castles Archives - Page 10 of 11 - Ed O'Keeffe Photography

27 March 20071 June 2017

Barnard Castle, County Durham

Before visiting the Bowes Museum last Saturday I went to Barnard Castle. I explored the town of around Castle, taking photographs of the castle itself, from the main road by the River Tees (see above). I decided it would be interesting to go into the castle, which cost me about £3. It is massive and quite high up from the river, disappointingly the grounds are 80% grass and only about 10% of the original castle founded by the Normans remains intact. The castle is now in the care of the English Heritage, a lovely garden has been built which nice benches and flower beds. I think that charging about £3 each for an adult to gain entry to this castle is a little pricey unless you have a specific interest. Whilst walking around though I did think it would be a fun place for young children to explore and there is areas for families to have picnics. So given a nice summers day, I think it would be a good day out but it wasn’t really my kind of castle to be honest.

26 January 20072 June 2017

Belvedere Castle, Central Park, New York

Another photograph taken in New York City, this time in the wonderful Central Park. Walking through Central Park you come across lots of different and unexpected sights. Pictured above is Belvedere Castle which sits upon Vista Rock. It was originally built to look over the reservoir in 1869. The reservoir has now been replaced by the 55-acre Great Lawn, and a new reservoir was built further north of this lawn. It amazes me that on this relatively small island of Manhattan with such a large population density there is a park the size of Central Park. It amazes me even more that there is a castle within the park! I like the way this photograph contrasts between the old castle and the modern skyscrapers in the background. The image is a nice record of the castle but technically speaking it was the wrong time of day to have taken this photograph. As the sun was in the wrong place in the sky – resulting in the face of the building being cast into shadow. But this couldn’t be helped as I was on a College trip and it was a very tight schedule.

1 August 20062 June 2017

Ashford Caslte, Cong, Mayo, Republic of Ireland

This evening we took the drive south to the village of Cong in County Mayo. Cong is the home of Ashford Castle, one of Ireland’s finest hotels, converted from a 13th century castle. It was built by Anglo-Norman de Bugos family after their defeat of the O’Connors of Connaught. As you can see from the photograph below this hotel is in a stunning location on the shore of Lough Corrib.

18 July 20063 June 2017

Hailes Castle – Scotland

A local man suggested that we visit the small Hailes Castle. It was at least 2 miles down a very narrow lane but the castle was in a great location, just by the river. It was small and very much a ruin. Still with such amazingly hot and sunny weather it was a great little find.