Dresden Comicon@Home Tidbit for Battle Ground

[TrueMonk]

My wife and I have our own house and a kid. We still go to my parents and stay overnight for Christmas Eve together with my brother and sister. For me it is not same same great family holiday if we are just three people. There might not be more to it, the Carpenter kids are kind of like siblings to Maggy and Michael and Charity uncle/aunt.

I think especially if a lot of bad stuff has happened there would be even more inclination to gather together for Christmas Eve.

[Dina]

^exactly so.
And there is another thing. Molly said that she would be back for opening the presents, so obviously she is more or less back in contact with her parents. Perhaps she still wants Harry to be with her in family things.

[Bad Alias]

No-one actually knows how big West Derby Castle was, all records of its plans have been lost over the last almost a thousand years. We do know that when it was in use ~150 soldiers were quartered there, we know where the main motte was centered (there’s a monument), and it’s about 900 feet from there to “Castlegate Grove” and “The Armoury” as the crow flies. 400 yards (1200 ft) seemed about reasonable on that basis (there’s the other side of the motte, after all).

...

My point, castle-size notwithstanding, is that it’s not going to be a “real” castle, it’ll be one of those towers-that-someone-called-a-castle-because-it-sounds-better. There was a strange inversion in naming when real actual castles were named towers (eg: the Tower of London), leading to actual towers being then named castles as the meaning of the word was confused. Etymology is odd.

My impression is that someone does know how big it was. (At least it's foot print).

Despite the monument's present levelled appearance, the base of the motte, the bailey and enclosing moats at West Derby castle remain reasonably well preserved.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1009862.

As best I can tell, a castle is a fortified medieval residence. (Wikipedia, Oxford English Dictionary, the guy whose Youtube video I linked earlier (he's the only one who explicitly says medieval)). I'd say a keep with no walls is a castle, and a keep with walls is a better castle. Just like a wooden castle is a castle and, a stone castle is a better castle.

[SpacedCowboy]

Dude, I grew up there. It’s “well preserved” in the sense that there’s a small park with a raised central monument (a little wall about 18” high, circular, about 20’ across, At the center of the park, filled with earth). There are roses on top.

There is no hint of castle, medieval or otherwise, the land is flat (apart from the central bit) and it has houses all around. You’d never tell the difference between it and any other park. When they say “preserved” I can only think they mean in the sense that with ground-penetrating radar they can figure out that something was there...

It’s a 10 minute walk from my parents house (“Castlegate Grove”) to this little park. I know because I walked the dog to and from it twice a day for almost a decade.

[Arjan]

^exactly so.
And there is another thing. Molly said that she would be back for opening the presents, so obviously she is more or less back in contact with her parents. Perhaps she still wants Harry to be with her in family things.

she might even have had that talk with her father.

[Dina]

Yes, I think so, but still, it does not mean that she wouldn't feel better with Harry as moral support.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I suspect the favour is for Harry to be there when she and Mab talk to her parents.

Harry is therefore in the worst situation in his life, stuck between Mab and Charity.

[Dina]

Sadly no. Harry offered himself to do that. Molly will ask him to do something much worse, probably for the sake of Winter. Not sure what, but it will be bad.

[Bad Alias]

When they say “preserved” I can only think they mean in the sense that with ground-penetrating radar they can figure out that something was there...

I think they mean well preserved in an archaeological sense. They dug some stuff up in 1927 and 56-57.

Within this open area lie the buried remains of the castle which include the western half of the motte, the bailey, a double ditch separating the motte and bailey, the outer ditch flanking the bailey, and remains of an outer rampart. The remainder of the motte and surrounding ditch originally lay to the northeast of the scheduled monument in the area crossed by Parkside Drive and the houses and gardens beyond this.

I missed this part earlier. I wish they were a little more specific than "the houses and gardens beyond this."

Dude, I grew up there.

That's why I figured you might find it interesting.

But your point stands that West Derby Castle was a "small" castle that's much larger than Harry's lot could conceivably be.