Carisbrooke Castle

Carisbrooke Castle is one of few places managed by English Heritage on the Isle of Wight. I went there without knowing more about it. This was very fortunate, because the place is both beautiful and very important from a historical perspective. Looking for details for this post, I checked their website again and saw that these days there is a joust at Carisbrooke Castle! I so wish I was there to see it.

Carisbrooke Castle started as an Anglo-Saxon earthwork, used for defending against the Vikings. The Normans raised the shell keep on its towering mound, now being used to offer gorgeous views from the top. In the picture above is the 16th-century guardhouse, which has a very interesting history.

This bedroom was used by the castle’s most famous resident: Charles I. He was imprisoned here after his Civil War defeat and unfortunately he was not able to escape. Charles I was held at Carisbrooke for more than an year before his execution in 1649.

The bed is not from the 1600s, but it is a Victorian reproduction. Even so, it has some original Tudor carvings on it. It is also similar in style with the furniture that Charles I had used while living there.

Charles I tried to escape from this room in 1648, but his attempt was not successful. He was moved to another, more secure room after his attempt. He bribed some guards and tried to escape again. The guards confessed and his second escape attempt failed. The museum on the ground floor of this building offers interesting artefacts and it is worth spending a bit of time looking at them.

The earthworks and keep were built around 1100. The size of them is so impressive considering how few people there were and how little technology they had to do this. The views are beautiful and, of course, in the medieval time, this height of the earthworks and buildings made it easier to defend.

The castle has some resident donkeys, but they were out in the afternoon. We arrived too late to see them. It also has a cafe, but that was too late to visit as well.
The gardens are nice to see and walk around. It is an Edwardian-style garden, created by Queen Victoria’s daughter, Princess Beatrice.

This was an unexpected and lovely surprise. In the Princess Beatrice’s garden I noticed this statue. It was a lovely statue and went to read the description. Amazingly, this is a statue of Jack Seely and his horse Warrior. I’ve read a book about Warrior, written by Jack Seely, here is the review for it.