Stokesay Castle - Ludlow

This morning Mark and I decided to travel not to far from home, in fact by our standards of late a short journey to Shropshire to photograph Stokesay Castle in Ludlow, unfortunately the weather once again really didn't do the location justice, in fact I suspect it was worse than that, although the building was interesting, it was lined with scaffolding, and the nearby pool / pond was half full and a little stinky! To help matters the rising sun came up behind hill range in the background causing long shadows to be cast, when this was combined with a largely clear and cloudless sky it produced a rather underwhelming subject to shoot. However all was not lost, it was great to be outdoors again, at the start of a new day whilst many were still fast asleep.

Stokesay Castle is a fortified manor house in Stokesay, Shropshire, England. It was built in the late 13th century by Laurence of Ludlow.  Ludlow, who at the time was one of the richest men in England. It remains a treasure by-passed by time, one of the best places to visit in England to experience what medieval life was like.

Stokesay is one of the first fortified manor houses in England: almost all the surviving house was completed by 1291. Its walls and moat (the former demolished in the 1640s) outside, and strongrooms within, provided a degree of security, though in reality its military appearance was superficial: it could never have withstood a serious siege, as the expansive windows on both sides of the hall make clear. Meanwhile the symmetry of Stokesay’s layout – with a tower at each end of the residential complex and a regular sequence of gables and windows in the hall between them – bears witness to the taste, wealth and importance of its owner.

Further Reading: Stokesay Castle - English Heritage

• Stokesey Castle Estate View
• Canon 7d Mark2 Camera used:
• Canon 70-200mm F4 IS Lens used:
• 70mm Focal length:
• f/11 Aperture:
• 1/90 Exposure time:
• 100 ISO:

Other Images from this adventure