We have amazing friends who live about an hour away, so on day four of our break we decided to meet up with them and explore their town! First stop, lunch at a new pizza shop in their town. We were really excited to try this place, expecially when we saw their cute utensils included a pizza cutter….cute eh?
Our excitement of the new place quickly waned as we saw table after table getting their food…while ours sat empty. Zack finally resorted to begging people on the street for food…
The pizza was good. I got the Caesar salad pizza that was surprisingly delicious. I don’t think I’d go back just because of the extremely long wait (almost an hour) while they served other tables first. Not a fan of that.
Of course after all that time trapped in a booth the kids needed to blow off some energy, so we made ourselves known in the little town center.
Portchester Castle
This one was not on my radar. I didn’t even know this castle was here until our friend, A mentioned it. Now this place is a CASTLE! It is in ruins, but still in pretty good shape. Some castles are just stones…so I was really impressed with this one!
There is so much history that goes along with this castle. The grounds are the best preserved Roman fort and dates back to the 3rd century. The castle was built around the 11th century after the Norman Conquest. Portchester castle played many important roles in history, especially since it is right on the waters edge and made an easy port for the king. King John was a regular here, since he loved to go hunting on the grounds. In 1204 it was here at Portchester that he heard of the loss at Normandy. Henry VIII (I don’t like that guy) and Anne Boylan visited this castle while they were still married and before he killed her (obviously…just wanted to remind everyone he killed his wife). Edward II built a few additions to the keep and in the 1600 the castle was turned into a prison that housed 7,000 inmates (I’m imaging the smell would have been horrendous!) More on that later. K, let’s get to pictures and Videos!
Video:
The drawbridge over the mote.
The inner court
Below is what is left of the Royal Chamber. The two big holes that look like where a fireplace would have been, were actually windows that were covered for protection.
Richard II Hall
This would have been where all the Lords and Ladies entered to go to parties with the King. The door frame/archway still stands. The upper windows would have been the second floor (which is no longer there) and the bottom windows a kitchen to prepare for the people above.
The stairs added to the castle. The castle would first house kings then prisoners.
This spiral staircase goes in one continuous spiral from the roof of the castle to the basement. For years this was the ONLY way up and down the castle. I can only imagine all the poor staff who had to drag food, water, and other things up and down those tight stairs!
The English Heritage has added these stairs for ease of viewing. They are still very steep!
When the castle was used as a prison, these beams were added to make additional floors. The prisoners slept in hammocks. At one time there were 7,000 prisoners in this castle. It is a huge castle, but that would have been tight! (and stinky!)
It was a beautiful day to view Portsmouth. We can’t wait to go back when it isn’t cloudy and see if you can really see France. How cool are these pictures of the keep taken overhead from the roof!
Videos:
Andrew and I found our names!
On the spiral staircase leaving the roof.
In the basement of the castle is a theater the prisoners made. They had cute dress ups, a stage, and those things you put your head in and take a picture. The next room had artifacts that were found in and around the keep. One of which was a human skull. They had lots of interesting things that showed what everyday life was like there. Needles, chainmail, buttons, coins, dice, toothbrushes…so intriguing.
What remains of the smaller prison just outside the kings chamber
A few shots around the keep. We walked around the church, grounds, cemetery, all the way out to the sea.
The pathway around the outside of the keep. The rounded outlooks date back to the Romans.
After playing at the castle we picked up our friend from school and took her out for a little treat. There is the cutest cake place in their town. It was pretty pricey (once I saw how much it was in American dollars!) I loved how they served their cakes on little black charcoal slates. It was pretty neat….and yummy! Then we enjoyed our hour long drive home, mutual, and our car reading “engine failure” all in all a pretty great day!
