Today the Castle’s main entrance – the western entrance – tells an interesting story about the importance of choosing the right stone for construction.

The portico with the columns is a restoration from the 1920s: by that point the original 17th century stonework was so eroded that the top half of the columns had been totally weathered away and needed to be replaced. The 1920s restoration used stone that was much harder than the 17th century stone – so durable in fact that it still looks new today, 70 years after it was put in place.

Behind the portico is an older Gothic doorway, probably from the 14th century. It too was totally eroded by the wind, justifying the construction of the portico three centuries later.  

Two different layers of history: to the left is the heavily eroded medieval entrance of the Castle, and to the right is the 1920s restoration of the 17th century entrance, the latter constructed to hide the terrible state of its medieval predecessor, only to suffer the same fate due to wind erosion.

© Jeffrey Veitch