Another treasure that is round the corner from my house. It is an amazing place and has some amazing history!
It is 400 years old and made of sandstone.
Delves Broughton built this castle for his Son and his wife to live in. When they died it was unused for a hundred years or so but became and ammunition storage during the war. After the war died down it remained derelict for a few decades. Then in the 1990's someone hung themselves in there and the whole thing was fenced off with razor wire around the top. The scary thing is the rope is still hanging from the rail they hung them self from. Inside there is only 1 main room with a nice fire place with the date above it. There are also some upper walkways which you can't get to without some climbing gear. Then some stairs leading upstairs to a dead end. You can climb on to the roof but it is a bit of a mission! but the view is amazing. Under the castle is the basement which is a weird place with 4 statues of knights who were the greatest warriors in the 1600's (The castle was also a built as a sign of respect to them) The most interesting thing inside the castle and in the basement is the amount of graffiti, I'm not talking about spray paint or anything like that but people have carved their names in to the sandstone. I stood for hours reading them all. The earliest bit of graffiti I found was from 1956, it had the persons name address and date which had been written in pencil. The newest bit of graffiti was from 1990 amongst "Status Quo" and "The Who" scribed in to the walls of the basement. The castle has been derelict since and is a listed building. I love this place and hope it never goes.
The roof opening
I do not as yet have any pics inside but I will be going back soon. If anyone wants to go I am happy to take them.
Enjoy