Castles and forts

Late Neolithic or early Bronze Age burial barrows lie on the top of Old Winchester Hill, itself the site of a later Iron Age hillfort settlement.  The barrows are about 3800 years old and. Covered in heaped chalk, would have been quite outstanding in their day.  There are four inside the fort, seven outside the west gate and possibly three more incorporated into the southern rampart.  The hillfort was built about 2500 years ago, a univallate fort with a single, very steep, ditch and embankment, entrances on the east and west, and roundhouses and stores inside with a wooden palisade around the whole.  The views are magnificent – this was a perfect location for a hillfort. On a clear day, the Isle of Wight can be seen.

Old Winchester Hill is also a 150-acre national reserve, home to many species of plants and wildlife.  Spot the small yew wood – great for hide and seek.

Portsmouth was for generations the most heavily defended town in England. The city, unsurprisingly, developed round its port and naval facilities. Whilst the original harbour and military base was located around Portchester, where the Romans built a fort, by the medieval period the major settlement was at the harbour mouth, the area now known as ‘old Portsmouth’. Here, and at various points eastward along the seafront, are the scattered remains of fortifications, some of which were in use from the 14th century as defence against French attacks, right through the Tudor period, when Henry VIII built Southsea Castle, to the Second World War. Also along the sea front are many memorials that give hints of Portsmouth’s maritime heritage. There is free access to many of these fortifications, possibly best starting off near Portsmouth’s Broad Street, where the 15th century Round and Square Towers are situated. Under parts of the walls, where ammunition was once stored, are cafes and pop-up galleries. There are fine views of the harbour and sea traffic from the walls here - and the Round Tower is the place for front-row views of major ships entering or leaving port.

Southsea Rose Garden is a fragrant and colourful rose garden residing inside what was one "Lump's Fort", a fortification dating back to the 19th century, at least. Situated close to the Canoe Lake and esplanade in Portsmouth’s Victorian seaside suburb of Southsea, the Rose Garden is a walled oasis of tranquillity with formal paved walkways, pergolas offering shade round the edges and seating areas in old gun emplacements.  As you would expect, it holds more rose bushes than you can shake a stick at, with in excess of 40 varieties.  When in bloom, it is stunning.

In 1942, the 'boom patrol', aka 'the Cockleshell Heroes' trained here. There is a memorial plaque to them at the entrance to the garden.

Enormous medieval castle, with iconic polygonal towers, constructed from the late 13th century on the orders of Edward I as part of his strategy to subjugate the Welsh. It was built on the site of an earlier Norman castle and close to where a Roman fortress had once stood. The castle and town then became the English administrative HQ for North Wales and was besieged many times - and captured too.

Caernarfon Castle is part of the World Heritage Site "Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd".

The ruins of Criccieth Castle perch dramatically on a headland and tower over the small town of Criccieth. This was originally a Welsh castle, begun by Llywelyn the Great in the 13th century, but it was added to over time - and frequently changed hands between the Welsh and the English. It is dominated by an enormous gatehouse and, allegedly, the scorches made by the flames that finally destroyed it in the 15th century can still be seen on the stonework.