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Victorian Castles
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| Castell Coch. |
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Victorian castles are few. There are many great houses that go by the name of castles and even ones that look like castles but there are very few that are castles in the true sense, domestic and defensive. The three best examples are Castell Coch in Glamorgan, South Wales, Peckforton Castle at Beeston in Cheshire and Dromore in Limerick, Ireland which unfortunately was demolished.
Peckforton Castle
Castles were a physical manifestation of the Victorian fascination for the middle Ages. Lord Tollemache had Peckforton Castle built on his estate in Cheshire to the designs of the architect Anthony Salvin who also restored the Tower of London. Peckforton is a replica medieval castle that was capable of withstanding a siege and it seems that Lord Tollemache had that idea in mind as he had been concerned by riots that have occurred at around that time. Lord Tollemache believed in upholding the rights and powers of the land owning classes but at the same time and with equally strong feelings he believed in the duties to the landowner’s dependants that lived on his estate. 'The only real and lasting pleasure to be derived from the possession of a landed estate,' wrote lord Tollemache.'is to witness the improvement of the social conditions of those residing on it.' Lord Tollemache's Cheshire estate was split up into two hundred acre units, each with a farmstead. Labourers were given a substantial cottage and three acres. Peckforton castle was a Nineteenth century castle that dominated Lord Tollemache's Cheshire estate just as he himself could rule it like a compassionate feudal overlord.
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