Having climbed halfway up an adjacent Tower, suddenly the top half of John of Gaunt's Great Hall came into view.
Although pillaged and ransacked many times during its 654 year existence, the hall still exudes a sense of power and wealth.
The opposite exit leads out into what was once the Castle's vast hunting grounds.
The Great Hall undertaken from 1370 by John of Gaunt, Edward lll's fourth son, counts as one of the most significant and ambitious building campaigns of the 14th century. He created the hall and a suite of apartments conceived according to a coherent architectural programme. His father first achieved such unified treatment at Windsor Castle in the 1350s, and Gaunt's work here represented the start of its transmission elsewhere.
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The vertical lines are characteristic of the perpendicular style.
Leaving behind the Great Hall and the mighty 900 year old Norman Keep, we cross over the castles inner court to the building that Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, built for his queen - now known as Leicester's building.
Leicester's building
Although the building is virtually a shell it is possible to climb the remains courtesy a stairway built by English Heritage. The accommodation housed large kitchens and scullery in the basement area, and enough accommodation for all of the queen's staff. One of the upper floors provided a luxurious suite of rooms for the queen including her private bedchamber.
The queen arrived at Kenilworth Castle with an entourage of 31 barons together with a large number of staff for her royal visit in 1557, a visit that lasted, exceptionally, for 19 days; Twenty horsemen journeyed every day to Kenilworth from London in order to bring royal messages to the queen.
The Great Hall seen via the queen's building.
A view from one of the queen's suite of rooms
Kenilworth town would not have been visible in 1557. The houses seen today were probably built during the late Georgian/early Victorian era. However, the Gatehouse had been newly built, being part of Dudley's grand plan to woo the queen.
The attractive Tudor stable block was built for Robert Dudley's father, the Duke of Northumberland, in 1553.
It still retains its magnificent timber-framed structure supporting its tiled roof.
