Lancaster Castle

Kendal

Alex and I, following our wonderful adventures to the land of Devon in February of 2017, decided to plan another adventure, this time to Kendal, in the Lake District. My flight had been booked for the weekend before our week in Kendal. I had my bags packed and was looking forward to having a nice week off, exploring a new place and getting a chance to just relax.

1. Just one of the beautiful views of Kendal.

On the morning of our journey up to Kendal, I headed over to Alex’s with my suitcase. The weather was, once again, simply stunning. There was a light breeze which aimlessly carried the enticing aroma of freshly mown grass and the heat of the summer. The skies were blue, and we were just looking forward to arriving in Kendal. We had picked up a few drinks and snacks for the journey, jumped in the car and headed off. The roads were quite clear, considering how wonderful the weather was. After travelling for a few hours, we ended up arriving in Kendal. My phone had been a helpful navigator throughout the journey, and we managed to find the location with relative ease, although we weren’t too sure about how to find the AirBnB we had booked from the car park. Coincidentally, the car park was literally right next to the AirBnB. We were staying in a 2-bed ground floor flat, with a small gravel garden, with a gate on one side that accessed the car park and an unlockable gate on the other side that led onto the main road and gave us direct access to the shops on the High Street. We had arrived quite late in the day, so we decided to settle in by ordering a Domino’s pizza for dinner. While we were eating, we decided to get to know the area and see what we could do nearby that would be fun. There were a few maintained castles that we wanted to visit, as well as some castles that had fallen victim to the passage of time, with only crumbling walls and gravel pits to act as a memory of their once magnificent stature.

2. The Laurel and Hardy Museum, home to lots of memorabilia and continuous reruns.

We had been in Kendal for a few days and had been to some great places, including the Laurel and Hardy Museum (definitely worth checking out!), a few ruined castles, temporarily joined a local gym and enjoyed the wonderful evening weather as we went on walks along the river and enjoyed the blossoming flowers and made the most of the local takeaways. One evening, having walked around the High Street and enjoyed the evening air along the river, we decided that we wanted to visit Lancaster Castle the following day. Our friend, Matt, happened to be visiting Kendal and was able to join us for our trip to the castle. We spent the evening watching random YouTube videos, eating our takeaway and reminiscing about great memories from our childhood. It was a great way to spend the evening and it was very relaxing.

3. The wonderful evening air with blossoming trees and quiet roads.

I woke up first and headed out for a short walk. The air was warm, there were lots of new areas to explore, there were Pokémon to catch and it felt like a great way to start the day. I walked around the town, crossing the bridges that had the clear river running underneath them. The water was very clear and you could see the rocks and pebbles that were submerged; just a beautiful sight to behold. The whole thing was made more wondrous by how quiet the streets were! I walked around the town, through the churchyards and across the bridges, just taking in the clean air, listening to the mesmerising birdsongs emanating from the trees and enjoying the gentle breeze. After I returned home, we had decided to jump in the car and head south to Lancaster Castle. Our friend Matt was with us and we were looking forward to learning more about this famous location.

4. The silent, imposing walls of Lancaster Castle.

Lancaster Castle

As we pulled up to park, we were amazed by the sharp contrast of the blossoming sea of almost incandescent orange, yellow, blue and red flowers, that had been so painstakingly planted and cared for, and the imposing stone walls and foreboding signs of Lancaster Castle. The grounds of the castle are exceptionally well-maintained, having been recently returned to the Duchy of Lancaster in 2012, having recently been decommissioned as an active prison. It is now a location which can be visited by members of the public and is currently in the process of having many areas being restored. Above the entrance, which of the gatehouse, through which you enter into the main grounds, are the Arms of Henry V, who was Prince of Wales at that time. We entered the castle into the main grounds and were taken aback by the sheer size of the surrounding walls, which were very imposing and certainly exacerbated the sensation that we were locked in. It really helped us to understand the feelings and thoughts of those who had been incarcerated throughout the centuries. We were in an oval courtyard, with huge walls encircling us stretching high into the sky. 

5. A visual representation of how many people feel about shopping.

We headed through the gates to the visitor centre so that we could purchase tickets. We were quite lucky as we were the only visitors at the castle, so we ended up purchasing a very personalised tour of the grounds and the history of the location. The ticket office is located within the prison wing and you can see the prison cells and overhead mesh stretching down the concrete corridors. The exhibit started with a brief tour of a few of the cells and learning about the issues and dangers faced by those who were unfortunate enough to be incarcerated there. We then headed out into the courtyard and made our way through the different sections of the castle, each containing their own history of fear and bloodshed.

Brief History

While the castle itself was built around the turn of the 12th century, originally out of timber, the historic site originally served as a Roman fortification. Its strategic location, atop of the hill overseeing the river Lune and the city of Lancaster served as a defensive point against invaders. Throughout its nearly 1000-year history, the castle served a number of purposes, including a home, a defensive structure and, first and foremost, a prison. The first recorded instance of the castle being used as a prison is in 1196, however, it wasn’t until the end of the 17^th century that the castle’s main purpose was as a prison. The silent walls of the castle have stood witness to the passage of time, political battles for the throne in 1139, restorative works and installation of stone reinforcements in the 12th and 13th centuries, Pendle witch trials in 1612, executions in the 18^th century and as a modern prison up until 2012.

6. The beautiful stonework contrasts the dark and disturbing history that lies within.

Different areas of the castle date to different time periods, with over 6 centuries between construction of different buildings. The oldest part of the castle is the Norman Keep, which was built at the beginning of the 12^th century. It sits just behind the ticket office and is four storeys tall with exceptionally thick walls. This was a Norman Keep, around which the rest of the castle was built. Restorative works of the upper level were undertaken during the reign of Elizabeth I in 1585. On the opposite side of the courtyard is the Well Tower, whose dungeons were famously known to hold people accused of witchcraft during the Pendle with trials of 1612. To the right of the keep is the Debtor’s prison, built between 1794 and 1796, which served as a small accommodation to house debtors. Compared to the rest of the castle/prison, this location was considered to be rather luxurious as it afforded debtors quite a few amenities that no one else had access to.

7. The ancient entrance into the castle.

The Crown Court, Shire Hall, Male and Female Penitentiary were constructed around the turn of the 19^th century. The Crown Court and Shire Hall served as a court but also proudly display the Coats of Arms of the Sovereigns of England, the Constables of Lancaster Castle and the High Sheriffs of Lancashire. These Coats of Arms decorate the entire room and display a proud and extensive history of servitude to the castle.

 

The castle saw over 200 executions, spanning from 1800 up until 1865, for prisoners convicted of crimes including burglary, robbery, cattle-stealing and murder. Conversely, those executed for committing murder only constitute a small percentage of the total executions. The last execution, according to Lancaster Castle website, was of Stephen Burke on March 25^th, 1865 for the murder of his wife.

 

Back to the Castle

The weather had picked up, with the clouds retreating from the sky, allowing the castle to be bathed in the warmth of the sun’s rays and allowing us to truly appreciate the full beauty of the castle. We were lucky enough to be able to visit many of the buildings within the castle, such as Shire Hall, the dungeons and the Well Tower. As part of our tour, we were given a brief history of the Pendle witch trials of 1612, where lots of women and young girls were accused of witchcraft and sentenced. We were taken to the dungeons and were enveloped by the crushing darkness and silence of the area. We were ‘lucky’ enough to be shut into the dungeon for a few minutes to simulate the living conditions of those awaiting trial all those centuries ago. The darkness was absolute and seemingly impregnable. It is a weird sensation, but because your eyes are not providing you with any sensory information whatsoever, and your ears are straining to identify any and all sounds so as to compensate for your sudden lack of vision, your brain starts to hallucinate sounds and shadows. We were feeling somewhat unnerved during our few minutes inside the cell, and we were told that some people spent upwards of several months locked in those cells with nothing but some food, water and a concrete surface to lay on.

Lancaster Castle is stunning to view, with circular walls, a variety of different buildings with slightly different designs and served a variety of purposes. The courtyard is exceptionally well maintained and the guided tours are definitely worth paying for. The guided tours teach you so much more about the castle than if you were to head around yourself, plus you can head to certain areas that are not accessible to the general public.

8. One of the views from our AirBnB. It's the definition of a quaint village.

After returning back to our AirBnB, we felt that the trip had been worth it. We had had a wonderful time exploring Lancaster Castle and learning about the bloody and mysterious history of Lancaster castle.

By Kyle P