Secrets of Great British Castles — Season 2
About this season
Historian Dan Jones explores the millennium of history behind six of Great Britain's most famous castles: Warwick, Dover, Caernarfon, the Tower of London, Carrickfergus, and Stirling.
Episodes (6)
1. Edinburgh Castle
Aired 28 October 2016 • 45 min
Edinburgh's handsome hilltop bastion is Scotland's most popular paid tourist attraction, but it also packs some formidable defences.
2. Cardiff Castle
Aired 4 November 2016 • 45 min
Dan Jones explores the history of the Welsh capital's landmark, Cardiff Castle, and discovers more about the various incarnations over the centuries.
3. York Castle
Aired 18 November 2016 • 45 min
In medieval England, the North was ruled from York. Dan Jones explores the history of its castle, from the Viking Jorvik and the Normans, through the dark days of the anti-Jewish pogrom and the imprisonment of the Knights Templar, to one of its most colourful inmates - the legendary highwayman Dick Turpin.
4. Leeds Castle
Aired 25 November 2016 • 45 min
Dan Jones explores the 900-year history of the beautiful Leeds Castle in Kent, from its origins as a royal Saxon family's manor and Norman stronghold to the private property of six medieval queens, a Tudor palace, a Jacobean country house, a Georgian mansion and an elegant 20th-century retreat for the rich and famous.
5. Lancaster Castle
Aired 2 December 2016 • 45 min
Dan Jones visits Lancaster Castle to explore its grisly history of crime and punishment, including the infamous Lancashire Witches trials and the martyrdom of the Jesuit priest Saint Edmund Arrowsmith.
6. Arundel Castle
Aired 9 December 2016 • 45 min
Dan Jones visits the heart of the English countryside to explore Arundel Castle and the dramatic history of the Earls of Arundel.