posted 12-08-1999 12:37 PM           

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'Give me the groves that lofty brave,
The storms, by Castle Gordon'.
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posted 12-08-1999 05:58 PM           

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Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics live in them, Psychiatrists charge the rent, art therapists do the interior design and nurses clean out the garderobes!
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posted 12-25-1999 05:35 AM           

This little known but spectacularly sited stronghold was built c. 1170 by Bertram de Verdon. He died while on crusade with Richard I in the Holy Land in the 1190s. According to at least one account the castle was in a neglected state at the time of Theobald de Verdon’s death in 1316, after which it passed by marriage to the Furnivals. The surviving remains include work likely to be of c. 1300 and another account suggests that Theobald rebuilt the castle and perhaps improved its domestic buildings. In 1406 John Talbot obtained Alton on his marriage to the heiress Maud Furnival. He probably put the buildings into a habitable state for occasional use, although he spent much of his time in France, being created Earl of Shrewsbury in 1442 for his services there on behalf of the English Crown. George, 6th Earl was husband of the celebrated Bess of Hardwick, and for a while had custody of the captive Mary, Queen of Scots. Alton Castle was held for King Charles in the Civil War and was later rendered untenable by order of Parliament. In 1787 Charles Talbot, 15th Earl of Shrewsbury began to develop an outlying lodge and its grounds on the other side of the Churnet. His successors continued the work in the 19th century to create the large mansion, now ruined, called Alton Towers. In 1847 the Talbots commissioned Pugin to build a romantic mock castle visible from Alton Towers on the site of the former domestic buildings of the original castle. Seven years earlier Pugin had masterminded the construction of a catholic college on the other side of the moat, and the two form a remarkable group to the north of the church.
The castle lies high above the south side of the ravine of the Churnet. Pugin’s building forms a roughly T-shaped plan and stands at the east end of an elliptical court nearly 90m long by 40m wide. A sheer rock face lies below the north side and a steep fall to the west. On the east and south is a sheer sided rock-cut ditch which is 1 8m wide by 8m deep where a modern bridge crosses it roughly midway along its length. On such a rocky site unsuited to the creation of earthworks the defences must have been of stone from the start, utilising material quarried out of the ditch. The lower parts of a curtain wall about 2m thick remain around the western half of the courtyard. Towards the west end of the south side is the base of a 13th century round tower and further east is an ashlar faced late 12th century rectangular tower about 7.4m wide above a plinth. The upper part of the tower has chamfered off corners and a crossloop and is likely to be of c. 1300. The prominent relieving arch in the outer face of the tower seems too low to be a blocked gateway and it must be assumed that the entrance lay further east, where the modern bridge gives access to the site.

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posted 12-26-1999 05:08 AM            

There is also Belvoir Castle, Rutland (pronounced Beever). This castle features jousts and medaeval banquets. http://www.country-focus.co.uk/belvoir/castle/

Levan

posted 01-01-2000 09:47 AM           

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HEADLINE Thumbs down for giant theme park

People who would have been living in the shadow of a planned gigantic theme park in south east Wales are celebrating after the scheme was turned down by council planners.

Following a full day of discussion in two meetings, Newport councillors rejected plans to build the Disney-style theme park.

Backers of the Legend Court theme park claimed the site would have rivalled Disneyland in Paris and attracted three million people every year as well as creating 4,000 jobs.

But people living near the site of the planned park at Magor, outside Newport said it would have been an environmental disaster.

The site would have been built around an historic castle Campaigner Ian Sanderman said: "We would have lost a lot of good quality landscape.

"One of Wales's historic castles would have lost its historic setting. There are sites of special scientific interest, a national nature reserve.

"It was a nice area, it still is and lets hope it stays that way.

Both the Welsh Development Agency and the Wales Tourist Board had given Legend Court their support saying it would have brought huge benefits to the region and Wales as a whole.

The £625m theme park - billed as the largest in Europe - also had the backing of American money and the plan included developing a film studio.

Members were concerned the giant theme park would fail to attract the three million visitors needed every year to make it a viable development.

There were also doubts whether the project could attract the 4,000 jobs that the consortium claimed would be created.

The biggest concerns were that it would damage the environment and blight the lives of people who live near the site.

"I think in the end nobody actually believed they could develop the site and deliver what they promised," added Mr Sanderson, who was involved in a 21-month campaign against the site.

"In the end a very sensible decision was reached.

"We're very relieved it's all over."

Backers of the Legend Court theme park scheme have declined to comment.
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Apparently there are sites in southern England which may be now approached with similer proposals.

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Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics live in them, Psychiatrists charge the rent, art therapists do the interior design and nurses clean out the garderobes!
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