Berkeley Castle

We went to Berkeley Castle today. Amazing history...

Still owned by the same family, 800 years and twenty-four generations later.

Henry II was murdered here.

The king`s fool was a dwarf whose party trick was to roll himself in a ball and let the guests throw him to each other. That was a barrel of laughs until some tiddly knight chucked him over the top of the minstrel gallery and the little fella died.

Oliver Cromwell broke in during the Civil War. He allowed Berkeley to keep his castle if he agreed never to repair the damage to the wall thereby relinquishing its status as a fortified castle. They still have a big gap in the fortifications today. If they ever repair it the castle would have to be forfeited to the crown.

The twenty-eight foot deep dungeon used to have dead animals and petty criminals thrown down it. Nice.

Big Billy Berkely built the famous London square.

And another jolly Berkeley nipped over to America and gave his name to the California university.

Oh, and there`s a butterfly farm but all my photos were total rubbish!

Well worth a visit.


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