Back to Tutbury Castle

When I tried to visit on Bank Holiday Monday I found there was a Fairytale and Princess event at Tutbury Castle. I vowed I'd return.

Getting there as soon as they opened, I had the wonderful site all to myself for the first half hour. I wandered around, enjoying the atmosphere, watching the butterflies, and reading the helpful signs around the (relatively few) parts that remain.

It's a wonderful, strategic site. It was owned by some of the wealthiest families of Britain. John of Gaunt held a two week festival every year at the end of August and that was really the most prestigious event. Anyone who was anyone HAD to get there.

The castle was besieged several times but was never conquered. It was "destroyed" several times but that was politics rather than defeat.

Mary Queen of Scots was here on four separate occasions before being finally implicated in the plot which led to her execution a Fotheringay.

The foundations of the chapel were excavated in 1960, and there are other aspects to be uncovered, but they don't have funds. Hence the weddings and princessy events.... but it's worth a visit.

My extras show a painting of what the castle looked like in 1600, and what remains now, with the chapel foundations in front.

EDIT : I changed the photo. No longer the gatehouse but a shot of the main ruins.