Historic Churches, Ruins, Castles

If ever a place could be described as having a chequered history, then the abbey in the North York Moors is it: founded by Saxons, destroyed by Vikings, rebuilt by Normans, dismantled by Tudors and bombarded by Germans. Dunnottar Castle was easily a favourite ruin. Situated on the coast of Aberdeenshire, this fortress sits atop a craggy crown of headland connected to the Scottish mainland by a small causeway. The castle has been abandoned since the early 18th century, after the 10th Earl Marischal, George Keith, had his lands seized by the government for his part in the first Jacobite rising. This collection of windblown buildings have been open for the public to explore since the early 20th century. From the Cornish clifftop path, the once fortified island reveals itself in all its natural grandeur. It has been well established that a 5th- or 6th-century monastery and trading post stood here, and relics of Mediterranean oil and wine jars have been found. The Arthurian connection is largely due to Geoffrey of Monmouth’s 12th-century manuscript, which makes Tintagel the place of Arthur’s conception, and a century later Prince Richard – the Earl of Cornwall responsible for building Launceston Castle’s stone walls – used the myth to reinforce his own magisterial status in Cornwall. East of the Dorset town, in the grounds of the new Sherborne Castle, and is all that remains of the original, which was destroyed by Cromwell’s troops during the Civil War. It reportedly took 16 days for Cromwell’s men to bring the castle down in 1645; only the imposing gatehouse, parts of the keep and the outer walls survive, surrounded by a moat..