Warwick Things to Do

4 more images

One of the great examples of English Medieval ecclesiastical architecture, the Beauchamp (pronounced Beecham) Chapel was built following the death, in 1439, of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick.

It took 20 years to complete, but it is a Gothic masterpiece with the tomb of Richard, raised on a pedestal, firmly in the centre. Beside his tomb is that of Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick (2nd creation of title), but, set into the north wall is the grandest of them all - the tomb of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and his wife Lettice. Leicester was a great favourite (lover?) of Queen Elizabeth. It is an indication of the importance of the chapel and Warwick as a town that he was buried here.

4 more images

The church sits proudly on a hill just to the east of the market place, and, coming into the town from Birmingham on the train, the church tower can be seen sometime before the train pulls into the station. It's bigger than many English cathedrals.

The church was founded by the 2nd Earl of Warwick in 1123, but the crypt is the only surviving structure from this period. St Mary's was rebuilt in the 14th century, but was devastated by the 1694 fire that destroyed so much of Warwick, with the tower and nave being completely destroyed. But it took just 10 years to rebuild, and the current structure opened in 1704. Unusually for its time, the design of the building (with the exception of the balustrades) is pure Gothic.

It's a stunning church, with the highlight being the medieval Beauchamp Chapel (pronounced Beecham), housing the tombs of previous Earls of Warwick and which survived the fire. It is described as one of the masterpieces of medieval church art. (See separate tip). You can also ascend the tower (no lift and 300 steps), wander through the graveyard as well as admire the stained glass windows of the main nave.

Warwick Castle always played an important part in English history. The first timber castle was built on this site by the Normans in 1068. By the late 13th century the castle was already a major English seat of power. The Castle's history is much too turbulent to recount here. It changed hands many times, granted by the Crown to the successive Earls of Warwick, who were some of the most influential men in the Kingdom. Its last owners, the Greville family, contributed a lot to the castle's splendour, adding the State Apartments and the Chapel.
For centuries the castle was the centre of social life for the aristocracy and the Royals. In 1898 the Countess of Warwick invited a number of celebrities, including the then Prince of Wales, later Edward VII and young Winston Churchill, to a weekend party, which we can now see re-created, wax figures and all, in the State Apartments.
The place now belongs to the Tussauds Group, who have restored many of its areas. You can walk on the ramparts, climb the towers, explore the dungeon and the armoury, see preparations for battle in 1471, visit the Ghost Tower believed to be haunted by the ghost of Sir Ffulke Greville. You can enjoy yourself there whether you are an adult or a child. Many of the wax figures, not just of celebrities but of the maids, the blacksmith, the carpenters, the nanny look so convincing that I spoke to one of them and then, just in case, asked an immobile kitchen maid if she was real. She was.
It's a great history lesson for everybody. On my way out I was approached by a boy of about 8, who asked me about Warwick the Kingmaker. I was glad to have the guidebook to answer him.
You will need a whole day if not more to see all the attractions. Not to miss any, get a guidebook or use the audio tour (3.50 GBP) but the book costs not much more (3.95 GBP) and can be taken home as a souvenir.

Opening times: April - September 10 am.- 6 pm., October - March 10 am. - 5 pm.
Admission: Adult - 17.95 GBP; Senior - 12.95 GBP; Child - 10.95 GBP; Student - 15.95 GBP; Disabled/Carer - 9 GBP;Child under 4 - free.
You can save some pounds if you book the tickets online but remember that a fee of 1.50 GBP per ticket applies to all bookings made online or on the phone.
For information on admission to Warwick Ghosts-Alive see their web page.

I often thought about Mill St. when I was at school. This is a handsome Jacobean street built of solid, stone terraced houses. The first generation of houses built after the Great Fire of London in 1666 counselled the end of wood timbered dwellings, which were commonplace during the long medieval centuries.
Actually, the photo I've included is of a timbered and wattle and daub construction, but take my word for it, there are fine 17th century stone houses further up the street!

4 more images

A lovely private garden with the Avon flowing past and tight under the massive medieval ramparts of Warwick Castle.
Free entry, but donations encouraged to the point that the gardener will literally empty your pockets for you! But it is worth it, it's a lovely place.

The final event of our afternoon was the parade to the trebuchet and the launching of the trebuchet, a fancy French word meaning catapult. The audience interaction and singing preceding the parade was quite a hoot but the trebuchet presentation was a bit of a letdown, especially since we had seen one closer up at the Tower of London, it was smaller but at least we could see it. Here, they put you on the bank of the River and watch from a far distance, presumably because of greedy lawyers and liability issues. Still it was interesting to see how this much larger one was powered by manual labor, men walking like gerbils on a Habitrail wheel, rather than by pulling ropes and having the weapon launch when they pulled down. The launch itself was a bit of a letdown too, the ammunition was supposed to be a Greek fire ball but it was extinguished long before it hit the ground.

The trebuchet, essentially a giant catapult, is a siege machine, developed in the 13th century to attack castle walls. It was used to hurl projectiles to breach the castle walls, mainly rocks and stones but also extremely vile objects such as beehives, manure, and putrid rotting animal or human carcasses used to spread disease and the plague, most frequently pigs as they were thought to be more aerodynamic. The most lethal projectile was "Greek fire", a petroleum, sulfur and pitch projectile lit on fire, upon impact the projectile would shatter and the goo would stick to where it landed, the fire could not be extinguished with water.

The trebuchet at Warwick Castle, presumably a reproduction, is said to be the world's largest at 18 metres high (59 feet) and 22 tonnes.

1 more image

Still there in August 2008 but the performance changed

On our August 2008 visit, the Warwick Bowman was the 1st entertainer that we ran into on the East Front, he is there most of the year, not just during the Mediaeval Festival. I think it's the same guy who played the red knight in our visit 4 years ago, good to know that there's some job security for aging knights! The bowman is extremely entertaining, quite funny and perhaps even a little educational as he talked of the conditions of war in the age of the bowmen and made us all hate the French, we all exclaimed "ooh la la" as the Frenchmen were dying at the hands of the superior English warriors.

We saw a different Warwick Bowman on our 1st visit to Warwick Castle in 2004, he did an archery demonstration and a talk about the role of the bowmen and then gathered us around a stage and told the story of the Battle of Agincourt and the role that the bowmen played in it. He conjured up an image of an outnumbered band of naked English archers (naked because they were suffering from dysentery so get your mind out of the gutter), on a field of mud shooting arrows at French soldiers who piled up on one another, trapped in the mud and unable to escape. It really does leave quite a picture in your mind, doesn't it?

I think they removed this exhibit, we did not see it in 2008

Death or Glory is the castle's armoury where we actually spent a good chunk of time watching the video about the history of the castle (and resting our feet since there are a few benches in here), checking out the armor and trying on very stylish hats.