Builth Castle was erected in 1277, the first castle to be built by King Edward I in Wales. The site chosen was a pre-existing motte-and-bailey castle with a motte surrounded by two baileys, all surrounded by a further boundary wall. This older castle had already changed hands several times as the Normans and Welsh fought for supremacy in these parts, and the small town of Builth had sprung up nearby. In 1260 the old castle was taken and largely destroyed by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. It is not clear how much of the original structure was still there when Edward I started building his stone castle. Construction started in May 1277, and continued until August 1282, when the castle was left unfinished for lack of money. This was probably because Llywelyn ap Gruffudd had been killed and Edward had changed his priorities because he wanted to concentrate on his invasion of Gwynedd. As at Flint Castle begun at the same time, construction began with an enclosure of the site by a wooden palisade, in the case of Builth of some 270 yards in length. Records show that the total cost of the castle was £1,666, a comparatively modest sum because the earthworks were already present on the site.
The castle was besieged in 1294 during the revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn. On 7 February 1301, Edward I gave Builth Castle to his son, Edward. Between 1310 and 1315, a local magnate - Roger Mortimer - served Edward as castellan of Builth. When the latter Edward succeeded his father as king, he gifted the Castle to his wife, Isabella; in turn, with Edward's consent, Isabella rented the castle back to Roger Mortimer, for 170 marks per half-year (due at Michaelmas and Easter). Mortimer, a man with an increasingly powerful hold over Isabella (who eventually became his lover), subsequently obtained an agreement that the castle would become his outright when Isabella died.
Isabella and Mortimer executed a coup against Edward, eventually resulting in Edward's ignominious death. In 1330, when Edward's son (Edward III) reached adulthood, he was able to arrange for Mortimer and Isabella to be captured, and have Mortimer executed for treason. On the king's orders, Mortimer's property was seized by relevant officials - Buellt was taken by Gilbert Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot, the Justiciar of South Wales. Edward had been assisted, in his counter-coup against Mortimer, by the prominent noblewoman Alice de Lacy, and her second husband Eubulus le Strange; in reward, Edward granted them Builth Castle for life. Following Eubulus' death in 1335, and Alice's subsequent re-marriage, her new husband / rapist - Hugh de Freyne - was acknowledged by the King as lord of Builth. Alice died childless in 1348.
King Edward granted Builth to his son, the Black Prince. In 1359, the Prince re-established the rental arrangement (still at 170 marks per half-year) with the Mortimer family, retaining the right to garrison the castle in times of war. When it was attacked by Owain Glyndŵr's forces, during his revolt in the early 15th century, the garrison was under the command of Sir John Oldcastle (Shakespeare's Falstaff). It was repaired in 1409, the bill being £400.
The rental arrangement was terminated during the War of the Roses, when Richard of York, heir of the Mortimer family, claimed the crown (as heir of Philippa of Clarence); the hostilities ended when Richard's heir, Elizabeth of York, married the man who became King Henry VII. In November 1493, Buellt (including Builth Castle) was re-established as a Marcher Lordship, for their son, Arthur. Arthur, however, died in 1502, childless. During the reign of Arthur's younger brother, King Henry VIII, the castle burnt down, and over subsequent years the ruins were gradually raided by the local population to provide building material for their properties.
Nowadays, only the impressive mound, embankments and ditches remain but all the stonework has vanished (removed by the local populace to build their dwellings).


Château de Hunebourg (German: Hüneburg or Hünenburg) lies to the west of Neuwiller-lès-Saverne in the French département of Bas-Rhin on a 425-metre-high sandstone rock outcrop. It is accessible from the valley of the Zinsel du Nord. The original castle was built in the 12th-13th century, but very little remains from this period. The castle was reconstructed in a neo-romanesque style in the 1930s. It is a listed historical monument since 2007.


The former castle in Navahrudak, Belarus (Belarusian: Навагрудскі замак, Lithuanian: Naugarduko pilis, Polish: Zamek w Nowogródku) was one of the key strongholds of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, cited by Maciej Stryjkowski as the location of Mindaugas's coronation as King of Lithuania as well as his likely burial place. Modern historians cannot make up their minds as to the true location of Mindaugas's coronation.
As early as the 14th century, Navahrudak is known to have possessed a stone tower along the lines of Tower of Kamyanyets. Other fortifications were of timber. The castle was stormed by the Teutonic Knights under Heinrich von Plötzke in 1314. Although the attack was not successful, the tower sustained substantial damage.
During the reign of Vytautas the Great four new stone towers were added to the system of Navahrudak fortifications. In the 17th century the main castle boasted 7 towers, apart from those of the Lesser Castle. Navahrudak was one of the northernmost forts besieged by the Crimean Tatars in the 16th century.
Navahrudak was twice occupied by Russian forces during the Russo-Polish War (1654–67). Further destruction was inflicted by the Swedes who sacked Navahrudak as part of the Great Northern War in 1706. Attempts to preserve the ruins from further decay were undertaken in the 1920s. The castle grounds at present provide the setting for medieval reenactment and theatrical jousting.


The history of the castle dates back to the tenth-eleventh century, when an early defensive castle was located on the castle's grounds. The castle was built two centuries later, in about the year 1222. When the Kingdom of Poland was under feudal fragmentation, the castle housed the following Silesian dukes and castellans. The most important part of the castle's being, was that under the rule of Duke Przemysław Toszecki, of the Oświęcim family line. After his death the castle became of property of the Dukes of Opole. In the sixteenth century, the castle was the property of the Habsburgs. Which gave the castle to do Redernów family, which they bought in 1592. In between 1638-1707 the castle was ruled by the Colonna family, which had made a full-scale reconstruction of the castle - by which the castle became a magnate residence, the first one in Upper Silesia. The following owners were: Johann Dietrich von Peterswald, Count Franciszek Karol Kotuliński, Posadowski family, and finally Adolf von Eichendorff.
In 1797, the castle was sold to Count Franciszek Adam Gaschinów. Shortly after, in 1811, the castle burned down and became a ruin. In 1840 the ruins were bought by Abraham Guradze, and the Guradze family maintained possession of the castle until World War II, when Abraham's great-grandson Count Kurt von Guradze bequeathed the castle to the youth of Poland. The castle was finally partially rebuilt in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, the castle houses a centre of culture, and a primary wedding celebration venue.


Toszek Castle - a Renaissance styled castle, located in Toszek (23 km away from Gliwice, Silesian Voivodeship in Poland.


Newark Castle, in Newark-on-Trent, in the English county of Nottinghamshire was founded in the mid 12th century by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln. Originally a timber castle, it was rebuilt in stone towards the end of the century.
The castle was dismantled (slighted) in the 17th century as a result of the English Civil War, and restored in the 19th century, first by Anthony Salvin in the 1840s and then by the corporation of Newark who bought the site in 1889.


Landštejn Castle is a 13th-century castle in Staré Město pod Landštejnem in Jindřichův Hradec District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. The first written record of the castle is from 1231, at which time it was the largest Romanesque castle in the Czech lands. It is one of the oldest and best preserved such structures in Europe. The two large towers are connected by a wall defining the upper castle and its courtyard. The six-story southern tower is the main tower and is fully preserved, including a gate in the western wall.


Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of an even older castle under Landštejn in Pomezí, and it is thought the Landštejn of today was built by the Moravian Přemyslides as their military base. When and how the Vítkovici came into possession of Landštejn is not recorded. The Lords of Landštejn won increasing political influence through acts of personal bravery. Under Vilém of Landštejn their estates, as well as the castle and Nová Bystřice, included Třeboň, Lomnice and Nové Hrady. After initial resistance, Vilém accepted a feudal obligation in 1317 and became adviser to King John of Bohemia. He was also on friendly terms with King Charles IV, who supported him in his violent conflict with his distant relative, Jindřich of Hradec.
In 1381 Konrád Krajíř of Krajka obtained the estate, which then belonged to his family for nearly two centuries. They strengthened the fortifications substantially and built new palaces round the five-cornered courtyard. In 1579 the last member of the Krajíř family, Anna Roupovská, sold Landštejn to Stěpán of Eincing, and there were then several owners in quick succession. The Herbersteins owned the castle from 1685 till 1816 when the last member of the family, Count Josef died. In 1771 lightning struck one of the towers and the castle was burnt out, and fell into ruin, providing building material for the local population. After a lengthy dispute over inheritance, the abandoned castle fell to Baron Ferdinand Sternbach in 1846.


Bridgnorth Castle is a castle in the town of Bridgnorth, Shropshire. It is a scheduled monument, first listed in 1928.


The Castle of the Masovian Dukes in Płock is a Gothic castle built under the reign of Casimir III the Great, becoming a stronghold of the Dukes of Masovia until the fifteenth century. The castle is located in the Princely Capital City of Płock, Masovian Voivodeship; in Poland.


The castle was constructed in the 1220s by Enguerrand III, Lord of Coucy. The castle proper occupies the tip of a bluff or falaise. It forms an irregular trapezoid of 92 x 35 x 50 x 80 m. At the four corners are cylindrical towers 20 m in diameter (originally 40 m in height). Between two towers on the line of approach was the massive donjon (keep). The donjon was the largest in Europe, measuring 35 meters wide and 55 meters tall. The smaller towers surrounding the court were as big as the donjons being built at that time by the French monarchy. The rest of the bluff is covered by the lower court of the castle, and the small town.
Coucy was occupied in September 1914 by German troops during World War I. It became a military outpost and was frequented by German dignitaries, including Emperor Wilhelm II himself. In March 1917 the retreating German army, on order of General Erich Ludendorff, destroyed the keep and the 4 towers. It is not known whether this act had some military purpose or was merely an act of wanton destruction. The destruction caused so much public outrage that in April 1917 the ruins were declared "a memorial to barbarity". War reparations were used to clear the towers and to consolidate the walls but the ruins of the keep were left in place.
One of its lords, Enguerrand VII (1340–1397) is the subject of historian Barbara Tuchman's study of the fourteenth century, A Distant Mirror. It also features extensively in British author Anthony Price's 1982 crime/espionage novel The Old Vengeful.
Château de Coucy has been listed as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture since 1862, and is managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux.


The Château de Coucy is a French castle in the commune of Coucy-le-Château-Auffrique, in Picardy, built in the 13th century and renovated by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century.
During its heyday, it was famous for the size of its central tower and the pride of its lords, who adopted the staunchly independent rhyme: roi ne suis, ne prince ne duc ne comte aussi; Je suis le sire de Coucy ("I am not king, nor prince nor duke nor count; I am the Lord of Coucy").


Devín castle is one of the oldest castles in Slovakia. The castle was likely first mentioned in written sources in 864, when Louis the German besieged Prince Rastislav in one of the frequent wars between the Franks and Great Moravia respectively in the "castle of Dowina". On the other hand, the identification of Dowina with Devín Castle has been under debate based on alleged linguistic arguments and the absence of convincing archaeologic evidence.
During the Great Moravian period, Devín was the center of a larger agglomeration. Its defensive role was enstrengthened by smaller hill forts on Devínska Kobyla (Na pieskach, Nad lomom). A pre-romanesque church was built on the castle approximately between 850 and 863/870.
Its rare style is closest to churches from the Dalmatia and Noricum, from the areas with a persisting tradition of late antique and Byzantine architecture.  The interior of the church was decorated with frescoes painted by colors originated (according to chemical analysis) in northern Italy. Two styluses discovered by later research can indicate administrative or education work of the local priests. Along with other artifacts, six graves dated to the Great Moravian era were found near the church  and are attributed to members of a retinue of the local ruler and their family members.
In the 13th century, a stone castle was built to protect the western frontier of the Hungarian Kingdom whose existence was documented in 1271, and a reference to a castelanus de Devin appeared in 1326. Between 1301 and 1323, the castle (together with Bratislava/Pressburg County) was held by the Dukes of Austria who granted it to Otto von Tellesbrunn. In 1323, the dukes transferred Pozsony County back to King Charles I of Hungary and Devín Castle became the possession of the heads (ispáns) of the county. In 1385, the castle was occupied by Margrave Jobst of Moravia who held it until 1390 when King Sigismund of Hungary redeemed it and gave it to duke Stibor of Stiboricz. After that, the king mortgaged Devín Castle to an Austrian knight, Lessel Hering who transferred the castle to Nicholas II Garay (the Palatine of the Kingdom) in 1414. Around 1444, King Frederick IV of Germany occupied the castle but he granted it to Ladislaus Garai already in 1450.
The palace was added in the 15th century. The fortifications were reinforced during the wars against the Ottoman Empire. The Castle was never taken, but after the Hungarian Kingdom joined the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottomans were finally defeated, it ceased to be an important border fortress and was no longer used by the military. Stephen Báthory got the castle by the king as a donation. But according to Stephen Báthory was Keglević the owner of the castle. Keglević pawned the castle for 40,000 guilders to the Palocsai family and spent the money. In 1609, Matthias II confirmed that Keglević still was the owner of the castle, but Keglević did not have the money to take the castle out of pledge from the Palocsai family. Nearly 100 years later in 1635 Palatine Pál Pálffy took the castle out of pledge from the Palocsai family. The last owners of the Devín Castle were the Counts of the Pálffy family. Only in 1809, after the Siege of Pressburg, the castle was (which may have still been considered a threat) destroyed by the retreating forces of Napoleon I of France. Napoleon and Leopold Pálffy negotiated then and they both agreed that Vienna is supplied with products by Pálffy.
Since the 19th century as its history inspired several Romantic poets, followers of Ľudovít Štúr, Devín has become an important national symbol for the Slovaks. It featured both on the reverse of the former 500 Czechoslovak koruna banknote and the 50 Halierov coin of the Slovak currency.

The Hungarians regarded it as the western gateway of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian poet Endre Ady used it as a symbol of modernism and Westernization in his poem I am the Son of Gog and Magog:
By Verecke's ancient route I came,
In my ear ancient Magyar songs still blaze,
Am I free to break through at Dévény,
With modern songs fit for modern days?
— Endre Ady: I am the Son of Gog and Magog
Some parts of the castle have been reconstructed in the 20th century and the castle hosts an interesting museum.  Archaeological works at the site have revealed the remains of a Roman tower dating from the 1st century AD and evidence of a prehistoric settlement.


Halshany or Holszany Castle (Belarusian: Гальшанскі замак, Lithuanian: Alšėnų pilis, Polish: Zamek holszański) is the ruined residence of the Sapieha magnate family in Halshany, Hrodna Voblast, Belarus. It used to be the seat of one of the largest land estates in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The current structure was built about 1610 by Paweł Stefan Sapieha to replace an older castle of the Holszanski princely family, of whom Sapiehas were descendants and heirs.
Also known as the Black Castle (although it is built of red brick), the residence formerly rivaled Mir Castle as the most elegant private château of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The name Black Castle in fact originally applies to a fictional building from a book by Uladzimir Karatkievich, which was loosely based on Halshany Castle.
The castle and the surrounding estates were devastated, robbed and looted, twice:  by the invading Swedes troops  during the Deluge (history) and during the Great Northern War in 1704.  Due to financial stress experienced by the Sapiehas in the wake of the Domestic War and ongoing Great Northern War, the castle had never been fully restored.
Later during the 18th century the castle with its estate diminished by creditors passed to the Żaba family, to be sold to the Korsak family with the estate further diminished by the creditors. The last Polish landlords. the Korsaks, sold, in the last quarter of the 19th century, the castle to a Russian landlord, Gorbanyov, who  had the castles' towers pulled down in 1880, but in 1880s, according to the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland,  there were still 2 floors occupied with some of the wall paintings visible.
In 2018 the government-funded restoration of the northern tower started.
An annual tournament is held near its walls each summer.


Castelo de Palmela is a castle in Portugal. It is classified as a National Monument.
The Castelo de Palmela is located in the village, parish and county of the same name, district of Setúbal, in Portugal .
In Setúbal Peninsula, in the east side of the Arrábida mountain range, it is situated between the estuaries of the River Tagus and Sado River, near the mouth of the latter. It is part of the Costa Azul, in Arrábida Natural Park.


The early human occupation of the region dates back to prehistory, particularly the Neolithic period, according to the abundant archaeological testimony. Some scholars point to date of 310 BC for the founding of a settlement on the current location, fortified at the time of Romanization of the Iberian peninsula in 106, by a Praetor of Lusitania, named Áulio Cornelius (or Áulio Cornelius Palma). Modern archaeological research proves, however, that the subsequent occupation of this site was uninterrupted, initially by the Visigoths and later the Muslims, the latter responsible for the primitive fortification between the eighth century and the ninth, greatly expanded between the tenth century and the 12th.


Today the castle is in the hands of the non-profit organisation Združenie na záchranu Lietavského hradu, which takes care of the castle and oversees its conservation. It can be accessed along a blue waymarked trail from the village of Lietava, a walk that takes about thirty minutes. It is one of the most-visited castles in the country.


Barr Castle is a late medieval tower house. It can be seen today as a ruin on a low ridge to the south of the village of Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, Scotland.


Barr Castle was built by the Glen family.  On the death of Alexander Glen in April 1629, the castle passed to the Hamiltons of Ferguslie.


The castle of Leiria was built by D. Afonso Henriques for the purpose of creating a line of defense against the Arabs. In 1142 he reinforced the defense of the castle after regaining Leiria. D. Sancho I ordered erection of the walls of the castle in 1195. In 1324 D. Dinis ordered construction of the keep (Tower of Menagem) which was completed only during the reign of D. Afonso IV. In the early 16th century D. Manuel ordered a sacristy to be built between the main chapel and the bell tower.
Throughout the centuries the castle gradually lost its military value. It was badly damaged during the French invasion. At the end of the 19th century restoration of the castle started in 1915 by the initiative of Liga dos Amigos do Castelo. The restoration project was directed by Ernesto Korrodi between 1921 and 1933, and then by Baltazar de Vastro.
The castle hosted important events as the meetings of the first courts called by D. Afonso III; became the residence of D. Denis and Queen Elizabeth; transformed into a meeting venue for the new court in the reign of D. Ferdinand I and the marriage of D. João I’s son D. Afonso was celebrated in this castle as well.
It has been listed as a National monument since 1910.
The castle was damaged by the 1969 earthquake.


Izushi Castle (出石城, Izushi-jō) is a yamashiro, or castle situated on a hill, located in Izushi, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.


In 1979, the Tojomon (Tojo gate) and the Nishisumiyagura in the honmaru were re-built. Besides these reconstructions, only the castle's ruins still remain, though the city of Izushi retains its grid layout which was arranged for militatry purposes around the castle. A shrine is sited within the ruins, with 37 torii and 157 stone steps leading up to it. On the remains of the mihariyagura stands the Shinkoro, a traditional Japanese wooden clock tower. Following the Meiji Restoration, a western-style clock was installed in it. It is seen as the symbol of the town.


For more than 200 years the Yamana Family resided at Konosumi Castle. In 1569 the castle fell to attacks by Oda Nobunaga's successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After the fall of Konosumi Castle, Yamana Suketoyo built another at Mt. Ariko to the Southeast, but it too fell to Hideyoshi in 1580. In 1604 Koide Yoshihide built Izushi castle at the base of Mt. Ariko.
In 1979 a corner yagura in the Honmaru and the Tojomon were rebuilt. On the castle grounds you'll also find a small shrine. The bright red Torii gate makes a nice contrast with the castle walls. Izushi Castle is a well known spot in the spring for viewing cherry blossoms. On November 3 they have a castle festival with a mock sankin kotai presentation.
Izushi Castle itself is small with no one particular sightseeing point. However, the castle town is a calm, quiet town with old samurai homes and shops that remind you of the Edo Period. Rice fields and nature spread out around the town. Izushisara Soba is a tasty local dish. Have some soba while watching the view of the town and let your imagination slip back into the Edo Period. On weekends, the town tends to swell with tourists. It provides a nice small trip.


Built during the early 18th century, the castle's main building was completed in 1728. The furnishings, equipment, furniture, remained for several decades until the castle was finally handed over to its use.
Built in 1840, the Fürstlich Waldecksche Hofbibliothek (Princely Waldeck Court Library) today contains virtually all literature of the 18th century in relevant fields of knowledge. The collection focuses on the Universal geography, history, literature, and militaria.
In 1992, Jeff Koons created a 13-metre tall topiary sculpture called the Puppy to be displayed at the castle's park.


Arolsen Castle (German: Residenzschloss Arolsen) is a baroque-style schloss in Bad Arolsen, Hesse, Germany. The castle is now a museum, and is still inhabited by Wittekind, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and his family.
As a result, it continues to serve as a residence of the former ruling family of the Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont. It was the birthplace of Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, who became the Queen consort of the Netherlands during the late 19th century.


The Château de Lunéville, which had belonged to the Dukes of Lorraine since the thirteenth century, was rebuilt as “the Versailles of Lorraine” by Duke Léopold from  1703 to 1723, from designs of Pierre Bourdict and Nicolas Dorbay and then of the architect Germain Boffrand, whose masterwork it became. It became the home of King Stanisław Leszczyński, last duke of Lorraine and Bar.
Lunéville was listed as a Monument historique in 1901 and by successive ordinances; its princely apartments are looked after by the Ministry of Defence while the structure is the responsibility of the Conseil départemental de Meurthe-et-Moselle.
On the night of 2 to 3 January 2003, a fire broke out that ravaged the château to the extent that the plaster vault of the chapelle royale collapsed. Passing through the attics, the fire destroyed the roof over much of the structure. The restoration of the building and its decors is under way.


The ruined Kudryntsi Castle (Ukrainian: Кудринецький замок, Kudrynets'kyi zamok, Polish: Zamek w Kudryńcach) is perched on a hilltop overlooking the Zbruch River in Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine, 25 km west of a larger fortress in Kamianets-Podilskyi. It was built in the early 17th century by Jan Szczęsny Herburt and throughout the ensuing century was subjected to repeated sieges by the Cossacks and the Turks. By the 19th century, some portions of the walls had crumbled away, and the structure was abandoned to its fate.


The antiquarian William Camden claimed a castle was constructed at Dudley about the year 700 by a Mercian duke named Dodo or Doddo  and some subsequent histories and articles repeated this claim. However, this assertion is not taken seriously by today's historians, who usually date the castle from soon after the Norman Conquest of 1066. It is thought one of the Conqueror's followers, Ansculf de Picquigny, built the first castle in 1070.  The Domesday Book records that Ansculf's son, William Fitz-Ansculf, was in possession of the castle when it was recorded at the time of the survey of 1086. The first line of the Domesday entry for Dudley translates as: "the said William held Dudley; and there is his castle". Some of the earthworks from this castle, notably the "motte", the vast mound on which the present castle keep now sits, still remain. However the earliest castle would have been of wooden construction and no longer exists.
After Fitz-Ansculf, the castle came into the possession of the Paganel family, who built the first stone castle on the site. This castle was strong enough to withstand a siege in 1138 by the forces of King Stephen. However, after Gervase Paganel joined a failed rebellion against King Henry II in 1173 the castle was demolished (slighted) by order of the king. According to historian Sidney Painter, it was one of at least 21 castles demolished on Henry II's instructions. The Somery's were the next dynasty to own the site when Ralph de Somery I succeeded his uncle, Gervase Paganel in 1194.  Roger de Somery II set about rebuilding the castle in 1262. The castle was far from complete on the death of Roger de Somery II in 1272 and construction carried on from this time into the 14th century by Roger's heirs. The keep (the most obvious part of the castle when viewed from the town) and the main gate date from this re-building.
The last of the male line of Somery, John Somery, died in 1321. It is thought that the fortifications were complete by this date.  The castle and estates passed to John Somery's sister Margaret and her husband John de Sutton. Subsequently, members of this family often used Dudley as a surname. John and Margaret were only in possession of the castle for a few years before the property was seized by the younger Hugh Despenser, a favourite of King Edward II. Despenser owned the castle from 1325-1326, being dispossessed when the king fell from power. The castle was returned to John and Margaret in 1327. It was probably during the time of John and Margaret's son and successor John Sutton II that a chapel and great chamber were added within the castle walls. Following the death of John Sutton II, the castle passed to his wife, Isabel, daughter of John de Cherleton who held it until her death in 1397.


Dudley Castle is a ruined fortification in the town of Dudley, West Midlands, England. Originally a wooden motte and bailey castle built soon after the Norman Conquest, it was rebuilt as a stone fortification during the twelfth century but subsequently demolished on the orders of King Henry II. Rebuilding of the castle took place from the second half of the thirteenth century and culminated in the construction of a range of buildings within the fortifications by John Dudley. The fortifications were slighted by order of Parliament during the English Civil War and the residential buildings destroyed by fire in 1750. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century the site was used for fêtes and pageants. Today Dudley Zoo is located on its grounds.
Its location, Castle Hill, is an outcrop of Wenlock Group limestone that was extensively quarried during the Industrial Revolution and which now, along with Wren's Nest Hill, is a scheduled monument of the best surviving remains of the limestone industry in Dudley. It is also a Grade I listed building. Localised structural problems lead to it being placed on Historic England's Heritage at Risk register in 2020.
The Dudley Tunnel runs beneath Castle Hill, but not the castle itself.


In 1532 another John Sutton inherited the castle but after having money problems was ousted by a relative, John Dudley, later Duke of Northumberland, in 1537. John Dudley was the great-grandson of John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley and had risen to prominence during the reign of King Henry VIII. Starting around 1540, a range of new buildings were erected within the older castle walls by him. The architect was William Sharington and the buildings are thus usually referred to as Sharington Range. According to Historic England, the Sharrington Range represents "one of the earliest known examples of the influence of the Italian Renaissance on the secular architecture of the West Midlands." John Dudley was executed in 1553 for his attempt to set Lady Jane Grey on the throne of England.
The castle was returned to the Sutton family by Queen Mary, ownership being given to Edward Sutton. The castle was visited by Queen Elizabeth I in August 1575 and was considered as a possible place of imprisonment for Mary, Queen of Scots. However, the Sutton family were not destined to hold the castle for much longer and Edward Sutton's son, Edward Sutton III was the last of the male line to possess the property. In 1592, this Edward sent men to raid the property of Gilbert Lyttelton, carrying away cattle which were impounded in the Castle grounds. Financial difficulties continued to mount, however, until Edward Sutton III solved the problem by marrying his granddaughter and heir, Frances Sutton, to Humble Ward, the son of a wealthy merchant.


The castle visitor centre was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in June 1994, and amongst other exhibits housed a computer generated reconstruction of the castle as it was in 1550, displayed through hardware that demonstrated the first use of the virtual tour concept, prior to its widespread adoption as a Web-based browser utility. More details of how Her Majesty became the first Royal to experience a virtual world here.


Tretower Castle (Welsh: Castell Tretŵr) is a Grade I-listed ruined castle in the village of Tretower in the county of Powys, Wales. It was built around the beginning of the twelfth century as a motte and bailey castle and this was probably replaced mid-century by a stone shell keep. The castle was enlarged in the early thirteenth century, but later fell into ruin.


WikiWeb_Palace of the Kings of Navarre, Estella_0

The Palacio de los Reyes de Navarra (Basque: Nafarroako Erregeen jauregia), also called the Palacio de los Duques de Granada de Ega, is a historical building in Estella, Navarre, Spain; it is the Romanesque former royal palace of the Kings and Queens of Navarre from the late 12th century to the mid-15th. In the twentieth century the building, which had fallen into disrepair, was restored and in 1991 converted into the Museo Gustavo de Maeztu (Basque: Gustavo de Maeztu Museoa), housing the work of the painter Gustavo de Maeztu y Whitney and open to the public. The building is important in the history of architecture in Navarre, since it is the only civil building extant from the Romanesque period. In 1931, it was declared a national monument by the Spanish government.


The Château de Sully, situated between Autun and Beaune (Saône-et-Loire), is the largest of the Renaissance châteaux of southern Burgundy. Paired outbuildings of a more vernacular character face each other across a grassed forecourt, while to the rear is the vegetable garden, fenced by fruit trees. The château is approached by an axial stone bridge across its moat. The façades express the traditionally defensive character of the rez-de-chaussée, the ground floor, and the richer, more open aspect of the piano nobile, articulated by pilasters. Under the central pediment that breaks the line of a traditional sloping slate roof, the arched portal is scaled to admit riders and carriages. Four similarly-treated ranges, flanked by matching angled corner towers with pyramidal roofs and surrounded by the moat, enclose a Renaissance courtyard built for the Maréchal de Saulx-Tavanes, confidante of Catherine de' Medici.
The splendor of the interior courtyard shows that this château, though symmetrical and regular, still looks inwards. A rusticated ground floor with arch-headed windows supports  a main floor where paired pilaster-defined bays that alternate between windows and coved niches.
The historic chateau of the MacMahon family, from the marriage of the heiress Charlotte de Morey, with Jean-Baptiste de MacMahon, Sully was the birthplace of the monarchist Field Marshal, Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta, who was President of the French Third Republic from 1873 to 1879. The Château de Sully remains the home of the present duchesse de Magenta and her family.
The château of Henri IV's minister, Maximilien de Béthune and the ducs de Sully, is the Château de Sully-sur-Loire.


Rhuddlan was planned as a concentric castle. It has a unique 'diamond' in layout as the gatehouses are positioned at the corners of the square baileys instead of along the sides like at Flint, Harlech or Beaumaris.  Records of construction costs show that it was the major piece of building work being carried out by the English during the late 1270s.
The inner ward has defensive walls with twin-tower gatehouses. The outer ward is surrounded by a curtain wall that has small towers and turrets. According to Thomas Pennant, who passed through the town on his travels in the 18th century, one of the towers is named "Twr-y-Silod" ("Grain Tower"), and another "Twr-y-Brenin" ("The King's Tower").The castle had a three-sided moat, with the River Clwyd protecting its fourth side. Within the inner ward there was a great hall, kitchens, private apartments and a chapel. The outer bailey had a granary, stables and a smithy.
Rhuddlan is next to the River Clwyd. During the fortification's lengthy construction, the river course was straightened and dredged to allow ships to sail inland along a man-made channel. Its purpose was to allow provisions and troops to reach the castle even if hostile forces or a siege prevented overland travel.
A further protective earthwork and timber structure was created around it in 1280–82. The castle was completed prior to the rebellion of Llywelyn the Last in 1282.


Rhuddlan Castle is managed by Cadw, a Welsh-government body with the mission to protect, conserve and promote the building heritage of Wales.


The founder of the Castle was the castellan of Czchów and Sandomierz Mikołaj Spytek Ligęza. The land was partially owned Rzeszów's Elżbieta Komarnicka, widow of Adam Rzeszowski. The rest of the nearby lands were owned by Elżbieta's sisters - Katarzyna and Zofia.


Aggsbach Charterhouse is a former Carthusian monastery in Aggsbach Dorf in Schönbühel-Aggsbach in Lower Austria.
The monastery was founded in 1380 by Heidenreich von Maissau. It was dissolved in 1782 in the reforms of Emperor Joseph II. The premises were mostly converted for use as a castle, except for a few portions which were incorporated into the parish priest's farm. The monks' cells and the cloister were demolished.
The Carthusian church, with the addition of a tower, remains as the parish church.


WikiWeb_Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Miechów_0

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Polish: Bazylika Grobu Bożego) in Miechów, Poland, is a 14th-century Gothic basilica, with a nave and two aisles, incorporating some 13th-century Romanesque stonework. It received many privileges from Casimir of Bytom.
Damaged by a fire, it was rebuilt in the late-Baroque style in the second half of the 18th century.
The premise has been associated with the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre.


The church, in Gothic Revival (Early English) style, is built of flint with Bath Stone dressings.  The chancel has north and south chapels or transepts, while the nave has four bays with aisles and clerestory, and a porch to the north.  The tower, with broach spire, gargoyles, buttresses and three tiers of lucarnes, is 160 feet (48.8 m) high and forms a prominent landmark.


In 1863, William Nicholson of the firm of J&W Nicholson & Co, gin distillers, bought the nearby estate of Basing Park.  Many of the buildings in Privett (now a conservation area) were built by him for workers on his estate, and the Church of the Holy Trinity was also built at his expense.  It was designed by Sir A W Blomfield and built between 1876 and 1878. A Chapel of the Holy Trinity at Privett was first recorded in 1391, but any remaining evidence of it disappeared when the present church was built on the same site.  The size of the new church far outstripped the requirements of the small rural parish, and it eventually became redundant in the 1970s.


The Church of the Holy Trinity, Privett, is a redundant Anglican church in the parish of Froxfield, Hampshire. It  is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.


The nave has four-bay arcades, a lofty tower arch, a square font on pillars with stiff-leaf carving, a round stone pulpit and an intricate wrought iron lectern.  The chancel is sumptuously appointed with a mosaic floor, sedilia and reredos with arcading.


WikiWeb_Church of St Peter and St Paul, Blockley_1

The Church of England parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul is late Norman, built in about 1180. The chancel is of three bays but only one of the six Norman lancet windows, that at the east end of the north wall, survives unaltered. At the end of the 13th century a two-storey extension was added on the north side of the chancel. The upper floor is a chantry chapel  and the lower is a vestry. In about 1310 the east window of the chancel was inserted and at least two of the windows in the south wall of the chancel were enlarged in the Decorated Gothic style. At the end of the 14th century the north aisle was added, linked with the nave by an arcade of four bays. The large Perpendicular Gothic window in the middle of the south wall of the chancel was inserted in the 15th century, replacing the Norman original.
The south porch was added in 1630, the clerestorey was added to the nave in 1636 and the north arcade was probably rebuilt in the same century. The bell tower was built in 1725, probably replacing an earlier one. The west gallery was inserted in 1735. The church was restored and the north porch added in 1871. By 1854 the tower had a ring of six bells, of which the two oldest were cast in 1638 and the remainder in 1679, 1683, 1729 and 1854. The bells were increased to a ring of eight, and in 2016 an appeal was launched to replace the bell frame and to increase the number of bells to ten.


WikiWeb_Church of St Peter and St Paul, Blockley_0

The Church of St Peter and St Paul is a Church of England parish church in Blockley, Gloucestershire, England. The church is a Grade II* listed building.


The Martinikerk (also Sint Martinuskerk or Hervormde kerk) is a church in Doesburg, Netherlands. The church's tower is the eighth tallest in the Netherlands at 94 metres (308 ft).


WikiWeb_Iglesia de Santiago (Benicalaf)_0

The Church of Saint James (Spanish, Iglesia de Santiago; Catalan, Església de Sant Jaume) is a former parish church in Spain. It is the only remaining building in Benicalaf, a formerly-populated village in the municipality of Benavites, in the comarca of Camp de Morvedre, Valencian Community. Constructed in the 19th century, it has been declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (46.12.052-003).
The church was built in 1856. By 1900, the parish was uninhabited and the building lost its standing as a church in 1901. During the 20th century, it was used as a warehouse and stockyard. Designed in the mannerist style, it is a rectangular building with a single nave divided into three sections. It has side chapels framed by half-point arches. The nave contains a barrel vault with lunettes and arches in the three sections. The vault is decorated with frescoes depicting the Eucharist, the Immaculate Concepcion, the Holy Trinity and the Apostles. The facade is covered with plaster and simulated stone blocks, which are painted. The belfry contains three arches.


San Giacomo in Augusta (also known as San Giacomo degli Incurabili) is a Baroque church in Rome, Italy. It was the church of the Hospital of San Giacomo degli Incurabili.


A church at the location was founded along with a hospital by Cardinal Giovanni Colonna  in 1339. By 1515, the hospital was in a state of abandon but within a few decades reopened under the supervision of two religious orders with the aim of curing those affected by syphilis. Pope Nicholas V placed it under the control of the Company of Santa Maria del Popolo. This order was under the patronage of the Florentine Cardinal Antonio Maria Salviati who commissioned the reconstruction of the church. The church was built from 1592 by a Francesco da Volterra and completed after his death 1694-1609 by Carlo Maderno.


WikiWeb_Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Krzeszów_0

Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Krzeszów (Polish: Bazylika Wniebowzięcia NMP w Krzeszowie is a Roman Catholic church and abbey of the Order of Saint Benedict in Krzeszów, Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Built around 1728–1735, it is a notable baroque church in Silesia, with the art of Ferdinand Brokoff (sculptor) and Michael Willmann (painter). It is also one of the shrines to the Virgin Mary, with a 13th old painting. In one of the chapels there is a mausoleum to Silesian Piasts: Bolko I the Strict and Bolko II the Small.
It is a basilica since 1998.


WikiWeb_Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption, Neuchâtel_0

The Roman Catholic Our Lady of Assumption Church, also known as the Red Church, stands in the Swiss city of Neuchâtel in the diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Freiburg. The Neo-Gothic church was planned by Guillaume Ritter and consecrated on March 25, 1906. After a major renovation between 1984 and 2000, it was recognized in 1986 as a national monument. In 2007 Pope Benedict XVI raised the church's status to that of basilica minor.
The building is constructed of artificial stone, made on site and tinted to obtain the reddish appearance of Alsace sandstone. The interior has three aisles and a transept. In addition to 14 large paintings representing the Stations of the Cross, five choir windows and a large rosette, the vaulted roof is designed to represent the night sky with almost 10,000 stars. In 1937 a new high altar by the architect Fernand Dumas de Romont was created whose centrepiece is a calvary by Marcel Feuillat. In 1933, three large bells, named Maria-Josepha, Faith and Charity, replaced the three smaller ones dating from 1912.
Apart from serving the spiritual needs of 62,000 Neuchâtel Catholics, the basilica is also the most important pilgrimage church in the canton.
The Swiss theologian and mystic Maurice Zundel is buried in the church.


The Barnovschi Church (Romanian: Biserica Barnovschi) is a Romanian Orthodox church located at 26 Ghica Vodă Street in Iași, Romania. It is dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God and to Saints Joachim and Anna.


WikiWeb_Church of Our Lord (Victoria, British Columbia)_0

The Church of Our Lord, built in 1866-1870 and is located at 626 Blanshard Street in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, is an historic Carpenter Gothic church that is designated as a National Historic Site of Canada. It has been affiliated with the Reformed Episcopal Church since its beginning, which became a member of the Anglican Church in North America, upon its creation in 2009.


The church has a long history although most of the visible building is more recent. The church began as a chapel dedicated to St Mary which was erected in 1483 and dedicated in 1487. (From the twelfth century South Leith had been part of the parish of Restalrig and had no church of its own.) As part of the dedication King James III of Scotland gave 18 shillings to the kirk. The church was originally a large one, witb nave, chancel, crossing and transepts. The present building is a reconstruction of just the nave of the original church. The eastern parts of the church were probably destroyed during the siege of Leith in 1560.
In 1544 the church was used as a refuge for people displaced by the fighting when the English attacked Leith as part of the Rough Wooing when the English attacked Scotland to try to encourage a marriage between the infant Mary, Queen of Scots and the English prince. Refuge was required as Henry VIII of England had ordered that Leith should be burnt. In the following year the Protestant martyr, George Wishart preached at the church and John Knox is thought to have been amongst those who came to listen. In 1547 the church was again involved in the struggle between the invading English and the Scots when the English used the church as a makeshift prison for Scottish nobles.
In 1559, Mary of Guise, the regent of Scotland, worshipped at this church. Her coat of arms is displayed in the entrance of the church today. Mary had fortified the town and she was in Leith being guarded by the thousands of French troops stationed here.


South Leith Parish Church, originally the Kirk of Our Lady, St Mary, is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. It is the principal church and congregation in Leith, in Edinburgh. Its kirkyard is the burial place for John Home (author of Douglas) and John Pew, the man from whom the author Robert Louis Stevenson reputedly derived the character of Blind Pew in the novel Treasure Island. The church has been repaired, used as an ammunition store and reconstructed but still retains the basic layout of the nave of the old church.


In 1766 the new minister was Henry Hunter who went on to publish sermons and translate the work of leading French scientists.
From 1824 until 1843 the minister was Rev James Grant (1800-1890) who came to later fame as the longest serving Director of Scottish Widows (1840 to 1890) and served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1854.
During his ministry, in 1836 the central steeple that had stood since 1615 was dismantled. William Burn reported that this was essential as the steeple rested on the original west wall whilst the other newer walls had sunk and caused the tower to lean.
The Disruption of 1843 caused an inevitable loss of congregation. However the church recovered and reconstruction and restoration of the building took place 1847–48. The architect was Thomas Hamilton. The layout of the old church was retained, and the nave arcade and the lower part of the aisle walls are original. The aisle roofs were lowered, and the tracery of the windows replaced. A new square tower was built at the NW. Inside there is a magnificent hammerbeam nave roof said to be based on St Isaac's in St Petersburg. The west window was salvaged and re-used at St Conan’s Kirk. The church is a category A listed building.
The reconstruction was criticised both at the time and later. Daniel Wilson writing in 1847 wrote that the architect "with the perverse ingenuity of modern restorers, preserved only the more recent and least attractive portions of the venerable edifice. As some slight atonement for this, the removal of the high-pitched roof of the side aisles has brought to light a range of very neat square-headed clerestory windows, which had remained concealed for upwards of two centuries, and which it is fortunately intended to retain in the restoration of the building". It was not to be. The clerestory windows were replaced with traceried Gothic windows. In 1925 William Swan, minister of the church, remarked that in 1846 "unfortunately it was determined to restore the fabric by rebuilding large portions of it. I say deliberately unfortunately because had they left it alone for another quarter of a century, a period would have been reached when the art of church restoration had come to be historically and artistically understood."
In 1915 over 200 soldiers were killed and a similar number seriously injured in the Quintinshill rail disaster at Gretna. The soldiers were from the 1st/7th Battalion, The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) which was a Territorial Battalion before World War I. The majority of the soldiers were recruited from Leith, with others recruited from nearby Musselburgh and Portobello. The Colours of this Battalion are still kept at the church in memory of the loss to the community. The soldiers are buried in Rosebank Cemetery in nearby Pilrig.


The church of the Holy Spirit (Italian: Chiesa dello Spirito Santo) is a Norman church in Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy. The church is located within the boundaries of Sant'Orsola cemetery.


On 15 May 1826 the south tower of the church collapsed – Karl Friedrich Schinkel's rebuild completely walled off a Gothic display wall from the 13th century, which was only rediscovered during repairs in the 1990s. Schinkel entrusted his scheme to his pupil Emil Flaminius, although it did not include rebuilding the lost south tower. The church was ruined during the destruction of downtown Frankfurt in April 1945 and partially collapsed. Its sacristy and Martyrchor (Martyrs' choir) were rebuilt and the nave altar brought back into use by the parish using its own funds in 1958, but the limited heating meant services could only occur in the summer. The city council and the church signed a 99-year lease on 27 September 1974 so that it could continue using the church, with the city taking over restoration and rebuilding of the ruins for general civic purposes. This began in 1979, restoring the sacristy, and continued in 1990. The main roofs over the chancel and nave were rebuilt in 1998. Reconstruction concluded with the restoration of the original coloured façade of the north tower after colour pigments were discovered on it. Since 1980 its church furniture have been in the Sankt-Gertraud-Kirche – these include the 1489 Marienaltar, its late 14th century bronze font and bronze candlesticks and many tomb monuments and inscriptions.
The church was equipped with a 38,000 euro fire protection system in 2002.  In May 2006, the road in front of the west door was repaved – historic granite stones from the civil engineering department's store and some donors' stones (each costing 75 Euros, of which 50 Euros went to the restoration fund and 25 Euros to producing the stone) were used for this purpose.


It was first built in 1253, just after the foundation of the city, and was one of the earliest examples of a gallery in the architecture of the Margraviate of Brandenburg. An ambulatory hall was built to replace the original choir and a polygonal entrance hall with a sandstone entrance arch built onto the north transept, both between 1360 and 1370. The nave was expanded as a five-bayed construction in the 15th century with painted ceilings in the side bays and a 14-storey new tower façade built around 1450. An eight-pointed cupola was added to the north tower and a crenellated edge to the south tower. On the establishment of the Viadrina University a new galleried sacristy was built between 1521 and 1522 – this was the last major expansion of the building, which is now 77 metres long and 25 metres wide, making it one of the largest Brick Gothic buildings in Germany.


The Marienkirche is a Protestant church in Frankfurt (Oder) in Germany. It was formerly the city's main parish church and was built over more than 250 years, during the Middle Ages.


The Temple du Change or Loge du Change, formerly used for the stock exchange of Lyon, stands in Vieux Lyon (5th arrondissement of Lyon). It was originally built after plans by architect Simon Gourdet between 1631 and 1653, then rebuilt under the direction of Jacques-Germain Soufflot in 1748–1750. It has been assigned to Protestant worship since 1803, hence its designation Temple. As part of Vieux Lyon, the building was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with other districts in the historic centre of Lyon.


WikiWeb_Saline First Presbyterian Church_1

In 1831, soon after the opening of the Erie Canal, a group of twelve Presbyterian families from Newark, New York pulled up stakes and headed westward to Detroit. The families settled in the area around what is now Saline, and immediately began holding church services.  For a decade, these services were held in private homes, schools, or other meeting places; finally, in 1842, the Presbyterian congregation constructed a frame church on the site where the present church is located.  This early church served the congregation until 1898, when the current church was constructed.  The congregation hired Detroit architects Frederick H. Spier and William C. Rohns to design the church, and local contractor Conrad Schaffer and Son to build it.  The structure and interior furnishings cost a total of $5,981.
New porches and steps were constructed in 1954, using stones quarried from the same location as the original stones were. In the mid-1970s, the building was extensively renovated both inside and out. The sanctuary was renovated and restored in 1998, and is still used for services.


WikiWeb_Notre-Dame-de-la-Visitation Church (Champlain, Quebec)_1

The church was built in 1878-1879 by the Princeville architect and entrepreneur Gédéon Leblanc (1832-1905). Its first service was held on 9 October 1879. It is 42 by 20.4 metres (138 by 67 feet) and its vault is 16 m (52 ft) high, while the bell towers are 53.6 m (176 ft) high. Its exterior was inspired by Saint-Stanislas, parish church of the neighbouring parish. The interior was completed in 1881 to designs by the architect Jean-Baptiste Bourgeois, known as Louis-Joseph Bourgeois (1856-1930), then aged 25. This was then totally covered in trompe-l’œil frescoes by François-Xavier-Édouard Meloche in 1882–1883, his first major work.
The parish was founded in 1664 and had three previous church buildings, whose fittings are now in the present church, including the oldest paintings in Quebec (dating to before 1687), the oldest wooden sanctuary lamp in Quebec (before 1687), the oldest sculpture (pre-1687), the oldest engraving (late 17th century) and works by major painters such as Claude François (1687), Noël-Nicolas Coypel (1714), William Berczy (1810), François Normand (1813) and Louis-Philippe Hébert (1882).
Since 1998, the church has been open to the public under the stewardship of the ‘Committee for the conservation and restoration of the church of Champlain’.


WikiWeb_Church of Santo Adriano de Tuñón_0

The Church of Santo Adriano de Tuñón (Spanish: Iglesia de Santo Adriano de Tuñón) is a Roman Catholic Pre-Romanesque church in the village of Tuñón, Asturias, Spain dedicated to Saint Adrian.
The church is located on the bank of the River Trubia, next to an old Roman road. Founded on January 24, 891, by Alfonso III of Asturias and his wife  Jimena of Navarra as a monastery church, it went through large transformations at the beginnings of the 12th century. It was declared a Spanish national monument in June 1931.


WikiWeb_Church of St John the Baptist, Biddisham_0

The Anglican Church of St John The Baptist in Biddisham within the parish of Badgeworth, Somerset, England was built in the 13th century. It is a Grade II* listed building.


WikiWeb_Church of St John the Baptist, Biddisham_2

The stone church has a two-bay chancel and nave. The two-stage tower has a parapet.
The interior has a 12th century rectangular font. It has a scalloped bowl lined with lead.
The churchyard cross which dates from the late 14th century is also Grade II* listed. The original two-step base and part of the polygonal shaft are still present, however the head of the cross is missing.


WikiWeb_Church of St John the Baptist, Biddisham_1

Following its original construction in the 13th century, on the site of an earlier two-cell church,  parts of the church were rebuilt in the `15th. It underwent extensive Victorian restoration around 1860.
The Crook Peak parish and benefice are within the Diocese of Bath and Wells.


The Trinity Church (Swedish: Trefaldighetskyrkan, alternate, "German Church") is located at Karlskrona in Blekinge,  Sweden. Along with the Karlskrona Admiralty Church (Amiralitetskyrkan), the church is situated in the main square, (Stortorget), at the center of the island of Trossö.
The church was built in Baroque architecture for the town's German-speaking  population. The first foundation stone was set in 1697. The church was inaugurated on June 27, 1709.  The church was designed by  architect  Nicodemus Tessin the Younger 1654–1728). The structure includes a domed rotunda. At the time of the citywide fire in Karlskrona in 1790 the church burned and  only the walls remained. The church was rebuilt after the original drawings.
After the fire in 1790, only the severely damaged outer walls remained. In 1791, architect Olof Tempelman (1745-1816) was commissioned to draw up proposals for the reconstruction of the church. His simplification of architectural details for the exterior of the church resulted in a building  with Neoclassical architecture style. In 1802, the church was re-inauguration. In 1814, the church  interior was completed. The principal responsible for this work was Admiralty sculptor Johan Törnström (1743-1828). Most notably he created both the altarpiece and pulpit for the Church.
The church was listed as part of the Naval Port of Karlskrona on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.


Building of All Saints' Church was begun in 1852 for the Reverend Dr Samuel Walker, to designs by architect William White, working with Sir George Gilbert Scott. The church was to be the centrepiece of the development now known as Colville and Powis Squares. Walker was deeply religious and his vision was for a church without pew rents for the newly built neighbourhood.
Walker ran short of money and was eventually declared bankrupt. The building was left unfinished for several years, lacking a spire, and remaining unfurnished, in which time it was nicknamed "All-Sinners-in-the-Mud".
All Saints was eventually completed in 1861 for the Reverend John Light of Trinity College Dublin, at a cost of £25,000. The spire in White's original designs was never completed.
The tower is 100 feet (30 m) high and is said to resemble the Medieval Gothic Belfry of Bruges, Belgium.
Walter Passmore (1867–1946), a singer and actor best known for his comic baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, was a choirboy at All Saints.


All Saints Notting Hill is a Church of England parish church in Talbot Road, Notting Hill, London. It is a Victorian Gothic Revival stone building with polychromatic decoration. The west tower has five stages with the stump of a spire, and the chancel has paintings by Henry Holiday.
The church was badly damaged by enemy action during World War II but was fully restored by 1951. It is a Grade II* listed building.


The apse, chancel and nave are built of brick in the Late Romanesque style on a double sloping plinth with pilaster strips at the corners and saw-toothed cornices at the top. The apse is divided into three sections with narrow pilaster strips. The bevelled window to the east has been opened up and the two others reconstructed in 1911 when the church was restored. On the south wall, a small, sharply pointed and slightly projecting priest's door can be seen. The south door is still in use but has been significantly transformed. The north door has been bricked up. The tower and porch were added in the Gothic period.


Until the 19th century Escomb was a dependent chapelry of Bishop Auckland. In 1848 a vicarage was built at the top of the hill and Rev. Henry Atkinson became Escomb's first resident vicar for centuries.
The Anglo-Saxon church seated only 65 people, and in the 19th century Escomb's population outgrew it. In 1863 a new parish church, St John's, was completed next to the vicarage.
Thereafter the Anglo-Saxon church quickly fell into disrepair. By 1867 it had lost part of its roof. It was restored in 1875–80 by RJ Johnson at a cost of between £500 and £550. In October 1880 Joseph Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham, came and preached at a service to mark the completion of the restoration. But the building had no heating or artificial light, and thereafter was used for only a few services a year, from June until August.
By 1904 the roof was again in poor condition. In the 1920s the parish again raised money to restore the church, and on 1 June 1927 Handley Moule, Bishop of Durham presided at the Eucharist in the church to mark completion of the work.
The first surviving record of a proposal to install electric lighting in the church dates from 1940. In 1944 it was proposed again, along with gas heating. But the Diocesan Advisory Committee objected and the Diocese of Durham did not grant a faculty for the work. Heating and lighting were discussed again in 1950, but not installed.
In 1959 a new vicar, Rev. Henry Lee, was appointed to the parish. In 1960 the parish agreed to refurbish the building and Lee resumed summer services in it. The architect Sir Albert Richardson prepared plans and in 1962 both the parish and the diocese accepted them.
The plan was now for electric lighting and heating to be installed, along with a new altar and other furnishings. The cost of restoration and modernisation was estimated at £6,500. Historic Churches Preservation Trust donated £500 to the fund.
In 1963 St John's church, completed only a century earlier, was inspected and found to need repairs estimated to cost £6,500. But church attendance had declined, so the Diocesan Pastoral Committee decided that restoring both of Escomb's churches was not justified. It decided that the Anglo-Saxon church should once again be the parish church, and St John's should be deconsecrated and demolished.
Lee refused the proposal, but in 1964 he retired and the diocese suspended the living and the rural dean was made priest in charge. In 1967 restoration of the Anglo-Saxon church was begun, in December 1969 it reverted to being the parish church, and in 1971 St John's was demolished.


The church was founded about AD 670–675, when the area was part of the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria. Much of the stone was taken from the nearby Roman fort at Vinovia (Binchester). On the gable of the south porch is a 7th or early 8th Century sundial, and on the north wall is a reused Roman stone with the markings "LEG VI" (Sixth Legion) set upside down. Above the sundial projects an Anglo-Saxon relief of an animal's head.
Because Bede (circa AD 673–735) did not mention the church, some have argued that it was not built until after his death. However, he only named churches which were associated with events he recorded.
The proportions of the nave are typically Anglo-Saxon: narrow and tall. The chancel is rectangular. The church is built of large roughly dressed, squared stones, with particularly large quoins, many of which are up to 2 ft (0.6 m) high and between 3 ft (0.9 m) and 4 ft (1.2 m) long. The early character of the building and its similarity to other early work in Northumbria are consistent with it having been built between AD 650 and 800.
Internally the nave is 43 ft 6 in (13.3 m) long by 14 ft 6 in (4.4 m) wide. Its walls are 2 ft 4 in (0.7 m) thick and about 23 ft (7.0 m) high. The chancel is 10 ft (3.0 m) square. The chancel arch is 5 ft 3 in (1.6 m) wide and its apex is15 ft (4.6 m) above the floor of the nave.
Internally the most notable feature is the tall, narrow chancel arch. The southern impost of the arch is reminiscent of those in a gateway of the Roman fort at Chesters on Hadrian's Wall. This strengthens the theory that stones used at Escomb were brought from Binchester. Many of the stones show Roman tooling, which is common in Anglo-Saxon churches.
The chancel arch is of typical Roman form, tall with massive stone jambs, simple chamfered imposts and precisely-cut, radial voussoirs. It is unlike the non-radial voussoirs that the Anglo-Saxons typically made.
In the restoration of 1880 were found a number of delicately carved fragments of cross-shafts of the high quality commonly assigned to the Hexham school. They were found built into the gables, presumably during earlier restorations.


The church has a Russian Orthodox profile, with the noteworthy difference that it has only one onion dome, instead of the five usually seen in Russia.
Ss. Peter and Paul contains the grave of Prince Charles of Prussia. The design of its current glockenspiel is based on that of the Potsdam Garrison Church.


King Friedrich Wilhelm III had the church built for the residents of Klein-Glienicke and Pfaueninsel on a bluff on the Havel near the Pfaueninsel and the Nikolskoë Blockhouse. It was designed by the architects Friedrich August Stüler and Albert Dietrich Schadow. Friedrich Wilhelm selected the Russian style to commemorate the marriage of his daughter Charlotte to the later Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. The king visited them at St. Petersburg in 1818 and for a return visit a year later had a Russian-style blockhouse built in the park at Glienicke, naming it Nikolskoë. In 1832, the king then ordered the construction of the nearby church which took place from 1834 to 1837.
It was inaugurated on August 13, 1837.
Until 1961, when the Berlin Wall cut the parish into three separate parts, Ss. Peter and Paul Church was part of the Evangelical Congregation of Neubabelsberg, then comprising a parish in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Klein-Glienicke (divided between Berlin and Potsdam), Nikolskoë and Potsdam-Sacrow with the further chapel in Klein-Glienicke and the Church of the Redeemer, Sacrow.
On December 22, 1941, the official German Evangelical Church called for suited actions by all Protestant church bodies to withhold baptised non-Aryans from all spheres of Protestant church life. Many German Christian-dominated congregations followed suit. However, the Evangelical Congregation of Neubabelsberg handed in a list of signatures in protest against the exclusion of the stigmatised Protestants of Jewish descent.


Ss. Peter and Paul Church on Nikolskoë is a Protestant church in the Volkspark Glienecke in Berlin, Germany. It is currently administered by the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia. The church is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin.


WikiWeb_Saint Hippolytus Chapel, Delft_0

The Saint Hippolytus Chapel (Dutch: Sint-Hippolytuskapel) is a chapel in the old city of Delft. It is one of the oldest buildings in Delft, and since 1967 it has been designated the Rijksmonument.
The church was built around 1400 in the Gothic style and is located on the east side of the Oude Deft. Until the Reformation, the Oude Kerk was consecrated to Saint Hippolytus, and the name of the chapel comes from the city quarter. At the time of foundation, it was a part of the already existent female religious community, similar to a monastery - Holy Spirit Sisters House (Dutch: Heilige Geestzusterhuis). It was built on the foundations of the older chapel and was consecrated in 1412. In 1536, it was badly damaged by a fire and subsequently restored. In 1572, during the Reformation, the interior of the chapel was emptied, and the clock and the cross were taken from the tower. After 1581, it was used as a depot, but a part of the chapel was still used for service by Protestants.
In 1910, the chapel was restored, and the design of the facade was altered, making it to look more like the original design. Since 1924 and until the construction of the new campus of Delft University of Technology in 1966, the doctorate ceremonies of the university were held in the chapel. In 1972, it was transferred to the Roman Catholic Church and since 30 July 1972 is used for service.


A chapel existed on the site from 1821, enlarged in 1840, then further enlarged and rebuilt between 1862 and 1865 in an Italianate style under local architect J. Hartland and Son. The front of the building has evidence of redevelopment rather than a complete rebuild, with one of the stair towers projecting beyond the main facade and the four upper windows appearing off-centre when viewed from inside.
The front of the building is set back from the main road behind a forecourt, fronted with wrought iron railings and two gate pillars. The chapel façade is two generous storeys including a stair tower at each corner. The upper level of the central façade is set back, with four prominent round-headed windows. At ground floor level there are four round-headed doorways in a similar style, with one of them behind the main entrance. The stair towers and façade are topped by a parapet, which includes the inscriptions BUILT 1821, TABERNACLE and REBUILT 1865. The façades have a painted stucco finish.
The main interior space is surrounded on all four sides by a high level gallery with a wrought iron balustrade, all supported on iron columns. The main ceiling is flat coffered with a large ceiling rose. A large arch at the back of the space encloses the organ and a wooden pulpit. Viewed from inside, the stained glass windows can be appreciated. The central pair of upper level round-headed windows portray colourful scenes from the Bible, with one being the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the River Jordan. The windows were installed in 1928 in memory of the previous minister, Charles Davies (d. 1927), though it is unusual to have images like these in a nonconformist church.
The chapel has been a listed building since 1975, currently Grade II*, as an "ambitious chapel ...with particularly fine interior".


Tabernacle (Welsh: Y Tabernacl) is a Welsh-language Baptist chapel in The Hayes in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is a Grade II* listed building.


Holy Trinity Church is in the village of Holdgate, Shropshire, England.  It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Ludlow, the archdeaconry of Ludlow, and the diocese of Hereford.  Its benefice is united with those of St Peter, Diddlebury, Broadstone Church, St Michael, Munslow, and St Catherine, Tugford.  The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.  It stands in the former southwest bailey of Holdgate Castle.


A church with a priest is recorded in the Domesday Book, but none of the fabric from that church has survived.  The nave and possibly part of the chancel date from the 12th century, with the rest of the chancel and the lower part of the tower from the following century.  The south porch was probably added in the 14th century.   The upper part of the tower was added either in the 15th, or in the 17th century.  The west end of the nave was partitioned off as a schoolroom after 1793, and the church was restored and re-pewed in 1854–55.  In 1894–95 there was a further restoration by J. P. St Aubyn and Henry Wadling, during which a chancel arch was inserted, windows were renewed, the ceilings were taken down, new roofs and a new porch were built, and the partition in the nave was removed.


WikiWeb_Church of St Michael and All Angels, Hamstall Ridware_1

The church was built in around 1130–1150 in the Norman style. The church originally consisted of only the present nave and a short chancel, of the original church only small parts of the west wall still exists. Some Norman masonry can still be seen outside on either side of the tower and on the inside a small Norman window can be seen over the belfry arch in the west wall.
In the 14th and 15th centuries much of the present church as it is today was constructed. In the 14th century the church was lengthened to its present length and the walls raised to their present height. The original small chancel was replaced by the present larger one, a small west tower was added, and the chapels were added on the north and south sides. In the 15th century the north and south aisles were built with 3 bay arcades. The south aisle was extended along the south side of the chancel as a chapel and vestry. The perpendicular clerestory was built and the small west tower was raised to its present height and the recessed spire added. The timbered roof to the nave was replaced in the late 15th century. Later developments included the outer walls of the north chapel being rebuilt in the 18th century and the 19th century gabled south porch.


WikiWeb_Church of St Michael and All Angels, Hamstall Ridware_0

The Church of St Michael and All Angels is a parish church and Grade I listed building in the village of Hamstall Ridware, Staffordshire. The church is situated in a remote position to the north of the village accessed by a 250 m (820 ft) pathway through pasture land. The church is situated on a gentle slope 160 m (520 ft) west of the River Blithe. The church was founded in 1130—1150 but the majority of the present church was built of ashlar sandstone in the 14th and 15th centuries.


WikiWeb_Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow_2

Frederick Philipse I, Lord of Philipse Manor, owned the vast stretch of land spanning from Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx to the Croton River. After swearing allegiance and later being granted his Manorship from the English, he chose to establish his country seat at what was then known as North Tarrytown, where the Pocantico River flowed into the Hudson River. A small community had already been established there when he arrived in 1683, with 50 burials in the small cemetery. He built the first church for them at the southern end of the cemetery.
Philipse's wife, Margaret Hardenbroek DeVries Philipse died in 1691, and he soon remarried. His second wife,  Catharine Van Cortlandt Derval, urged him to build a more permanent stone church for his tenants, and later in the decade he obliged her, being its architect, financier,  and aid in its construction (said to have built the pulpit with his own hands). A marble tablet in front of the church gives its completion date as 1699. The tablet was placed in the 19th century, however, and it is seen as more likely that the church was finished by 1697. The congregation was organized that year, the same year the first pastor began serving.
The early history of the church and its members was recorded by Dirck Storm, in his book Het Notite Boeck der Christelyckes Kercke op de Manner of Philips Burgh. It continued to serve as the church of Philipse Manor through the Revolution, when the family's lands were confiscated by the state for siding with the Crown. At that time the special pews for the Lord of the Manor were removed and the plain oak benches for the tenants were replaced with pine pews.
Thereafter it continued without the patronage. Washington Irving, whose Sunnyside estate was a few miles to the south, made the church famous when he gave it prominent mention in his early 19th-century Halloween short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" as both a setting and a site connected with the Headless Horseman. Irving later gave yellow bricks from the church to outline the construction date on the wall above the door at Bolton Priory in Pelham Manor, New York.
In 1837 a fire damaged the church. During the repairs some significant changes were made to the building. The main entrance was moved from the south facade to its current location on the west, the windows and door entry were changed to the Gothic arches then in style and given brick surrounds. Inside, the north gallery was removed and the west one enlarged. The original ceiling beams and pulpit were replaced.
Sixty years later the church was renovated again for its bicentennial. That work reversed the 1837 renovations by restoring the original ceiling and reproducing the original pulpit. The Tarrytowns had grown through the 19th century, and a branch church had been built in Tarrytown to minister to the expanded congregation. Eventually that church became the main church, and the original building was used only for special occasions, a practice that continued until the most recent renovation in the 1990s. Currently, worship services are held from June through September.


WikiWeb_Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow_0

The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow (Dutch: Oude Nederlandse Kerk van Sleepy Hollow), listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Dutch Reformed Church (Sleepy Hollow), is a 17th-century stone church located on Albany Post Road (U.S. Route 9) in Sleepy Hollow, New York, United States. It and its three-acre (1.2 ha) churchyard feature prominently in Washington Irving's 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". The churchyard is often confused with the contiguous but separate Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
It is the second oldest extant church and the 15th oldest extant building in the state of New York, renovated after an 1837 fire. Some of those renovations were reversed 60 years later, and further work was done in 1960. It was listed on the Register in 1966, among the earliest properties so recognized. It had already been designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961. It is still the property of the Reformed Church of the Tarrytowns, which holds summer services there, as well as on special occasions such as Christmas Eve.


WikiWeb_Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow_1

The building was designed and funded by Frederick Philipse I, Lord of Philipse Manor, a wealthy merchant trader and landowner. It is located on the east side of Albany Post Road, opposite the Devries Road intersection, just north of downtown Sleepy Hollow. The neighborhoods to the west are residential. A wooded area to the southeast buffers the church from residential areas in that direction. Approximately 300 ft (100 m) to the south is the mill pond at Philipsburg Manor House, another National Historic Landmark. The churchyard and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, itself listed on the Register, are to the north.
The structure is rectangular, with a three-sided projecting rear apse on the east end. It has two-foot–thick (60 cm) fieldstone walls. They give way to clapboard above the roofline, within the fields of the Flemish-style gambrel roof, with its lower segments flaring outward like a bell. On the west end of the roof is an octagonal wooden open belfry. Within it is the original bell, with an engraved verse from Romans 8:31, "Si Deus Pro Nobis, Quis Contras Nos?" ("If God be for us, who can be against us") and "VF", Philipse's initials. The latter monogram is also on the wrought iron weathervane atop the belfry.
To the west a stone retaining wall raises the church above grade level. A few shrubs flank the stone steps that lead up to the main entrance, paneled wooden double doors recessed within a Gothic archway. Above it is a glass transom with curved, intersecting muntins. It is set within a brick surround. The north and south side elevations have double-hung sash windows, as do the two side facets of the apse. At the roofline is a molded wooden cornice.
The interior has its wooden pews, with two side aisles, arranged so all can focus on the pulpit. The pulpit is located on a raised platform in the rear, directly opposite the main entrance. A balustrade with turned wooden posts, open at the aisles, sets the platform off from the rest of the wide-planked floor. Behind it is a table, with a lectern on the north and an enclosed pew along the south side. The ornate wooden pulpit is raised further above the table level; access is provided by a short spiral stair. A pipe organ is located at the rear.


The main feature of the façade is the portal, designed by Giorgio da Sebenico with an ornate frame featuring twenty heads and, at the sides, two tall pilasters housing four niches with statues of saints. Above the portal is a Gothic lunette with a bas-relief of St. Francis receiving the Stigmata and, above it, a shell supporting a hexagonal baldachin. The portal leads to a staircase which was rebuilt in the 1920s.
The interior has a single nave and is in 18th-century style.  It houses a Baptism of Christ by Pellegrino Tibaldi, a chalk "Glory" by Gioacchino Varlè, the Angels Carrying the Holy House of Loreto by Andrea Lillio and the large Assumption altarpiece by Lorenzo Lotto.


San Francesco alle Scale is a church in Ancona, central Italy.


Sited at the top of a staircase leading to the eponymous square, the church was founded in 1323 by the Franciscans, and was originally dedicated to Santa Maria Maggiore. It obtained the current denomination in the mid-15th century.
In 1454, the Dalmatian master Giorgio da Sebenico executed the portal, inspired to the late Gothic one of the Porta della Carta in the Ducal Palace of Venice. In the 18th century the church was raised and enlarged by design of architect Francesco Maria Ciaraffoni, who also built the two annexed monastery and the two cloisters.
After the Napoleonic occupation the complex was used as a hospital and, from the 1920s, as a Civic Museum. The church was restored and reopened in 1953. The 18th-century bell tower, which had been destroyed by an Allied bombardment in 1944, was rebuilt  at the same time.


WikiWeb_Santa Maria Incoronata, Naples_0

Santa Maria dell'Incoronata is an ancient church on Via Medina in Naples, Italy. It is located just south of San Giorgio dei Genovesi and across the street from the Church of Pietà dei Turchini.
The church was built in the 14th century in Gotico Angioiano style as part of urban project around the Castel Nuovo, the royal palace of Charles II of Anjou. The church was founded in 1364, not as tradition holds, in memory of the coronation of Joanna I of Naples and her second marriage to Louis, Prince of Taranto, but to hold a precious relic, a spine from the thorny crown of Christ, which the queen had requested from Charles V of France, and whose portrait is kept in the entrance. The edification of the Palace chapel or cappella palatina outside of the Castle, was completed in a difficult moment for the Queen, after the death of her husband in 1362.
In 1403 Ladislaus of Naples ordered the painting of a cycle of Saint Ladislaus' legend in the church (finished 1414). There the Hungarian king is depicted receiving the royal crown, also fighting against the pagans, and receiving the crown of Croatia.
Originally a small hospital was constructed attached to the church, and the entire complex was under the jurisdiction of the Carthusian Monastery of San Martino, till the end of the 16th century. The church was reconsecrated in the 18th century, after years of disuse, and restored over the centuries. However the interior has been stripped on most of its former Baroque decoration.


WikiWeb_Santa Maria Incoronata, Naples_1

The particular shape, consisting of two asymmetric naves, derives from the fact that part of this church was once a tribunal during the Angevin Era. The church floor is lower than the street level, since this area was raised using soil from the nearby earthenworks of the Castel Nuovo in times of Charles V. Fragments of frescoes dating likely from 1352 are visible in the first bay to the left of the entrance, they once depicted the Triumph of Faith and Seven Sacraments, attributed to Roberto Oderisi. Some attributions, without any documentation, have been made for some of the images on the Frescoes; they remain highly speculative.
In the end of the nave, left of the 17th century main altar is the Chapel of the Crucifix (Cappella del Crocifisso), that had 15th-century frescoes depicting Life of San Ladislao and commissioned by King Ladislaus of Naples in 1403. Fragments are now displayed in the main nave, and attributed to an unknown master. The ceiling of the chapel has frescoes on the subject of Life of the Virgin, and the chapel once had a polyptych, now in the Museum of Capodimonte, both of these were by the same artist.
In the chapel was once a wooden crucifix made by Naccherino, long considered a work of Giovanni da Nola; the crucifix is now found in the Church of Santa Maria di Costantinopoli.


WikiWeb_Holy Trinity Church, Blythburgh_0

The Holy Trinity Church is the parish church of the village of Blythburgh in the East Suffolk area. It is part of the Church of England Halesworth deanery in the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, and has been listed Grade I on the National Heritage List for England since December 1966.
Holy Trinity Church should not be confused with the ruinous Blythburgh Priory nearby.


WikiWeb_Holy Trinity Church, Blythburgh_1

The parish church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and known as the "Cathedral of the Marshes". Blythburgh was one of the earliest Christian sites in East Anglia. There was a church there in 654 to which the bodies of the East Anglian king Anna and his son price Jurmin, descendants of King Wehha, were brought after their deaths in battle at Bulcamp with the Mercian king Penda.
At the time of the Norman Conquest Blythburgh was part of the royal estate and had one of the richest churches in Suffolk, possibly a Saxon minster, with two daughter churches. It was probably the rich parent church that was granted by king Henry I to Augustinian canons some time between 1116 and 1147, becoming the priory of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A daughter church is likely to have been the predecessor of Holy Trinity. It was rebuilt in the 15th century. In the movement to dissolve the monasteries, the suppression of Blythburgh Priory (which had its own conventual church) was authorised in 1528 and it was dissolved in 1537, the reversion of the property being granted to local gentleman Sir Arthur Hopton (1488-1555) in 1548.
The church underwent a series of disasters, man-made and natural. The most dramatic of the latter variety came on 4 August 1577, when a storm hit the area, and during morning service lightning hit the church, "cleft the door, and returning to the steeple rent the timber, [and] brake the chimes". The falling spire damaged the font and the roof,which wasn't repaired until 1782, destroying the angels in the west end bays. The door shows marks, which have the appearance of burns caused by candle flames, which the credulous associate with the devil's fingerprints. They have been associated with the 'Black Shuck' legend and this has been used as a title of a song by the Lowestoft rock group The Darkness which mentions Blythburgh in the lyrics.
During the 17th century Holy Trinity was badly damaged when Parliament set out to remove what the Puritans deemed to be superstitious ornamentation from churches; Blythburgh was assigned to William Dowsing, a local Puritan, and on 8 April 1644 he went to the church and ordered the removal of "twenty superstitious pictures, one on the outside of the church; two crosses, one on the porch and another on the steeple; and twenty cherubim to be taken down in the church and chancel... and gave order to take down above 200 more within eight days".
General neglect also played its part in the church's deterioration, resulting in part from rural poverty, and in part from the rise of Methodism – a Primitive Methodist chapel was founded in the village in the 1830s.
By the late 19th century the church was in a very poor state of repair, and in 1881 a restoration fund made possible the repair of the church, and then its maintenance after its reopening in 1884. The restoration was controversial with William Morris and his Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings opposed to the radical plans of the local building committee. Shortage of funds restricted the work that could be done. While the fabric was repaired, modern taste ruled out any return to the 15th-century colour scheme of the church; the thirty-six angels, set back to back in pairs on the arch-braced, firred, tie-beam roof had been brightly painted in red and green with much use made of tin foil and gold leaf. A modern reproduction is mounted above the south door.
The church has a two-manual pipe organ by the company Bishop and Son, dating from 1951, which was almost completely rebuilt in 2003 by Rodney Briscoe. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.
In 1962 the acoustic value of the building was discovered by Benjamin Britten, and some of the concerts of the Aldeburgh Festival are performed in the church.
The church was the location of a 2011 music video for Sempiterna by Libera.
There is a single Commonwealth War Graves Commission grave in the churchyard, that of a British sailor of the Second World War; Leading Cook Reginald George Arthur Remblance of the Royal Naval Patrol Service's H.M.S. Ben Roy, who died in October 1944, age 31.


The Pyrohoshcha Dormition of the Mother of God Church (Ukrainian: Церква Успіння Богородиці Пирогощої, romanized: Tserkva Uspinnia Bohorodytsi Pyrohoshchoyi) or simply Pyrohoshcha Church (Ukrainian: Церква Пирогощі, IPA: [ˈtsɛrkwɐ pɪroˈɦɔʃtʃi]) is an Orthodox church in Kyiv in the historical neighbourhood Podil. The original church was built in 1130s by the Mstyslav I the Great of Kyiv. It was the main church of Podil, and was a temporary cathedral of Kyiv Metropolitanate in the early 17 century. In 1613 the church was reconstructured in Renaissance style, and then in 18th-19th centuries was rebuilt in Ukrainian Baroque and Neoclassicism styles.
In 1934, the church became the cathedral of Ukrainian Autocephalous Church when its center moved from Kharkiv to Kyiv together with the capital of Ukrainian SSR. But it was in that status less than a year, being destroyed in 1935 by the Soviet administration for the reason of "reconstructing the square". Then, for some time the church was largely forgotten by the time the research on its remains began in 1976. At that time the idea of rebuilding of the church appeared, but the project was completed only in 1997, providing the restoration in the hypothetic ancient Rus style, which was made in 1997-1998. However, the historical originality of the reconstruction is still in discussion.
On the Easter 1998, the rebuilt Pyrohoshcha was consecrated as a church of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate. On 11 November 2012 Patriarch Filaret consecrated the church religious paintings.


The Grossmünster ([ɡʁoːsˈmʏnstɐ]; "great minster") is a Romanesque-style Protestant church in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the four major churches in the city (the others being the Fraumünster, Predigerkirche and St. Peterskirche). Its congregation forms part of the Evangelical Reformed Church of the Canton of Zürich. The core of the present building near the banks of the Limmat was constructed on the site of a Carolingian church, which was, according to legend, originally commissioned by Charlemagne. Construction of the present structure commenced around 1100 and it was inaugurated around 1220.
The Grossmünster was a monastery church, vying for precedence with the Fraumünster across the Limmat throughout the Middle Ages. According to legend, the Grossmünster was founded by Charlemagne, whose horse fell to its knees over the tombs of Felix and Regula, Zürich's patron saints. The legend helps support a claim of seniority over the Fraumünster, which was founded by Louis the German, Charlemagne's grandson. Recent archaeological evidence confirms the presence of a Roman burial ground at the site.


The twin towers of the Grossmünster are regarded as perhaps the most recognized landmark in Zürich. Architecturally, the church is considered Romanesque in style and thus a part of the first pan-European architectural trend since Imperial Roman architecture. In keeping with the Romanesque architectural style, Grossmünster offers a great carved portal featuring medieval columns with grotesques adorning the capitals. A Romanesque crypt dates to the 11th and 13th centuries.
Bollinger Sandstein was used for the construction. The two towers were first erected between 1487 and 1492. Originally, they had high wooden steeples, which were destroyed by fire in 1763, following which the present neo-Gothic tops were added (completed 1787). Richard Wagner is known to have mocked the church's appearance as that of two pepper dispensers. The church now features modern stained-glass windows by Swiss artist Augusto Giacometti added in 1932. Ornate bronze doors in the north and south portals by Otto Münch were added in 1935 and 1950.
The church houses a Reformation museum in the cloister. The annex to the cloister houses the theological school of the University of Zurich.


St John on Bethnal Green is an early 19th-century church near Bethnal Green, London, England, and is located on the Green itself. It was constructed 1826–28 to the design of the architect Sir John Soane (1753–1837). It is an Anglican church in the Diocese of London. The church is located near the Bethnal Green tube station, on Bethnal Green Road and Roman Road.
In 2000, the painter Chris Gollon gained a major commission from the Church of England for fourteen Stations of the Cross paintings for the church. Gollon was a controversial choice, since he is not a practising Christian. In order to carry out the commission, and for consultation on theological matters, he collaborated with Fr Alan Green, Rector of the church.
The belfry provides an exhibition space for artists.


St Margaret Lothbury is a Church of England parish church on Lothbury in the City of London; it spans the boundary between Coleman Street Ward and Broad Street Ward. Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. St Margaret Lothbury still serves as a parish church, as well as being the official church of five Livery Companies, two Ward Clubs and two Professional Institutes. It also has connections with many local finance houses, all of which hold special services each year.


The earliest mention of St Margaret Lothbury is from 1185. The patronage of the church belonged to the abbess and convent of Barking, Essex until the Dissolution, when it passed to the Crown.
It was rebuilt in 1440, mostly at the expense of Robert Large, who was Lord Mayor that year and is remembered as the Master of whom William Caxton served his apprenticeship. It suffered as did so many of London's churches in the Great Fire of London of 1666 and was rebuilt by Christopher Wren from 1686 to 1690.
In 1781 the parish of the church of St Christopher le Stocks, demolished to make way for an extension to the Bank of England, was united with that of St Margaret Lothbury.


The Viri Galilaei Church (Greek: ἄνδρες Γαλιλαῖοι) is a Greek Orthodox church located at the northern peak of the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem. It is part of the Monastery of Little Galilee on the Mount of Olives, which belongs to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and serves as the private residence of the Patriarch.
Its name is in Latin and means "Men of Galilee". It is taken from Acts 1:11, where two white-dressed men are addressing the apostles after the Ascension of Jesus: "Men of Galilee,....why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." The association of this particular site with the biblical episode is based on a medieval tradition, labelled by Thomas Cook as "worthless".
It is in this place that the historic meeting between Pope Paul VI, head of the Catholic Church and the Patriarch of Constantinople Athenagoras, Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, was held in 1964, marking an important step in the ecumenical reconciliation attempt between the two denominations.