A Mighty Fortress

The Beeston Castle area is one of my favourite places in Cheshire; we’ve had many smashing walks along the Sandstone Trail there. The weather was so lovely today that we had an afternoon out and enjoyed a stomp along the Trail from the Castle to the Candle Workshops and back again. The hedgerows were full of blackberries; there were a few pheasants trundling about, and we saw a pair of buzzards mewing and circling high above us. The Castle was built in the C.13th by Ranulf, sixth Earl of Chester. The mighty fortress was ‘slighted’ during the Civil War, so it falls short of its former splendour, but it’s still an impressive landmark, towering high above the surrounding countryside. Beeston was believed to be impregnable, and when a raiding party sneaked inside the Castle during the Civil War (supposedly by treachery), its commander Capt. Steele surrendered; he was later executed for cowardice.

Image: Beeston Castle from the bridge over the moat. © Sue Wilkes