10 Days in England; DAY 6

On day 6 we took the bus to Skipton to visit one of the most well kept medieval castles in all of England, appropriately called Skipton Castle. It is said to be over 900 years old!




I want to show you the 300 year old Yew tree, placed in the center of the castle. You could see the roots growing under the cobble, it looked really neat!







An old fashioned kitchen, where a giant cauldron would have been placed and breads could be baked in the little windows of the fireplace. This particular fireplace was once equipped with a weight driven spit for turning meats.


It's a pretty cool castle being that they have all kinds of interesting information.. for instance take a look at this photo.Yes, it is called the "long drop", once to have been called "privies". They were placed specifically over a stream. Later they added a flush system using water from the roof tops. Moss was the typical toilet paper... told you interesting stuff here! My brother was kind enough to demonstrate what this is used for, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take his picture! You can see why I love him so much!









The Banqueting Hall! Seriously this is HUGE! It took 2 pictures from left to right to get all of it.. and still missing the nice "solar" window seat. This would have been where the Lord and Lady Clifford would have had a little party!



The view from the lady's drawing room. A typical place for the women of the court to escape from the male ego's. They usually used the light from the large windows for needlework. (this is my take.. not necessarily the historical truth)







There are many, many more rooms but to narrow it down to the most interesting I have only selected a few.. next is the Dungeon! It is much darker once inside, I lightened the picture so it would be clear to see the size of it.. notice there aren't any "toilets" or places to sit.. just dark, cold stone! Would have been dreadful!