English Heritage properties
Audley End House, Saffron Walden, Essex
Built by Sir Thomas Howard, an Elizabethan naval hero, Audley End House is a Jacobean masterpiece built on the remains of an abbey. The lavish staterooms befitted his status as James I’s Lord Treasurer, and the original building was even larger than the current mansion. Later renovations included the glorious neo-classical Adams rooms and creation of the Elysian Garden cascade.
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Barnard Castle, County Durham
Perched above the river Tees, the fine great hall and dominating round-towered keep of the Balliol family stronghold are stern reminders of a turbulent past. In Tudor times, the Catholic Earl supporters of Mary, Queen of Scots laid siege during the ill-fated Northern Rising against Elizabeth. Sir George Bowes held out long enough to help break the rebellion’s momentum.
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Carlisle Castle, Cumbria
The forbidding walls held Mary, Queen of Scots captive after her flight from Scotland in 1568. The Norman entrance was renamed Queen Mary’s Tower and her hapless footsteps trod ‘The Queen’s Walk’ to the great gatehouse . Later the castle was a focal point for Bonnie Prince Charlie’s ill-fated Jacobite Rising (the legendary ‘licking stones’ are still to be seen).
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Dover Castle, Kent
Excommunicated by the Pope and facing unfriendly France and Spain, Henry VIII was alarmed enough about the strategic Channel crossing to commission a great chain of coastal artillery forts. The existing fortress of Dover Castle was strengthened by Henry in the face of foreign threat. The king’s inspection visit in 1539 is vividly brought to life in the castle exhibition.
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Eltham Palace, London
Eltham Palace is a masterpiece of 1930s Art Deco opulence. The former Courtauld family home nestles next to the remains of medieval Eltham Palace, childhood home of Henry VIII. The hammerbeams of the 15th-century Great Hall rang with Christmas festivities and inspired other Tudor palaces such as Hampton Court. Henry used the park (now beautiful gardens combining medieval and modern elements) for hunting.
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Framlingham Castle, Suffolk
Mary Tudor had been given the stronghold of Framlingham by her half-brother Edward VI. Here, she mustered her supporters whilst awaiting news of her accession to the throne in 1553. Her colours flew from the crenellated gateway; her followers camped within the massive walls and round splendid Framlingham Mere, and anxious days passed as power hung in the balance.
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Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire
Leicester’s Gatehouse (part of a huge castle complex) is what remains of the buildings constructed by Robert Dudley, Elizabeth’s favourite, to entertain his Queen in true style. Here, in the lavishly restored chambers is an exhibition detailing the relationship between the Queen and her Master of Horse; on show is a copy of Dudley’s last adoring letter, which Elizabeth kept with her until her death.
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Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire
Still splendid, although a romantic ruin now, Kirby Hall was largely the work of Sir Christopher Hatton, one of Elizabeth’s ‘comely young men’, and later her Lord Chancellor. He hoped in vain that she would visit his ornate palace, the walls of which testify to his vast wealth and ambition. The partly restored great gardens were laid out 100 years later.
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Pendennis Castle, near Falmouth, Cornwall
With its sister castle, St Mawes, Tudor Pendennis has stood guard over the Fal estuary since the threat of war with France and Spain. Built by Henry VIII, his daughter, Elizabeth, had an extra encircling wall and bastions added in preparation for the anticipated Spanish invasion. The invasion never came and it was the Civil War that witnessed the castle’s most warlike moments.
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Tilbury Fort, Essex
1588 - the threat to the kingdom had never been greater. The Spanish Armada was near and inspired one of history’s greatest motivational speeches. Tilbury was the scene of Elizabeth’s famous stirring words: she was a Queen with ‘the heart of a king’. The site guarded London’s seaward approach for another 400 years; today’s fort dates from Charles II’s reign.
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