little british trip part 19 Clitheroe Castle

Clitheroe Castle is a ruined early medieval castle in Clitheroe in Lancashire, England. It was the caput of the Honour of Clitheroe, a vast estate stretching along the western side of the Pennines.[3]
Its earliest history is debated but it is thought to be of Norman origin, probably built in the twelfth century. Property of the de Lacy family, the honour later merged with the earldom and then Duchy of Lancaster. Given to George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle in 1660, the castle site remained in private ownership until 1920, when it was sold to the people of Clitheroe to create a war memorial. Today the buildings on the site are the home of Clitheroe Castle Museum.
The keep is the second smallest surviving stone-built keep in England. The castle was listed as a Scheduled Monument on 10 April 1915 (and later, under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 law).[1] It was Grade I listed on 19 May 1950.[2]
The Historic England scheduled monument record classifies Clitheroe as an enclosure castle, the principal defence being the wall surrounding the site.[1] It was essentially a motte-and-bailey layout, with a natural outcrop utilised as the motte.[40] The keep is the second smallest surviving stone-built keep in England.[1] It's thought that, as the keep was so small, other essential buildings, such as the great hall may have been located on the site where the education suite now stands.[25] A 1602 survey mentions Mr Auditor's chamber, the hall and buttery,[30] and there would likely also have been stables and lodgings for any stationed soldiers.[46] The southwest corner of the site next to the Steward's house was formerly the kitchen gardens.[33] The medieval castle keep and some of the curtain wall remain above ground, although the medieval buildings in the bailey have not survived. However, there are sub-surface remains of the castle gateway and other buildings.[1] A document from 1304 mentions ditches and moats, thought to be a distance from the castle at a lower level, but these have since been filled in.[47] The footpath that ascends the castle mound to the keep,[48] and the western access road are believed to be later additions.[39]
Keep[edit]
The keep is a square tower with flat pilasters at the corners giving the appearance of corner towers, with the walls being 8.75 feet (2.7 m) wide at the base. The ground floor, is thought to have been accessed from above via a trapdoor, with recessed arrowslits in the middle of the walls on three sides, except the northwest. Two of these have been converted into entrances, with the other, on the southwest side, filled-in. The main entrance to the keep was on the first floor on the northwest side, accessed by an external staircase. Next to this, in the western corner tower is the lower entry to a spiral staircase, which today rises to a height of 46 feet (14.0 m) from the ground, somewhat higher than the other surviving walls. It is thought that the keep would have had a parapet with at least one turret above the staircase. The first floor also had another door in the southwest wall with recessed arrowslits in the other walls. The doorway may have led to the ramparts of the adjacent curtain wall.[41] What today appears to be another doorway next to this, leading by a right-angled passage into the keep, was actually a barrel vaulted mural chamber, which seems to have had an arrowslit in the wall at this end, now breached.[49] This chamber may have been a garderobe, but this is debated.[50] The walls above show no signs of any wall openings even to the staircase.[51] The re-building work may have removed any evidence of a doorway to what was possibly a second floor of sleeping accommodation, or the walls may have concealed a pitched roof, similar to the keep at Peveril.[50] There is also no evidence of fireplace openings in any part of the keep.[51] The repairs made during the restoration work used limestone from quarries at the nearby village of Chatburn, making the additions identifiable.[50]
The hole[edit]
The first-floor arrow loop on the southeast side has today widened,[52] most likely the result of natural decay.[25] There is an ancient local legend that the Devil once gathered rocks in an apron, and threw a boulder aimed at the castle, from a place on Pendle Hill called Apronful. However the apron broke, dropping a pile of stones and causing the shot to land near the church in Pendleton.[53] The guidebook to the castle relates this local tale, "they always said that the hole in the side of the keep was made by Cromwell in the Civil War. It's only a story but they say that he attacked the castle and fired at it with a cannon from the top of Pendle Hill - it must have been a good cannon for the time to reach that far!"[25]

[@calsurflance5598]

If these castles could talk, they would have stories to tell I’m sure. The time for your adventure to start is fast approaching! Have you started prepping the defender? I’m looking forward to the expedition!

[@landyandy4x4]

Hi yes I bet thay would fabulous history, not long left 🥳🥳😁 I have done some prepping on the landy ,I've filmed some but not much the weather not been very good to film , I've just had the sticker done yesterday tho , there's just so much left to do 🙄 I need more time but the shipping booked for April 2nd . I've been doing a bit of research on things to see , and I'm into the Titanic so Halifax is a good place to start my trip I can't wait to start my trip.