Sites and Stones: Portchester Castle, Hampshire

Thursday, 21 May 2009

Portchester Castle, Hampshire

(Click photos to enlarge).

Portchester Castle, which sits overlooking the eastern end of Portsmouth Harbour, is a medieval castle, palace and former Roman fort.

It all seems so much bigger once you get inside the inner walls of the main castle.

Pictured below is one of the castle's current residents.

St Mary's Church (below), dating back to Norman times, sits in the south east corner of the complex within the outer castle walls.

Here is another photo looking down at the ruins from on top of the keep, which is a whole lot higher than it first appears to be!

Proof that graffitti is no modern phenomenon.

All in all, this is a very nicely kept site and is well worth the admission fee. Like Doctor Who's TARDIS, it's a lot bigger on the inside than you may at first think. Personally, I didn't care for the audio tour (which is included as part of your admission fee), finding the actors doing silly voices extremely tedious, and I also prefer to make my own way around at my own pace and not have the tour dictated by a piece of technology. However, it may appeal to you, especially if you want a potted history. The other alternative is to read up about the history separately.