Warwick

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Warwick Castle

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Timone
Timone
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5 out of 5
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Editor Pick

Deadly Skills!

  • February 3, 2009
  • Rated 4 of 5 by tvordj from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Deadly Skills!

A brief history of Warwick Castle: William the Conqueror built a motte and bailey fort in 1068 overlooking the Avon River with a timber stockade. The castellan family became the Earls of Warwick and the castle passed through many generations of the family. The towers began to be built in the 14th C during the dynasty of the Beauchamp family and held fast until the middle of the 15th C when the Neville Family married into the title. Richard Neville was better known as Warwick the Kingmaker for his ability to back the right monarchs during the Wars of the Roses. The Castle was expanded and improved as the centuries went on with the grounds being landscaped in the 18th C. by Capability Brown. Most of the current State Rooms are 18th C. with restoration after a fire in the Victorian years. The Taussaud's Group bought the Castle in 1978 and several impressive exhibitions featuring their famous wax figures have opened since then. The website is very good and contains a lot of history both of the Castle and of the inhabitants.

The Castle is easy to find, take junction 15 off the M40 and follow the brown signs for the castle. The train station is about a mile from the castle so you could walk there or take a short cab ride. I'd suggest parking in the town of Warwick because it will be a bit cheaper. The entrance fee to the castle does not include parking which will cost you about 6 pounds. The castle fee is quite steep at 16.95 per adult with senior, child, group and family rates but it won't be a cheap day out.

Having said that, there's quite a lot to see and do at the castle. Some of the attractions at the castle feel a bit commercialized and though some parts of the castle to have a definite authentic feel, other parts are sanitized and it feels more like a production. One really fun thing is that they have tournaments and lots of other displays of medeival skills and crafts all summer long. That can be good fun to watch. We saw "Deadly Skills" when we were there with various demos of longbow and short swords and other medeival ways to kill a man!

You can climb and traverse the castle walls and battlements and the views from up there are really good. Steep and narrow steps here. Some of the main sights include a very good armoury, a dungeon and torture display, the "Kingmaker" display, a Victorian weekend party (done up with wax figures in the various bedrooms and drawing rooms), a "Ghost Tower" (which i thought was pretty cheesy and probably the most disappointing part).

They only let a few down into the dungeon area at a time as there wasn't a lot of room and the passage was low and narrow. The walls are stone, the floor is dirt. There is graffiti scratched into
the walls that must be 500 years old though I don't know what they would have used to do it with as I'm sure the prisoners wouldn't have been given sharp implements. It was probably done 20 years ago for the tourists!!! There was a suit of chains hanging from the ceiling which purported to send shivers down the spines of the prisoners threatened with it's cutting edges. We saw a little hole in the ground where you might be dumped if you were in particular disfavour, the "oubliette" where you would be forgotten and left to die.

We proceeded to the rooms that had the torture instruments. They even had a full sized rack and a lot of medieval contraptions that, when explained were even more chilling than the dungeon. We're talking things like leg clamps with spikes on the inside into which, once on your leg would be poured boiling oil! There are an awful lot of devious ways to extract information by causing grievous bodily harm to another human being!

The armory exhibit is titled Death or Glory and traces the history of body armour through the centuries. We examined the many suits of armour, from various eras and countries, along with loads of armaments, words, early guns, axes, right up to things used in the Napoleonic Wars. The creepiest thing on display here was a plaster death mask of Oliver Cromwell!

After that gruesome cutlery you may need a little "sweetness and light". Head to the main palace part where the Chapel, Great Hall and State rooms are. The Great Hall as it stands today was built in the 17th C and restored in the 19th C after a fire. There is a marvelous hammer beam ceiling, portraits of Earls of Warwick and their families line the wall along with dozens of stag horns and a few impressive suits of armour including two full set of horse armour, one 16th C Italian armour and one 16th C German. There is a huge 500 year old cauldron and a miniature suit of armour made for a small boy. The state bedrooms and reception rooms are decorated very much over the top, having been embellished over the years by the inhabitants. No photos allowed in this section.

We continued on to the display called the Weekend Party which features the Taussaud's figures set up as if it were a late Victorian weekend function. The guests are in the dining room, salon and various bedrooms. Photos are allowed here and the figures were very realistic. We followed the queues through the exhibit and examined the old photos along the walls. The rooms have been able to be set up exactly as they were 100 years ago because there are existing photographs taken at the time. Two of the more famous houseguests portrayed are the Prince of Wales, soon to be Edward VII and a very young Winston Churchill.

I'm going to fudge a little here. We somehow missed the Kingmaker exhibit which shows how a medieval household would prepare for war during the 15th C. There are apparently a few wax figures in this too. We were in and out of buildings and towers and missed the entrance to this which is near the dungeons.

You can see the art of falconry here. They also do medieval and themed banquet for a cost. There's a trebuchet which is a huge catapult that is fired through the summer.

Some parts of the castle are wheelchair accessible but most of it isn't really very easy to get to if you have mobility issues. There's a cafe and shop of course. The gardens are all accessible and very nice.

Yes, some of this is very much a manufactured attraction and it's not cheap but if you have the inclination, it'll probably keep you busy for the best part of the day to see everything.

From journal Warwick and Manchester (2001)

Warwick Castle

  • October 29, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by celtichunny from England, United Kingdom
Beautiful castle with fantastic panoramic views. Explore inside the castle, walk along the ramparts and climb the tower. Have a carvery lunch inside the Medieval Dining Hall. Visit the Dungeon room and the armoury.

From journal Warwick Castle

Editor Pick

Warwick Castle

  • August 30, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by marseilles from Metro Manila, Philippines
Warwick Castle

It's reminiscent of Disneyland in that it recreates a fantasy world for its visitors...except this isn't fantasy; it's history. Warwick Castle is a beautiful castle built in the 12th century on gorgeous grounds.

The structure itself is almost entirely intact. We joined other castle-buffs exploring the various nooks and crannies of the castle, from its stone towers to the sobering dungeon where wall inscriptions from its inhabitants are still legible.

With a touch of Madame Tussaud's genius, the main rooms of the castle had been transformed into walk-through exhibits showcasing castle life through the years. One exhibit recreated a medieval preparation for battle; another exhibit recreated the lifestyle of aristocratic castle inhabitants in the late 19th century.

Outside the castle structure, the beautiful grounds welcomed visitors for a delightful, lazy stroll. Ducks, geese, and peacocks shared the beautiful views with tourists picnicking on the grass. Children dressed as medieval knights and holding toy swords (all available from the souvenir shops in the castle) charged at one another in playful revelry.

Since we were there during the summer, we were also fortunate to catch a number of the scheduled shows on the castle grounds. We watched a jousting match by actors dressed up as medieval knights, learnt the secrets of medieval archery from a bowman, and watched an amazing showcase of various birds of prey.

There was so much to see at the castle that our tired feet surrendered before we were able to go to all the exhibits.

The peak prices were around GBP18 per person, but prices vary according to the season.

From journal Warwick Day Trip

Editor Pick

Warwick Castle

  • August 4, 2005
  • Rated 5 of 5 by barbara from Atlanta, Georgia
Warwick Castle

A friend in Great Britain suggested we take the kids to Warwick Castle (pronounced War-Ick) for the full "medieval" experience. This was by far their favorite attraction in England, so we were very glad we visited.

A Brief Castle History: The first earthen rampart for this castle was built in 964, but William the Conqueror was the guy who really got the major construction going in 1068. An Earl of Warwick took residence in 1088, and the castle remained a family "home" well into the 20th century. Warwick Castle was actually used against the monarchy during the 17th-century English Revolution, which helped keep it in tact during the Cromwell years.

What was it like? There is a bit of an amusement park-feel here that greatly pleases kids, but the authenticity of the castle's history is equally pleasing to adults. Not inexpensive (peak-season prices: adults are $34, kids are $20, and there’s a small break for families), I suggest getting here earlier than we did so that you can see every special event the castle has scheduled for the day. For instance, we watched the launching of a medieval trebuchet, the children running after the launch was complete to see the damage such a weapon actually did to its target. However, we missed the jousting.

Apart from demonstrations, you can wander through grand rooms that have wax figures in place. Climb the ramparts and view the whole of Warwickshire. Descend into the dungeon where Royalist Troops were once imprisoned.

If still showing, go to the "Ghosts in the Tower" presentation. This requires another £2 per guest and an appointed entrance time. However, it's a good show - very "haunted house" without being over-the-top scary. (It’s not for very young kids: The 11-year-old boys denied being frightened, but they certainly had clammy hands during the 15-minute or so presentation! Still, it’s just good fun for children that age.) Hosted in a tower all by itself, this "tour" highlights the murder of one of the earls, whose ghost is said to still haunt the Warwick grounds.

Bottom line? Absolutely wonderful family fun.

From journal Wandering Warwick

Editor Pick

Warwick Castle

  • July 28, 2004
  • Rated 5 of 5 by Kookaburra from Sydney, undefined, Australia
Amazing castle - very touristy, as it has been taken over by Madame Tussaud’s, but worth a visit - we spent an enjoyable 4 hours here. We did this as a leisurely half day trip from our timeshare stop in Wellesbourne (Walton Hall). Highlights were: as we entered the first wall on the green outside the inner wall, they were setting up for an exhibit of bows and how they were used - the gentleman doing the show had the audience of at least one hundred in stitches. He was very funny despite actually displaying quite accurately how the various parts of his dress and equipment from the period were used - an enjoyable half hour. Once you moved on from there, there were dungeons to view and the main house is completely kitted out with waxwork models depicting everything from life upstairs to what went on in the armoury, the kitchen and other below-stairs areas. The kids and my husband were all quite tickled with the view that met us just off the kitchen of the hunting hound obviously helping himself to a drink from what was an early example of a toilet facility and so lifelike that one had to look twice to assure yourself that it was a model.

Walks around the battlements and towers provided excellent views of the surrounding town and countryside - one in particular was quite steep and many stairs, so there were warnings to asthmatics not to attempt the climb as it was a one way trip and once you started there was no turning back.

Would recommend a return visit as apparently the shows like the bowman change from day to day and there are normally a couple of different ones on during the day at various times.

Tearoom and the vans on the green a little overpriced for what they were offering - would suggest pack a sandwich and just buy a drink as the queues at the tea room even in the off-season were quite large.

Something for all age groups and plenty of seating for older members of the family who don't wish to scale all the walls - enough places to explore to wear the most active child out after a day.

From journal English daytrips for the whole Family

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