Castles in Britain
From The Top 10
These are the Top 10 Castles in Britain: - as seen on the Travel Channel.
[edit] Britain's Top 10 Castles
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No. 10. Windsor Castle
- Windsor Castle is located in the Berkshire town of Windsor, Berkshire, in the Thames Valley to the west of London. The castle is the largest inhabited castle in the world and the oldest in continuous occupation, as one of the principal official residences of the British monarch. Queen Elizabeth II spends many weekends of the year at the castle. Windsor Castle was originally built by William the Conqueror.
No. 9. Hampton Court
- 12 miles SW of London on the Thames River. Built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, KIng Henry VIII took possession of the castle, using it when married to Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour.
No. 8. Edinburgh Castle
- Edinburgh Castle is an ancient stronghold dating to 900 A.D. on the Castle Rock, a volcanic crag, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
No. 7. St. Michael's Mount
- Once accessible only at low tide. Once a monastery. St. Michael's Mount is a tidal island, rising 400 yards above the shore of Mount's Bay, in Penwith in west Cornwall.
No. 6. Stirling Castle
- Notably, near scene of Scotish Braveheart, William Wallace's battle against the English and King Edward I in 1297.
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No. 5. Caernarfon Castle
- Caernarfon Castle was constructed at Caernarfon in North Wales by King Edward I, following his successful conquest of Wales in 1277 and the defeat of the Prince of Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd. Edward I built many castles in North Wales to help subdue the Welsh following his conquest. The other important fortresses of this "iron ring" were Beaumaris, Conwy, and Harlech, but Caernarfon is probably his supreme achievement.
No. 4. Leeds Castle
- Four miles east south east of Maidstone, Kent, England, Leeds Castle dates back to 1119, though a manor house stood on the same site from the 9th century. Henry VIII's one-night-stay launching point before visiting the King of France.
No. 3. Tintagel Castle
- In NW Cornwall, inspiring dreams of Camelot, King Arthur, and Merlin. In the bay below the castle is a dark dank cave said to be the haunting place of the ghost of Merlin.
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No. 2. Warwick Castle
- Warwick Castle overlooks the River Avon, lies in the town Warwick, county of Warwickshire, in central England. Legend has it that the first fortification of significance on the grounds of Warwick Castle was erected by Ethelfleda, daughter of king Alfred the Great, in the year 914.
No. 1. Tower of London
- The venue for prison and intrigue of royalty, home of the crown jewels, on the Thames, London. The Tower of London is in central London — in the Borough of Tower Hamlets — just outside the City of London. The White Tower, a square building with turrets on each corner, is actually in the middle of a complex of several buildings along the River Thames in London, which have served as fortresses, armories, treasuries, zoos/menageries, mints, palaces, places of execution, public records offices, observatories, shelters, and prisons (particularly for upper class prisoners).
