Enjoy these. For the first time ever we now have the complete keep stripped out and it's BIG!
No more prison buildings, no more Tudor torture chambers, just lots and lots of wide open space.
Just a few more pieces of Boardman's floor to be removed and we can begin reconstruction.
Once the Great Hall is complete you'll be able to walk in through the main arched doors from the Bigod Tower (top right) and not fall to your death. Groovy!
Innovative wiring solutions!
Boardman's roof-supporting stone columns and arches sit on top of the remains of the original spine wall, destroyed by Soane to make way for his prison cell blocks.
It's a fantastic space to just stand and gawp.
Unfortunately it will never be seen like this again (at least for many more centuries) so make the most of it. I just wish you could stand there and breathe it all in with me.
Next time: Tudor torture victims' graffiti uncovered at last!
7 comments:
Wowza! I'm a sucker for wide open spaces and soaring ceilings (maybe because I'm tall?) and these views of the keep are spectacular! Lucky you being able to stand there are take it all in. Thanks for sharing these photos with us!
I'm glad you saw it for real before we started work. When it's all finished you can enjoy a mediæval cosplay banquet in the Great Hall while being serenaded by minstrels from the gallery.
King Henry and Queen Adeliza's thrones will be raised up on a dais so you can pop a crown on your head and order people about.
Cosplay? Oh dear god. Won't we get to enjoy the space and let our own imaginations fill in the blanks? Will it be like the Mme. Tussaud's figures at Warwick Castle? I want to see the castle, not Disneyland.
P.S. They should keep the Tudor torture chambers!
Yikes, Petrea! Mercifully, there'll be none of that nonsense. The banquets will be in the evenings on special occasions. During the day the keep will be cosplay free except for the usual box of crowns and gowns for the kiddies to dress up in and sit on the thrones.
And the torture chamber and its delightful implements will be restored to the dungeons. I did suggest that the museum could generate another income stream by renting the space to the BDSM community but they voted it down. Hey ho.
WOW! I hope one day we'll get a chance to visit the finished site! By the by, I think your suggestion for additional rental income was hilarious! xoxo
Those museum folk can be disappointingly stuffy sometimes, Savannah. Mind you, the kiddies' trail features a coco-de-mer labelled "Bum Nut" and a real human skeleton sitting in an armchair reading a copy of Darwin's Origins of the Species so they're not without a sense of humour. xoxo
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