Fit for a King

Fit for a King. . We are standing at the west end of the Great Hall. This was the "high end" of the hall, from which a passageway would have led to a separate solar block. That building, now lost, was where the King would have stayed when visiting the Castle. At other times the Lord of the Manor and his family would have slept there. His servants and workers would have slept in the Great Hall or other buildings around the site., King John, Henry III, and Richard II all visited and stayed at Oakham Castle at times throughout their reigns., Inside the Castle are ornate horseshoes left by other royal and noble visitors as part of a unique tradition., The Schoolmaster's Discovery , In the 1950s a local schoolmaster, John Barber, conducted archaeological excavations in the Castle grounds with the help of his schoolboys. What they found was remarkable. To the east of the Great Hall a stone courtyard was uncovered, with walls of a kitchen, pantry and buttery (shown right)., The next substantial excavation took place in 2012, when Time Team visited Oakham Castle. At the west end of the hall they found a large wall which may be either the passageway to the solar block or part of the building itself. They also found part of another major building, thought to be a grange, or barn, to the north of the Great Hall., Much more about the Castle remains to be discovered!, Discover more... , A curious archway in the Castle walls can be seen in a photograph from 1900. This may have been a window or door of the solar block, or even a postern gate linking the Castle with the church., On the other side of the Castle ramparts is All Saints' Church. The oldest parts of the church are believed to have been built around the same time as the Great Hall.