We went for over an hour drive today, past Birmingham, to see the Kenilworth Castle. In addition to the hitory below, we learned the castle was not built with a moat, but an actual lake that surrounded it, adding richly to it’s defenses.

Kenilworth Castle is located in the town of Kenilworth in Warwickshire, England. Constructed from Norman through to Tudor times, the castle has been described by the architectural historian Anthony Emery as “the finest surviving example of a semi-royal palace of the later middle ages, significant for its scale, form and quality of workmanship”.[1] Kenilworth has also played an important historical role. The castle was the subject of the six-month-long Siege of Kenilworth in 1266, thought to be the longest siege in Medieval English history, and formed a base for Lancastrian operations in the Wars of the Roses. Kenilworth was also the scene of the removal of Edward II from the English throne, the French insult to Henry V in 1414 (said by John Strecche to have encouraged the Agincourt campaign), and the Earl of Leicester’s lavish reception of Elizabeth I in 1575.

We drove back and had a wonderful time on the back patio, with sun, snacks and playing with the dogs.