Carisbrooke Castle  Isle of Wight

Our campsite on the bowling green at Carisbrooke Castle and a window view.

 

 

From time immemorial, whosoever controlled Carisbrooke controlled the Isle of Wight. The castle sits at the heart of the island, and has been a feature since its foundation as a Saxon camp during the 8th century. 

 Its compact buildings demonstrate every phase of construction from the Saxon era to the present. Remnants of the Saxon wall run below the Norman keep, high on its artificial mound. Enlarged by the Redvers family, who ruled the island until 1293, Carisbrooke was bought by Edward I on the death of Countess Isabella, whose individual taste is seen in the beautiful chapel she built. 

 The castle was refortified in the late 16th century by its Governor, Sir George Carey, against continued threats of invasion by Catholic Spain. Although it saw no action in the English Civil War, Carisbrooke was prison to King Charles I in 1647-48. He twice tried escaping before he was taken to London to be tried. His story is commemorated in the castle's museum. Lesser prisoners were made to tread the waterwheel, drawing water up the well's 49-metre (161-feet) depth until donkeys - still there today - were introduced in the 17th century.