United Kingdom Videos

Chepstow Castle (Welsh: Cas-gwent), located in Chepstow, Monmouthshire in Wales, on top of cliffs overlooking the River Wye, is the oldest surviving stone fortification in Britain. It was built under the instruction of the Norman Lord William fitzOsbern, soon made Earl of Hereford, from 1067, and was the southernmost of a chain of castles built along the English-Welsh border in the Welsh Marches. The speed with which William the Conqueror committed to the creation of a castle at Chepstow is testament to its strategic importance. There is no evidence for a settlement there of any size before the Norman invasion of Wales. However, it was an important crossing point on the River Wye, a major artery of communications inland to Monmouth and Hereford. At the time, the Welsh kingdoms in the area were independent of the English Crown and the castle in Chepstow would also have helped suppress the Welsh from attacking Gloucestershire along the Severn shore towards Gloucester. However, recent analysis suggests that the rulers of Gwent, who had recently fought against King Harold, derived from the Welsh word ystraigl meaning river bend. FitzOsbern also founded a priory nearby, and the associated market town and port of Chepstow developed over the next few centuries. The castle and the associated Marcher lordship were generally known as Striguil until the late 14th century, and as Chepstow thereafter. Further fortifications were added by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, starting in the 1190s. The wood in the doors of the gatehouse has been dated by dendrochronology to the period 1159-89. Marshal extended and modernised the castle, drawing on his knowledge of warfare gained in France and the Crusades. He built the present main gatehouse, strengthened the defences of the Middle Bailey with round towers, and, before his death in 1219, may also have rebuilt the Upper Bailey defences. Further work to expand the Great Tower was undertaken for William Marshal's sons William, Richard, Gilbert and Walter, in the period to 1245. In 1270, the castle was inherited by Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk. He constructed a new range of buildings in the Lower Bailey, as accommodation for himself and his family. Bigod was also responsible for building Chepstow's town wall, the Port Wall, around 1274-78. The castle was visited by King Edward I in 1284, at the end of his triumphal tour through Wales. Soon afterwards, Bigod had built a new tower (later known as Marten's Tower), which now dominates the landward approach to the castle, and also remodelled the Great Tower.

Caernarfon Castle (Welsh: Castell Caernarfon) was constructed at Caernarfon in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, by King Edward I of England, following his conquest of Gwynedd in 1283. Edward I built castles and walled towns in North Wales to control the area following his conquest of the independent principality of Wales, in 1283. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, prince of Wales, having rejected a bribe of one thousand pounds a year and an estate in England, if he would surrender his nation unreservedly to the king of England, had been lured into a trap on 11 December 1282, and put to death. His brother Dafydd ap Gruffudd had continued the struggle for continuing independence, but had been captured at Bera Mountain in the uplands above Garth Celyn, in June 1283. Edward surrounded and overshadowed Garth Celyn, the royal home and the headquarters of resistance to English domination, with Caernarfon and Conwy castles, and later Beaumaris Castle. The other fortress in the iron ring encirling Snowdonia was Harlech Castle. The site selected for Caernarfon was strategically important, located on the banks of the River Seiont where it flows into the Menai Strait. It had been the site of a Roman fort, and a later motte and bailey castle built c. 1090 by Hugh d'Avranches. The castle was, at the time, surrounded on two sides by water, and the other by the Caernarfon city walls, but in the 19th century, the area on the River Seiont was filled in to enlarge the port of Caernarfon, and is today part of the castle's car park. Begun in 1283 after Snowdonia - the heartland of Gwynedd - had been overrun by the massive army, it reached something like its current state in 1323. It was never completed, and even today there are joints visible in several places on the internal walls ready to accept further walls which were never built. Contemporary records note that the castle's construction cost some £22,000 – an enormous sum at the time, equivalent to more than a year's income for the royal treasury. The castle's linear design is sophisticated by comparison with earlier British castles, and the walls are said to have been modelled on those of Constantinople, Edward being a keen Crusader. The castle dominates the Menai Strait. The castle houses the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum, and is part of the World Heritage Site Castles and Town Walls of King Edward I in Gwynedd. In 2007, a copy of the Eagle Tower was recreated on the boulevard of the coastal town of Zandvoort in the Netherlands. The sandsculpture, made entirely out of sand and water, was carved out by a team of professionals and was 15 feet (4.6 m) tall.

Penrhyn Castle is a country house in Llandegai, Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales, in the form of a Norman castle. It was originally a medieval fortified manor house, founded by Ednyfed Fychan. In 1438, Ioan ap Gruffudd was granted a licence to crenellate and he founded the stone castle and added a tower house. Samuel Wyatt reconstructed the property in the 1780s. The present building was created between 1820 and 1845 to designs by Thomas Hopper, who expanded and transformed the building beyond recognition. However a spiral staircase from the original property can still be seen, and a vaulted basement and other masonry were incorporated into the new structure. Hopper's clients were the Pennant family, who had made their fortune from Jamaican sugar and local slate quarries. Penrhyn is one of the most admired of the numerous mock castles built in the United Kingdom in the 19th century; Christopher Hussey called it, the outstanding instance of Norman revival. The castle is a picturesque composition that stretches over 600 feet from a tall donjon containing family rooms, through the main block built around the earlier house, to the service wing and the stables. It is in a very solid, sombre style which allows it to possess something of the medieval fortress air despite the ground-level drawing room windows. Hopper designed all the principal interiors in a rich but restrained Norman style, with much fine plasterwork and wood and stone carving. The castle also has some specially designed Norman style furniture, including a one ton slate state bed made for Queen Victoria when she visited in 1859. In 1951 the castle and 40,000 acres (160 km²) of land were accepted by the Treasury in lieu of death duties. It now belongs to the National Trust and is open to the public. Penrhyn's attractions include a formal walled garden, extensive informal gardens, a dolls museum, an industrial railway museum, a model railway museum and an adventure playground. It has views over the Snowdonia mountains. In 2007/08 it was the National Trust's seventh most visited paid-entry property, with 212,727 visitors. The castle is also used by the People to People Ambassador Program for delegates to abseil down with the Full On team, a New Zealand group helping children to reach outside their comfort zones through team building activities.

Bristol is the unofficial capital of the West Country of England. Bristol is the United Kingdom’s eighth most populous city and the most populated city in South West England, making it a core city in England. It received a Royal Charter in 1155 and was granted County status in 1373. From the 13th century, for half a millennium, it ranked amongst the top three English cities after London, alongside York and Norwich, until the rapid rise of Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester during the Industrial Revolution in the latter part of the 18th century. It borders the counties of Somerset and Gloucestershire and is also located near the historic cities of Bath to the south east and Gloucester to the north. The city is built around the River Avon, and has a short coastline on the estuary of the River Severn where it flows into the Bristol Channel. Although it’s often overlooked as a tourist destination, Bristol has a lot to offer of its own and is also an excellent base for exploring the West Country, with relatively inexpensive accommodation compared to some of the main ‘tourist traps’ (such as nearby Bath) and a huge choice of bars, restaurants and shops. It is one of the most culturally vibrant cities in the South of England, hosting a wide variety of visual arts, theatre, speciality shopping and live music.

Chepstow United Kingdom. A wonderful place.

Saturday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch or listen to the show on Tues, Thurs Int - +44 7815 907 896 chris@unitedkingdomtalk.co.uk www.chrisreardon.co.uk Today's show in video :

EU unknowns take top jobs / Flooding in Cumbria / Nepal food shortages / Killing for fat in Peru .

Resident at 2 Brewers , Clapham, London. Thurs 10pm - 2am & Sunday 8pm - 2am. 1 Hour 16 mins approx mix recorded in South London Thursday night 19th November 2009. Track list : Make Me - Janet Jackson Bad 4 My Health - Bassmonkey & Soulshaker Baby By Me - 50 Cent feat. Ne Yo Tik Tok - Kesha Ego - The Saturdays Bad Romance - Lady Gaga Cry Me Out - Pixie Lott Beautiful Dancer - Raphael Solomon The Real Thing - Soul Seekerz Vs Vanessa One Love - David Guetta feat. Estelle I Surrender - Cadence Back Together - Butterfly Jam I Need You Now - Agnes This mix is here to advertise myself as a dj and is not for sale in any form. I am covered by the PRS for music licence (010109 - 311209) I also host a three times a week talk show. You can find this at : http://www.unitedkingdomtalk.co.uk I also now video the talk show. Watch the most recent show here :

Afghan president inauguration / Ireland's football pain / Semenya keeps gold / Liver drug denied / CJD secrets from PNG villages / Yes Minster.

Queen's speech / Cyber bulling / Iraq Syria / Israel 'illegal' building in East Jerusalem / Osama's son / Somali stoning / EU Presidential hopefuls.

Saturday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch or listen to the show on Tues, Thurs & Sats here at WWW.UNITEDKINGDOMTALK.CO.UK In today's show : Cartoon pants. Are all surgeons mad ? If you want to see Motown singers - go and seee them soon. Send in your pictures. Stupid hat time again. Flu ? Then don't bother turning up at the doctors in the USA. A mulitude of colours. I bury my head in the sofa. Busy at the karaoke nights. Sneezing in your face. I nearly expose myself. Is this becoming a show for the elderly ? Rush rush rush. I lose patience with Ustream. I miss out seeing Thelma Houston. My selection of acceptable hats. TEXT the show : UK - 07815 907 896 Int - +44 7815 907 896chris@unitedkingdomtalk.co.ukwww.chrisreardon.co.uk

Thursday's edition of my three times a week talk show.Watch or listen to the show on Tues, Thurs & Sats here at WWW.UNITEDKINGDOMTALK.CO.UK In memory of Bridget Reardon. RIP 18th November 2000. In today's show : I have been to see the new version of "A Christmas Carol". They all leave me. Does anything excite you anymore ? Please tell me if something goes wrong. Reading classic books. Can you recommend any other films around at the moment ? I need a Disney top up. Drip, drip, drip. Watch out for viruses on Facebook. You wouldn't know it was Jim Carrey. Vote with your feet. Brenda has had lunches stolen. It's not a cartoon - but it's not real people. Are there any secret viewers ? Does my water expand in cold weather ? How much for 2 bags of sweets and a hotdog ? Have I been abandoned ? It's not going to get any better ? An entire seating section to ourselves. Bags & coats everywhere. Flying over the houses. TEXT the show : UK - 07815 907 896 Int - +44 7815 907 896 chris@unitedkingdomtalk.co.uk www.chrisreardon.co.uk