Castle review thread.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Who keeps poking out fucking windows in the sides of these things? Goddamn "restorations".

Those are the ones that are still lived in and have been modernised over the centuries. Some like Chirk castle on the Welsh border have still got the original family living in them and have been there for over 700years.
Often the abandoned ones are more interesting as the original buildings and fortifications are unchanged apart from by the ravages of time so you can get a better idea of their military past.

That sounds much more interesting to me, actually. I'd love to see some of that stuff.

It's a real shame that we can't maintain them in the original condition.

[Montegriffo]

If you want to see one in original condition you need to go to Guedelon in France where they are building a brand new one using 13th century techniques. There you will have a castle as it would have looked with working kitchens, stone masons, carpenters, kilns etc. All the wooden defences on the walls will be built which never survive from the original castles. Interiors will be plastered and painted in the relevant styles and the floors will be covered in tiles.

[katarn]

I was up in Europe earlier in the summer and saw a few castles. (I'm using google's images here, should probably learn how to get them on here from a phone or computer)



Castle Ehrenberg was pretty cool. You can't fully tell from the pictures, but it tops a massive hill. If it was New York, they'd call it a mountain, but it's the middle of the Austrian Alps, so hill is better. The castle is mostly in ruins now, but was once a key gateway into the area during the middle ages, before being incorporated into a complex of several forts in the 1600s or so placed along the ridge and on a neighboring hill.

[katarn]

Colmberg Castle (Burg Colmberg) was pretty cool too, and not just because my parents met there.. Another hill-topper, it was made for utility, with stout structures (at least, until it was restored and turned partially into a hotel-ish business).

[Montegriffo]

I saw a few in Germany as a kid, places like this guarding the river Rhine.


France is the best place for castles I've seen abroad. My place is in the middle of Aquitaine and surrounded by them. This one is 10 miles from my house


this one is even closer

[C-Mag]

Just go on a German River Cruise and hit a bunch of castles in one day.



If you're in Germany, Heidelburg Castle is a must see, including what I believe is still the worlds largest Wine Cask.

[heydaralon]

I was up in Europe earlier in the summer and saw a few castles. (I'm using google's images here, should probably learn how to get them on here from a phone or computer)



Castle Ehrenberg was pretty cool. You can't fully tell from the pictures, but it tops a massive hill. If it was New York, they'd call it a mountain, but it's the middle of the Austrian Alps, so hill is better. The castle is mostly in ruins now, but was once a key gateway into the area during the middle ages, before being incorporated into a complex of several forts in the 1600s or so placed along the ridge and on a neighboring hill.

Why would they build the walls like that? There are huge gaps everywhere and it is overgrown as fuck. Doesn't seem like it would offer much defense.

[katarn]

I was up in Europe earlier in the summer and saw a few castles. (I'm using google's images here, should probably learn how to get them on here from a phone or computer)



Castle Ehrenberg was pretty cool. You can't fully tell from the pictures, but it tops a massive hill. If it was New York, they'd call it a mountain, but it's the middle of the Austrian Alps, so hill is better. The castle is mostly in ruins now, but was once a key gateway into the area during the middle ages, before being incorporated into a complex of several forts in the 1600s or so placed along the ridge and on a neighboring hill.

Why would they build the walls like that? There are huge gaps everywhere and it is overgrown as fuck. Doesn't seem like it would offer much defense.

They're better for ambushing attackers with the holes. Haven't you seen Osgiliath in LOTR?

[Hastur]

Nobody told them walls are obsolete since the invention of the catapult? Silly Europeans.

[Montegriffo]

Nobody told them walls are obsolete since the invention of the catapult? Silly Europeans.

Nobody knows the difference between a catapult and a trebuchet? Silly Swedes.