Everybody: Sculpture! Paintings! Mona Lisa!
Me: Oooh, a castle!

At the heart of the Louvre: sometimes it's referred to as a castle, sometimes as a Medieval fortress, so I am using this as a transition from #castleaday to #fortressandtowerhouseaday So that might be a bit long. Not to mention hard to type. #Notacastleaday maybe?

Moving away from England for the last castle, Château de Vincennes in Paris. A 14th century royal residence. A prison during the French Revolution.

#paris #castleaday #reallytall

So Cornwall again, and the beautiful ridiculous of Tintagel Castle.
At the top back, is the upper yard which had housing/accommodation. Then you come down to the lower yard with the entrance, stables etc which led across to the Great Hall. Well it did, before that bit fell into the sea. The side of the upper yard did too. (Why would any build a castle in such a precarious position? )
The story, for those that do, goes back to one Geoffrey of Monmouth who wrote a book in which he present Tintagel Castle as the birthplace of King Arthur. Then a century later, the Richard, Earl of Cornwall come along and built the castle. He was the younger the brother of one of the King Henries, III I think, and wanted to tie himself or his family to the history/mythology of the area. (Tintagel is also the castle of King Mark from Tristan & Isolde, it was rather busy.) I don't believe anyone else lived there after Richard, other than caretakers. A century later, it was already ruinous. It's basically a giant folly.
Even so, you'd think the earl could have found somewhere slightly more stable to build. (I wonder if the builders objected?)

#cornwall #tintagel #castleaday #badbuildingdecisions #verycoolthough

Launceston Castle in Cornwall.

I was walking past on a gloomy day and it was closed, so nothing more to add.

#launceston #cornwall #castleaday #doeslookinteresting

So the last Northumbrian castle I have is Bamburgh. Oh, this has a long and complicated history and I don't know most of it. It has a Norman keep though.

Also, Thomas Malory, in "Le Morte d'Arthur" says of Lancelot's castle Joyous Gard: "Some men say it was Alnwick, and some men say it was Bamborough."

#bamburgh #northumberland #castleaday #cantthinkofanythingelse

Not much left of Berwick Castle (Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland). This is part of the wall and a tower.

Another border castle that changed hands many times. It was superseded by the towns' Elizabethan ramparts.

#berwick #northumberland #castle #castleaday #notmuchleft #notmuchaboutiteither #interestingwalk

Alnwick Castle, Northumberland

#castle #castleaday #alnwick #northumberland

Norham Castle, Northumberland. On the Scottish/English border. It's has changed hands a few times.

It was built for a bishop, I believe. Yes. a Bishop of Durham in the early 12th century. It was apparently besieged 13 times. Also, it's very cool.

#castle #castleaday #norham #northumberland #verycoolcastles