Pendragon Castle
Mallerstang nr Kirkby Stephen
Cumbria
My favourite site, probably in the whole of Cumbria...Pendragon is isolated on the best of days, but with a cold wind blowing, and squally showers and bleak grey skies, it's all the more spectacular and yet lonely. This visit yielded some glimpses into the defences employed by its builders that made this building a safe haven in such a bleak and lonely landscape.
Mallerstang nr Kirkby Stephen
Cumbria
My favourite site, probably in the whole of Cumbria...Pendragon is isolated on the best of days, but with a cold wind blowing, and squally showers and bleak grey skies, it's all the more spectacular and yet lonely. This visit yielded some glimpses into the defences employed by its builders that made this building a safe haven in such a bleak and lonely landscape.

First of all, the doorway in the castle's North facing wall. There are no less than three levels of security on this entrance. The first, seen on the left of the door jamb (above), and the right of the door jamb (below) The series of deep holes would originally have had metal hinges leaded into them securely, from which a heavy door would have hung.





It's now thought that Lady Ann Clifford had the castle rebuilt and refurbished as a Summer retreat, with her ancestors using it as a hunting lodge....the security built into its fabric to make sure that local families, such as the Warcops and the Whartons, did not enter un-invited. There seems to have been a long running feud between the Cliffords, the Whartons and the Warcops regarding park boundaries, with all three families laying claims to large areas in the region.
2 comments:
Matthew your Cumbrian Castle Blog is amazing! Thanks, you found my castle ;) I have blog about Ireland and you can look at some pictures of old irish castles, monuments, churches, use links on the left side, enjoy. Unfortunately all is written in Polish. Best of luck!
I stumbled upon this castle accidently (2 days before your visit) and totally agree that it's one of the most atmospheric castles in the North West. There was a bit of snow on the hills when I visited which added to the atmosphere. I was looking at the history and legend has it that King Arthur's father Uther Pendragon died here along with 100 men when the well was poisoned.
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