Rockingham Castle

Bank Holiday - August 25th

We woke up the morning of the holiday and decided to go see Rockingham Castle that day. Fortunately on holidays, the Corbystar 10 runs a route, and we could see that the route took us pretty near to the castle so we could be within reasonable walking distance.

Rockingham Castle is just a few miles away from where we live, and was built on the instruction of William the Conqueror following his 1066 invasion.

The Great Hall was put up, as well as many other parts, and for the next 450 years various kings made improvements and changes. In 1485, Henry VII abandoned the castle, and the Watson family subsequently bought this property. The Watson family has owned and lived in the castle for the last 450 years - currently it is James Watson, his wife and three children.

The castle is surrounded by 18 acres of gardens, all of which you can tour through - we did part of them throughout the day.

On Bank Holiday, the local Vikings of Middle England group was there doing a show and battle and all that. The best thing I can equate this to is something like living history towns - Jamestown, etc, where they are dressed in period costumes, or perhaps a Renaissance fair. They had a show put on in three parts throughout the afternoon - based from events 952 - 954 - battles between Saxons and Vikings I believe. The main jist is the Wessex King of Eadred, Dagmaer had expelled the Norse King Olaf and made himself king of York, but some would seek to restore Erik the Viking to the throne. The last scene they put on was a battle where Erik 'Bloodaxe' is killed off.

In between scenes, they had tents set up around the lawn displaying their weapons, clothing, trades, and crafts.

They also brought out Icelandic horses to show their special training. It is a particular gait that they teach them and was very neat to see - the person riding the horse is hardly bounced at all, so it looks very regal, I guess, is a good way of describing it.

The gardens were gorgeous - especially my favorite - the rose garden. Pictured here is the extremely cool elephant hedge. This hedge has been in existance for 400 years. This picture is from the battlement, so is not close up enough, but the hedge does very much look like elephants pushing up against eachother.

We toured the castle, the gardens, and watched several of the Viking shows before heading back to the bus stop. Philip was 'to tired to walk' at this point, so I was carrying him. Once off the bus, Bill took Joseph and Abby to get pizza from Pizza Hut, while Philip and I strolled down Butland Road picking all available blackberries before reaching home.

There are four other major castles in this Midlands area. Grimsthorpe Castle, Belton House, Belvoir Castle, and Burghley House are all open to the public during parts of the year. Admission to Rockingham was £28 for the family, and we now have a discount voucher for a visit to another castle, but still, we will have to space these out over the course of time.