This is the first stop on our tour today. The tour
guide says that this is the best castle to visit in England, because the
Tussauds, of Madame Tussauds Waxworks fame has bought this castle and
has created scenes with wax figures throughout the castle. We took the
M40 out of London to A452.
Below is a model of what the castle looks like. The front entrance is
at the left side in this picture.
This is the view as you approach the entrance of the castle:
As you continue to walk around (to the left in the picture), you see
the archery demonstration area, and then the entrance to the castle.
As you walk through the entrance, the first thing you see is a hill
garden with a tower on top of the hill.
The castle exhibits are to the left in this picture, and there are
many wax figures in positions doing things they may have been doing back
in the day. Below are some pictures of the rooms with wax figures.
One of the wax figures in the picture below looks awfully familiar.
How did they do that???
This man sitting down looks very real, but he is really wax.
This is King Henry VIII, and his 6 wives, posing for a picture....
At 11:30am and 3:30pm, they have a firing of the trebuchet, across
the river below the castle. This thing is very accurate and can place
18" cannon balls repeatedly within a 15' diameter circle, firing about 5
per hour 24 hours a day. That can be pretty damaging to a castle if it
isn't destroyed quickly.
Below are two movies of the Trebuchet above. The first one depicts how
the arm of the trebuchet is lowered and the counterweight is raised to
prepare for firing. The second one shows the actual firing of the
trebuchet.
Preparing The Trebuchet
Dial-Up / Low-Bandwidth Version |
Preparing The Trebuchet
Broadband / High-Bandwidth Version |
Firing The Trebuchet
Dial-Up / Load-Bandwidth Version |
Firing The Trebuchet
Broadband / High-Bandwidth Version |
As you are leaving the castle, this is what the exit looks like (the
entrance from the other side).
|