ABC Wednesday - K

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K is for ... Kidwelly Castle. This incredibly well preserved Welsh castle is located on the banks of the River Gwendraeth, at Kidwelly. It was first established around 1107, by the Normans. The small Carmarthenshire town of Kidwelly lies roughly half way between Llanelli and Carmarthen, near the coast.

I only had my old digital camera when I took these pics, about five years ago, so was unable to take any wide-angle shots of the castle. This is the main entranceway.



The castle is so well preserved that it's possible to wander around inside many parts of the building. These pictures unfortunately do no justice whatsoever to the sheer enormity of this amazing building.


This next shot may give you some sense of the sheer size of the castle. This is one small part of the whole structure - but look how tiny that person looks on the ramparts, near the centre of the shot. And that's a full grown adult, not a child.


It was weird standing up here, in this ancient structure, whilst seeing modern military aircraft flying overhead, and hearing them dropping bombs on the military practice range at Pendine, just the other side of Carmarthen Bay. Just think - the occupants of Kidwelly Castle, in its heyday, would have fought their battles with bows, arrows, swords and shields, maybe even catapults and crossbows. How times have changed. Or have they?



K is also for ... Kennixton Farmhouse. This old farmhouse was built in the early 1700's, near Llangennith, on the Gower Peninsula. In 1961, it was carefully dismantled, and transported to the St. Fagan's National History Museum, on the outskirts of Cardiff, the Welsh capital. The farmhouse was then completely rebuilt, and furnished in an authentic eighteenth century style. I took these shots of the farmhouse during a recent visit, with my cousin, Wayne.



I'm afraid I didn't get any shots of the interior of the building. For some reason, every time I've walked into this building, I've been severely creeped out. The last time was no different, and I bade a hasty retreat. Apparently, a number of people have had a similar reaction to the place. The fact that it is painted with a traditional old paint, made from limewash coloured with ox blood, doesn't help my discomfort. Old buildings were traditionally daubed with limewash, to both keep out evil spirits, and drive out any already in the building. Ugh!



Anyway, that's my ABC for this week. I hadn't planned on having a historical theme. It just kind of happened, as these were the only K pics I could find. Happy Wednesday!