Kenilworth Castle

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On first look, Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, England, seems more like an abandoned ruin than an information-packed historical museum. Guests mill around the ruins, feel the stones, peer out between small tower windows, and stroll across the green hill into the gardens. There are not very many guides leading tours, at least during the winter, and those “telephone-like” self-guided tours squawking in visitors’ ears at so many public museums are nonexistent. Instead, Kenilworth Castle is allowed to steep peacefully in the misty air, refreshingly under-hyped. Visitors are invited to create their own historical journey, or treat the ruins like a big playground—they are not forced to walk through winding passages of decorated informational poster boards and paintings before seeing the actual ruins. The castle is of Norman origin, and its history spans “more than five centuries” (Kenilworth Castle & Elizabethan Garden). If was built “around 1120 by Geoffrey de Clinton who was Henry I’s Lord Chamberlain,”(Kenilworth Castle) and was later passed from Henry II and King John (1210-1215) to King Henry III. Henry III continued John’s work reinforcing the castle as a fortress, and then gave the castle to Simon de Montfort, whom he later ended up fighting. After a battle against Simon’s son, Henry III was victorious and his son, Edmund Earl of Lancaster, inherited the castle in the 1300s. In later years, important families like the Tudors moved into the castle (1492), and it became more of an elaborate home than fortress, though the castle’s remaining defenses were damaged by Parliament in the Civil War (Kenilworth Castle). Kenilworth is most widely known today as a palace when Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester and a favorite of Queen ... ... middle of paper ... ...y day—it requires effort on the part of the visitors, who are given the opportunity to decide which events pique their interest and are worth attending. The uniqueness of Kenilworth Castle does not lie in its ability to give its guests a smorgasbord of entertaining activities every day; a more relaxed atmosphere reigns here. Visitors are given the opportunity to physically interact with over five centuries of history and to walk through the ruins of Britain’s past, only at their own pace. Works Cited "Kenilworth Castle & Elizabethan Garden | English Heritage." English Heritage Home Page | English Heritage. Web. 04 Apr. 2011. . "Kenilworth Castle." TimeRef - Medieval and Middle Ages History Timelines for Kids and Adults. Web. 04 Apr. 2011. .

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