Castles

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenan_Castle

Greenan Castle is a 16th-century ruined tower house, southwest of Ayr in South Ayrshire, Scotland. Situated at the top of a sea cliff, it was originally a promontory fort converted into a motte-and-bailey in the 12th century. In the 15th century a tower house was built by the Lords of the Isles.

Photo and write-up by https://mastodon.scot/@McNige here: https://mastodon.scot/@McNige/110926238926867959

https://www.foundinitaly.com/blogs/travel/isola-di-loreto-a-real-life-fairytale-island

This island is private property.

There is a spectacular little island in the Iseo Lake, in the province of Brescia. The structures on it are built in a neo-Gothic style— meaning the main property is pretty much a fairy tale castle. The island has its own small harbour, two magnificent towers and a park of conifers that introduce the sweet scent of pine into the air.

In the XIX century, the island became a property of Duchess Felicita Bevilacqua La Masa, the nit was purchased by Vincenzo Richeri, a Royal Navy Captain. In 1910, Richeri built a neo-Gothic castle on the island, and around it he created a garden full of conifers, a marina, and two light towers. The latter illuminate a cove with a path leading straight up to the villa.

This abode features a rectangular layout, with two floors. Thanks to its turret, battlements, and light stone walls, the villa appears quite spectacular and evocative. It actually stands on a rock overlooking the lake.

https://www.alcazardesegovia.com/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/6708094 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/NvH3Jcj7cFCA5rv47

Visitation info is on their website, but it’s only in Spanish.

The Alcázar of Segovia, like many fortifications in Spain, started off as a Roman castrum, but apart from the foundations, little of the original structure remains. The alcázar was built by the Berber Almoravid dynasty. Almoravid art and architecture is scarcely talked about in scholarship in part because so little of the physical work has survived in Spain. Furthermore, the Almoravid dynasty was short-lived and therefore much of the art and architecture of that period was subsequently destroyed or converted by their successors.

The first reference to this castle was in 1120, around 32 years after the city of Segovia was conquered by the Christians (during the Reconquista when King Alfonso VI reconquered lands to the south of the Duero river, down to Toledo and beyond). In 1258, during the reign of King Alfonso X of Castile (r. 1252–1284), an intense thunderstorm caused a fire that destroyed several rooms, leading to centuries-long reconstruction during the reigns of various kings.

It is not known what the shape and form of the Alcázar was before the reign of King Alfonso VIII (1155–1214), however early documentation mentioned a wooden stockade fence. It can be concluded that prior to Alfonso VIII's reign, the Muslim era structure was no more than a wooden fort built over the old Roman foundations. Alfonso VIII and his wife, Eleanor of England (sister of Richard the Lionheart), made this alcázar their principal residence and much work was carried out to erect the beginnings of the stone fortification we see today.

The Alcázar of Segovia was one of the favorite royal residences starting in the 13th century that in turn, led to secular patronage to the city of Segovia. It was during this period that most of the current building was constructed by the House of Trastámara.

In 1258, parts of the Alcázar had to be rebuilt by King Alfonso X after a cave-in and the Hall of Kings was built to house Parliament soon after. However, the single largest contributor to the continuing construction of the Alcázar was King John II of Castile who built the "New Tower" (John II tower as it is known today).

In 1474, the Alcázar played a major role in the rise of Queen Isabella I. On 12 December news of King Henry IV's death in Madrid reached Segovia and Isabella immediately took refuge within the walls of the Alcázar where she received the support of Andres Cabrera and Segovia's council. She was enthroned the next day as Queen of Castile and León.

The next major renovation at the Alcázar was conducted by King Philip II after his marriage to Anna of Austria. He added the sharp slate spires to reflect the castles of central Europe. In 1587, architect Francisco de Morar completed the main garden and the School of Honor areas of the castle.

https://georgia.travel/cities-towns/akhaltsikhe

https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/9448437 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/VTE56SYxSVQK7Y4C9

Akhaltsikhe (Rabati) Castle is a medieval fortress built in the 9th century under the name "Lomsia Castle" in the city of Akhaltsikhe in southern Georgia, recently globally reconstructed. One of the main attractions of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region along with Vardzia. The original name of the fortress in the 9th century was Lomsia, which can be translated from Georgian as "Lion". At the end of the 12th century, Lomsia acquired the new name Akhal-tsikhe, which literally translates as “New fortress”,the name "Rabati" which is sometimes used for this castle, mostly is used after restoration and it is a of Jewish/Arabic origin and means any fortified place. Rabati was usually called the trading quarter at the fortress, earlier mainly Jewish merchants and craftsmen lived in the Rabat quarter, however mainly after reconstruction the name stuck to the all fortress itself. On the official web site of municipality of Akhaltsikhe town and on the official Facebook page of the fortress the name is "Akhaltsikhe (Rabati) Castle" was used or just "Akhaltsikhe Castle." In most of all historical documents castle is mentioned as Akhaltsikhe castle.

Built during the XV century over a pre-existing keep dating back to the X century, the castle saw a lot of conflicts, as it lies on the historical border between Milan and Venice. Restoration works began during the 1800s and went on for over a century. Today, this lovely castle can be visited for a very low sum of money (€5, iirc) which includes the ticket for the museum inside of it. Once or twice a year, medieval re-enactments and games take place in the castle.

https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/188997799 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/t4juVdH17RkXP75K7

https://www.fincaderequesens.cat/castell-de-requesens/ (thanks to @synthetic_being@lemmy.cat for finding this)

Probably existing since the 9th century, the castle is mentioned for the first time in a document from Ponce I, count of Ampurias in the 11th century.

In the 19th century, the ruined castle was rebuilt in a neo-medieval style. The castle was extensively used after the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), when some modern constructions were added to the original structure.

https://www.wartburg.de

https://www.openstreetmap.org/node/2272817622 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/VhY5HLaX9Dae7KqM9

The website states that the castle is open every day of the year. 12 euros for entry.

The castle's foundation was laid about 1067 by the Thuringian count of Schauenburg, Louis the Springer ( Ludwig der Springer ), a relative of the Counts of Rieneck in Franconia. Together with its larger sister castle Neuenburg in the present-day town of Freyburg, the Wartburg secured the extreme borders of his traditional territories. Louis the Springer is said to have had clay from his lands transported to the top of the hill, which was not quite within his lands, so he might swear that the castle was built on his soil.

The castle was first mentioned in a written document in 1080 by Bruno, Bishop of Merseburg, in his De Bello Saxonico ("The Saxon War") as Wartberg.

During the Investiture Controversy, Louis's henchmen attacked a military contingent of King Henry IV of Germany. The count remained a fierce opponent of the Salian rulers, and upon the extinction of the line, his son Louis I was elevated to the rank of a Landgrave in Thuringia by the new German king Lothair of Supplinburg in 1131.

From 1172 to 1211, the Wartburg was one of the most important princes' courts in the German Reich. Hermann I supported poets like Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach who wrote part of his Parzival here in 1203.

The castle thus became the setting for the legendary Sängerkrieg, or Minstrels' Contest in which such Minnesänger as Walther von der Vogelweide, Wolfram von Eschenbach, Albrecht von Halberstadt (the translator of Ovid) and many others supposedly took part in 1206/1207. The legend of this event was later used by Richard Wagner in his opera Tannhäuser.

At the age of four, St. Elisabeth of Hungary was sent by her mother to the Wartburg to be raised to become consort of Landgrave Ludwig IV of Thuringia. From 1211 to 1228, she lived in the castle and was renowned for her charitable work. In 1221, Elisabeth married Ludwig. In 1227, Ludwig died on the Crusade and she followed her confessor Father Konrad to Marburg. Elisabeth died there in 1231 at the age of 24 and was canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church just five years after her death.

In 1247, Heinrich Raspe, the last landgrave of Thuringia of his line and an anti-king of Germany, died at the Wartburg. He was succeeded by Henry III, Margrave of Meissen.

In 1320, substantial reconstruction work was done after the castle had been damaged in a fire caused by lightning in 1317 or 1318. A chapel was added to the Palas.

The Wartburg remained the seat of the Thuringian landgraves until 1440. The Luther Room

From May 1521 to March 1522, Martin Luther stayed at the castle under the name of Junker Jörg (the Knight George), after he had been taken there for his safety at the request of Frederick the Wise following his excommunication by Pope Leo X and his refusal to recant at the Diet of Worms. It was during this period that Luther translated the New Testament from ancient Greek into German in just ten weeks. Luther's was not the first German translation of the Bible but it quickly became the most well known and most widely circulated.

From 1540 until his death in 1548, Fritz Erbe, an Anabaptist farmer from Herda, was held captive in the dungeon of the south tower, because he refused to abjure anabaptism. After his death, he was buried in the Wartburg near the chapel of St. Elisabeth. In 1925, a handwritten signature of Fritz Erbe was found on the prison wall.

Over the next centuries, the castle fell increasingly into disuse and disrepair, especially after the end of the Thirty Years' War when it had served as a refuge for the ruling family.

https://www.arundelcastle.org

https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/1118816 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/guoitK1nR6NcbhGT7

Website says open for visit "Weekdays 09.30 -17.00". There's an events page with tons of listings: https://www.arundelcastle.org/whats-on/

The original structure was a motte-and-bailey castle. Roger de Montgomery was declared the first Earl of Arundel as the King granted him the property as part of a much larger package of hundreds of manors. Roger, who was a cousin of William the Conqueror, had stayed in Normandy to keep the peace there while William was away in England. He was rewarded for his loyalty with extensive lands in the Welsh Marches and across the country, together with one fifth of Sussex (Arundel Rape). He began work on Arundel Castle in around 1067.

Between 1101 and 1102 the castle was besieged by the forces of Henry I after its holder Robert of Bellême rebelled. The siege ended with the castle surrendering to the king. The castle then passed to Adeliza of Louvain (who had previously been married to Henry I) and her husband William d'Aubigny. Empress Matilda stayed in the castle, in 1139. It then passed down the d'Aubigny line until the death of Hugh d'Aubigny, 5th Earl of Arundel in 1243. John Fitzalan then inherited jure matris the castle and honour of Arundel, by which, according to Henry VI's "admission" of 1433, he was later retrospectively held to have become de jure Earl of Arundel.

The FitzAlan male line ceased on the death of Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl of Arundel, whose daughter and heiress Mary FitzAlan married Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk in 1555, to whose descendants the castle and earldom passed.

In 1643, during the First English Civil War, the castle was besieged. The 800 royalists inside surrendered after 18 days. Afterwards in 1653 Parliament ordered the slighting of the castle; however "weather probably destroyed more".

Although the castle remained in the hands of the Howard family over the succeeding centuries, it was not their favourite residence, and the various Dukes of Norfolk invested their time and energy into improving other ducal estates, including Norfolk House in London. Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk, was known for his restoration work and improvements to the castle beginning in 1787. The folly that still stands on the hill above Swanbourne Lake was commissioned by and built for the Duke by Francis Hiorne at this time.

In 1846, Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, visited Arundel Castle for three days. Henry Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk, internally remodelled the castle in time for her visit. The architectural firm responsible for design of the furniture was named Morant. The work included a suite of six rooms, built on the second floor of the south-east range at this time. The 19th-century embellishments had not been completed when this picture was published in 1880.

After the 1846 Royal visit the 15th Duke began re-structuring the castle again from 1875 to 1905. The work, which was done to the designs of Charles Alban Buckler and undertaken by Rattee and Kett of Cambridge, was completed in the late 19th century. The 16th Duke had planned to give the castle to the National Trust but following his death in 1975 the 17th Duke cancelled the plan. He created an independent charitable trust to guarantee the castle's future, and oversaw restorative works.

http://www.castleboston.com/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/87109189 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/uJiRFB2rodQJd4iQA

This location is available for large events. There seems to be some small museum space but I'm unsure of how to visit. It also houses other private businesses.

The four-story granite structure was designed by William Gibbons Preston and built beginning in 1891 and finished in 1897. Due to political unrest during the period, the building was designed to withstand mob violence. Its most prominent feature is its six-story tower. It is built in the Romanesque Revival style. The building's staircases are built by the Guastavino system, as are some tower vaults.

The building was built to store armaments and contained a rifle range, gymnasium, and drill hall.

Over the years it has been known as Park Plaza Castle, Castle at Park Plaza, and The Tower.

Photo taken by me in early 2023.

https://www.visitluxembourg.com/place/beaufort-castle

https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/49.83361/6.28656 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/5PYtsLpPhz21Pk7k9

The ruins of the medieval castle are open to visitors every day from Easter until 1 November from 9 am to 6 pm.

It was probably in the 11th century that the castle began as a small square-shaped fortress on a large rock protected by a moat and a second wall above the valley. A reference from 1192 indicates that Wauthier de Wiltz et Beaufort was its first lord. During the first half of the 12th century, a keep was added and the gate was moved and enlarged. In 1348, the property came into the hands of the House of Orley after Adelaide of Beaufort married William of Orley. The Lords of Orley made significant extensions overlooking the valley. In 1477, Maximilian of Austria transferred the castle to Johann Bayer von Boppard after Johann von Orley-Beaufort committed a breach in trust. In 1539, Bernard von Velbrück became Lord of Beaufort through marriage and added the large Renaissance wing with cross-framed windows on top of the medieval walls.

The castle then came into the hands of Gaspard de Heu who had married Velbrück's granddaughter. A partisan of the Dutch resistance and the House of Orange, de Heu was captured by the Spaniards, accused of heresy and treason, and publicly executed in Luxembourg's fish market in 1593. Philip II of Spain confiscated the property and entrusted it to Peter Ernst Graf von Mansfeld, the governor of Luxembourg. Through marriage, the castle became the property of Henri de Chalon and then Gaspard du Bost-Moulin who had to sell it after being ruined by the Thirty Years War. Acting on behalf of the Spanish king, Johann Baron von Beck, governor of Luxembourg, bought most of the property in 1639. He initiated the construction of the Renaissance castle in 1643 but after he died of injuries from the Battle of Lens in 1648, the work was completed by his son in 1649.

After various changes in ownership including Pierre de Coumont (1774) and Jean Théodore Baron de Tornaco-Vervoy (1781), the castle was abandoned, fell into disrepair and at the beginning of the 19th century was even used as a quarry. In 1850, it was listed by the State as a national monument. In 1893, the new owner Henri Even restored the new building and, in 1928, Edmond Linkels cleared the rubble away and opened the medieval castle to visitors. In 1981, the property was acquired by the State.

http://www.castillodecoca.com/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/1732024 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/8i3SUsRfnhVuYzrD8

No mention of hours and days available on the website, but it does mention a few Euros gets you in.

Alonso de Fonseca y Avellaneda has been credited with the construction of the castle. The castle was built under the supervision of a master builder and most of the work had been completed by 1493. In 1502 it was decreed that castle and the town could only be passed down to male heirs, so after Alonso's death it passed on to Antonio de Fonseca. In 1512 a number of extra ornamental features were added to the keep and the castle exterior under the supervision of engineers. The castle came under attack during the Revolt of the Comuneros in 1521. Communeras troops attacked the castle in retaliation to the burning of Medina del Campo. Medina del Campo had been previously attacked by the Royalists as it housed a large number of artillery pieces, and it had subsequently been razed after Royalists met heavy resistance. In 1645, Gaspar Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, 9th Duke of Medina Sidonia was accused to treachery after he instigated the Andalusian independentist conspiracy of 1641, and was imprisoned in the castle.

The castle went through a period of repairs and renovations from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century AD. Most notable among these renovations was the addition of the Patio de Armas in sixteenth century, the construction of a gallery between the Keep (Torres del Homenaje) and Pedro Mata Tower in the seventeenth century AD and the extensive renovations of 1715. After 1730 the castle suffered a long period of neglect that led to it falling into disrepair, and subsequently many important artifacts were either lost or destroyed. During the Peninsular War, Coca Castle was captured by the French, who occupied the castle in 1808 and vacated it in 1812. During these four years the castle further deteriorated and much of it fell into ruin. The French troops were, obviously, not concerned with the upkeep of the castle and many ornamental features fell into ruin during this time. Another incident that led to the castle falling further into ruin was the 1828 sale of materials by the administrator of the castle. As the castle was under the ownership of the House of Alba at that time, the owners tore away a number of columns, marble pieces and other ornamental features and sold them off to the highest bidder.

Crossposting the top post on Lemmy over the past 12 hours.

https://travelfrance.tips/tregastel-castle-chateau-de-costaeres/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/82084507 Aerial street view: https://goo.gl/maps/cZPWKLRnoxy7ZVg29

This place seems to be a private residence, not available to visit.

Château is not technically accurate: the château is actually a big neo-medieval style manor characteristic of the great summer houses of the late 19th century on the côte de granit rose (pink granite coast).

The building, a voluminous complex resulting from several extensions, is made of pink granite from the quarries of La Clarté, Perros-Guirec district. The roof is slate.

Its interior was designed with reclaimed wood from a three-masted sailing ship beached in the winter of 1896, the Maurice.

The manor was built on an islet bought at the end of the summer of 1892 by Bruno Abakanowicz (also called Bruno Abdank, who a little later - around 1896 - built the Bellevue hotel in Ploumanac'h), engineer and mathematician of Polish origin, from the customs officer René Le Brozec, a Perrosian who cultivated potatoes there and dried lichen and fish. The going rate at the time was 0.25 F per square metre. It was completed around 1896 by the engineer Lanmoniez and the Lannionnais entrepreneur Pierre Le Tensorer.

https://leapcastle.net/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/881969392 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/FPbYAAbEdzstab437

The website states that it’s open every day for visits, doesn’t elaborate on ticket info. Proclaims self as “the world’s most haunted castle.”

There are varied accounts as to when exactly the main tower/keep was constructed, ranging anywhere from the 13th century to the late 15th century, but most likely around 1250 AD. It was built by the O'Bannon clan and was originally called "Léim Uí Bhanáin" (as was the fertile land around the castle which was associated with the Bannon clan) or "Leap of the O'Bannons". The O'Bannons were the "secondary chieftains" of the territory and were subject to the ruling O'Carroll clan. There is evidence that it was constructed on the same site as another ancient stone structure, perhaps ceremonial in nature, and that that area has been occupied consistently since at least the Iron Age (500 BCE) and possibly since Neolithic times. The Annals of the Four Masters record that the Earl of Kildare, Gerald FitzGerald, tried unsuccessfully to seize the castle in 1513. Three years later, he attacked the castle again and managed to partially demolish sections of it. However, by 1557, the O'Carrolls had regained possession.

Following the death of Mulrooney O'Carroll in 1532, family struggles plagued the O'Carroll clan. A fierce rivalry for leadership erupted within the family. The bitter fight for power turned brother against brother. One of the brothers was a priest. While he was holding mass for a group of his family (in what is now called the "Bloody Chapel"), his rival brother burst into the chapel, plunged his sword into him and fatally wounded him. The butchered priest fell across the altar and died in front of his family. In 1659, the castle passed by marriage into the ownership of the Darby family, notable members of whom included Vice-Admiral George Darby, Admiral Sir Henry D'Esterre Darby and John Nelson Darby. During the tenure of one Jonathan Charles Darby, séances were held in the castle by his wife Mildred Darby, who was a writer of Gothic novels: this led to publicity about the castle and its ghosts. The central keep was later expanded with significant extensions, but in order to pay for these, rents were raised, and much of the land accompanying the castle was sold. This is one theorised motivation for the burning of the castle during the Irish Civil War in 1922. After its destruction, Mr. Darby obtained a reinstatement estimate from Beckett & Medcalf, surveyors in Dublin, that was issued in September 1922. Confusingly, it gives the address as Leap Castle, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary. The net "Amount of Claim" was £22,684.19.1, equivalent to about €1m in 2018. The claim was settled for a lesser amount. In 1974 the now ruined castle was bought by Australian historian Peter Bartlett, whose mother had been a Banon. Bartlett, together with builder Joe Sullivan, carried out extensive restoration work on the castle up to the time of his death in 1989. Since 1991, the castle has been privately owned by the musician Sean Ryan and his wife Anne, who continue the restoration work.

https://www.kansallismuseo.fi/en/olavinlinna

https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/11335890 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/Q7pKKzddW5KE9dK28

Opening hours depend on season. Check here: https://www.kansallismuseo.fi/en/olavinlinna/info The middle courtyard has been covered and converted to a stage for plays and opera productions.

The fortress was founded by Erik Axelsson Tott in 1475 under the name Sankt Olofsborg in an effort to profit from the political turmoil following Ivan III's conquest of the Novgorod Republic. It was sited in Savonia so as to lay claim to the Russian side of the border established by the Treaty of Nöteborg.

One of Tott's letters from 1477 includes a passing mention of foreign builders invited to Olofsborg, probably from Reval, where the city fortifications were being extended. It was the first Swedish castle provided with a set of thickset circular towers that could withstand cannon fire. It is not by accident that a network of lakes and waterways forms the setting for the castle, for these would seriously impede a prospective Russian offensive.

The three-towered keep was completed in 1485, and the construction of the outer curtain walls with two towers was initiated immediately. They were completed in 1495. The castle is roughly a truncated rhomboid with keep on the western side of the island and the curtain walls and outer bailey to east. One of the towers of the keep, St. Erik's Tower, has a bad foundation and has since collapsed. One of the towers of Bailey, the Thick Tower, exploded in the 18th century. A bastion has been built on its place. The castle was converted into a Vaubanesque fort in the late 18th century with bastions.

Olofsborg withstood several sieges by the Russians during the First and Second Russian-Swedish wars. A brisk trade developed under the umbrella of the castle towards the end of the 16th century, giving birth to the town of Savonlinna, which was chartered in 1639.

While the castle was never captured by force, its garrison agreed to terms of surrender twice; first to invading Russians on 28 July 1714 and the second time on 8 August 1743, with the latter conflict's peace treaty in form of the Treaty of Åbo leading to the castle and the entire region being seceded to Empress Elizabeth of Russia. During the Russian era Alexander Suvorov personally inspected rearmament of the fortress.

Credit to and more photos found on the Fediverse here: https://mstdn.social/@Joletaxi@mastodonapp.uk/110781591243610371

https://herstmonceux-castle.com/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/8236206 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/MsWfcWNUqaTtJitw8

It seems to be open most days 10am-7pm, hosts occasional public events, and is available for lease for weddings, photography, and corporate events.

he first written evidence of the existence of the Herst settlement appears in William the Conqueror's Domesday Book which reports that one of William's closest supporters granted tenancy of the manor at Herst to a man named 'Wilbert'. By the end of the twelfth century, the family at the manor house at Herst had considerable status. Written accounts mention a lady called Idonea de Herst, who married a Norman nobleman named Ingelram de Monceux. Around this time, the manor began to be called the "Herst of the Monceux", a name that eventually became Herstmonceux.

A descendant of the Monceux family, Roger Fiennes, was ultimately responsible for the construction of Herstmonceux Castle in the County of Sussex. Sir Roger was appointed Treasurer of the Household of Henry VI of England and needed a house fitting a man of his position, so construction of the castle on the site of the old manor house began in 1441. It was this position as treasurer which enabled him to afford the £3,800 construction of the original castle.

In 1541, Sir Thomas Fiennes, Lord Dacre, was tried for murder and robbery of the King's deer after his poaching exploits on a neighboring estate resulted in the death of a gamekeeper. He was convicted and hanged as a commoner, and the Herstmonceux estate was temporarily confiscated by Henry VIII of England, but was restored to the Fiennes family during the reign of one of Henry's children.

The profligacy of the 15th Baron Dacre, heir to the Fiennes family, forced him to sell in 1708 to George Naylor, a lawyer of Lincoln's Inn in London. Bethaia Naylor, who became the heiress of Herstmonceux on the death of her brother's only daughter, married Francis Hare and produced a son, Francis, who inherited in turn, his mother's property. The castle eventually came into the possession of Robert Hare-Naylor, who, upon the insistence of his second wife, Henrietta Henckell, followed the architect Samuel Wyatt's advice to reduce the Castle to a picturesque ruin by demolishing the interior. Thomas Lennard, 17th Baron Dacre, was sufficiently exercised as to commission James Lamberts Jnr of Lewes (1741–1799) to record the building in 1776. The castle was dismantled in 1777 leaving the exterior walls standing and remained a ruin until the early 20th century.

Radical restoration work was undertaken by Colonel Claude Lowther in 1913 to transform the ruined building into a residence and, based on a design by the architect, Walter Godfrey, this work was completed by Sir Paul Latham in 1933. The existing interiors largely date from that period, incorporating architectural antiques from England and France. The one major change in planning was the combination of the four internal courtyards into one large one. The restoration work, regarded as the apex of Godfrey's architectural achievement, was described by the critic Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as executed 'exemplarily'.

http://www.burg-maus.de/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/884671476 Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/XsWJfaLYeJ5wpdE88

There seems to be a ton of opportunities for visiting, from fairytale book readings to "moonlight wine tastings". You'd need to translate it to figure it out: http://www.burg-maus.de/burg/Aktuelles.htm#Fuehrungen

Construction of the castle was begun in 1356 by Archbishop-Elector of Trier Bohemond II and was continued for the next 30 years by successive Electors of Trier. The construction of Burg Maus was to enforce Trier's recently acquired Rhine River toll rights and to secure Trier's borders against the Counts of Katzenelnbogen (who had built Burg Katz and Burg Rheinfels). In the latter half of the 14th century Burg Maus was one of the residences of the Elector of Trier.

Unlike its two neighbouring castles, Burg Maus was never destroyed, though it fell into disrepair in the 16th and 17th centuries. Restoration of the castle was undertaken between 1900 and 1906 under the architect Wilhelm Gärtner with attention to historical detail.

The castle suffered further damage from shelling during World War II which has since been repaired. Today Burg Maus hosts an aviary that is home to falcons, owls and eagles, and flight demonstrations are staged for visitors from late March to early October.

Local folklore attributes the name to the Counts of Katzenelnbogen's mocking of the Electors of Trier during the 30 years of construction, who reportedly said that the castle was the "mouse" that would be eaten by the "cat" of Burg Katz. The originally intended name was Burg Peterseck (or St. Peterseck). A matched castle on the left bank (to control the bank north of Burg Rheinfels) that was to be named Burg Peterberg was never constructed. Other names by which Burg Maus is known are Thurnberg (or Thurmberg) and Deuernburg.

http://www.chateau-de-val.com/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/338836092 Street View: https://goo.gl/maps/CZGtNvCGKLnfQSU4A

Can be visited for a fee from early April until early November.

Val Castle was founded in the early 13th century by a young member of the Thynière family. He had moved out of his ancestral home, Thynières Castle, which had just been rebuilt on a hill opposite and above his new castle. At that time Val was called Enval. His castle incorporated an older 10th century keep which had been in his family's possession since 1150.

In the first half of the 15th century Val Castle was acquired by Guillaume IV d'Estaing from the Thynière family. Guillaume IV, also known as Guillot, was chamberlain to Charles VII of France. He then rebuilt the castle and gave it its present appearance, in 1450. The castle stayed in the Estaing family until 1660, when it was sold by a descendant who had been residing at the court in Versailles and needed the money.

Between 1660 and 1685, several owners restored the dilapidated castle. In the beginning of the 18th century, however, Val Castle had become uninhabitable after which it was abandoned and fell to ruin. The ruined castle was bought by Ignace Dubois de Saint-Etienne, a merchant, in 1779. He had the castle completely restored and made it his home. In 1793, during the French Revolution, it was confiscated and looted. His son Gaspard bought it back in 1805.

In 1814 it was bought by the merchant André Longueville. He just wanted to make money an cut down the castle's park to sell the wood. While planning to demolish the castle to be able to sell the stones, he was expelled by a court order in 1837.

A new owner then started to restore the castle. In 1865 it was bought by Jules Souchard, the French consul in Boston, USA. He completed the restoration started by the previous owner. The Arcy family inherited the castle in 1896.

In 1942 works started on the new Bort-les-Orgues Dam in the Dordogne river. Val Castle, situated on a hill on the east side of the river valley, was planned to disappear under the waters of a new reservoir. The Arcy family were then expropriated and moved out with all their belongings in 1946. Plans for the reservoir changed which meant the castle would not be flooded. The empty castle was left unattended and was burglarized in 1949, before a guard was installed in 1951.

The council of the town of Bort-les-Orgues bought the castle in 1953. They restored it and turned it into a tourist attraction. It now sits on a small peninsula in the waters of the Bort-les-Orgues Reservoir, its park having disappeared under the waves.

https://www.dunnottarcastle.co.uk/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/504422636 Street view (static locations): https://goo.gl/maps/RVDBhaebWA5u4Uu87

Castle is open year round for a ticket fee, times vary depending on season. Closures during Christmas and New years.

Dunnottar Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope") is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-eastern coast of Scotland, about 2 miles (3 kilometres) south of Stonehaven. The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and defensive strength.

Dunnottar is best known as the place where the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, were hidden from Oliver Cromwell's invading army in the 17th century. The property of the Keiths from the 14th century, and the seat of the Earl Marischal, Dunnottar declined after the last Earl forfeited his titles by taking part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. The castle was restored in the 20th century and is now open to the public.

An interactive map of all castles in Scotland with links to the relevant Wikipedia article of each