Blown away by the towering beauty of ruins
WINDSOR Castle remains a Royal Household after almost 1,000 years and the One o’clock Gun still fires daily from Edinburgh Castle, but military strongholds that have been abandoned can be even more intriguing.
Roofless and missing walls, they stand exposed – to the elements and visitors. You can peer into these bare courtyards and towers and begin to imagine what life might have been like there centuries ago. There are many stunning abandoned castles around the world, but here are our favourite five:
M Richard the Lionheart’s Chateau Gaillard, 60 miles north-west of Paris, has moats and a keep. It was built as a stronghold to secure the Duchy of Normandy from France, and Richard is reputed to have said on its completion in 1198: ‘Were its walls made of butter, they would still stand.’ And 800 years later, many of its walls do remain – Gaillard’s weakness lay elsewhere: in 1204, enemy soldiers got in through a latrine chute and lowered the drawbridge, allowing Gaillard to be captured – and Normandy to be annexed by France. Four centuries later, Henri IV ordered that the castle, by then in ruins, be made unusable.
M Similarly, Chateau D’Alleuze, 70 miles south of ClermontFerrand, was destroyed neither by accident nor enemy action. In this case, it was local villagers who, in 1405, set it on fire. Having endured years of terror from its previous occupant, Bernard de Garlan, a leader of mercenaries siding with the English during the Hundred Years’ War, the villagers wanted to ensure no further trouble-makers moved in. But the bishops of Clermont, who owned the chateau, ordered that the structure – square with round corner towers – be rebuilt by the villagers exactly as it had been before. And so it largely remains.
M While much of Poland is flat, the Jura Highlands north-west of Krakow is an unusual range of limestone outcrops dotted with castles. One of the most striking is the 16th Century stronghold of Ogrodzieniec. When it was damaged in a fire in 1702, the building fell into ruin. Now, though, Ogrodzieniec and 24 other Jura castles are protected in a beautiful national park.
M Across the border in the Kosice region of Slovakia, the magnificent Spis Castle sprawls over a high rock. One of the largest castle sites in Europe, Spis’s ruins reveal its layers of history: part 12th Century, part 15th and part 17th. Fire led to it being abandoned in 1780, though mystery surrounds the cause. One theory suggests that it was set alight by its owners to reduce their tax bill.
M After the warring parties have moved on, nature remains a castle’s greatest assailant. After being overwhelmed by Oliver Cromwell’s forces in 1652, Ballycarbery on the Ring of Kerry, Ireland, was left to ruin. And what a ruin it makes: just feet from the water’s edge, its walls are clad in ivy, while its upper floors are covered in grass. Untouched by modernisation, it offers not just history, but mystery and beauty too.