Then & Now

Preparing to Repair the Breach in the Tiltyard, 1964 – Then & Now

The Tiltyard near Mortimer's Tower, 1964
The Tiltyard near Mortimer’s Tower, 1964

Here’s a view which is almost impossible to recreate today – a view through the breach in the tiltyard beneath Mortimer’s Tower, taken in 1964.

The ‘then’ photograph probably shows the end of the stone bridge eastern side wall in the bottom left. In which case the camera was about three metres below the general level of the ‘tiltyard’, hence why it’s not possible to perfectly match the two locations.

As per previous Then & Now postings, it’s unclear when this particular breach dates from. It could date from when Parliament ordered Colonel Hawkesworth to put the castle’s defences beyond repair in 1649, or it could date from a later collapse caused by flood waters.

The ‘then’ photo shows the truncated tiltyard mound in front of Mortimer’s Tower, which is once again the main entrance to the castle today, following the Tiltyard’s repair in 1965 when the Ministry of Public Building and Works completed filling it in again. The ‘then’ photo shows the mound stripped of grass, presumably as preparation for the repairs.

Many thanks to David Brock for his assistance in putting the accompanying text together. His work on this subject is too extensive to summarise here, but readers can find further contributions by David in the society’s annual Kenilworth History publication, such as his article “Development of the Fourth Side of the Castle” in KH2015.

1 thought on “Preparing to Repair the Breach in the Tiltyard, 1964 – Then & Now

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.