Beeston Castle - Visiting this Historic Hillfort.
Beeston Castle is a forgotten gem of ancient British history perched high on a rare hill in the mostly flat plains of the Cheshire countryside.
I recently wrote about my visit to Chester, walking the Roman walls but on the second day visiting my relatives we decided to take a drive out to the countryside to visit the magnificent ruins of Beeston Castle.
Run by the English Heritage, Beeston is an ancient ruined hillfort located 20 minutes drive outside Chester. For the budget-minded backpacker, admission is a little steep at £10.00 if you book online/adult, as we turned up without pre-booking it was £11/adult without a map of the grounds.
But the receptionist kindly talked us through the map on the counter, pointing out the main path up to the summit and hill fort, as well as how to get to the reconstruction of an ancient Saxon roundhouse, and different walks around the parkland.
In regards to reaching Beeston, it is worth hiring a car if you want to make this trip, even for the budget-minded traveller. I checked, and the only other way is to take the number 42 bus from Chester (around £3), which will get you halfway there, and then get a Taxi the rest of the way which is about £15.
This isn't really a budget destination but for lovers of history, it is well worth the visit, and with the beautiful parkland surrounding the site a perfect place for a day trip and to take a picnic lunch as we did.
Beeston Castle is a true gem of ancient history.
The history of Beeston is fascinating, and very inspiring for me as I'm just starting work on my first fantasy novel.
Ranulf, Earl of Chester was charged with building Beeston Castle by King John as a loyal supporter of the king against the threat of rebellious barons.
After the death of King John in 1216 Ranulf proceeded to build the hillfort in 1220 after his return from the Crusades. Known in medieval times simply as 'the castle on the rock' the Earl continued to add to the already impressive natural defences at Beeston Castle with a cut moat.
The plateau that Beeston hillfort sits upon is straddled on three sides by sheer cliffs, meaning that there is only one possible approach up the hill, the one that we climbed to reach the fort.
Unfortunately, I didn't take any close-up pictures of the impressive gatehouse of the main hillfort, but it included a groove in the center just past the doors you can see in the split collage picture above, where a metal portcullis had obviously once been housed.
When I studied the area around the roof of the doorway there also seemed to be medium-sized holes opening up into a black space above, possibly where boiling oil or water was rained down upon trapped attacking soldiers.
There was also a further groove carved into the rock on either side of the gate about a meter further than where the portcullis groove was situated. This looked like another reinforced door/barrier had been utilized by sliding it into place, effectively trapping groups of soldiers between the portcullis and second barrier, creating a killing room.
And just to add that extra icing on this cake of death, two rooms on either side of the gatehouse (as can be seen in the picture above) had classic medieval slit windows where archers could fire with a reasonable range of angle at any soldiers struggling below. The defences really were brutal as they would have had arrows rained down upon them mercilessly.
The design of the gatehouse has close affinities with that built by Ranulf’s powerful Welsh neighbour, Llywelyn the Great, Prince of Gwynedd (c 1173–1240), at Criccieth (Gwynedd) and with Castle Roche, near Dundalk (Ireland).
Source
Although some might assume that Beeston was part of the defences against Llywelyn the Great of Wales, Ranulf the Earl of Chester had entered into a truce with the famous Welsh king before leaving for the crusades and this alliance lasted after he returned. Also, Beeston Castle lies to the east of Chester away from the border between Wales and England further indicating its true purpose.
Beeston castle, and its loyal Earl, were a defence against possible rebels and power struggles within the English court. The castle defended all the land about and served as a tactical stronghold for the Earl in defending his lands.
Beeston's Inspiring History
As I wandered around the hilltop and ruins of the fort I couldn't help but drink it in. It was a beautiful sunny day, but up there the wind whipped wildly across those ancient stones.
I felt the weight of history, but beyond that rather vague metaphor, it was more a feeling of the cold, hard life of the medieval world. Even for those in positions of power, this world just emerging from the dark ages was one of cold granite, steel, and battle.
In regards to the fantasy novel, I'm working on, the history is invaluable to know, but other details such as the smell, and feel of dank air, rising up from the well pictured below were what caught my attention.
I also tried to imagine the feeling of superiority that the Earl must have felt in a position of superior defence, and I carefully climbed one of the walls to reach the top of the tower to really drink this feeling in.
I was careful in picking my way up what seemed to be a path many cheeky children had taken before me to perch at the top of one of the ruined towers and take in just how far you could see from this vantage point. It gave me a real appreciation and some ideas of how to describe battle scenes in the novel I'm writing.
A Hobbit Home and a dash for the Train
As I had to catch a train back to Liverpool at 3 pm we made our way hastily down the hill to check out the reconstructed Saxon Bronze Age roundhouse the receptionist had mentioned.
Part of me wished I'd had more time to hang around this site and sit in the sun. I have been an avid fan of fantasy in general, which started with reading Tolkien's main works well before any movie franchises when Tolkien's writing was just starting to emerge from a cult following.
The roundhouse reminded me so much of something I could imagine from the village of Bree in Lord of the Rings, or perhaps even Hobbiton. Unfortunately, the doors were locked so we couldn't explore the inside, but I have had the privilege of staying overnight in a similar roundhouse on a residential for the fantasy fiction module during my degree in creative writing at a place called Cae Mabon.
Cae Mabon takes its name from the Welsh word ‘Cae’, which literally means ‘field’. Mabon, is an ancient character from one of the Mabinogion stories meaning ‘the Great Son of the Great Mother’ which can be translated as ‘the Divine Youth’. So ‘Cae Mabon’ can mean the ‘Field of Divine Youth’.
Source
I will provide a small snippet of my memories of that experience to enhance the final parts of this blog.
A fire roared in the center of the roundhouse as smoke wound its way lazily through the small circular openings at the peak of the cone-like roof. All smelled of woodsmoke and we drank cider as we listened to a traditional storyteller tell a tale of the Mabinogion.
From memory, it was the tale of Math the Lord of Gwynedd who ended up being tricked into turning his nephews into beasts. There was much more to it than that but this was nearly twenty years ago, and my memory fails me. I do remember the storyteller weaving his words rhythmically like poetry, which is what I write most naturally. As he spoke he waved his hands among the trails of smoke that lingered in the atmosphere of that wattle and daub roundhouse in rhythm with his words.
It's experiences like this, and also the way I go about trying to get feelings from a place as I did at the top of the hillfort, echoes of the past, that really help colour fantasy fiction. It's these types of experiences I use to lend weight to my descriptions and narrative.
For some historical context, remains of Bronze Age roundhouses were found around the hill where Beeston Castle ruins now stand, and evidence of human habitation in this area and use of the hill as a tactical place of dwelling from around 1000 BC when the area was a hub for bronze metalworking, and most probably mining.
Artefacts, such as bronze axes, have been found at Beeston dating from those times, and archaeologists excavating the site during the 1980s discovered evidence of habitation on and around the hill going as far back as 1000 BC centred around a quarrying site, as well as the foundations of several real Bronze Age roundhouse of which this reconstruction is modelled upon.
As we reached the exit I was happy to see there was some entertainment for the kids... although it was mainly adults who gathered around to listen to this guide explain the different ways that soldiers used the shield and spear combo to attack from different distances.
Alas, we had to dash at this point as my train left in exactly 30 minutes and it was roughly an 18-20 minute drive directly to the station according to the satnav.
Many thanks for joining me on my trip to Beeston Castle.
If you liked this content, check out some more of my travel posts linked below.
A Tour of Historic Chester's Roman Walls
A Postcard from Liverpool - Cathedral Art and Wildflower Meadows
A Postcard from Liverpool - The Waterfront, City Sites, Zip Lines and Street Art
A Summer Postcard - Walking the River Dee
A Postcard from Liverpool - Speke Hall and River Views (Enhanced Smartphone Pics)
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Wow I love castles. This is an awesome one I have never heard of. One of these days I would love to go to the U.K.
If the world ever gets back to normal maybe I will go.
Thanks for your post.
!CTP
Yeah @alente if there is one thing we've got nailed in the UK, it's probably one of the best places in the world to see full-on still untouched medieval castles, even though this one was in a state of disrepair there are many that are still pretty much standing.
It's a fixer-upper but not bad. :)
😂 yes, that it is. I would expect it would take a few centuries to do up back to the original and authentic standard 🙂
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Thanks pinapple and @choogirl for the curation.
I have joined the discord now and will check out other travel posts in the community 🙂
I love reenactors. How do they get that job? History major? Actors? Relatives of the hiring clerk? 😅
It is a wonderful blog. One can get lost in those pictures.
Hi @agmoore
I suspect that most are actors who haven't got enough stage work, or possibly reenactors who do it for free for the love of history, and outside larger reenactments of battles etc.
I once considered joining a group of Viking reenactors after speaking for a long time with a dude at the Yorvik Viking Museum in York. I told him, and showed him this poem written from a Viking perspective
and his words, honestly:
"We haven't got a Skald to write fables of our battles." 😂
The guy took that stuff seriously, and he offered me a place as official Skald and I'd get to wear the armour, take stage battle training (which I've already done once before years ago in university), and take part in massive battle reenactments, then write poems to promote their group lol.
Anyway, I considered it as a bit of fun, but I would have had to travel to various sites in Yorkshire, and I don't and haven't owned a car for some time. Most places they met were inaccessible without a car, to be honest.
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It is a wonderful feeling when your writing/work is appreciated.
Thanks again, and for the honour of being featured on the front page of the website 🙂
Looks beautiful!!
It really was a lovely day and great trip out.
I'm so glad to follow you on your trip to Beeston Castle, although I read it very slowly.
Here I have a question. Since the information shows that King John was born in 1166 and died in 1216, how to understand the sentences:
It means that it is King John who appointed Earl of Chester to build Beeston Castle in the 1220's(1210-1216), but it was actually built in 1220 just after his death, ok？
Oh, I'm trying to learn the history of English with great interest via your writing and I enjoy your vivid description about the hillfort a lot. I have also learned a new word: portcullis which reminds me of the heavy iron gate of prison.
Another question is
What do Nobels mean？
Thanks for allowing me to join your journey again. It is such a huge bless for me to have such a wonderful guide. You have no idea how charming your words could be! It seems that England and its history is so close to me.
hi @kaixin
Yes, you have spotted a small error in my text as king John certainly would have commissioned Beeston Castle to be built before his death. The important factor is that the Earl Ranulf was always loyal to the crown, and Henry III who came after king John. During the following years (after King John's death) there was much civil war in England, and Ranulf remained loyal to the last, even when being offered the recency (kingship) by a group of barons and clerics, he refused. However, Ranulf was and remained one of, or even the most, powerful Earl and landowner amoung England's nobility in a time of strife and war. Do perhaps it was a clever decision, as when France invaded the French king courted various nobels tho join him. And although there was certainly danger in being a nobel (this word describes the various nobel land owning upper classes it's the time, Earls, Barons etc) if you were looked on as disloyal, at this time of civil war and afyer invasion from France it was maybe more dangerous to be the king 😂
Anyway, Ranulf remained loyal to the English crown throughout both those wars and he picked the winning side. By doing so he cleverly cemented his power, and that of his heirs, increasing his lands and stature as a nobel.
Thanks for pointing out these inaccuracies in my dates though as i will edit the post to remove them 👍
oh gosh these are beautiful! eheheh I was just thinking - i wish i could be here!
but i was!
cuz you brought me there with your post! ❤️
I'm glad you enjoyed the journey, even living vicariously through my post 🙂
It was a lovely sunny day that day, and the place was amazing and a great source of inspiration for me 😎
hehehe yes - and listening to your voice talk about it today on PYPT was so nice... you have a great accent! hehehe
Thank you, that is such a lovely compliment. I've written a lot about my home city on hive. I was quite tired today, I'm usually a little more animated on PYP Thursday show.
Anyway, my accent is from Liverpool (where I live) in the UK. Mine isn't as strong as some Scousers (the slang term for Liverpool folks) but still, anyone in the UK would recognize me as a scouser from my accent 🙂
Beeston Castle is in Cheshire which is near (about 2 hours drive) from Liverpool.
Nice to meet you too @dreemsteem
I'm sure we must have bumped into each other in the past. I took a year off from hive about 6 months after the Justin Sun steem/hive fork.
hehehe yes - i knew your accent - you sound a bit like Calumam! hahaha and i think he's from that area too hehehehehe some of the words you said sounded like him
but not exactly I guess ehehehe
and hmmm i'm not sure if we ever bumped into each other before - but i also took like a year off after Justin too hehehehe
came back last january i think hehe
and nice to meet you too - and i didn't mind at all that you weren't more animated. hehehe it was nice. today was a very nice day for exactly the way you spoke :)
calm and peaceful. its a sunny day with a nice breeze happening right now.
that's how your voice was! hehehe very complementary to the day! hehehe
Ha ha, that's how I sound when I'm really tired as I was that day, but no matter. I know what you mean, when someone's voice is soothing. Thanks again for the compliment.
Calumam sounds like an Irish name, and there is a massive connection between the Irish and Liverpool. People in Dublin for example, call Liverpool the second capital of Ireland 😂
The reason for this is that basically, a tone of Irish people came to Liverpool when it was the British Empire's main port to work (the only thing about my city I don't like is it's history in its part in the slave trade) and many settled to the point where it is hard to find a Scouser who doesn't have some Irish ancestry, myself even more so as my father (who I never knew) was full Irish from County Cork in southern Ireland. It's also for this reason that I think many people outside the UK find Liverpool's accent similar to the accents of some parts of Ireland, because our accent is heavily influenced by the massive amount of Irish people who lived and moved here in the 1800's.
Anyway, a bit of early morning history and sociolinguistics for ya 😂
It's early-ish morning here and I'm gearing up to write my Ecotrain QOTW as I had many ideas and inspirations about what to write last night while dreaming.