Pics of castle bits, Part I

From the NCS conference day trip to Kidwelly Castle and Carreg Cennen Castle, some bits and pieces of castles, part I --

Kidwelly Castle
(For some professional pictures that give you the sense of the whole structure, and for historical background, go here.)

The gatehouse:


I don't know how, but I managed to get a lot of depopulated pictures, despite the medievalists everywhere. This one is of one the towers of the inner ward and, in the foreground, the hall added later in the castle's building history:


This medievalist thinks he's king of the world (or is he threatening to taunt me with a silly French accent?):


I thought the opening in the following picture was an oubliette, but upon consulting my guidebook later, found out it's just an entrance to the store room. How disappointingly mundane!


But this is definitely a murder hole:


Mise-en-abyme? -


I like the creepiness of the face-like quality of this one:


But for those of you who prefer your ruined castles more picturesque, here's a pretty flower: