The Ladies’ Parlour

You are now in the castle’s West Tower, high up in the Ladies’ Parlour on the third floor. Accommodation for the ladies was located in this safe tower, the building of which was started in the early 1300s. The West Tower was a “castle within a castle” and could be defended in dangerous situations, even when other parts of the castle had been taken by the enemy.

In the Middle Ages, the entrance to the tower was through a door in the Ladies’ Parlour, which could only be accessed by using a wooden walkway that circled the castle’s walls. Today, the doorway acts as a window with a view into the castle’s inner courtyard. The room also functions as an entryway to the upper floors of the tower.

The Ladies’ Parlour was both a recreation room and a working space for women and children. Some of the duties that women in the castle were in charge of included, for example, the creation, decoration, washing and mending of textiles and clothes. These duties helped girls in particular prepare for married life and housekeeping.

In the Middle Ages, the room was significantly darker, because the window in the curtain wall was only enlarged to its current size in the 1580s. The room as a whole looked significantly different for other reasons in the 1500s, since in 1551 it was given a new wood panelled ceiling and benches. The walls of the room were also covered with wood panelling made by skilled carpenters. Warmth was provided by a fireplace in the corner of the room. Passage to the adjacent room was only opened in the 1580s.