[know your stately homes] part three of new series

1. In Nottinghamshire; this is one of the first castles built by William the Conqueror just after the battle of Hastings. The Castle was destroyed during the Civil War, but rebuilt soon after that as a Palace by the Duke of Newcastle. The Ducal Palace was gutted during the Reform Riots in 1831 by a large crowd who mashed or looted everything and finally set the Palace ablaze. The Castle remained as a blackened shell for almost 50 years until it was bought by Nottingham City and restored as the first Provincial Museum of fine Art which was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1878. The Castle is today still a museum of art and history.

2. In Edinburgh, this place stands on the site of a monastery that was founded in 1128. In 1501 James IV cleared the ground close to the Abbey and built a Palace for himself and his bride, Margaret Tudor (sister of Henry VIII). Mary, Queen of Scots spent most of her turbulent life in the Palace - a dramatic and often tragic chapter in the history of the building. She married two of her husbands in the Abbey. Her private secretary David Rizzio was murdered in her personal rooms by a group led by her husband Lord Darnley, who believed she was having an affair with Rizzio. It is now the official residence of Queen Elizabeth II when she is in Scotland, and she is usually in residence for a few weeks in May and July each year. The rest of the year parts of it are usually open to visitors.

3. In Mid Wales, this one was originally built c.1200 by Welsh princes and was subsequently adapted and embellished since 1587 by generations of Herberts and Clives, who furnished the red sandstone castle with a wealth of fine paintings and furniture. It has been lived in almost continuously for over 700 years. The famous hanging terraces are the greatest surviving example of the Baroque garden in Britain, overhung with enormous clipped yews, shelters original lead statues as well as rare and tender plants. The castle and garden has been in the care of the National Trust since 1952, but the present Earl still lives in part of the building .

4. In Yorkshire stands this castle on a massive rock that rises sheer-sided, high above the North Sea. The site has been inhabited and fortified for nearly 3000 years. The Romans built a fortified signal station here, and the great castle was built here between 12th and 14th centuries. However, the castle was abandoned in the early 17th century but was reoccupied later to be a permanently garrisoned fortification. It was in 1914 shelled and badly damaged by German warships and has been gradually falling down the cliff into the sea ever since.

5. At Wick, Caithness, Scotland, the ruins of two castles stand next to each other: one the ancient seat of the Earls of Caithness, finished in 1495 on the site of an earlier Viking keep by William Sinclair, the 2nd Earl. In 1609, the 4th Earl extended the site by building a more luxurious castle adjoining. These two castles were separated by a rock cut ravine spanned by a collapsible wooden bridge. During the war between the Campbells of Glenorchy and the Sinclairs starting 1680 the castles were attacked with cannon, becoming uninhabitable as a result of the shelling. The Sinclairs moved their main seat to the Castle of Mey. In paintings from the 18th century, it is clear the main reason for the collapse of the Castles was due to a lack maintenance and the powerful winter storms.

Answers

Nottingham Castle, Holyrood, Powis Castle, Scarborough Castle, Castle Sinclair Girnigoe