Lost Castles Liverpool

Over the weekend the Lost Castles event was taking place at locations in and around Liverpool. We were invited by the lovely Anca to visit the castles with her and her husband. So a family day out was planned!

Lost Castles

The Lost Castles is the idea of French artist Olivier Grossetȇte. The idea was to create monumental structures based on historic structures which were in the region at one time.

Construction

The castles were all built from cardboard over the course of Thursday and Friday by a group of volunteers. The castles were then erected on Friday evening. Each castle was built from the top up so the top layer put on first, before being lifted and the layer underneath put in place. Anca had visited one of the castles on Friday and had helped with lifting the castles. Each castles had approx 60 people helping with the heavy lifting. Whilst the castles might be cardboard, they were still heavy – each one weighed 1 tonne – that’s a lot of cardboard!

Six Locations

There were six different castles at six different locations.

1) Knowsley Safari Park
2) Bootle
3) Williamson Square, Liverpool
4) Norton Priory
5) West Kirby
6) St Helens’s

Unfortunately it had rained overnight and one of the castles had fallen in on itself overnight. So we managed to visit 4 of the 6 castles….

Norton Priory

This was the first location. The castle here was in a field just outside the priory grounds and was erected to be similar to the old priory. On Saturday there were various activities going on including the story of St George

Knowsley Safari Park

Second location was Knowsley Safari Park. There was a bit more going on here, as they had the castle and some giants. There were also giant puppets. They were pretty spectacular. The castle was constructed in the style of Elsinore Castle from Hamlet. The girls and I had a great time going in and out of the “secret passageways”.

Bootle

From Knowsley we went to Bootle. The castle in Bootle wasn’t as impressive as Knowsley and you weren’t allowed to play in it. But there was a fair in the park with bouncy castles, children’s rides and food. The girls went on the mechanical swing and littlest loved it. Eldest looked a bit scared though!

Williamson Square Liverpool

The castle at Williamson Square in the heart of Liverpool was inspired by Liverpool Castle (no longer standing). It was another impressive structure. There was entertainment in the square with jesters juggling and making balloon animals, and a couple dressed in period costumes and playing instruments.

It was a great day! We had such a good time with Anca and her husband – thanks again for inviting us. If you’re interested in seeing more of these types of event then take a peek at the Global Streets website.

Did you attend the Lost Castles event?