Over in PA, which isn't too far from here, some SCA members have built a castle. Lots of SCA members try to do this, a few succeed. I think what they did was start with an existing house and then build a crenellated section (with license from the King), which is what Frenchy did way back in the day. It's not as cool as Castle Kirk imho, but it has cleaner lines. Castle Kirk started out as a single-hall manor house, as is apropriate, and Duke Guy has been expanding on it ever since. These folks in PA were obviously going for the look of a concentric castle like Harlech (hence the name), or more accurately one of the smaller "four square" castles like Bodiam (what I wanted to design back in the days when I still wanted to live in a castle). Bodiam is an example of the type of castle a landed knight might had, like Stokesay or Maxstoke. Of course the best of them, and probably the most beautiful castle in the world, is Hever. That is a good castle from a countyr knight (or for a rich American industrialist).
Anyway, here are a couple of videos from events there:
and this one I really like:
Ron Darter, one of my favorite SCA photographers, has some nice black and whites of an event from last year, showing the front of the castle and the size of the great hall at his site. http://www.pbase.com/darter02/shc01
It's pretty cool. Me, I'd still rather live in a loft in NYC or San Francisco, but this would make a decent country house!
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