Seagulls fought savagely over abandoned chips and the world went on despite the terrible Australian loss of the Ashes. .danish-rwd-top { display:inline-block; width: 25px; height: 25px; } Caernarfon Castle With the warm weather happily continuing, Lyndsay and I ventured out to the charming city of Caernarfon. This is even more impressive when you realize Castle Grayskull’s primary defenses consist almost entirely of a woman who can turn into a bird and a weightlifter with a great tan. It was a lovely festive atmosphere. The construction of these ring castles must have required careful planning and considerable engineering skills. Is it the walls? Change ). That’s because the castle itself is enormous — it’s three full miles to get from the North wall to the South wall, so unless you have several hundred thousand troops, it’s practically impossible to take control of the entire place, let alone hold it. If you remember anything about the old He-Man cartoon, chances are you remember how the evil Skeletor spent all his time trying to get into Castle Grayskull to get hold of the incredibly vague powers it supposedly held. There are seven such fortresses known, however there are most certainly more to be found: Most of our knowledge of these types of fortress comes from Trelleborg in Slagelse, and Fyrkat by Hobro. Wales is dotted with spectacular castles, but perhaps some of the finest were built in the late 1200s by the English monarch, King Edward I, as he battled the Welsh for dominion of these wild lands. The smell of fish and chips dominated the air and the harbourside pub was chock full of suitably sunburned patrons. Other defenses? The coronations take place at Caernarfon Castle, with the most recent being that of an 18-year old Prince Charles. It takes massive teams of superheroes to get inside Doom castle, and half the time they get there they realize Doom allowed them in on purpose for his own mysterious reasons. Minas Tirith has seven levels, each one surrounded by a massive wall, and each one situated 100 meters higher than the one before it, practically forcing invaders to conquer it seven distinct times. Besides hangers full of TIE Bombers, a huge squad of AT-Sts, and a garrison which included elite soldiers like Rocket Troopers, it was surrounded by ravines making a ground assault difficult, even if the ravines hadn’t been equipped with defenses on their own. With intermittent periods of peace and various segments of Wales swaying between English and Welsh rule, it all gets a bit complex. It’s your pretty standard massive, Gothic, 16th-century castle; what makes it so difficult to attack is mainly Doom himself. Plus castles are really fun. With all known Trelleborgs geometrical symmetry was very important in the construction. Both of these Trelleborgs have been the subject of extensive excavations. It wasn’t long before another Welsh uprising against the English, resulting in reclamation of the lands taken by King Henry. Given that a descendant of the Belmont clan is able to enter Dracula’s castle once every few years — or at least every time the castle shows up — you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s easy to infiltrate the vampire’s stronghold. Excavations at Fyrkat have shown that certain buildings were used for habitation, while others were used as workshops for both blacksmith and jeweller (goldsmith). It’s so inhospitable outside the castle that most of the people who live there never even bother looking outside. At Caernarfon, only remnants remain, while at Conwy it is possible to climb the walls and walk the battlements for about half the length of the original structure. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Nowadays it’s quite effective at keeping out the cows. A walk along the waterfront and docks in the sunshine with the castle ever-present in the skyline was simply stunning. It was begun in 1875 by the Aberconway family and developed by this same family over the next 130 odd years before being given to the National Trust in 1949. All we can tell you is this — no one is pregnating these nine fictional castles any time soon. Even if they managed to get through these, the soldiers up top could take their time dropping rocks on their would-be invaders until they gave up or died. In the books, the lowest wall is built of black stone which was basically earthquake-proof. On the way back, a friendly hello to a couple lounging by their campervan turned into a 30 min chat that we were hard-pressed to extricate ourselves from. They were a lovely pair of retirees from Liverpool who felt obliged to inform us of their favourite places in Wales. Historians and archaeologists once assumed that these fortresses were purely military installations. What Howl’s castle lacks in defenses it more than makes up for in mobility. These fortresses were places where collected taxes could be kept, and also bases to control the local populations. Brett Giehl (March 4, 1986) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to Ring of Honor as Dalton Castle. It is now assumed that these types of facilities were used as centers for the royal administration. The Return of the King movie is basically one long documentary about how goddamn hard it is to conquer it. As a child, Giehl loved professional wrestler "Macho Man" Randy Savage, with other favorites including Curt Hennig, Davey Boy Smith, and Frank Gotch. ( Log Out /  Trelleborg - Viking Ring Fortresses - (Viking Castles) Trelleborg is the word for a Vikings Ring Fortress or a Viking Castle. Ale? A list of castles in the world of Game of Thrones. Exploring a handful of them provided a unique insight into the history of this beautiful country. Its inhabitants? Admittedly, they’re not too bright, but then Maleficent herself is an immensely powerful sorceress who can turn into a gigantic dragon, so again, best to just stay home. Not only that, it formed a sort of palace where the King could retire in safety and comfort to oversee the war. Like at Caernarfon, the local population seemed to have developed an aversion to suitable outerwear and children ran amok with ice creams and sandcastle pails along the harbour. Women and children were buried just outside of the ramparts.Tree ring dating of the timber used to build the houses from Trelleborg (near Slagesle) shows that the houses here were built of wood harvested around 980 AD. At this stage, Daffyd again betrayed his brother and switched sides to aid the English. Both facilities are very similar in their layout. The YHA up on the hill (although devastating to drag one’s bag to) was perched in the perfect vantage point for tranquil views over the mountains and harbour. The castles still remain and form a powerful legacy that is testament to both the English and Welsh forces. In 1284 the Statute of Rhuddlan came into effect which imposed English law over the Welsh and crushed the revolt. And it’s not like it’s particularly easy to get inside — the city-sized castle is surrounded by wastelands, marshes, quicksand, various bodies of water and plains of endless rock. Outer and inner walls of Beaumaris Castle.