Beeston Castle and Basing House. Part I

Beeston Castle in Cheshire and Basing House in Hampshire are two very different manifestations of the word "Castle". Both started out as Norman castles but their paths of evolution were very divergent. That divergence may be down to their very contrasting locales.

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Beeston Castle is set on a high rocky outlier.  It is a very dramatic location and in its heyday one can imagine it being the setting for a Tolkienesque battle scene. 

Painting be George Barret Senior (?1728/32-1784)
Beeston Castle | Grosvenor Museum

The views from the castle are breathtaking. I took the following pictures: I'm no photographer, but with Beeston Castle you just can't go wrong when photographing the vistas it affords :

The walls of the inner ward

The view from the inner ward

God and man work together to produce beauty. 

The Beeston guide book tells us: "Spectacular views of Cheshire and the Welsh border that stretch for up to 30 miles in all directions have drawn people to Beeston for many centuries".  But in spite of that it is unlikely that Beeston Castle was ever a commodious home for an aristocrat. There was no attempt to level the ground of the inner ward and its rocky lumps and bumps make for difficult traversing. The most comfortable part of the castle was probably the inner ward gate house which was occupied by a constable rather than a live-in-Lord. Beeston castle was primarily a strategic fortification rather than a comfortable seat for a swanky aristocrat. 

The tactical value of the castle became very apparent during the civil war when it became a point of royalist resistance to the parliamentary armies. Such was its strength it was only defeated as a result of the broader military picture of parliamentary victories which made continued resistance futile. As with other royalist castles the parliamentarians slighted its defenses to ensure it could never again be used by royalist forces. Instead it became a very picturesque ruin, no doubt a favorite in the imaginations of the romantics. But apart from the wonderful views I doubt life high-up on that exposed geological feature was very romantic. It is paradox that these old ruined castles evoke romantic feelings as they were about violence and oppression; perhaps it's because their "been and gone" status suggests the ultimate passing of all strife.

In part II I'll be looking at Basing House, an Elizabethan mansion where there was a mother of a showdown between the royalists and parliamentarians. 

The gate house of the inner ward.