Qualla: Carisbrooke Castle https://qualla.com/carisbrooke-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:21 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/0/carisbrooke-castle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Carisbrooke Castle https://qualla.com/carisbrooke-castle Carisbrooke Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/carisbrooke-castle/ Photo credit Mypix, CC BY-SA 4.0. Charles I tried to escape from Carisbrooke Castle in 1648. He got his head through the bars of his window but his body would not follow. Within a year he was dead, executed at Whitehall. The window and the room where he spent fourteen months as prisoner are still there, inside the strongest castle on the Isle of Wight -- a place whose history stretches from Roman ruins beneath the foundations to the earthworks an Italian engineer designed against the Spanish Armada.

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Image: Mypix | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/0/carisbrooke-castle-wp/gcp0-carisbrooke-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Carisbrooke Castle: Layers Beneath the Stone https://qualla.com/carisbrooke-castle/ Photo credit Barry Shimmon, CC BY-SA 2.0. The hilltop above Carisbrooke village has been fortified for at least 1,500 years. A ruined wall suggests a Roman building stood here in the late imperial period. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that Wihtgar, cousin of King Cynric of Wessex, died in AD 544 and was buried on thi...

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Image: Barry Shimmon | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/0/carisbrooke-castle-wp/gcp0-carisbrooke-castle-layers-beneath-the-stone.mp3 0:06 2 full Carisbrooke Castle: The King's Prison https://qualla.com/carisbrooke-castle/ Photo credit Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5. When Charles I fled to the Isle of Wight in November 1647, seeking refuge during the Civil War, he found not sanctuary but captivity. The Parliamentary governor confined him to Carisbrooke, where he was held for fourteen months. The Constable's Chamber became his bedroom -- a lar...

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Image: Andreas Trepte | CC BY-SA 2.5

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/0/carisbrooke-castle-wp/gcp0-carisbrooke-castle-the-kings-prison.mp3 0:06 3 full Carisbrooke Castle: Armada Earthworks and Island Defenses https://qualla.com/carisbrooke-castle/ Photo credit Shaun Ferguson, CC BY-SA 2.0. The castle's most dramatic physical transformation came in the 1580s, when the threat of the Spanish Armada prompted Elizabeth I to order massive new fortifications. Sir George Carey, appointed Governor of the Isle of Wight in 1583, oversaw the work designed by the Italian engine...

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Image: Shaun Ferguson | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/0/carisbrooke-castle-wp/gcp0-carisbrooke-castle-armada-earthworks-and-island-defenses.mp3 0:06 4 full Carisbrooke Castle: Echoes Across the World https://qualla.com/carisbrooke-castle/ Photo credit Claire Ward, CC BY-SA 2.0. Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, served as the last Governor of the Isle of Wight to use Carisbrooke as an official residence, occupying the main rooms until the 1940s. She left her mark in the Constable's Chamber, which she used as a dining room and decorat...

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Image: Claire Ward | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/p/0/carisbrooke-castle-wp/gcp0-carisbrooke-castle-echoes-across-the-world.mp3 0:06 5 full