Do you have any historical buildings you like to visit near to where you live?
By oldchem1
@oldchem1 (8132)
June 25, 2010 3:50am CST
I am very lucky to live close to a really historic little city - Lancaster in Lancashire. There is no way that you can visit Lancaster without seeing the castle, it stands on a hill looking down over the River Lune and the city where it has dominated the city for almost 1000 years.
The Castle is owned by Her Majesty the Queen, who is known as the 'Duke of Lancaster'.
What makes this castle so special though is that as well as being a Castle is also one of Europe's longest serving operational prisons and court. It deals with trials of the more serious criminal offences, the sentencing of offenders committed for sentence by magistrates' courts, and appeals from lower courts.
It used to be known as The Hanging Court due to the large number of death sentences handed down there. Many hundreds of others who passed through its doors were sentenced to Transportation.
Today guided tours are conducted around the castle by qualified historians and professional guides (so long as the court isn't sitting) and it is a great tourist attraction.
We actually visited the castle again yesterday when my daughter and son in law were visiting,
There are many things to see at the Castle including the beautiful Gillow furniture in the Grand Jury Room, the dungeons and drop room, hanging corner, the Crown Court - where the branding iron can still be seen and the magnificent Shire Hall courtroom hung with coats of arms of the county sheriffs that go back almost a thousand years. Famous cases, such as the 'Handless Corpse' gangland trial and the infamous 'Birmingham Six' mistrial were held here and you can see the trapdoor where steps lead down (hence the expression 'to get sent down') from the defendants' dock to the cells.
If ever you are in the area you should visit it.
Do you have something similar near to you/
3 people like this
7 responses
@Christmas2006 (1661)
• United States
25 Jun 10
We have a place here in Michigan, USA called Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum. The museum is a wonderful visit, open year round and covers many historical American exhibits. Our favorite is the Village, open April through October and weekends through December. The village recreates many historical events and history. They have rides available for a Model T, a 1937 bus, a horse and wagon, a steam train and a restored antique carousel. There is so much there to see and do that it is impossible to do all in one day. We are going with our son and his family this Saturday for his birthday. I have not done a good job of describing everything about this place. We all have a different part that is our favorite. My daughter loves the glass blowing exhibit. Our husbands love all the old cars. I just love all of it. I think my favorite is a home (1600's forgot the exact date) that came from England and was dismantled stone by stone and then brought here and reassembled exactly as it was found. It is just beautiful and hard to believe it is that old.
@Christmas2006 (1661)
• United States
25 Jun 10
you can find the village and museum at www.greenfieldvillageonline.com
Enjoy!
@ElicBxn (63235)
• United States
25 Jun 10
I really love living in Austin, Texas, but the fact is that our history doesn't really go back very far. To get any early stuff in Texas, you have to drive an hour to San Antonio. Even there the history only goes back to the Spanish and we are looking at 3 or 4 hundred years - a drop in the bucket of time.
To get pre-Columbian sites they are either small camps and/or rock shelters around this area. So to see good stuff you have to go to the Four-Corners area and see the Anasazi ruins or to Mexico and see the Aztec or Mayan sites.
@weasel81 (2496)
• Australia
26 Jun 10
i live in australia way out in the bush. i live bout 8/9 km from the tuppal station and the wool shed is about 7/8 km from my place. it's a shearing shed for sheep, it has 72 stands. which is the biggest in australia, they had a weekend not long ago celbrating 100yrs and had they all 72 stands working. they shore 5,000 sheep over 2 days. i didn't go down to see it thou. but they had a lot of people come to the 2 days they had open. it is used normally but has not been used fully in 100yrs or something.
@Sandra1952 (6047)
• Spain
25 Jun 10
Hello, Sue. I haven't been to your neck of the woods in a long time, but I like Lancaster. About 15 minutes drive from us is a beautiful Spanish town called Orihuela. The old town is cobbled, and full of churches, monasteries and museums, with a beautiful cathedral. And the best thing is, it's free to visit all these buildings.
In February, they have a 3 day mediaeval market there, which is wonderful. The Spanish really throw themselves into that sort of thing, and there are jousts, weapon making and donkeys and other animals roaming through the streets. They even strew the cobbles with straw.
In July, there's the Moors and Christians Festival, which we're hoping to see for the first time this year. There's more about Orihuela here:
: http://www.helium.com/items/1780036-orihuela-costa-blanca :
@sender621 (14894)
• United States
25 Jun 10
There is a mansion in our city that I like to visit. It used to belong to one of the city's wealthy and prominent families. Now they have tours theough the home. At Christmas time, they do a Chrisstmas tree tour. It is great to walk through the halls of this mansion. It is like reliving a bit of history.
@sonofmercury (407)
• United States
11 Jul 10
if you are an American History buff then Up State New York is a good place to go. Just in my area Fulton/Montgomery county there is the homes of Sir William Johnston who was the superintendent of Indian affairs in the colonies, we have Ft klock a frontier fort ,and the Battlefield of the Battle of Johnstown fought Oct 25 1781 it was the last battle of the Revolutionary War fought 6 days after the surrender at Yorktown. there are also plenty of little forts in the area that General Washington stayed at.
@p3ks626 (6538)
• Philippines
25 Jun 10
We dont have anything like that near our place but 2 weeks ago we went somewhere far from our place to visit this really old church. It was a catholic church and even if I am not a Catholic, I was amazed on how they preserved all the things that they have there. There were a lot of stuff there that was definitely older than me and it was amazing.
