A Photographic Appreciation of Castles

The ancient mudbrick Citadel of Bam, Iran

"The castle has always been a formidable image, a powerful intimidating fantasy of the human imagination. The fortress, the citadel, the craggy tower dominating the landscape: it is older than history, as natural to man as the eyrie to the eagle. To defend oneself, to attack others, to live in guarded pride: these are its laudable aims. Until they are ruined, no one but their owners and those who live under their protection has liked them; once they are shattered and dismantled, admiration supervenes; they become pets, the most esteemed ruined objects in a landscape, curdling the blood with awe, delighting the soul with majestic beauty." 

Castles have always inspired the imagination,  evoking images of medieval armies carrying scaling ladders, supported by ballista, mangonels and boar-headed battering-rams, charging up to crenellated  battlements, braving arrows, spears and boiling-oil, to hopefully scale the walls, and breach the gates. Such visions have, in recent years, been promoted by movies such as the 'Lord of the Rings', and 'the Hobbit' trilogies and the lengthy 'Game of Thrones' TV series. While these movies and TV series are fantasies, the 'real' castles of the North Hemisphere have a history just as exciting, if not more so, as any Hollywood can produce. I have detailed here just a few of the castles and fortresses that I have visited.

Ancient Troy has always stirred my imagination, ever since I first read Homer's Iliad. I have visited the ruins a number of times over the years, and each time archaeologists have uncovered more of this ancient fortress. While not a castle in the true sense of the word, Troy was a fortified city dating from the third millennium BC, and rebuilt many times. To look upon this place of legends, across the plains of the River Scamander to Aegean Sea where the Greeks left the famous 'Wooden Horse', or to walk beneath of walls where Achilles pursued the Trojan champion Hector three times before killing him, has always inspired my imagination: 

The massive walls of ancient Troy, around which Achilles chased the luckless Hector

'While Hector stood engrossed in inward debate, Achilles drew near him, looking like the god of War in his flashing helmet, girt for battle.  Over his right shoulder he brandished the formidable ashen spear of Pelion, and the bronze on his body glowed like a blazing fire or the rising sun.  Hector looked up, saw him, and began to tremble. He no longer had the heart to stand his ground; he left the gate, and ran away in terror. But the son of Peleus, counting on his speed, was after him in a flash.  Light  as  a mountain  hawk,  the  fastest thing on wings,  when he swoops  in chase  of a timid dove,  and shrieking close behind  his  quarry, darts  at  her time and again in his eagerness to make his  kill, Achilles  started  off in hot pursuit;  and like the dove  flying before her enemy, Hector fled before him under the walls of Troy, fast as his feet would go.'  Homer - The Iliad.

In the UK, after the Norman invasion of 1066, castles sprang up throughout the countryside, often dominating a town such as the castle in Ludlow, Shropshire. Often the home of the local lord, the castle provided protection to the town's inhabitants, usually in return for various services the townsfolk would provide their 'local lord'.

The remains of the 11th century Norman castle dominates the Shropshire town of Ludlow 

Castles and fortresses are scattered throughout Europe and Asia and one of the most spectacular I have visited is the Mehrengarh Fort in the Rajasthani city of Jodhpur in India, which dates from the 15th century. The stark, sheer, impregnable  walls dominate this desert city. Within the fort is the Palace of the Maharajahs of Marwar, now a Museum. The fort was constructed on the hill aptly named the 'mountain of birds'.

The massive Mehrangarh Fort dominates the city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, India

The Middle East has many interesting castle ruins which date back to the First Crusade, particularly after the capture of and the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Crusaders established other feudal Kingdoms in the Middle East, most notably that of Oultrejordain, based in the great castle at Kerak (Crac des Moabites) in modern day Jordan. A small subsidiary castle of Oultrejordain was Montreal, in the small town of Shaubak. The castle sits upon a hill overlooking the semi-desert countryside and is a fascinating place to explore. 

The battlements & the ruins of Montreal, Shaubak, Jordan

One of the most romantic castles I have visited is the small 12th century Armenian castle near the Turkish town of Silifke on the Mediterranean coast. This is Kızkalesi, or the Maiden's Castle, and sits on a small islet just offshore.

Kızkalesi, the Maiden's Castle, in the Mediterranean Sea near Silifke, Turkey

There are very few fortified cities now remaining intact, but two of the best examples are La Cité, the old town of Carcassonne in the Languedoc region of France, and the hilltop fortified town of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, India. Both are well preserved and are fascinating places to explore.

The towers of the French city of Carcassonne & the fortified town of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan

While most castles and forts have a history dating back over centuries, Fort Saumarez on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel was adapted to serve as a defensive position by the German occupiers of the island during World War 2. This latter day Martello Tower. with its machine-gun slits, dominates a section of the Guernsey coastline, but did not see any action.
  

Fort Saumarez on the coast of Guernsey, Channel Islands

© Neil Rawlins  text & photography

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