Eastnor Castle

Eastnor Castle around 1880

Eastnor Castle is a castle from the 19th century in the village of Eastnor in the English county of Herefordshire , 3 km from the town of Ledbury removed. John Cocks had it built for himself as a country house. His descendants also lived there. The family of James Hervey-Bathurst , grandson of Arthur Somers-Cocks, currently resides there . English Heritage has listed Eastnor Castle as a Grade I Historic Building.

history

The property was established in the late 16th century when the Cocks family bought land in the area. Subsequent marriages to the families of the Barons Somers and Nash provided sufficient wealth to build the present imposing building, which looks like a medieval castle guarding the border to Wales .

The castle was built between 1812 and 1820 according to plans by Robert Smirke . AWN Pugin changed details inside, e.g. B. the design of the Gothic salon in 1849 and 1850 and George E. Fox made further changes in the 1860s. The castle is made of ashlar masonry and has a roof made of slate and lead , which is hidden behind a crenellated parapet. Cast iron was used for the eaves and ceiling beams. It cost £ 85,000 to build.

The castle was later criticized in the 19th century by British architect Charles Locke Eastlake , as follows:

It is a massive and gloomy-looking building, flanked by watch-towers, and enclosing a keep. To preserve the character at which it aimed, the windows were made exceedingly small and narrow. This must have resulted in much inconvenience within (...) The building in question might have made a tolerable fort before the invention of gunpowder, but as a residence it was a picturesque mistake. (Eng .: It is a massive, melancholy-looking building, flanked by watchtowers, including a donjon . In order to maintain the character it is aimed at, the windows are extremely small and narrow. This had to lead to a lot of inconvenience inside (...) The building in question could have been an acceptable fort before the invention of gunpowder, but as a residence it was a picturesque mistake. )

Todays use

Main entrance to Eastnor Castle 1992

There is a Land Rover test track on the property . Every year in June, the Land Rover World Event takes place at the castle , which offers visitors the opportunity to try out the latest models from the car manufacturer in the field.

Eastnor Castle has been used as the location for a number of films; Probably the best known is One More Time (1970) with Jerry Lewis and Sammy Davis, Jr. The BBC filmed some scenes there in 1976 for the TV movie The Prince and the Beggar Boy with Nicholas Lyndhurst there. In 1984 the band Slade and the BBC used the castle: Slade had her video for Run Runaway shot there, and the BBC shot the outside scenes of Abner Brown's theological college in the film based on the novel The Box of Delights . In 1986, a film based on Oscar Wilde's story The Canterville Ghost was also shot there.

In the summer of 2010, some tasks on a medieval theme of the first episode in the 17th season of the US reality competition TV series The Amazing Race were filmed in this castle. B. the first “pit stop” of the race.