Castles Near London
July 20, 2007
I had a week of work in London in the middle of July. I decided to take a week of vacation prior to that and took my wife and my baby with me for both weeks. We had a wonderful time the first week, taking day trips to places near London (such as Oxford, Winchester, and Cambridge).
Throughout our trips, we saw many different castles. From left to right, the castles in the pictures below are Old Sarum (near Salisbury), Dover Castle, and Windsor Castle.
- The castle at Old Sarum was abandoned in the thirteenth century, and only ruins remain today. You can only see the foundations of the walls and get a rough idea of how the castle would have looked.
- Dover Castle is in much better shape. It has been used for military operations throughout English history, including the Napoleonic Wars and the Second World War, but it is no longer a working castle.
- Windsor Castle is one of the three official residences of the Queen of England today. It is luxuriously decorated with tapestries, paintings, sculptures, etc. Unlike the ruins at Old Sarum or the military outpost at Dover, this castle is a place in which I would enjoy living.
The contrast between the different conditions and current uses of these three castles, all built around the same time, really fascinated me.