UK Trip Pt 1- Introduction and Warwick Castle - 20-28th August

I was invited to go and play rugby for the South Australian Crippled Crows Old Boys Rugby Team in Cardiff, Wales.  It was a great opportunity for me to play some more rugby and also for us to get a chance to see some of the UK.

We had another early start - catching our flight at 7:30am from Copenhagen to Luton, London.  This time, we decided to park at Copenhagen airport rather than face a 4am bus and train ride.

It was only an hour and a half flight to Luton, and a 1hr time change (backwards) so we arrived at 8am.  Unfortunately Luton airport was packed and it took us over 2 hours to get through passport control.  The entry was hot and stuffy and at one point someone had vomited in the line so it was a fairly unpleasant wait.  Once we finally got through, we caught the bus to the car hire area and picked up our car.

From there we had our first big drive, up to Warwick Castle.

I had visited Warwick castle when I was 15 (1996) and it was a place that really stuck in my mind and started my love of castles and medieval times, so I was keen to take the family there.

Warwick had changed a bit since I had last been there, it was now much more commercialized and the wooden boat-house had burnt down, but there were now new features, such as horrible histories show and maze, and a trebuchet and ballista.

Unfortunately we had to park in the overflow carpark, which was a 20min walk from the castle:

The walk

Warwick Castle

We decided to start with the Horrible History Hedge Maze, following a hedge maze to find stamps in a variety of historic periods.

Horrible History Maze

Got the Terrifying Tudors Stamp

Tom with his card

Getting a stamp

If she weights as much as duck.... she's a witch! Burn Her!

Entrance

Tower from outside

Inside the Entrance of the castle

Inside the castle

Looking into the central courtyard

Back wall and the mound

Our first tour was of the castle walls, which showed some of the scenery as well as the history of the castle.

View of the courtyard from the walls

Walking along the walls

On the wall heading to Guy's Tower

Guy's tower is named after Guy Beauchamp who was the 10th Earl of Warwick (1272-1315), known as the Black Hound.  He was original a strong supporter of King Edward I was joined the rebellion against King Edward II after being replaced by Piers Gaveston (an arrogant and unpopular favorite of King Edward).  The lord were so angered by Gaveston's arrogance they ordered him exiled and King Edward had no option but to acquiesce.  Later, Gaveston returned, believing that the King's favour would protect him.  Instead he has seized by Beauchamp and the rebellious barons, subjected to a mock trial and executed at Blacklowe Hill in June 1312.

The King was angered, but eventually pardoned Beauchamp.  Beauchamp died of illness in August 1315 shortly after.

The tower steps run anti-clockwise upwards to disadvantage attackers (as they can't use their right hands to attack) and are uneven to prevent an enemy from running up the stairs at speed.

View of the courtyard from Guy's Tower

Entrance from Guy's Tower

Looking down on the walls from Guy's Tower

St Mary's Church from Guy's Tower - the Beauchamp chapel in the church holds the tomb of Beauchamp and successive earls of Warwick.  It was built in the 12th century

Standing on the top of Guy's Tower

After Guy Beauchamp, Thomas Beauchamp (1313-1369) became the next Earl of Warwick.  He was a powerful knight who was raised by Roger Mortimer, the de-facto ruler of England between 1326 and 1330.  He was trained for war and led the English to victory at Crecy in France.  He was very war focused and was named the 'Devile Warwicke'.  He was a professional soldier was was paid £2,614 for fighting the war at Poitiers (equivalent to about £1.1 million today).  Thomas Beauchamp was the third founding member of the Order of the Garter (England's first chivalric order to reward military success).  He died of plague in 1369 and was buried in St Mary's Church.

The next earl (12th Earl of Warwick) was also named Thomas Beauchamp, who was a member of the rebellious Lords Appellant who supported the House of Lancaster's usurping of King Richard II in 1401.  His son, Richard Beauchamp (1382-1439) supported King Henry and became rich and powerful with the King's patronage.  Richard's French residence (Bouvreuil Castle) was used to house, interrogate and execute Joan of Arc.

The last Beauchamp earl was Henry Beauchamp (14tgh Earl of Warwick) who was the closest supporter of Mad King Henry VI.  When Henry died in 1446 he left no male heir, so the estate was passed to his sister Anne Beauchamp who married Richard Neville (a northern baron).

By 1450, the Nevilles were the most powerful family in north England and fought in the War of the Roses.

View of Caesar's Tower from the walls

Caesar's tower is a Quatrefoil Tower (a four leaf clover shape) with a double parapet.  This is quite rare and there are only two in the UK.

Caesar's Tower

Looking down at old buildings from Caesar's tower

One of the things I remembered seeing  in 1996 was the boathouse (built in 1896).  I was looking forward to seeing it again, but unfortunately it was gutted by a fire on April 10, 2015 during restoration of the thatched roof.  It was dismantled over 2015 and a frame has been built to replace the boathouse:

The Boathouse

Only the foundations are left

The trebuchet

Outside the castle, near the boathouse and the trebuchet were the housing of the hunting birds:

Mouse, the Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle

Bruce, the Grey Eagle Buzzard

Grey Eagle Buzzard

Archie, the Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Albert, the Crowned Eagle

Crowned Eagle

Nikita, the Steller's Sea Eagle

Sea Eagle

Batty, The Bateleur Eagle

Batelaur Owl

There were two eagles currently out performing:

Its hard to see, but if you zoom in, you can see Ernie the Verreaux's Eagle Owl flying out of the tower window as part of the bird show

Ernie

Our next stop was the gaol, where prisoners were held below the castle, it was cramped, dark and unpleasant as dungeons usually are:

Roof of the dungeon

Entry to the pit

The pit - a claustrophobic hole that prisoners were locked in and forgotten about

There was an inscription on the wall of the main prison cell:

Next stop was the Kingmaker exhibit, detailing how Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick was the power behind the English throne for 20 years.

Details about Richard Neville

Information Board

Richard's letter to Henry

A rather forlorn looking warhorse

Cam tries on the helmet - it looks like the guys who have the biting sticks in  Labyrinth

And tries his hand at some imaginary archery

Murder holes in the roof, where boiling oil or hot sand could be poured down on the attackers

Next stop was the water mill, where the water from the river was used to generate power:

The mill

Out the back of the mill

Our final stop at Warwick castle was the river-side to check out the trebuchet and for the kids to watch a Horrible Histories performance:

The Horrible Histories show gathered a decent crowd

The Trebuchet

The Ballista

We finished our day with dinner with some relatives - a great chance to catch up after having not seen them since 1996 - and then the drive out to our apartment in Cardiff.

We ended up arriving at the apartment close to 11:30pm due to some terrible road works (and the fact it was a 2.5hr drive normally).