The Spoils of Warwick

Day: 180

Towns / Cities Visited: 112

Countries Visited: 22

Steps Taken Today: 11,155

Steps Taken Around the World: 3,029,710

Our four night stay at our Airbnb in Banbury had come to an end, and although that doesn’t sound like a long stay in the grander scheme of things, its was the longest we were staying in one place during our entire six week stint in the UK. Bidding it adieu, we bundled into the car and headed to our day’s destination, and one which would wholly absorb our attention; Warwick Castle. The castle is, unsurprisingly, located in the town of Warwick, and has a long and fascinating history in which the land passed through many hands, so allow me to give you a short snippet. The first fortification in this land was built all the way back in 914 when Æthelflæd, the Lady of the Mecians and the daughter of Alfred the Great, King of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, had a burh built here to protect the area from the raiding Danish vikings. Later, in 1064, none other than William the Conquerer replaced the burh with his own wooden motte and bailey fort. This was eventually rebuilt in stone a couple of centuries later, and further reinforced in the 14th century during the War of the Roses. The castle remained a stronghold until the 17th century when King James I granted it to Sir Fulke Greville in 1604, a man who was both a poet and a politician. Greville transformed it into a country house for his family and descendants, who would later rise up the ranks of the…