Tales of Christmas past at Warwick Castle - from outlandish gift-giving to historical high jinks

Warwick Castle’s Christmas tales could fill Santa’s sack three times over and the castle’s history team are sharing its festive anecdotes.

Warwick Castle’s Christmas legacies, outlandish gift-giving and historical high jinks include 120-course banquets, civil war, tales of scandal, arrests and a baby elephant.

In Warwick Castle’s magical ‘Christmas through the Ages’ tour, visitors will learn of the highs and lows of Christmas at the castle from its Anglo-Saxon beginnings to today.

With war and politics, the festivities came and went, but in the late 19th century, Christmas firmly cements its festivities, with arguably the castle’s most flamboyant residents, the 5th Earl and Countess of Warwick, introducing Victorian Christmas in all its splendour.

Here is some trivia from the castle's history team:

~ From 1649, under Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan rule, Christmas celebrations were made a punishable offence for 14 years.

~ The fifth Countess of Warwick, Daisy Greville was renowned for her Christmas parties. In 1878 she was to spend a whopping Christmas budget, equivalent today to £176,000 on food alone, including £34,000 on meat and £33,000 on wine.

~ The Warwick Castle light tour dates back to 1895, a year after the first electric lights were turned on in the castle. Enter the grand Powder Ball, renowned for scandal and intrigue, hosted in a festive snow storm and illuminated by a trail of 5,000 fairy lights. Today Warwick Castle has an iconic light trail of 30,000 lights and dancing projection wind through the castle’s 64-acre grounds.

~ A Christmas tree has stood tall in the Grand Hall every year since the 1890’s when the Greville family introduced the tradition.

~ In 1894, the castle was to see its most unusual Christmas gift with the Earl of Warwick buying his children their own baby elephant. The Greville’s were also well-known for their generosity to the local community and children with a Boxing Day gift-giving ceremony each year in the Great Hall.

This Christmas, Warwick Castle is working with healthcare charity Kissing it Better and local school children, to create artworks for Castle Ward at Warwick Hospital, bringing cheer to patients being cared for on the ward and helping them feel connected to the outside world during their stay in hospital.

~ Warwick Castle’s ghost stories have been told through the ages and a pasttime of choice. Along with ‘Piggy Squeak’ and ‘Find the Thimble’, the Victorian period saw ghost stories by the fire as a favourite with the kids.

~ Christmas has always been a family affair at Warwick Castle. Former resident Daisy Greville would take the local children for rides on her sleigh which can be seen each Christmas in the Great Hall.