CASTLE MISCELLANIES

Gordon, Following on from your comment in the Pinkie House topic regarding the Billings' prints, why do you think there are so few on the web? Heatons of Tisbury has a number of these for sale, including one of Caerlaverock Castle. I have not purchased any of these prints because they are too large to fit in my acid-free album.

Liz bought me a castle mug for my birthday, so I finally got around to taking some pictures of it.

Megan and I just watched the movie The Last Legion and I will say it was impressive! As the director stated it was a possible history seen though the eyes of a 12 year boy who was Caesar. Very interesting take on the 9th legion at Hadrian's wall and the Druids also. It was a good movie I would suggest watching it.

Unsure if this is the right place, but could find no better place for it Channel 4 in the UK are showing a 6-part documentary series all this week entitled 'Castle' - a series "telling the dramatic and thrilling story of Britains's castles". Seems to be on every morning, 10.30 - 11.20. This may be a bit basic for some of our resident enthusiasts, but so far there has been some pretty stunning visuals, and the first episode also attempted a bit of experimental archaeology, in determining whether it was feasable for William I (the Conqueror) to build a motte and bailey at Dover in 8 days. This first episode will be available later today on the Channel 4 website, and a…

Arizona city seeks moat to secure Mexico border By Tim Gaynor Thu Mar 13, 8:21 AM ET YUMA, Arizona (Reuters) - Most plans to gain control of the porous U.S.-Mexico border focus on some combination of fence. But this city in far west Arizona is looking to build a moat. Faced with high-levels of crime and illegal immigration, authorities in Yuma are reaching back to a technique as old as a medieval castle to dig out a "security channel" on a crime-ridden stretch of the border and fill it with water. "The moats that I've seen circled the castle and allowed you to protect yourself, and that's kind of what we're looking at here," said Yuma County Sheriff Ralph O…

Historic Colo. Castle Auctioned for $4M Sat Mar 19,10:51 PM ET U.S. National - AP By ERIN GARTNER, Associated Press Writer DENVER - A historic castle where John D. Rockefeller and Theodore Roosevelt were guests — and where a coal baron's ghost is said to haunt the halls — was auctioned for $4 million Saturday, two years after the IRS seized the century-old mansion in a fraud investigation. A Pasadena, Calif., man made the winning bid, said John Harrison, an IRS special agent. The unidentified buyer declined to talk with reporters. "I had a brief moment to meet him, and I think he's going to be a real asset to the Redstone community," said Walter Stanas…

Ravenloft castle exists only in fantasy, but its probably one of the most visited places among geeks in the world, for its one of the classic Dungeons and Dragons places to visit, an old gothic castle with a vampire resident, Count Straud. The castle has it all when it comes to defenses... it sits on top of a cliff with a thousand foot drop on all sides, accessible only by a drawbridge. A curtain wall with strong towers surrounds the inner keep. The castle itself has all the comforts of home, complete with a large church cathedral (domed structure in picture), two immense towers (tallest is over 300' high), torture chamber (with viewing balcony), and tombs for the…

First on the list is Barad-Dûr. Otherwise known as Sauron's fortress in The Lord of the Rings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barad-d%C3%BBr Most people probably now picture it from the Jackson movies as below: I've always liked the 1991 painting by John Howe of the Dark Tower. The artist admits that until the film versions he hadn't considered painting how the top may look. http://www.john-howe.com/portfolio/gallery...php?image_id=82 Of course the first rule in building any castle is to use a bit stronger mortar than just Ring based magic. Sure that Ring can only be destroyed in the nearby Mt. Doom, but you KNOW some pesky little hobbit will just toss it in!

I'll get this forum started with Hogwarts Castle. If you are a muggle living under a rock, thats the little place found in the Harry Potter novels. The recreations below I believe are based on the movie representation. Someone took the time to actually make this model with matchsticks. Since its possible to model this with matchsticks, its possible it could perhaps even be built in real life. That would be something to see... but the following feature might cause some headaches: Now if only I can figure out how to build the stairwells that move around randomly.

FYI: Does anyone know about how common the practice was of covering a castle's stone walls (both inner and outer) with some sort of plaster type substance, so that rather than bare stone, you had a smooth surface? I've seen a few castle descriptions that said this was done (such as the White Tower at the Tower of London, or White Castle, where the name comes from the plaster), so the castle was shining white in appearance and not as it appears currently. Just wondering about how common the practice was, if it was generally done everywhere, or just a handful of sites.