Berkeley Castle
Berkeley Castle is another medieval treasure in the territory of England. On September 21st 1327, after months of torture there, Edward II was brutally murdered because of his homosexual relations with unknown men. This palace is located in the southeastern part of the city bearing the same name, which is located in the English county of Gloucestershire.
The construction of Berkeley Castle was started in 1154 by order of Henry II. The fortified building was erected to protect Bristol, which was then an important time for the Severn Estuary and the Welsh border. It is believed that the construction of Berkeley had ended somewhere around 1189.
Merciless murder of Edward II at the palace, according to many is a fact, although there is no real information and no evidence. Today you can still see in the authentic form, the cell where the king was held in the inhuman prison, where he found his death.
The continually inhabited home Berkeley Castle is in excellent condition and has no broken parts or ruins in any of its parts. Its architecture does not differ with nothing remarkable in comparison with other castles built in the 11th century. The construction of the building is irregular, consisting of various buildings, which at that time were used for military purposes.
Extremely impressive and attractive is the outside exterior of the so called main baronial hall, which is perfectly preserved in almost original form with a chapel located adjacent to it. Apartments in the palace are pretty, however for those who have kept the spirit of the past they are actually pretty dark and scary.
And to this day the castle is owned by the family Berkeley and is considered the oldest continuously inhabited castle in the territory of England after Windsor and the Tower of London. Berkeley is the only real palace, which is so long been and remains home to the same family. Today most of the palace is open to tourist visits, while only 15 percent of the apartments in the palace are occupied by the Berkeley family.
