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The 12th Century Oakham Castle Hall. It is considered one of the finest
examples of 12th century domestic architecture in England. This hall was
built in 1180 by Walkelin de Ferrers. Traces of other parts of the
fortified manor house can be seen beneath the grass. |
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The castle is also well known for the
unexpected sight of over 200 horseshoes hanging on its walls. There is a unique custom, that every peer of the realm visiting
Oakham for the first time must forfeit a horseshoe to the Lord of the
manor, a custom that is at least 500 years old, and it probably originated
soon after the Norman Conquest 1066. The oldest surviving horseshoe is
probably the large elaborately wrought horseshoe headed by a plain shield
put up by Edward IV in 1470 (seen on the left). The most recent were given by the Earl
Ferrers in 1997 and HRH Princess Royal in 1999. |
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The chair in the centre is probably 500 years
old.
A horseshoe forfeited by Queen Elizabeth II is seen second from right in
the bottom row. This is dated 1967. She probably sat in this chair when
she visited the castle. |
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We enjoyed the sights in the hall. |
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Rosie, who works there, showed us the castle and gave
information about it. |
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Oakham's historic Buttercross in the market place. The
board-like structure has two pieces of 4"X6" wooden blocks that
could be locked together. It is said it was used to lock prisoners. It
would be interesting to know why there are 5 holes in the stocks. |
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The old School in
Oakham was founded in
1584. We saw on the outer wall (the white strip found in the picture) some
writings in Latin and Greek. |
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The
inscription on the above Old School.
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