Dear members and friends of All Castles! If you also use FaceBook you are very welcome to samenamed community where you also can post photos of castles. One small differ - i think its enought to give the title and and the land

Castle in Wieliczka is closely associated with the development of the salt mines in Wieliczka, and the companies involved in the management of these. For many years, the castle served as the Salt mining head office for the Wieliczka and the Bochnia salt mines. In the thirteenth century, Prince Henry IV Probus built the original castle, which in the times of Casimir the Great was significantly expanded and strengthened.



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Grodziec castle has a history dating back to 1155 and is located in the Silesia region of Poland.



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The ruins of a 14th century castle are one of the biggest attractions of the area. The castle, located on a hill, among limestone rocks, is part of the Trail of the Eagles' Nests. It belonged to a system of fortifications, built by King Kazimierz Wielki, to protect western Lesser Poland from Czechs, to whom Silesia belonged at that time. For some time, as a fee, it belonged to Prince Władysław Opolczyk. Taken away from him in 1396, the castle was then handed by King Władysław Jagiełło to a local nobleman, Jan Odrowąż of Szczekociny. The castle was invaded several times by Silesian princes in the 15th century, and with the advancement of warfare, its fortifications became obsolete. In 1655, it was captured by the Swedes, and since then, it became a ruin. In 1722, it was partly demolished, with bricks used to build a parish church at Olsztyn. Currently, only fragments of defensive walls remain. The most impressive still standing part of the castle is a 35-meter round tower, built in the 13th century, which served as a prison.



Near the castle is the parish church of St. John, built in 1722 - 26 by Jerzy Lubomirski. The church has the shape of a cross, with arms marked by two chapels. Inside there is a Baroque painting The Baptism of Christ, and three mummified bodies from the 18th century. At local cemetery there are bodies of hundreds of people, murdered by Germans during World War II. The Germans used local forests to carry out executions of inhabitants of Częstochowa and Radomsko, captured Home Army fighters, POWs and villagers. Altogether, there are almost 2,000 people. Furthermore, there are ashes of hundreds of Soviet POWs, shot by Germans in 1941-1944 (see Nazi crimes against Soviet POWs).



The jewish commune during world war 2 was intensely defended by the resident poles who refused to let the germans take away their jewish population, this led to barn burning and a large cull of horses in the area, which made the wandering Romany Gypsies easy targets for the oncoming germans.

This is a Norman keep built within the walls of a Roman Saxon shore fort. The Roman fort was built at the end of the 3rd century AD to defend the south coast of England against the Saxon invasions.  The Normans reused the fort from the 11th century, Edward II fortifing it in the 14th century. Situated within Portsmouth harbour, the fort was used as the embarkation point for several medieval English invasions of France.

I didn't have a lot of time so didn't get to go inside, and it was freezing cold so the photos are not very good!

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Just up the road from Brougham Castle is Brougham Hall, built in the 14th century. This impressive outside is deceptive as there is not a lot left inside. In 1985 it was rescued from dereliction, despite once having been known as the 'Windsor of the North' and having seen such important visitors as Winston Churchill and Edward VII.

The road is a Roman road up which the Emperor Hadrian would have once travelled and goes from Penrith to the Roman fort at Hardknott Wyrnose Pass, over the top of the mountains as High Street, and down to the Roman fort at Ambleside.

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Brougham Castle was built in the 12th century. Unfortunately it was closed when we went there, but until 1237 it was on the Scottish border and in 1300 Edward I, the Hammer of the Scots, stayed here. There was a Roman fort in the adjoining field and the terraces might be Roman.

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