Beeston Castle and a Staircase "Shuffle".

 Tuesday 26th July 2022 near Barbridge.

A lovely calm morning - perfect for a walk up to Beeston Castle perched on a rocky crag some 500ft above the surrounding countryside.

There is a narrow lane that winds its way up from the canal bridge to the Castle entrance. On the way, we passed the former Bates Mill, now a fabulous private residence. Its mill pond made lovely reflections.

The entrance to the Castle, which is run by English Heritage, is Victorian but built in the style of the original gatehouses in the curtain wall.

This aerial photograph is actually taken from a postcard but it gives an idea of how the castle stands out on top of the rock. It certainly is a spectacular setting.

It is a steep climb up to the castle through mixed woodland. This tenacious oak had found ways to root around the underlying rock.

A deep ditch had been cut through the rock surrounding the main castle to form a dry moat. This is the view to the north from the modern concrete bridge that gives access to the main castle across the moat.

The views from the top are panoramic. This is looking to the east and it is just possible to pick out a train and the canal. On a clear day, you can see 30 miles in all directions across the Cheshire Plain and we were very pleased to see that the land all around is entirely given over to farming, mostly dairy.

The well in the castle is reputed to be one of the deepest in the country at over 350ft.

Sadly, it appears that the castle was never properly finished or used as a residence. Although the fortifications were completed, there is no sign of domestic buildings or ruins. However, it was still fought over in the Civil War and, as a Royalist stronghold, it was eventually ordered by the Parliamentarians to be "slighted" or demolished to the point that it was indefensible.

Archaeology has shown that there were no significant stone structures in the Outer Keep, but it appears that the Castle was built on top of a Bronze Age hill fort that continued to be used through the Iron Age. Finds indicate that iron working was performed on the site.

In addition, the foundations of several round houses dating from this period have been found. In an old Victorian quarry on the site, a reconstruction of one of the largest round houses has been built based upon the foundations and knowledge of contemporary round house construction elsewhere.

It is still a "work in progress", which was much interruptued by Covid, but it is always fascinating to see how much can be learnt from actually trying to make something in the old ways. The original people who built these houses had learnt over hundreds of years what worked and what didn't, so trying to make the same thing helps to define the techniques that they would have used in practice.

The lovely walk back to MM through the fields followed the "Sandstone Trail".

The railway line to Chester runs alongside the canal and we were fascinated to see this old signal box that is still there, although now sadly unused.

Beeston Iron Lock is unusual in that it has iron sides. This was an attempt to overcome the unstable sandy ground in which it was built. Unfortunately the attempt is only partly successful as the iron sides have warped to the point that you can now only get one boat through this wide lock at a time.

Many of the locks on this stretch of canal have these round lengthsman's huts. This one was quite upright but most of them have an alarming tilt, leaning away from the canal as their foundations seem to have left something to be desired!

Bunbury is a double staircase lock next to an Anglo Welsh hire base. There was one boat coming down and two, including MM, going up. The Anglo Welsh manager organised a "shuffle" so that the three boats changed around between the top and bottom locks. Not a technique that we have used before! The rather bemused chap on the boat beside MM had flown all the way from Hawaii to rent the boat and it was his first ever experience of a lock - quite a baptism of fire!

Finally, we turned back on to the Middlewich Arm and found a very quiet mooring for the night.

Today: 6 miles, 6 locks and 4.5 hours.

Trip: 314 miles, 191 locks and 168.7 hours