Saltisford Canal Centre Pt.2 Warwick Castle

As soon as we moored up and sorted ourselves out, Ian, the bloke on duty gave us a map, plotted all our options for getting to the Castle and marked in, in his opinion, the best places to eat. We opted to walk to Warwick Castle, being only 20mins away.

The Earls of Warwick seem to have been going broke for a long time and in 1803 the 2nd Earl (the 'earldom' was taken away from the Castle and Estate in 1610, the then Earl having fallen seriously out of favour, and wasn't restored until 1759) was declared bankrupt and forced to sell vast estates and open the castle up to public tourism (shock, horror). By 1978 the 8th Earl was so stoney he sold the Castle and grounds to the Tussauds Group for GB1.5million. In 2007 Tussauds was taken over by Merlin Entertainments who have spent GB26 million restoring it and turning it into the showpiece and commercial venture it is today.

Parts of the Castle date from 1068

The Castle as it is today was completed in the early 1600's.

Some of the ceilings in the State Rooms were amazing, but would you want to be the one to clean them!

But my favourite one was in one of the servants corridors

The displays and shows, because Warwick Castle played a part in so many of England's internal conflicts, had a strong military theme.

The middle rifle is a Bohemian gun of the 18c and was used for hunting large game such as deer and wild boar.

Maybe it was used to slaughter this poor sod

You can see where the Tussauds Group ownership of the Castle had an influence

Peacocks sunning themselves in a formal part of the gardens. I was going to put a pic here of topiary peacocks, but the real ones are much nicer

The Castle from the park.

The Castle wall fronting the Avon River. 

The Mill building at the bottom of the Castle wall. And the weir built to ensure there was always water to turn the wheel. In 1890 it was turned into a hydro electric plant to provide lighting for the Castle.

A funny story. Down on the River flats they have a working trebuchet. And at 4.30 each afternoon (excepting summer, I hope) they wind it up with much fanfare and fling a fireball down the field. Good stuff. Except at the end of last year one fireball went a little awry and the thatched roof boathouse went up in flames with a terrific whoosh. The audience apparently was thrilled and enthralled and wanted more and were very reluctant to evacuate when asked to.  

Some timber framed buildings (I am having a junior seniors moment and cannot recall the correct name. Can anyone enlighten me? Tim?) we passed on our walk back to the boat.

I am hoping we will be able to stay here another day, as there is still lots to see in Warwick. I'm probably just trying to delay having to face the Hatton Flight of locks, all 21 of them.