4 ms·

somewhere in the US, a man built a stone castle single handedly, useing whatever tools he could get, so not historicaly accurate, but the insights into what can

somewhere in the US, a man built a stone castle single handedly, useing whatever tools he could get, so not historicaly accurate, but the insights into what can be done would be valid, started in the 70's?, 60's, and last I heard had found a sucessor to continue construction I know a man who built a stone barn from salvaged granite foundation block's, and have watched an very large amish timber frame barn go up, by hapenstance on a back road in Pennsylvania, and have a bit of stone and timber frame experience myself, so seeing stuff like this makes my hands itchy.....abandoned quaries bieng plentiful

bombcar 1y ago
It really brings to the forefront that the hard part isn’t usually the building - it’s figuring out how to build with what is available and can be sourced locally - often within tens of feet. We’re so used to shipping pine boards from the Pacific Northwest to the high desert we don’t even stop to consider there may be another option. Fun fact: concrete is so heavy and so time dependent that it’s one of the few things that is still almost always VERY local; you probably have a home of cement mixers closer than you think!
- foobarian 1y ago
  I think my first worry would be how to figure out if the ground will support the immense weight of a one-off stone structure. I guess karsty/rocky areas are a safer choice than run-of-the-mill New England yard where you hit water table in 2 feet of digging
  - bombcar 1y ago
    Some places the "When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England." quote is closer to the truth than you'd expect, but yes, "good strong land" is one of the keys to a long-lasting structure. Building very slowly can alert you to issues there, but they didn't always catch them (Pisa for example).
helsinkiandrew 1y ago
Bishop Castle? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_Castle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_Castle To me it has more of a Sagrada Família vibe than medieval castle
- thrance 1y ago
  There's something similar in France, built by a lone poor mailman on his off time over a period of ~33 years. Now that I'm reading about it, it doesn't even have an English Wikipedia entry (!). Which is a shame, it's arguably incredibly beautiful and definitely a unique piece or architecture/art. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_id%C3%A9al https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_id%C3%A9al
  - yorwba 1y ago
    There's a section about the palace in the English Wikipedia article about the mailman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Cheval#Palais_id%C3%A9al https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Cheval#Palais_id%C3%...
- anthk 1y ago
  Bear in mind in Europe tons of buildings merged both Medieval and a Modern (Englightened) era as progress happened. For instance, the style of the buildings in the the old town of Salamanca, which is obviously not 100% medieval.
chrisdhoover 1y ago
Is that the one where he moved large stones with small stones?
RattlesnakeJake 1y ago
Loveland Castle outside of Cincinnati has a story like that: https://lovelandcastle.com/ https://lovelandcastle.com/
jawilson2 1y ago
Loveland Castle is just outside of Cincinnati. I visited many times growing up in the 80s and 90s. https://lovelandcastle.com/ https://lovelandcastle.com/ Reading through that website is...a trip.
IAmBroom 1y ago
These are so common in England they have a name: follies. Typically named after (often Victorian) idle playboy who built them, and often with no attempt made to conceal their origins; they are only as "medieval" as the tastes of the playboy ran (so, more Tennyson than Terry Jones).

bombcar 1y ago

It really brings to the forefront that the hard part isn’t usually the building - it’s figuring out how to build with what is available and can be sourced locally - often within tens of feet. We’re so used to shipping pine boards from the Pacific Northwest to the high desert we don’t even stop to consider there may be another option. Fun fact: concrete is so heavy and so time dependent that it’s one of the few things that is still almost always VERY local; you probably have a home of cement mixers closer than you think!

foobarian 1y ago
I think my first worry would be how to figure out if the ground will support the immense weight of a one-off stone structure. I guess karsty/rocky areas are a safer choice than run-of-the-mill New England yard where you hit water table in 2 feet of digging
- bombcar 1y ago
  Some places the "When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England." quote is closer to the truth than you'd expect, but yes, "good strong land" is one of the keys to a long-lasting structure. Building very slowly can alert you to issues there, but they didn't always catch them (Pisa for example).

helsinkiandrew 1y ago

Bishop Castle? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_Castle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_Castle To me it has more of a Sagrada Família vibe than medieval castle

thrance 1y ago
There's something similar in France, built by a lone poor mailman on his off time over a period of ~33 years. Now that I'm reading about it, it doesn't even have an English Wikipedia entry (!). Which is a shame, it's arguably incredibly beautiful and definitely a unique piece or architecture/art. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_id%C3%A9al https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais_id%C3%A9al
- yorwba 1y ago
  There's a section about the palace in the English Wikipedia article about the mailman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Cheval#Palais_id%C3%A9al https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Cheval#Palais_id%C3%...
anthk 1y ago
Bear in mind in Europe tons of buildings merged both Medieval and a Modern (Englightened) era as progress happened. For instance, the style of the buildings in the the old town of Salamanca, which is obviously not 100% medieval.

chrisdhoover 1y ago

Is that the one where he moved large stones with small stones?

RattlesnakeJake 1y ago

Loveland Castle outside of Cincinnati has a story like that: https://lovelandcastle.com/ https://lovelandcastle.com/

jawilson2 1y ago

Loveland Castle is just outside of Cincinnati. I visited many times growing up in the 80s and 90s. https://lovelandcastle.com/ https://lovelandcastle.com/ Reading through that website is...a trip.

IAmBroom 1y ago

These are so common in England they have a name: follies. Typically named after (often Victorian) idle playboy who built them, and often with no attempt made to conceal their origins; they are only as "medieval" as the tastes of the playboy ran (so, more Tennyson than Terry Jones).