amount of diversity and complexityto these castles cannot be overstated.
Arnold (02:09):
Now, these were obviously built for some defensive
kind of capability, correct?
Jack (02:13):
Correct.
Yes.
So a castle in its truest form wasbuilt as a strategic defense to control,
let's say a river or a high point.
Really the great castle buildersthat began this were the Normans,
who weren't strictly English, theywere Norman, they were French.
So the great castle builders ofthe, early English history were
(02:33):
from outside the Island of Britain.
And it was really the Normans, William theConqueror and his descendants that started
this great castle building in England.
Arnold (02:42):
So you're talking about the Normans so we're
talking about what century?
Jack (02:46):
William, the conqueror, the battle of Hastings that's 1066.
So that's 11th century.
A thousand years ago almost.
Arnold (02:53):
And they're still existing.
Jack (02:55):
Windsor castle was built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century and it's
the oldest inhabited castle in the world.
Now little side note here, Windsor castleis where the Windsor family got its name.
Arnold (03:08):
The current queen.
Jack (03:09):
Right, the current queen; the original name of the family that
the queen inhabited or the queenwas from was Saxe-Coburg Gotha.
A lot of people don't know this.
Arnold (03:19):
Sounds like an attorney.
Jack (03:21):
Right!
A German attorney.
Yeah.
German speaking attorney.
And maybe they do come from somelegalistic backgrounds, but no, it
was actually a very prominent Royalfamily descended from Queen Victoria.
George, the V, who is the Queen'sgrandfather, changed the name
in 1917 due to anti Germansentiment during World War I.
(03:41):
So Windsor castle, it's actually afascinating story and we need to get
back to the castles of Britain, butthis is a really important piece here.
Windsor castle formed theinspiration for the name to be
changed from Saxe-Coburg Gotha.
There was a lot of anti-German sentiment.
The British Royal family knewthey were in some hot water.
So George the V, the grandfather ofQueen Elizabeth the II, said, okay
(04:04):
guys, we need to do something hereand all his handlers, yeah, we agree.
It's a really fascinating story.
They could not find a suitable name.
It had to be English and it hadto have roots that went back
centuries or people wouldn't buy it.
And one of their handlers, one ofthese guys, one of the historians,
I can't remember who it was, buthe was shuffling through some notes
and papers and he found Windsor.
(04:25):
Windsor castle was still thereobviously, but he was looking through
these old libraries and trying to findthese a name that would be suitable.
And it just came across inthis most fascinating way.
Windsor castle, andthought, Windsor castle.
It's both a place and I can use it as aname that goes back a thousand years in
British history and the rest is history.
And so it was a master stroke, changingit from a German name to a very solid
(04:49):
English name, like the Windsors.
It was an absolutely masterstrokenow key thing here, those.
They're still German heritage.
In fact, their first language is German.
And a lot of people don't knowthat Charles Prince Charles
speaks German fluent German.
Arnold (05:00):
Very interesting.
Jack (05:01):
Yeah.
Arnold (05:02):
So these castles, they were built for defensive purposes and they
were generally built on high hillsor areas that you could overlook
valleys or overlook the ocean or theywere key strategic places, correct?
Jack (05:13):
Absolutely, yes.
So the tower of London, for examplein London, was built to protect
the access from the river Thames.
So you could access the city of Londonfrom the river Thames from the channel.
If you're a ship or you're a Vikingor whatever, and you're rowing
down the Thames, this was placedbefore you hit the city of London
(05:33):
to protect the city of London.
And then it was also usedas a military outpost.
It was used as prisons.
That's what the tower of London is mostfamous for is a prison that's where
King Henry the VIII, liked to stash someof his wives; was the tower of London.
So , it was mostly along riversat high points also in areas
that you needed to subdue.
(05:54):
So strategically, yes, they were allused put in a defensive position, usually
on a high point, but not always in themost strategically advantageous place.
In that instance, it was meant tosubjugate the local population.
The most famous is probably thecastles in Northern Wales: Caernarfon,
Conwy, Beaumaris Castle, which areunbelievably beautiful by the way.
(06:17):
Cause you have thescenery too and the sea.
If you go to Caernarfon Castle,you'll be shocked at the scale.
This was built by Edwardthe I in the 1200's A.D.
The same time, Edward the I is the onewho was around when William Wallace
was doing his thing in Scotland and hisnickname was the hammer of the Scots.
And they really should add a secondnickname, the hammer of the Welsh,
(06:38):
because actually it's so fascinating.
The term Prince of Wales,where that came from.
Edward, the I.
Arnold (06:44):
Really
Jack (06:45):
Edward the I, was hell bent on subjagating the whole Island of
Britain; Wales and Scotland included.
He definitely succeeded in Wales.
It's debatable whether he succeeded inScotland or not, he's certainly made
a footprint and made an impression,but his son really dropped the ball.
He defeated the last Prince of Wales.
So the Wales really didn't have theright King, they were called princes.
(07:06):
I think it was Owain Glyndwr maybe?
Don't quote me on that.
But one of the last princess ofWales was defeated by Edward the I
or exiled, and he said, okay, Welsh.
He had a son.
His wife was pregnant, CaernarfonCastle was being built to
subjugate the Welsh population.
The Welsh population really retreatedinto the Northwest part of Wales.
That was the last stronghold; he hadhis wife go over there, deliver his
(07:31):
baby and held up at Caernarfon Castle.
This is your new Prince of Wales.
You ready for this?
Every subsequent Prince ofWales has been crowned as such.
Prince Charles, the Prince ofWales was crowned quote-unquote
in Caernarfon Castle- elaborateceremony in Caernarfon Castle.
(07:52):
And it goes back almost 800 yearsto this one moment in history,where
Edward the I says, now my progeny, mydescendants are your new Prince of Wales.
Arnold (08:02):
Talk about tradition.
Jack (08:03):
Yeah.
Talk about traditionand some cosmic comedy.
It's continued through the ages and theWelsh, in many ways have accepted it.
Now it depends on who, whatkind of Wells you're talking to.
But I think there is actually somegreat pride with the Prince of Wales.
In fact, I met Charles the Prince ofWales once , very randomly in a town and
(08:24):
called Brecon, which is in Southern Wales.
He was there on a non scheduled trip.
He was giving money to a localchurch there and local boys choir.
He's very involved in boys choirand other things like that.
He was there and I bluffedmy way into the church.
I made friends with the priestand I sat five rows behind him.
I was talking to the locals and thereis some great love for Prince Charles.
(08:47):
He actually taught himself Welshand that was very unusual for
the Royal family to do that.
So he broke some protocols.
There are some traditions, if youwill, but there is some great love.
So to me, historically,there's an irony there.
Arnold (08:59):
Matter of fact, I think when he gave his speech, when he was
crowned Prince of Wales, he gave itin Welsh and he was cautioned by, I
believe the crown at the time; hey,maybe you don't want to do this.
We don't want to get too friendlyhere, but he went against the grain
because he knew it was important tohave the Welsh people behind him and
(09:19):
be really connected to them and hefelt that was an important thing to do.
Jack (09:22):
Very true.
Yeah, Charles in many ways, somewhatlike his uncle who abdicated the throne
and that's a story for another time.
There are people are holding theirbreath to see what kind of King he'll be.
I think there's many good thingsthere, but as we've seen the monarchy
thrives, no depends on tradition.
Now, the monarchy has donewell to evolve with the new
times , and that was one of them.
(09:43):
That was a very controversial thingfor him to have that address done in
Welsh, but the Welsh people loved it.
I think he did the right thing.
Arnold (09:51):
Say I want to build a castle.
How do I go about doing this?
Because there seems to be certain kindof characteristics that all castles have;
they have ramparts, they have the towers.
I'm going to call them towers,but they're called something else.
Jack (10:04):
So you've got many different parts of castles.
So the most famous partof a castle is the keep.
So that's the central stronghold.
Mostly they were built of woodinitially and then made into stone.
A lot of them were convertedinto stone, but to keep is the
central stronghold of the castle.
And that's what mostpeople are familiar with.
Then you have the curtain wall, which issimply a defensive wall to protect the
(10:25):
bailey, which is the central courtyard.
So you've got your keep, then you'vegot your curtain wall and then the
bailey, which is your courtyard.
And then the moat,everybody knows the moat.
Not all castles have moats.
Arnold (10:34):
Right.
Jack (10:34):
But many do, depending on what time period, you're talking about a lot, do.
My favorite moated castlesHever Castle, which is the
ancestral home of Anne Boleyn.
Very, very beautiful castleheaver castle in Southern England.
Absolutely add it to your itinerary.
There's a lot of history there.
You can actually see the letters fromHenry and Anne back and forth and
they're in frames and you can read them.
Arnold (10:55):
That's interesting.
Jack (10:56):
So interesting.
Yeah.
Then you have your battlements.
Which are, raised sections like towers,you're your battlement towers, basically
to defend along the curtain wall, right?
So you can throw stones, you can have yourarrows and javelins and things like that.
That was where the defensive men stood.
Then you have your drawbridge to goover the moat, if you had a moat,
(11:16):
your portcullis, which was your gate.
Just another fancy term for thegate, which is a heavy spiked
barrier from metal or wood.
And usually there was maybe twoportcullises, you'd have two Gates
and if you got past the first,you were confronted with a second.
In between those two, that negativespace, they were hot tarring
you and throwing things on you.
(11:36):
It was not a good place.
You didn't want to be there.
And then, just a minor feature, youhave your little arrow slits, which
often come in the form of crosses.
At that time, obviously it was veryChristian, so they just look like crosses
and they're little openings, but they'respecifically meant for arrow slits.
And the reason they're sothin is so you couldn't get an
arrow into it from the outside.
They're built in such a way, whenyou go into the castle it's narrow
(11:58):
going in and wide coming out.
So an Archer can have room to extend hisarm inside the castle, but it was very
difficult to get an arrow inside thattiny little slit, but easy to draw it out.
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What about light in the castles?
Were they set up and were theyconstructed in a manner that they
would let in a lot of natural light?
Jack (12:44):
Yes and no.
I would say the castles that arestill intact today that are still
lived in like the castle palaces,like Arundel , have electricity.
Arundel's my favoritecastle in all of England.
But the castles that I'vebeen to; it really depends.
A lot of people spent theirtime in the courtyard, so
they spent their time outside.
My feeling is no, these probablyweren't the best lit areas.
(13:07):
Now some areas did have some bigwindows, but you had to be careful
because big windows mean vulnerability.
So the keep inside the curtainwalls probably would be much better
lit than the rest of the castle,but the turrets, the towers, no.
And a lot of times thesetowers also had rooms.
The keep is not the onlyplace they had rooms.
They had rooms inside thesetowers and battlements.
(13:28):
So now they wouldn'thave been very well lit.
There would have beena lot of candle light.
A lot of smoke from the candlelight.
Arnold (13:33):
So you mentioned that they have electricity now, and I would
presume that most of them allhave the modern conveniences of
plumbing and electricity, et cetera.
Jack (13:41):
The ones that are lived in, yes.
So one of the things that's importantto, to understand is what distinguishes
a great castle from a good one, andreally that comes down to the viewer.
Now broadly speaking, you cansay there's habitable castles or
intact castles and ruined castles.
That's probably the easiestdistinction between the two of them.
The ones that are habitable lived in,maintained will have modern conveniences.
(14:04):
They will have some bathrooms,they will have electricity.
Some of them have screeningrooms and things like that.
Now that's hard to do because youcan't drill through your dry wall.
You, basically have to use conduitto go over the stone and, but you
don't want to mess with the aesthetic.
So it's very difficult to outfita castle for modern use, but
all over Britain you'll see it.
Arundel Castle probablybeing the most famous.
(14:27):
You know what distinguishesa good from a great castle?
Let's say five castles.
Arnold (14:32):
Give me your top five.
Jack (14:33):
Do you want my top five?
Arnold (14:34):
Yes.
Jack (14:34):
Okay.
Arundel Castle.
Arnold (14:35):
Now you've talked about that and we're going to get to that.
Jack (14:37):
Okay.
Let's swing back around to that, causeI will talk about that for a minute,
but (14:40):
Arundel Castle; Windsor Castle; Caernarfon Castle, which we talked about
which is in Northern Wales; Hever Castlebecause of the moat and the gardens.
That's another element to the castlesthat a lot of people overlook.
The gardens that HeverCastle are magnificent.
Arnold (14:55):
These are gardens within the walls or gardens outside the walls generally.
Jack (14:58):
So Hever Castle is a little different; there's really no battlements.
Hever Castle is moreor less a castle keep.
So the whole castle is the keep andthen it's surrounded by a moat and
then you have dramatic gardens outside.
So Hever is a great example.
Hever was not built originallyto be a strategic stronghold.
Now they built it to be formidable, soif you're five or 10 guys, you're not
gonna be able to get into that place,but if you're an army, no problem.
(15:21):
But that was really not the intentof Hever Castle it was built as an
ancestral home for the Boleyn family.
So the gardens outside the keepon the grounds, you've got
roses bigger than your head.
Absolutely.
A lot of people don't realize thatsome of the, not some of I would dare
say the most dramatic lush gardens inall of Europe are found in England.
The climate it's damp, it gets moresun than you think, England is has
(15:43):
a bad rap of never getting sun andthat's true in some areas, but Southern
England especially does get sun.
And it gets a lot of rain so theseflowers, these gardens just flourish.
So we've got Arundel, Windsor,Caernarfon, Hever, and Eilean Donan
in Scotland on the Kyle of Loch Alsh.
That's my Scottish accent.
Arnold (16:00):
Scottish accent.
Jack (16:01):
Yes.
Each one of these has avery, distinct feature.
And to me, it's a combination ofscenery of the structure itself, the
grandness of it and the history.
Arnold (16:12):
Now you've mentioned Arundel many, many times here on the podcast.
Why is that so important to you, why isthat your number one castle in Britain?
Jack (16:21):
I was shown Arundel Castle a number of years ago when I first
lived in England; I actually livedin Lancaster, England and Northern
England, and then in Cardiff, Wales,which is right on the border of England.
So I can get to England very quicklyfrom Cardiff and I fell in love with
the castle, the town, the history.
So Arundel is a town in Sussexin Southern England, and it gets
(16:43):
its name from the river Arun.
A R U N.
The English love to pronouncewords different than they look,
it's really funny in that way.
It was built as a stronghold many,many centuries ago and is now occupied
by the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk.
The Duke and Duchess of Norfolk havethe title of Earl Marshal of England.
The Earl Marshals traditionally were amilitary designation, but now they are
(17:07):
in charge of a lot of the ceremonies,including the coronation of the monarchy.
Arnold (17:11):
That's a big deal!
Jack (17:11):
Huge deal.
Big deal.
Yeah.
The town of Arundel,there's a high street.
Every English town has a high street,a queen street and church street.
So if you want to know where do I go toget to the center of this town, go to the
high street or church or queen street.
It's going to be one of those,if not all, three of those.
And so the high street goes up a hilland on one side, you've got the castle
(17:32):
overlooking the city; and on the other,you've got this beautiful, quaint
little town and you could call it acity, but to me, it's really a town
with buildings going back centuries andlittle pubs, three, four, five pubs.
So you go to the pub, you havea pint, and you're just sitting
there looking at this castle.
It just, it doesn't get betterthan that and location I can
(17:52):
get to the sea and the beach.
I can get to the beach in 15 minutes.
I can get to London in one hour . In fact,I can get to Stansted Airport in about
that time, so I can get to an airport.
I can get to central London, which is,one of the biggest cities in the world.
And then from London, I canget anywhere in the world.
So strategically it's beautiful,but you feel like you're in the
middle of the British countryside.
Arnold (18:11):
Now this is in Sussex, which is Southwest of London,
just to give a geographic locationfor our are people listening.
Jack (18:18):
Yes, exactly.
Thank you for that.
Yes.
It's in Sussex, whichis in Southern England.
Yeah.
Southwest-ish, more or less dueSouth, but there is a little bit of
Westness to this as a bird flies.
But you can get there from Londonin an hour and it's in an area
called the South downs whichis an area of outstanding beauty.
The English, the British in generallove their green spaces and it's stone
(18:39):
walls and rolling hills and littlechapels and churches and castles
and cathedrals and little pubs.
So you've got this little town,so it's everything you need.
And the train goes right into thetown and then you get off and you
go walk up the high street andthere's this magnificent castle
palace, which we need to talk about.
And then you've gotthis quaint little town.
(18:59):
So you go to the castle, and youcan see there's different tiers
of what you can see in the castle.
But it's still lived in by theDuke and Duchess of Norfolk.
They have their own little private area,but you can see quite a bit the, keep
the turrets the church inside there.
You can view there's alittle dining hall area.
You could probably spend half a dayin Arundel Castle itself and then
(19:19):
you've got the grounds which also haveall the flora that we talked about.
Arnold (19:24):
I saw a picture of this because when you mentioned this, that this
was one of your favorites, I lookedit up and there's this huge hill or
mound in the middle of the castle.
What is that?
Jack (19:34):
That's where the keep is.
Arnold (19:35):
Okay.
Jack (19:36):
So typically the keep is going to be a central part of the castle.
That's the oldest part of the castle.
That was the defensive positionof the castle originally so the
keep was built by the Normans,I believe in the 11th century.
It was probably wooden at some pointoriginally and then made into stone.
But yes, that's what you'reseeing is the original keep.
Arnold (19:54):
Gotcha.
So what distinguishes now, whatyou mentioned earlier, A castle
palace from a regular castle.
Jack (20:01):
So a castle really first and foremost is a strategic,
stronghold, military outpost.
It's meant for defensive andstrategic military strategic purposes.
Like we said, earlier to guarda river to garden area, and
then a palace is to be lived in.
So a palace really doesn't have anydefensive significance or design to it.
(20:22):
Now over the centuries as castleshave become less important.
You don't need thesegreat castles anymore.
So one of two things happen.
They abandoned the castles, which ismore often than not what happened.
Wales, you have abandoned castles allover the place, but adds to the charm
a bit, all the ivy grown over it.
Then you've got ArundelCastle and the like.
Windsor's another one of these,and they convert it into a
(20:42):
living quarters for almost alwayseither royalty or aristocracy.
Arnold (20:47):
Gotcha.
I was reading that there are someghosts in Arundel; I should say a ghost.
Apparently it's a ghost fromKing Charles the II's time.
And he likes to browse the books in thelibrary and he's known as the blue man.
Did you see the blueman when you were there?
Jack (21:04):
I did not see the blue man while I was there.
I suspect there's a separate ghost tour.
The British do love their ghost tours.
They love them.
England, Scotland, Wales, yougo to any major city and you're
going to have a good ghost story.
On my three separate visits toArundel Castle, I just did the the
traditional tour of the castle palace.
Didn't see the blue man.
Unfortunately.
Arnold (21:23):
Now I've got a big question here and it deals with heating
ventilation and air conditioning.
How do they keep warm in the wintertime?
I know that there'sfireplaces in every room.
Do they still do that or havethey modernized to the point
where they're actually havingcentral air and central heat?
Jack (21:39):
It really depends on the castle.
I'm pretty sure Arundel Castlehas a central heating system.
Now, obviously that's going to lookdifferently than, putting air ducts
in the walls like we do now, but yes,they still do rely on fireplaces quite
a bit, but yeah, they do have a modernheating system like Windsor Castle.
She's in her nineties.
She's not walking aroundwith winter coats.
(22:00):
But the good thing about Britain isit just doesn't get freezing cold.
Yeah, it does frostoccasionally, they do get snow.
Here in Missouri, you're goingto get zero down below zero.
I lived in Britain for twoyears and I don't know if I ever
experienced a below zero day.
So it's what I would term temperate.
Now it does fluctuate with, thingshappening in the world now, but
(22:21):
really it doesn't ever get too hot.
It's rare to see a 90degree day in Britain.
It does happen, but it's not commonin Missouri, like the summers here.
And it's also on the flip sideit's rare to see a zero degree day.
So you fluctuate between the fortiesup to the seventies, eighties, and
that's what you're climate is all year.
Another reason why flowers flourish,the way they do in England.
Arnold (22:41):
It sounds like a great climate to live in.
Jack (22:43):
It depends what you want, cause seriously, I've been in
Britain and England in August andit's been 50, but then again, I've
been there in December, January,February, and it's forties fifties.
So it's a give and take.
I loved it.
The one thing I did missliving in Wales was the sun.
You do, you, it's not sunny a lot.
But it changes on a dime.
(23:03):
They say that in Missouri, if you don'tlike the weather, wait five minutes.
In Wales it's 30 seconds.
Arnold (23:07):
Wow.
Jack (23:08):
I'm not kidding you.
Hey mate, let's go out to the local park.
Let's go to Bute Park a park in Cardiff.
Awesome.
We're headed there.
On our way there, itgoes from sun to cloud.
On the way there.
So making plans outdoor, there's a joke.
I think this applies to Ireland too.
It definitely does.
You should bring a pair of sunglassesand an umbrella everywhere you go.
Arnold (23:29):
Now, is there a used castle website or something like that?
Say I wanted to buy one ofthese old decrepit castles
that you mentioned in Wales.
It's all overgrown who ownsthe land, who owns the castles?
Are they still in the name of certainfamilies or does the government own them?
Jack (23:46):
So there's two entities that really own, or maintain these properties
English heritage and the national trust.
Typically they're going to be owned by oneof those two things or the family itself.
So in the case of Arundel Castle, it'sowned by the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk.
The reason I can visit it is theyneed money and so they open it to
the public and that's actually whathappened to a lot of these castles and
(24:08):
palaces throughout, and stately homes.
Because when I say palaces, I'm alsotalking about stately homes, which
are just grand residences that werebuilt and owned by the aristocracy,
the Lords and the ladies and theEarls and the Dukes of Britain.
And so over time as their significancedwindled, and as their lands,
dwindled because of modernization,they were no longer able to
(24:29):
maintain the upkeep of these places.
The only way they were able to keepthem is to open it to the public.
So it's really one of two, it's eitherprivately owned by the family and
open to the public for a limited timeduring the weekday, whatever, or it's
owned by one of two entities, Englishheritage, or the national trust.
Arnold (24:47):
As I was looking at Windsor Castle online, I noticed it's pretty big.
And I know there's some kind of teenycastle, kind of like a tiny castle
home maybe for a mother-in-law'shome or something like that.
What are the varioussizes of these castles?
Jack (25:00):
Yeah, again, going back to our original segue into this, the diversity
of castles in Britain is enormous.
So it could be a wee castle, like yousaid, no more than maybe a stone keep
on a hill, up to these, the WindsorCastle, the Arundel Castle, which
are tens of thousands of square feet.
So I'd say it could range anywherefrom a thousand, 2000 square feet, a
small little mother-in-law house as youput it up until 20,000 square feet or
(25:22):
more, it really varies dramatically..
Arnold (25:25):
And the ages of these range from a thousand years to maybe 10 years.
Jack (25:30):
Yes.
So it really spans all of English history.
The Normans were the firstgreat castle builders.
The Normans were the ones thatreally began England and Britain
on this castle building quest, ifyou will, they were great builders.
The Normans get somewhat of a badrap as being conquerors, William the
Conqueror it's in his name, but theywere builders actually first and
(25:50):
foremost, and they brought structureand castles and strongholds to Britain.
And yes, it really I'd say theearliest great castles were
from about a 1000, 1100 A.D.
to the modern times.
There's castles that werebuilt in the 20th century.
Arnold (26:06):
So castles are not just found on a chess board folks.
The great castles of Britain thatwe've just talked about should give
you insight into a trip that you couldtake on Guidester Virtual Vacation.
We hope you enjoyed listeningto this episode of virtual
vacation with Guidester.
Take time to look at the show noteson the website for everything that
was mentioned on this episode,Virtual Vacation with Guidester
(26:27):
is produced by Motif Media Group.
For Jack Baumann and Virtual Vacationwith Guidester, I'm Arnold Stricker.
The Normans were the first great castle builders.
The Normans were the ones thatreally began England and Britain
on this castle building quest, ifyou will, they were great builders.
The Normans get somewhat of a badrap as being conquerors, William the
Conqueror it's in his name, but theywere builders actually first and
foremost, and they brought structureand castles and strongholds to Britain.
Arnold (00:21):
Travel to Europe is off limits for the time being, but we can still keep
the flame of wanderlust alive throughthe Virtual Vacation with Guidester,
the weekly podcast, where host JackBaumann, founder of Guidester and travel
enthusiast Arnold Stricker, dive intonew destinations, exploring their unique
history, culture and special vibe.
You will also get insidertips about these destinations.
You won't get from other sources.
(00:43):
Now let's join our host, theGuidester himself, Jack Bauman.
Now, if you'd like to play chess,there are two pieces that look like
something that came out of the middleages and they're called Rooks or the
layman's term is probably castles.
And we're going to talk about castlestoday Jack, because I've never
been in one of these in England.
(01:03):
I would think that they would be reallycold and damp and dreary and dark.
Am I right.
Jack (01:08):
Some of them are, some of them are grand and magnificent and cozy.
Certainly some draft though.
There's no getting away around that.
And that's one of thereasons they have tapestries.
It's actually where tapestries camein, really just to keep the air
in and keep it warm and livable.
But yes.
There's many stereotypes withcastles and British castles.
(01:29):
Some of them are true.
Some of them are not true.
And the beauty of British castles,British meaning England, Scotland, and
Wales, the island of Britain, thereis an unbelievably immense diversity
of castles in Britain, whetherit's England, Scotland, and Wales.
Actually, Wales has more castlesper capita, per square mile
than any country in the world.
Arnold (01:50):
Wow
Jack (01:51):
Castles everywhere.
Now, many of them are ruined.
Many of them were built byEdward the first in the 12th
century, 13th century, rather.
And they're not lived in, butCardiff Castle is still lived
in or still habitable rather.
The amount of diversity and complexityto these castles cannot be overstated.
Arnold (02:09):
Now, these were obviously built for some defensive
kind of capability, correct?
Jack (02:13):
Correct.
Yes.
So a castle in its truest form wasbuilt as a strategic defense to control,
let's say a river or a high point.
Really the great castle buildersthat began this were the Normans,
who weren't strictly English, theywere Norman, they were French.
So the great castle builders ofthe, early English history were
(02:33):
from outside the Island of Britain.
And it was really the Normans, William theConqueror and his descendants that started
this great castle building in England.
Arnold (02:42):
So you're talking about the Normans so we're
talking about what century?
Jack (02:46):
William, the conqueror, the battle of Hastings that's 1066.
So that's 11th century.
A thousand years ago almost.
Arnold (02:53):
And they're still existing.
Jack (02:55):
Windsor castle was built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century and it's
the oldest inhabited castle in the world.
Now little side note here, Windsor castleis where the Windsor family got its name.
Arnold (03:08):
The current queen.
Jack (03:09):
Right, the current queen; the original name of the family that
the queen inhabited or the queenwas from was Saxe-Coburg Gotha.
A lot of people don't know this.
Arnold (03:19):
Sounds like an attorney.
Jack (03:21):
Right!
A German attorney.
Yeah.
German speaking attorney.
And maybe they do come from somelegalistic backgrounds, but no, it
was actually a very prominent Royalfamily descended from Queen Victoria.
George, the V, who is the Queen'sgrandfather, changed the name
in 1917 due to anti Germansentiment during World War I.
(03:41):
So Windsor castle, it's actually afascinating story and we need to get
back to the castles of Britain, butthis is a really important piece here.
Windsor castle formed theinspiration for the name to be
changed from Saxe-Coburg Gotha.
There was a lot of anti-German sentiment.
The British Royal family knewthey were in some hot water.
So George the V, the grandfather ofQueen Elizabeth the II, said, okay
(04:04):
guys, we need to do something hereand all his handlers, yeah, we agree.
It's a really fascinating story.
They could not find a suitable name.
It had to be English and it hadto have roots that went back
centuries or people wouldn't buy it.
And one of their handlers, one ofthese guys, one of the historians,
I can't remember who it was, buthe was shuffling through some notes
and papers and he found Windsor.
(04:25):
Windsor castle was still thereobviously, but he was looking through
these old libraries and trying to findthese a name that would be suitable.
And it just came across inthis most fascinating way.
Windsor castle, andthought, Windsor castle.
It's both a place and I can use it as aname that goes back a thousand years in
British history and the rest is history.
And so it was a master stroke, changingit from a German name to a very solid
(04:49):
English name, like the Windsors.
It was an absolutely masterstrokenow key thing here, those.
They're still German heritage.
In fact, their first language is German.
And a lot of people don't knowthat Charles Prince Charles
speaks German fluent German.
Arnold (05:00):
Very interesting.
Jack (05:01):
Yeah.
Arnold (05:02):
So these castles, they were built for defensive purposes and they
were generally built on high hillsor areas that you could overlook
valleys or overlook the ocean or theywere key strategic places, correct?
Jack (05:13):
Absolutely, yes.
So the tower of London, for examplein London, was built to protect
the access from the river Thames.
So you could access the city of Londonfrom the river Thames from the channel.
If you're a ship or you're a Vikingor whatever, and you're rowing
down the Thames, this was placedbefore you hit the city of London
(05:33):
to protect the city of London.
And then it was also usedas a military outpost.
It was used as prisons.
That's what the tower of London is mostfamous for is a prison that's where
King Henry the VIII, liked to stash someof his wives; was the tower of London.
So , it was mostly along riversat high points also in areas
that you needed to subdue.
(05:54):
So strategically, yes, they were allused put in a defensive position, usually
on a high point, but not always in themost strategically advantageous place.
In that instance, it was meant tosubjugate the local population.
The most famous is probably thecastles in Northern Wales: Caernarfon,
Conwy, Beaumaris Castle, which areunbelievably beautiful by the way.
(06:17):
Cause you have thescenery too and the sea.
If you go to Caernarfon Castle,you'll be shocked at the scale.
This was built by Edwardthe I in the 1200's A.D.
The same time, Edward the I is the onewho was around when William Wallace
was doing his thing in Scotland and hisnickname was the hammer of the Scots.
And they really should add a secondnickname, the hammer of the Welsh,
(06:38):
because actually it's so fascinating.
The term Prince of Wales,where that came from.
Edward, the I.
Arnold (06:44):
Really
Jack (06:45):
Edward the I, was hell bent on subjagating the whole Island of
Britain; Wales and Scotland included.
He definitely succeeded in Wales.
It's debatable whether he succeeded inScotland or not, he's certainly made
a footprint and made an impression,but his son really dropped the ball.
He defeated the last Prince of Wales.
So the Wales really didn't have theright King, they were called princes.
(07:06):
I think it was Owain Glyndwr maybe?
Don't quote me on that.
But one of the last princess ofWales was defeated by Edward the I
or exiled, and he said, okay, Welsh.
He had a son.
His wife was pregnant, CaernarfonCastle was being built to
subjugate the Welsh population.
The Welsh population really retreatedinto the Northwest part of Wales.
That was the last stronghold; he hadhis wife go over there, deliver his
(07:31):
baby and held up at Caernarfon Castle.
This is your new Prince of Wales.
You ready for this?
Every subsequent Prince ofWales has been crowned as such.
Prince Charles, the Prince ofWales was crowned quote-unquote
in Caernarfon Castle- elaborateceremony in Caernarfon Castle.
(07:52):
And it goes back almost 800 yearsto this one moment in history,where
Edward the I says, now my progeny, mydescendants are your new Prince of Wales.
Arnold (08:02):
Talk about tradition.
Jack (08:03):
Yeah.
Talk about traditionand some cosmic comedy.
It's continued through the ages and theWelsh, in many ways have accepted it.
Now it depends on who, whatkind of Wells you're talking to.
But I think there is actually somegreat pride with the Prince of Wales.
In fact, I met Charles the Prince ofWales once , very randomly in a town and
(08:24):
called Brecon, which is in Southern Wales.
He was there on a non scheduled trip.
He was giving money to a localchurch there and local boys choir.
He's very involved in boys choirand other things like that.
He was there and I bluffedmy way into the church.
I made friends with the priestand I sat five rows behind him.
I was talking to the locals and thereis some great love for Prince Charles.
(08:47):
He actually taught himself Welshand that was very unusual for
the Royal family to do that.
So he broke some protocols.
There are some traditions, if youwill, but there is some great love.
So to me, historically,there's an irony there.
Arnold (08:59):
Matter of fact, I think when he gave his speech, when he was
crowned Prince of Wales, he gave itin Welsh and he was cautioned by, I
believe the crown at the time; hey,maybe you don't want to do this.
We don't want to get too friendlyhere, but he went against the grain
because he knew it was important tohave the Welsh people behind him and
(09:19):
be really connected to them and hefelt that was an important thing to do.
Jack (09:22):
Very true.
Yeah, Charles in many ways, somewhatlike his uncle who abdicated the throne
and that's a story for another time.
There are people are holding theirbreath to see what kind of King he'll be.
I think there's many good thingsthere, but as we've seen the monarchy
thrives, no depends on tradition.
Now, the monarchy has donewell to evolve with the new
times , and that was one of them.
(09:43):
That was a very controversial thingfor him to have that address done in
Welsh, but the Welsh people loved it.
I think he did the right thing.
Arnold (09:51):
Say I want to build a castle.
How do I go about doing this?
Because there seems to be certain kindof characteristics that all castles have;
they have ramparts, they have the towers.
I'm going to call them towers,but they're called something else.
Jack (10:04):
So you've got many different parts of castles.
So the most famous partof a castle is the keep.
So that's the central stronghold.
Mostly they were built of woodinitially and then made into stone.
A lot of them were convertedinto stone, but to keep is the
central stronghold of the castle.
And that's what mostpeople are familiar with.
Then you have the curtain wall, which issimply a defensive wall to protect the
(10:25):
bailey, which is the central courtyard.
So you've got your keep, then you'vegot your curtain wall and then the
bailey, which is your courtyard.
And then the moat,everybody knows the moat.
Not all castles have moats.
Arnold (10:34):
Right.
Jack (10:34):
But many do, depending on what time period, you're talking about a lot, do.
My favorite moated castlesHever Castle, which is the
ancestral home of Anne Boleyn.
Very, very beautiful castleheaver castle in Southern England.
Absolutely add it to your itinerary.
There's a lot of history there.
You can actually see the letters fromHenry and Anne back and forth and
they're in frames and you can read them.
Arnold (10:55):
That's interesting.
Jack (10:56):
So interesting.
Yeah.
Then you have your battlements.
Which are, raised sections like towers,you're your battlement towers, basically
to defend along the curtain wall, right?
So you can throw stones, you can have yourarrows and javelins and things like that.
That was where the defensive men stood.
Then you have your drawbridge to goover the moat, if you had a moat,
(11:16):
your portcullis, which was your gate.
Just another fancy term for thegate, which is a heavy spiked
barrier from metal or wood.
And usually there was maybe twoportcullises, you'd have two Gates
and if you got past the first,you were confronted with a second.
In between those two, that negativespace, they were hot tarring
you and throwing things on you.
(11:36):
It was not a good place.
You didn't want to be there.
And then, just a minor feature, youhave your little arrow slits, which
often come in the form of crosses.
At that time, obviously it was veryChristian, so they just look like crosses
and they're little openings, but they'respecifically meant for arrow slits.
And the reason they're sothin is so you couldn't get an
arrow into it from the outside.
They're built in such a way, whenyou go into the castle it's narrow
(11:58):
going in and wide coming out.
So an Archer can have room to extend hisarm inside the castle, but it was very
difficult to get an arrow inside thattiny little slit, but easy to draw it out.
Arnold (12:11):
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Unfortunately, it's not alwayspossible to pick up and travel
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So often we must livevicariously through another.
Join our members only newsletter focusedon the beauty history and culture
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(12:31):
The first 30 days are free.
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What about light in the castles?
Were they set up and were theyconstructed in a manner that they
would let in a lot of natural light?
Jack (12:44):
Yes and no.
I would say the castles that arestill intact today that are still
lived in like the castle palaces,like Arundel , have electricity.
Arundel's my favoritecastle in all of England.
But the castles that I'vebeen to; it really depends.
A lot of people spent theirtime in the courtyard, so
they spent their time outside.
My feeling is no, these probablyweren't the best lit areas.
(13:07):
Now some areas did have some bigwindows, but you had to be careful
because big windows mean vulnerability.
So the keep inside the curtainwalls probably would be much better
lit than the rest of the castle,but the turrets, the towers, no.
And a lot of times thesetowers also had rooms.
The keep is not the onlyplace they had rooms.
They had rooms inside thesetowers and battlements.
(13:28):
So now they wouldn'thave been very well lit.
There would have beena lot of candle light.
A lot of smoke from the candlelight.
Arnold (13:33):
So you mentioned that they have electricity now, and I would
presume that most of them allhave the modern conveniences of
plumbing and electricity, et cetera.
Jack (13:41):
The ones that are lived in, yes.
So one of the things that's importantto, to understand is what distinguishes
a great castle from a good one, andreally that comes down to the viewer.
Now broadly speaking, you cansay there's habitable castles or
intact castles and ruined castles.
That's probably the easiestdistinction between the two of them.
The ones that are habitable lived in,maintained will have modern conveniences.
(14:04):
They will have some bathrooms,they will have electricity.
Some of them have screeningrooms and things like that.
Now that's hard to do because youcan't drill through your dry wall.
You, basically have to use conduitto go over the stone and, but you
don't want to mess with the aesthetic.
So it's very difficult to outfita castle for modern use, but
all over Britain you'll see it.
Arundel Castle probablybeing the most famous.
(14:27):
You know what distinguishesa good from a great castle?
Let's say five castles.
Arnold (14:32):
Give me your top five.
Jack (14:33):
Do you want my top five?
Arnold (14:34):
Yes.
Jack (14:34):
Okay.
Arundel Castle.
Arnold (14:35):
Now you've talked about that and we're going to get to that.
Jack (14:37):
Okay.
Let's swing back around to that, causeI will talk about that for a minute,
but (14:40):
Arundel Castle; Windsor Castle; Caernarfon Castle, which we talked about
which is in Northern Wales; Hever Castlebecause of the moat and the gardens.
That's another element to the castlesthat a lot of people overlook.
The gardens that HeverCastle are magnificent.
Arnold (14:55):
These are gardens within the walls or gardens outside the walls generally.
Jack (14:58):
So Hever Castle is a little different; there's really no battlements.
Hever Castle is moreor less a castle keep.
So the whole castle is the keep andthen it's surrounded by a moat and
then you have dramatic gardens outside.
So Hever is a great example.
Hever was not built originallyto be a strategic stronghold.
Now they built it to be formidable, soif you're five or 10 guys, you're not
gonna be able to get into that place,but if you're an army, no problem.
(15:21):
But that was really not the intentof Hever Castle it was built as an
ancestral home for the Boleyn family.
So the gardens outside the keepon the grounds, you've got
roses bigger than your head.
Absolutely.
A lot of people don't realize thatsome of the, not some of I would dare
say the most dramatic lush gardens inall of Europe are found in England.
The climate it's damp, it gets moresun than you think, England is has
(15:43):
a bad rap of never getting sun andthat's true in some areas, but Southern
England especially does get sun.
And it gets a lot of rain so theseflowers, these gardens just flourish.
So we've got Arundel, Windsor,Caernarfon, Hever, and Eilean Donan
in Scotland on the Kyle of Loch Alsh.
That's my Scottish accent.
Arnold (16:00):
Scottish accent.
Jack (16:01):
Yes.
Each one of these has avery, distinct feature.
And to me, it's a combination ofscenery of the structure itself, the
grandness of it and the history.
Arnold (16:12):
Now you've mentioned Arundel many, many times here on the podcast.
Why is that so important to you, why isthat your number one castle in Britain?
Jack (16:21):
I was shown Arundel Castle a number of years ago when I first
lived in England; I actually livedin Lancaster, England and Northern
England, and then in Cardiff, Wales,which is right on the border of England.
So I can get to England very quicklyfrom Cardiff and I fell in love with
the castle, the town, the history.
So Arundel is a town in Sussexin Southern England, and it gets
(16:43):
its name from the river Arun.
A R U N.
The English love to pronouncewords different than they look,
it's really funny in that way.
It was built as a stronghold many,many centuries ago and is now occupied
by the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk.
The Duke and Duchess of Norfolk havethe title of Earl Marshal of England.
The Earl Marshals traditionally were amilitary designation, but now they are
(17:07):
in charge of a lot of the ceremonies,including the coronation of the monarchy.
Arnold (17:11):
That's a big deal!
Jack (17:11):
Huge deal.
Big deal.
Yeah.
The town of Arundel,there's a high street.
Every English town has a high street,a queen street and church street.
So if you want to know where do I go toget to the center of this town, go to the
high street or church or queen street.
It's going to be one of those,if not all, three of those.
And so the high street goes up a hilland on one side, you've got the castle
(17:32):
overlooking the city; and on the other,you've got this beautiful, quaint
little town and you could call it acity, but to me, it's really a town
with buildings going back centuries andlittle pubs, three, four, five pubs.
So you go to the pub, you havea pint, and you're just sitting
there looking at this castle.
It just, it doesn't get betterthan that and location I can
(17:52):
get to the sea and the beach.
I can get to the beach in 15 minutes.
I can get to London in one hour . In fact,I can get to Stansted Airport in about
that time, so I can get to an airport.
I can get to central London, which is,one of the biggest cities in the world.
And then from London, I canget anywhere in the world.
So strategically it's beautiful,but you feel like you're in the
middle of the British countryside.
Arnold (18:11):
Now this is in Sussex, which is Southwest of London,
just to give a geographic locationfor our are people listening.
Jack (18:18):
Yes, exactly.
Thank you for that.
Yes.
It's in Sussex, whichis in Southern England.
Yeah.
Southwest-ish, more or less dueSouth, but there is a little bit of
Westness to this as a bird flies.
But you can get there from Londonin an hour and it's in an area
called the South downs whichis an area of outstanding beauty.
The English, the British in generallove their green spaces and it's stone
(18:39):
walls and rolling hills and littlechapels and churches and castles
and cathedrals and little pubs.
So you've got this little town,so it's everything you need.
And the train goes right into thetown and then you get off and you
go walk up the high street andthere's this magnificent castle
palace, which we need to talk about.
And then you've gotthis quaint little town.
(18:59):
So you go to the castle, and youcan see there's different tiers
of what you can see in the castle.
But it's still lived in by theDuke and Duchess of Norfolk.
They have their own little private area,but you can see quite a bit the, keep
the turrets the church inside there.
You can view there's alittle dining hall area.
You could probably spend half a dayin Arundel Castle itself and then
(19:19):
you've got the grounds which also haveall the flora that we talked about.
Arnold (19:24):
I saw a picture of this because when you mentioned this, that this
was one of your favorites, I lookedit up and there's this huge hill or
mound in the middle of the castle.
What is that?
Jack (19:34):
That's where the keep is.
Arnold (19:35):
Okay.
Jack (19:36):
So typically the keep is going to be a central part of the castle.
That's the oldest part of the castle.
That was the defensive positionof the castle originally so the
keep was built by the Normans,I believe in the 11th century.
It was probably wooden at some pointoriginally and then made into stone.
But yes, that's what you'reseeing is the original keep.
Arnold (19:54):
Gotcha.
So what distinguishes now, whatyou mentioned earlier, A castle
palace from a regular castle.
Jack (20:01):
So a castle really first and foremost is a strategic,
stronghold, military outpost.
It's meant for defensive andstrategic military strategic purposes.
Like we said, earlier to guarda river to garden area, and
then a palace is to be lived in.
So a palace really doesn't have anydefensive significance or design to it.
(20:22):
Now over the centuries as castleshave become less important.
You don't need thesegreat castles anymore.
So one of two things happen.
They abandoned the castles, which ismore often than not what happened.
Wales, you have abandoned castles allover the place, but adds to the charm
a bit, all the ivy grown over it.
Then you've got ArundelCastle and the like.
Windsor's another one of these,and they convert it into a
(20:42):
living quarters for almost alwayseither royalty or aristocracy.
Arnold (20:47):
Gotcha.
I was reading that there are someghosts in Arundel; I should say a ghost.
Apparently it's a ghost fromKing Charles the II's time.
And he likes to browse the books in thelibrary and he's known as the blue man.
Did you see the blueman when you were there?
Jack (21:04):
I did not see the blue man while I was there.
I suspect there's a separate ghost tour.
The British do love their ghost tours.
They love them.
England, Scotland, Wales, yougo to any major city and you're
going to have a good ghost story.
On my three separate visits toArundel Castle, I just did the the
traditional tour of the castle palace.
Didn't see the blue man.
Unfortunately.
Arnold (21:23):
Now I've got a big question here and it deals with heating
ventilation and air conditioning.
How do they keep warm in the wintertime?
I know that there'sfireplaces in every room.
Do they still do that or havethey modernized to the point
where they're actually havingcentral air and central heat?
Jack (21:39):
It really depends on the castle.
I'm pretty sure Arundel Castlehas a central heating system.
Now, obviously that's going to lookdifferently than, putting air ducts
in the walls like we do now, but yes,they still do rely on fireplaces quite
a bit, but yeah, they do have a modernheating system like Windsor Castle.
She's in her nineties.
She's not walking aroundwith winter coats.
(22:00):
But the good thing about Britain isit just doesn't get freezing cold.
Yeah, it does frostoccasionally, they do get snow.
Here in Missouri, you're goingto get zero down below zero.
I lived in Britain for twoyears and I don't know if I ever
experienced a below zero day.
So it's what I would term temperate.
Now it does fluctuate with, thingshappening in the world now, but
(22:21):
really it doesn't ever get too hot.
It's rare to see a 90degree day in Britain.
It does happen, but it's not commonin Missouri, like the summers here.
And it's also on the flip sideit's rare to see a zero degree day.
So you fluctuate between the fortiesup to the seventies, eighties, and
that's what you're climate is all year.
Another reason why flowers flourish,the way they do in England.
Arnold (22:41):
It sounds like a great climate to live in.
Jack (22:43):
It depends what you want, cause seriously, I've been in
Britain and England in August andit's been 50, but then again, I've
been there in December, January,February, and it's forties fifties.
So it's a give and take.
I loved it.
The one thing I did missliving in Wales was the sun.
You do, you, it's not sunny a lot.
But it changes on a dime.
(23:03):
They say that in Missouri, if you don'tlike the weather, wait five minutes.
In Wales it's 30 seconds.
Arnold (23:07):
Wow.
Jack (23:08):
I'm not kidding you.
Hey mate, let's go out to the local park.
Let's go to Bute Park a park in Cardiff.
Awesome.
We're headed there.
On our way there, itgoes from sun to cloud.
On the way there.
So making plans outdoor, there's a joke.
I think this applies to Ireland too.
It definitely does.
You should bring a pair of sunglassesand an umbrella everywhere you go.
Arnold (23:29):
Now, is there a used castle website or something like that?
Say I wanted to buy one ofthese old decrepit castles
that you mentioned in Wales.
It's all overgrown who ownsthe land, who owns the castles?
Are they still in the name of certainfamilies or does the government own them?
Jack (23:46):
So there's two entities that really own, or maintain these properties
English heritage and the national trust.
Typically they're going to be owned by oneof those two things or the family itself.
So in the case of Arundel Castle, it'sowned by the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk.
The reason I can visit it is theyneed money and so they open it to
the public and that's actually whathappened to a lot of these castles and
(24:08):
palaces throughout, and stately homes.
Because when I say palaces, I'm alsotalking about stately homes, which
are just grand residences that werebuilt and owned by the aristocracy,
the Lords and the ladies and theEarls and the Dukes of Britain.
And so over time as their significancedwindled, and as their lands,
dwindled because of modernization,they were no longer able to
(24:29):
maintain the upkeep of these places.
The only way they were able to keepthem is to open it to the public.
So it's really one of two, it's eitherprivately owned by the family and
open to the public for a limited timeduring the weekday, whatever, or it's
owned by one of two entities, Englishheritage, or the national trust.
Arnold (24:47):
As I was looking at Windsor Castle online, I noticed it's pretty big.
And I know there's some kind of teenycastle, kind of like a tiny castle
home maybe for a mother-in-law'shome or something like that.
What are the varioussizes of these castles?
Jack (25:00):
Yeah, again, going back to our original segue into this, the diversity
of castles in Britain is enormous.
So it could be a wee castle, like yousaid, no more than maybe a stone keep
on a hill, up to these, the WindsorCastle, the Arundel Castle, which
are tens of thousands of square feet.
So I'd say it could range anywherefrom a thousand, 2000 square feet, a
small little mother-in-law house as youput it up until 20,000 square feet or
(25:22):
more, it really varies dramatically..
Arnold (25:25):
And the ages of these range from a thousand years to maybe 10 years.
Jack (25:30):
Yes.
So it really spans all of English history.
The Normans were the firstgreat castle builders.
The Normans were the ones thatreally began England and Britain
on this castle building quest, ifyou will, they were great builders.
The Normans get somewhat of a badrap as being conquerors, William the
Conqueror it's in his name, but theywere builders actually first and
(25:50):
foremost, and they brought structureand castles and strongholds to Britain.
And yes, it really I'd say theearliest great castles were
from about a 1000, 1100 A.D.
to the modern times.
There's castles that werebuilt in the 20th century.
Arnold (26:06):
So castles are not just found on a chess board folks.
The great castles of Britain thatwe've just talked about should give
you insight into a trip that you couldtake on Guidester Virtual Vacation.
We hope you enjoyed listeningto this episode of virtual
vacation with Guidester.
Take time to look at the show noteson the website for everything that
was mentioned on this episode,Virtual Vacation with Guidester
(26:27):
is produced by Motif Media Group.
For Jack Baumann and Virtual Vacationwith Guidester, I'm Arnold Stricker.
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