In the Village at Arundel

In the Village at Arundel

Arundel is a market town and civil parish in the South Downs of West Sussex in the south of England. It lies 49 miles (79 km) south southwest of London, 18 miles (29 km) west of Brighton, and 10 miles (16 km) east of the county town of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Worthing east southeast, Littlehampton to the south and Bognor Regis to the southwest. The River Arun runs through the western side of the town.

Arundel was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Reform Act 1835. In 1974 it became part of the Arun district, and now is a civil parish with a town council.
Arundel is home to Arundel Cathedral, seat of the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton. The town also has its own cricket ground at the castle, often cited as being one of the country's most picturesque. It hosts Sussex County Cricket Club for a number of games each season and is also the venue for the traditional season curtain-raiser between Lavinia Duchess of Norfolk's XI and the champion county. Every summer it hosts the touring country.

On 6 July 2004, Arundel was granted Fairtrade Town status.

People born in Arundel are known locally as Mullets, due to the presence of Mullet in the River Arun.

Arundel is home to one of the oldest Scout Groups in the world. 1st Arundel (Earl of Arundel's Own) Scout Group was formed in 1908 only a few weeks after Scouting began. Based in its current HQ in Green Lane Close, it has active sections of Beaver Scouts, Cub Scouts and Scouts.

A Cathedral Wall Plaque

Cathedral Wall Plaque

Gothic art evolved from Romanesque art and lasted from the mid-12th century to as late as the end of the 16th century in some areas. The term Gothic was coined by classicizing Italian writers of the Renaissance, who attributed the invention (and what to them was the non-classical ugliness) of medieval architecture to the barbarian Gothic tribes that had destroyed the Roman Empire and its classical culture in the 5th century Ad. The term retained its derogatory overtones until the 19th century, at which time a positive critical revaluation of Gothic architecture took place. Although modern scholars have long realized that Gothic art has nothing in truth to do with the Goths, the term Gothic remains a standard one in the study of art history.
Gothic sculpture was closely tied to architecture, since it was used primarily to decorate the exteriors of cathedrals and other religious buildings. The earliest Gothic sculptures were stone figures of saints and the Holy Family used to decorate the doorways, or portals, of cathedrals in France and elsewhere. The sculptures on the Royal Portal of Chartres Cathedral (c. 1145-55) were little changed from their Romanesque predecessors in their stiff, straight, simple, elongated, and hieratic forms. But during the later 12th and the early 13th centuries sculptures became more relaxed and naturalistic in treatment, a trend that culminated in the sculptural decorations of the Reims Cathedral (c. 1240). These figures, while retaining the dignity and monumentality of their predecessors, have individualized faces and figures, as well as full, flowing draperies and natural poses and gestures, and they display a classical poise that suggests an awareness of antique Roman models on the part of their creators. Early Gothic masons also began to observe such natural forms as plants more closely, as is evident in the realistically carven clusters of leaves that adorn the capitals of columns.
Monumental sculptures assumed an increasingly prominent role during the High and late Gothic periods and were placed in large numbers on the facades of cathedrals, often in their own niches. In the 14th century, Gothic sculpture became more refined and elegant and acquired a mannered daintiness in its elaborate and finicky drapery. The elegant and somewhat artificial prettiness of this style was widely disseminated throughout Europe in sculpture, painting, and manuscript illumination during the 14th century and became known as the International Gothic style. An opposite trend at this time was that of an intensified realism, as displayed in French tomb sculptures and in the vigorous and dramatic works of the foremost late Gothic sculptor, Claus Sluter. Gothic sculpture evolved into the more technically advanced and classicistic Renaissance style in Italy during the 14th and early 15th centuries but persisted until somewhat later in northern Europe.
Gothic painting followed the same stylistic evolution as did sculpture; from stiff, simple, hieratic forms toward more relaxed and natural ones. Its scale grew large only in the early 14th century, when it began to be used in decorating the retable (ornamental panel behind an altar). Such paintings usually featured scenes and figures from the New Testament, particularly of the Passion of Christ and the Virgin Mary. These paintings display an emphasis on flowing, curving lines, minute detail, and refined decoration, and gold was often applied to the panel as background colour. Compositions became more complex as time went on, and painters began to seek means of depicting spatial depth in their pictures, a search that eventually led to the mastery of perspective in the early years of the Italian Renaissance. In late Gothic painting of the 14th and 15th centuries secular subjects such as hunting scenes, chivalric themes, and depictions of historical events also appeared. Both religious and secular subjects were depicted in manuscript illuminations--i.e., the pictorial embellishment of handwritten books. This was a major form of artistic production during the Gothic period and reached its peak in France during the 14th century. The calendar illustrations in the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (c. 1416) by the Limburg brothers, who worked at the court of Jean de France, duc de Berry, are perhaps the most eloquent statements of the International Gothic style as well as the best known of all manuscript illuminations


On Gargoyles, 1909 — G. K. Chesterton,
“Alone at some distance from the wasting walls of a disused abbey I found half sunken in the grass the grey and goggle-eyed visage of one of those graven monsters that made the ornamental water-spouts in the cathedrals of the Middle Ages. It lay there, scoured by ancient rains or striped by recent fungus, but still looking like the head of some huge dragon slain by a primeval hero. And as I looked at it, I thought of the meaning of the grotesque, and passed into some symbolic reverie of the three great stages of art.
The Old Greeks summoned godlike things to worship their god. The medieval Christians summoned all things to worship theirs, dwarfs and pelicans, monkeys and madmen. The modern realists summon all these million creatures to worship their god; and then have no god for them to worship. Paganism was in art a pure beauty; that was the dawn. Christianity was a beauty created by controlling a million monsters of ugliness; and that in my belief was the zenith and the noon. Modern art and science practically mean having the million monsters and being unable to control them; and I will venture to call that the disruption and the decay.”

Starlings Gather on the Ancient Spire

Starlings Gather on the Ancient Spire

A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass.
Symbolically, spires have two functions. The first is to proclaim a martial power. A spire, with its reminiscence of the spear point, gives the impression of strength. The second is to reach up toward the skies.[citation needed] The celestial and hopeful gesture of the spire is one reason for its association with religious buildings.[citation needed] A spire on a church or cathedral is not just a symbol of piety, but is often seen as a symbol of the wealth and prestige of the order, or patron who commissioned the building. As an architectural ornament, spires are most consistently found on Christian churches, where they replace the steeple. Although any denomination may choose to use a spire instead of a steeple, the lack of a cross on the structure is more common in Roman Catholic and other pre-Reformation churches. The battlements of cathedrals featured multiple spires in the Gothic style (in imitation of the secular military fortress).


Starlings in the New World: The year was 1890 when an eccentric drug manufacturer named Eugene Schieffelin entered New York City's Central Park and released some 60 European starlings he had imported from England. In 1891 he loosed 40 more. Schieffelin's motives were as romantic as they were ill fated: he hoped to introduce into North America every bird mentioned by Shakespeare.Skylarks and song thrushes failed to thrive, but the enormity of his success with starlings continues to haunt us. This is worth observing as an object lesson in how even noble intentions can lead to disaster when humanity meddles with nature.
Today the starling is ubiquitous, with its purple and green iridescent plumage and its rasping, insistent call. It has distinguished itself as one of the costliest and most noxious birds on our continent.
Roosting in hordes of up to a million, starlings can devour vast stores of seed and fruit, offsetting whatever benefit they confer by eating insects. In a single day, a cloud of omnivorous starlings can gobble up 20 tons of potatoes. What they don't eat they defile with droppings. They are linked to numerous diseases, including histoplasmosis, a fungal lung ailment that afflicts agricultural workers; toxoplasmosis, especially dangerous to pregnant women, and Newcastle disease, which kills poultry. Starlings bully several native species, often rudely evicting bluebirds and woodpeckers.
In 1960 a Lockheed Electra plummeted seconds after taking off from Logan Airport in Boston, killing 62 people. Some 10,000 starlings had flown straight into the plane, crippling its engines. Any bird in the wrong place can pose such a danger, but it is the ever-present starling that pilots fret over the most.
As usual in the history of man's importation of species across oceans and continents, Schieffelin was not thinking of long-term consequences. For the first six years after he released his birds they rarely strayed beyond Manhattan. The first nesting pair, discovered in the eaves of the Museum of Natural History, across the street from Central Park, inspired jubilation.
Once the starlings began to spread, though, their numbers and range soon exploded. They were able to adapt to climates as varied as Alaska's and Florida's; they were willing and able to eat anything; and they reproduced with startling vigor. ''Starlings,'' one ornithologist wrote, ''do nothing in moderation.''

The Ancient God Pan Plays His Pipes In The Castle Garden

The Ancient Nature God Pan Plays His Pipes In The Castle Garden

PAN is the god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music. He wanders the hills and mountains of Arkadia playing his pan-pipes and chasing Nymphs. His unseen presence arouses feelings of panic in men passing through the remote, lonely places of the wilds.

The god is a lover of nymphs, who commonly flee from his advances. Syrinx ran and was transformed into a clump of reeds, out of which the god crafted his famous pan-pipes. Pitys escaped and was turned into a mountain fir, the god's sacred tree. Ekho spurned his advances and fading away left behind only her voice to repeat forever the mountain cries of the god.

Pan is depicted as a man with the horns, legs and tail of a goat, and with thick beard, snub nose and pointed ears. He often appears in the retinue of Dionysos alongside the other rustic gods. Greeks in the classical age associated his name with the word pan meaning "all". However, it true origin lies in an old Arkadian word for rustic.

Pan is frequently identified with other similar rustic gods such as Aristaios, the shepherd-god of northern Greece, who like Pan was titled both Agreus (the hunter) and Nomios (the shepherd); as well as with the pipe-playing Phrygian satyr Marsyas; and Aigipan, the goat-fish god of the constellation Capricorn. Sometimes Pan was multiplied into a host of Panes, or a triad named Agreus, Nomios, and Phorbas.

A Lookout Point

A Lookout Point

One of many hilltop sites (this one nested within the South Downs in Sussex) where large beacon fires could be lit at the first sign of invading ships crossing the channel. These beacons were easily spied from castle towers many miles away and the signals could be relayed across the country so that reinforcements could be amassed and sent to destroy the invaders before they reached populated areas.


This stunning hilltop area has been a home to man for thousands of years. On top of the hill are burial mounds dating back to the Bronze and Saxon ages.

Wildlife has also made its home here and Blackcap is a great place to come and see the plants and animals that populate the area. Flowers such as the musk orchid, yellow rockrose, marjoram and honeysuckle can all be seen here, along with countless other plant species all of which support a huge range of insect, bird and mammal life.

The South Downs are characterised by rolling chalk downs, deep dry valleys, steep scarp slopes with wide views over wooded farmland of the Sussex Weald and glimpses of shimmering sea. The area has been inhabited by man since earliest times, as shown by hill-forts, tumuli and cross-dykes, while the South Downs Way itself was probably an important trade route in the Bronze Age.

The well-loved open chalk landscape, with its variety of wild flowers and butterflies, is a result of sheep and cattle grazing over the centuries.

The woodland here is equally varied. Coppiced hazel fringes the paths and the diversity of trees in Aschombe Bottom means a dazzling display of autumnal colours. Look out for the attractive buckthorn tree with its yellow autumnal leaves and dark purple-black berries.

The Hidden Chateau

The Hidden Chateau

Waddesdon Manor; Buckinghamshire: Descended from the Austrian branch of the Rothschild family, Baron Ferdinand, came to England in 1859 when he was just 20 years old. Following the tragic death of his new young wife during childbirth, he never remarried, but decided to look around for a suitable place to settle in England. Already living in Buckinghamshire, close to several members of his family, Ferdinand bought 3000 acres of land from the Duke of Marlborough in 1874 with the intention of erecting a property to house his growing collection of art treasures. Never intended as a home, Waddesdon Manor was designed as a pleasurable showpiece where specially invited guests could share in Ferdinand's passion for 18th century French art.

The massive building project took 15 years to complete, but the results were breathtaking both externally and internally. Designed by a French architect, Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur, the 19th century brick and stone cladding was used to create a stunning Renaissance style chateau, imaginatively fitted out with authentic French interiors. Wood panelling, screens and fireplaces are just some of the 'second-hand' materials, salvaged from French palaces and old Parisian houses being demolished, that were used to create the beautiful rooms at Waddesdon Manor.

Having installed his priceless collections in their perfect setting, Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild was now able to entertain selected groups of people who would appreciate the finery on display, and could indulge in the luxury of these surroundings. Regular weekend house parties were given during the 1880s and 90s, when his guests included royalty, politicians, writers and society beauties. In the absence of a long-term companion, Ferdinand's spinster sister acted as hostess at these frequent gatherings and, on his death, Waddesdon Manor was left to her. Alice's contributions include several pieces of fine porcelain from the houses of Sevres and Meissen.

In the early 1920s a Rothschild from the French arm of the family inherited the splendid manor house, and he established a stud farm at Waddesdon Manor, as well as introducing additional 18th century works of art. Ironically, the only time that this ostentatious mansion has had permanent residents was during the Second World War, when 100 child evacuees stayed with their nannies and nurses.

Battle Abbey In Moonlight

Battle Abbey In Moonlight

Battle Abbey was founded in 1070 and is an important symbol of the Norman Conquest. King Harold of England was killed in the Battle of Hastings in 1066; his remains were also butchered on the battlefield, to the point where his mistress, Edith Swanneck, recognized them only through a birthmark. The papacy later ordered the Normans to do penance for his death and the violence done to his body. Further, during the four intervening years, the Normans had marched on toe London, where William was crowned at Westminster Abbey, and then subdued many rebellions in the land. The area around York, for example, was devastated by the Normans. The Doomsday Book shows the effects of the Norman Conquest; many areas show little wealth or production.

Battle Abbey was built as an act of penance. While it was once believed that William had vowed before the Battle of Hastings to build an abbey if he were victorious, the order to begin construction was not given until 1070.

 The stone which marks she site of Harold's death. This stone marks the probable site of the high altar of the abbey church. The chapels would have radiated from the apse, whose line is marked out behind the stone. Although the monastery was built on the very spot where Harold had fallen, fatally wounded by an arrow through the eye, there is no compelling evidence that William had planned to build a monastery on that site before 1070.

The site of the battle and especially of Harold's death was not at all suitable for construction. It sloped downward toward marshland, and there was no natural water supply.

William was known for bringing many Normans over to staff his new government, and in like fashion, he also brought monks from Marmoutier in France and materials for the abbey from the continent. William generously endowed the abbey with property, and granted the abbot jurisdiction over the people and land within a 11/2 mile area around the abbey. The abbot was, therefore, exempt from the jurisdiction of the local bishop, a privilege which was not challenged until King Stephen's reign in twelfth century.

The abbey church was the first structure completed. The east end of the church was finished in 1070, while the rest was completed by 1094. The church was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury. William would not live to see this event, but his son William Rufus, who died an early and tragic death, was present. Nothing remains today of the church but the outline of the apse and the stone which marks the spot of the high altar.

Abbot Gausbert was responsible for building the dormitory, which was near the remains of the reredorter, or latrine. This abbot also presided during the construction of most of the abbey church. The second Abbot, Henry, erected the stone gate tower, which became part of the much larger gatehouse. The gatehouse was built during the Hundred Years' War for added protection against raiders. The fourth abbot, Walter de Luci, rebuilt the cloister. Little remains today of this once beautiful area of the monastery. During his reign, the abbey's exemption from Episcopal jurisdiction was challenged for the second time. The Bishop of Chichester appealed to the pop, while the abbot appealed to King Stephen. The dispute was not settled until the reign of Henry II, who decided in favor of the abbot.

The abbey's royal patronage declined when Henry II's son John became king. In return for a large cash grant, he allowed the abbey to elect its own abbot. The abbey's independence was once again challenged in 1233, when Ralph Neville, Bishop of Chichester, once again claimed jurisdiction and appealed to the papacy. An agreement was reached preserving most of the abbey's independence. In the period which followed, most of the abbey's buildings were rebuilt, and other additions were constructed.

The fourteenth century brought many challenges and calamities. During the Hundred Years' War, the French raided the coasts of England, particularly the counties of Sussex and Kent. The gatehouse was constructed in 1338-1339 to aid in the area's defense, and the abbey organized the defense of the Pevensey-Romney area and led local troops against a raiding party at Wincgelsea. This gatehouse is considered one of the finest examples in England. There are battlements on all four sides, and arrow loops and round end-holes. There are two human heads in the gate passages; one is William, who smiles happily in victory, the other is King Harold,who looks for reinforcements which never came.

Many monks died in the Black Death. Like so many other monasteries, the number of monks never again rose to its pre-plague heights. In the sixteenth century, the Reformation would put an end to the abbey's successful history. Thomas Cromwell's agent, Richard Layton, said, "so beggary a house I never see, nor so filthy stuff" when he visited the abbey. The abbey's income of 800 pounds a year qualified it as one of the great houses, and it was dissolved in 1538. Henry VIII pensioned off the abbot at 100 pounds a year, and gave the abbey and its lands to Sir Anthony Browne. Browne razed the church, the chapter house, and the cloisters. He converted the abbot's house on the west range into a mansion; after World War I, it became a school, which can be seen in the background of this photo. Browne also rebuilt the guest range, supposedly as a residence for Edward VI, the youngest child of Henry VIII, and his half-sister Elizabeth. Neither of them ever lived here.

The Cloister Font

The Cloister Font

The early fonts may be divided into two types.  In the East they were generally small square or circular basons, but occasionally elongated on four sides, and so make the shape of a Greek cross.  In the West they are for the most part octagonal or circular, forming a wide shallow bason.  Their normal depth is under 3 feet ; in some cases the utmost capacity of the bason was only 15 inches.

In Cornwall there are a few interesting instances still extant of Holy Springs, possibly used as baptistries, and protected by chapels ; and the same are to be found in Monmouthshire as well as in Wales.  But the almost invariable rule in these islands seems to have been to place a font in the body of the church ; in all events this custom was universal amongst us in post-Conquest [after the Norman conquest in 1066] days.

The font itself was as a rule of stone, and it was usually lined with lead, save in some of those instances where an imprevious stone, such as granite or Purbeck marble, was used.  Wooden fonts were occasionally in use in those early days, but they were always considered irregular, and in later times uncanonical.

Prior to the reformation, a style of font ornamentation became common, and that was to depict the seven sacraments of the medieval Catholic church.  Fonts at the time were generally octagonal, so each of these sides featured an image of the sacrament, with the eighth side often carved either with the image of the penitent donor, other a depiction of Christ's crucifixion.  These fonts could also be elaborately painted in bright colors. Other subjects also could be depicted, including images of the four apostles, Christ's baptism, the Last Judgment, the martydom of a saint, Communion, Mary and child, the Trinity, and Our Lord in Glory.
Other fonts could feature heraldry, with carvings of the heraldic arms of important local patrons, especially in the 13th and 14th centuries.  For instance, the arms of Archbishop Arundel, who lived from 1397 to 1414, are carved on the font in Sittingbourne, Kent.

Some fonts had protruding edges or carvings, such as a rams head.  These may have had some practical purpose. Other fonts had kneeling benches made of wood or stone.

Unicorn Hill

Unicorn Hill

"The unicorn was white, with hoofs of silver and graceful horn of pearl. . . .  The glorious thing about him was his eye.  There was a faint bluish furrow down each side of his nose, and this led to the eye sockets, and surrounded them in a pensive shade.  The eyes, circled by this sad and beautiful darkness, were so sorrowful, lonely, gentle and nobly tragic, that they killed all other emotions except love."

The Once and Future King
T.H. White

Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral is an elegant Gothic edifice located in Salisbury, about 90 miles southwest of London. Built almost entirely in the 13th century, the cathedral boasts the tallest spire and the largest cloisters in England.

The history of Salisbury Cathedral begins two miles away at Old Sarum, an ancient fortified plateau where a Norman cathedral was built by Bishop St. Osmund in 1075. The sight must have been impressive, but the location proved to be a constant headache due to its exposure to the elements and lack of sufficient water.

Finally, in 1217, Bishop Richard le Poore wrote to the Pope for permission to abandon the site for a better location two miles away, at the confluence of two rivers. The petition was granted and the clergy moved to the new site in 1219.

Construction on Salisbury Cathedral began in the Early English Gothic style in 1220. The work was completed quickly, resulting in a unity of architecture rarely seen in England. Even after Bishop le Poore moved to Durham, the builders adhered to the original design until its completion.

In accordance with common practice, construction began at the east end and worked west. The Chapel of the Holy Trinity and All Saints was completed in 1225, after which the tomb of St. Osmund was moved there from Old Sarum. Next came the choir, transepts and nave, which were complete by 1258, when the cathedral was consecrated. The elaborate west front was finished in 1255, the cloister in 1270 and the chapter house in 1284.

The only major element to be added later was the famous spire, which came along in 1310-33. But its shape matches the cathedral perfectly and is made from the same stone, quarried from Chilmark 12 miles away. The spire was a daring addition, forcing the structure below to carry a dangerous amount of weight (6,500 tons with the tower). Only a multitude of buttresses, bracing arches and iron ties have kept it from collapsing over the centuries.

The rare harmony of Salisbury Cathedral was damaged by the architect James Wyatt in 1789-92, whose "restorations" included removing the 13th-century choir screen, high altar, stained glass windows and detached bell tower, and rearranging the nave's monuments into rows. Another restoration by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1859 attempted to put some of it back together again.

Meditation Garden in the Cloister

Meditation Garden in the Cloister

    Monastic gardens typically had three main gardens: the herber, herb, physic, or infirmary garden which provided medicines for the infirmary, and the orchard and kitchen gardens, which provided food (although many herbal preparations would have been made from plants in these gardens as well). The designers of these gardens often when to particular trouble to make them attractive as well as practical - medieval monks, like modern day gardeners, delighted in the beauty as well as function of plants. Sometimes fruit trees and berry bushes were planted through the graveyard so that the space had twin usefulness and beauty. Latrines could be positioned near the vegetable beds of the kitchen garden not merely to supply the kitchen garden with a ready-made and close source of manure for its soil, but also perhaps to sweeten the monks' journey to and from the latrines.

Monasteries therefore had to supply not only their own food, ales and wines and herbal medicines, but the food and medical treatments for a large number of other people as well. An important part of the monk's duty of care, to their dependents as well as to God, was maintaining the monastic gardens. The gardening duties had become so onerous in some monasteries that by the end of the twelfth centuries the monks had to hire in lay gardeners to help manage their gardens.

Monastic gardens typically had three main gardens: the herber, herb, physic, or infirmary garden which provided medicines for the infirmary, and the orchard and kitchen gardens, which provided food (although many herbal preparations would have been made from plants in these gardens as well). The designers of these gardens often when to particular trouble to make them attractive as well as practical - medieval monks, like modern day gardeners, delighted in the beauty as well as function of plants. Sometimes fruit trees and berry bushes were planted through the graveyard so that the space had twin usefulness and beauty. Latrines could be positioned near the vegetable beds of the kitchen garden not merely to supply the kitchen garden with a ready-made and close source of manure for its soil, but also perhaps to sweeten the monks' journey to and from the latrines. Planting beds were generally very carefully laid out in both the physic garden and the kitchen garden. A typical garden would have at least six beds, perhaps protected by low hazel fences or hurdles, aligned along a central pathway. The physic garden could have twenty beds or more, one bed for each herb. The monks grew cumin, fennel, comfrey, feverfew, yarrow, pimpernel, rosemary, sage, rue, lavender, rose, iris, mint, lovage and pennyroyal among others. What was not grown in the physic garden could be gathered from the wild - along the river meadows and under the hedgerows.

In the kitchen garden the monks would have grown turnips, parsnips, a variety of legumes, onions, leeks, mint, borage, nettle, violets, rocket, endive, wormwood, basil, carnations, melons and mugwort to name only a few.
Also forming an important, if less decorative part, of the monastic garden was the cloister garden (or cloister-garth). While some cloister gardens had shrubs and flowers, most had only a level field of lawn. The simplicity, as well the emerald colour, aided the monks or nuns in their daily spiritual contemplations - the plain green lawn symbolized renewal and everlasting life.

The monastic official who oversaw the gardens was known as the ortolanus. He not only oversaw production in the gardens, but also administered the hiring of staff (if the monastery needed to hire in lay gardeners). One of the perks for the lay gardeners was that, as well as monetary wages, they also often obtained medicinal care, food, gloves and boots for their labour.
In the smaller religious houses, those with only a handful of monks or lay brothers, there were no lay gardeners at all. The monks did all the work, whether in freezing hail or summer sunshine, living and dying by the fruits of their endeavours.

View From The Castle

View From The Castle

Under a stormy sky the Avon River is seen meandering away from Warwick Castle through the stunning Warwickshire countryside on it's way to Shakespeare's Stratford-upon-Avon. 

The River Avon or Avon is a river in or adjoining the counties of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire in the Midlands of England. It is also known as the Warwickshire Avon or Shakespeare's Avon, since the Bard was called "Sweet Swan of Avon" by Ben Jonson. The river has been divided since 1719 into the Lower Avon, below Evesham, and the Upper Avon, from Evesham to above Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Temple of the Knights of Earendel

The Temple of the Knights of Earendel

In this temple, which was both monastery and cavalry-barracks, the life of the knights was full of contrasts. A contemporary describes the knights as "in turn lions of war and lambs at the hearth; rough knights on the battlefield, pious monks in the chapel; formidable to the enemies of Christ, gentleness itself towards His friends." Having renounced all the pleasures of life, they faced death with a proud indifference; they were the first to attack, the last to retreat, always docile to the voice of their leader, the discipline of the monk being added to the discipline of the soldier. As an army they were never very numerous. A contemporary tells us that there were 400 knights at the zenith of their prosperity; he does not give the number of serjeants, who were more numerous. But it was a picked body of men who, by their noble example, inspirited the remainder of the Christian forces. They were thus the terror of the Shire. Were they defeated, it was upon them that the victor vented his fury, the more so as they were forbidden to offer a ransom. When taken prisoners, they scornfully refused the freedom offered them on condition of apostasy. At the siege of Safed (1264), at which ninety knights met death, eighty others were taken prisoners, and, refusing to deny Christ, died martyrs to the Faith. This fidelity cost them dear. It has been computed that in less than two centuries almost 20,000 knights and serjeants, perished in war.

Midnight Watch on the Keep

Midnight Watch on the Keep

A keep was a self-sufficient structure that castle defenders could retreat to as a last resort during a battle. The keep was originally called a donjon or great tower. In medieval documents the great tower is referred to as "magna turris", and the word "keep" didn't come along in the English literature until the later half of the 16th century. Sometimes the basement of the keep served as a prison, so the word dungeon soon developed as slang for the keep.

There were two basic shapes of a keep, square and round. Almost all early keeps were square or rectangular, and were the easiest and fastest to erect. Square keeps had one major drawback. They could easily be damaged at the corners by undermining or bombardment.

Then came the development of the round keep. They were very difficult to successfully undermine. Arrows and rocks glanced off the rounded walls. Even in later times, after the invention of cannon, the cannon balls also glanced off the keep walls. The earliest round keep in Great Britain was at New Buckingham Castle, built in 1150.

Even after the military importance of castles changed, keeps were still being built. The role of the keep changed from a last resort stronghold to only a lord's private residence or chamber.

Another type of keep was the hall-keep. These were longer than they were high, and had very thick walls. They combined the castle keep, hall, solar and other chambers. One of the first stone keeps to be built in Great Britain, during the medieval period, was at Chepstow Castle. This was a hall-keep erected in about 1070.

A shell keep was a masonry building completely surrounding the summit of a motte. They were round or polygonal and originated as a replacement of a wooden palisade crowning the motte. These types of keeps were hollow because mottes were not strong enough to bear the weight of a solid tower. The walls varied in height from 20-25ft, and were from 8-10ft thick, strengthened by a buttress and, sometimes, wall-towers.

The interior was usually an open court with surrounding buildings backing onto the walls, and the domestic buildings of the lord were usually placed within the circular enclosure of the shell keep. By the 13th century, these types of keeps had generally replaced the wooden tower on the motte, and often an additional stone gatehouse and towers were inserted into the shell keep. Examples of shell keeps are at: Arundel, Berkhamsted, Brecon, Wiston, Cardiff, Restormel, and other castles.

Yet another type of keep developed, this being the keep-gatehouse. Complete control for the entrance of the castle was gained by combining the gatehouse and keep into one structure. The inner gates were open and closed from within the gate passage, and not from the castle courtyards, providing isolation from the rest of the castle. The living quarters were in the upper floors. Some of the castles having a keep-gatehouse are Richmond, Ludlow, and Newark.

The House Keep, or strong house, became common in the 14th and 15th centuries. It was a high rectangular structure, and often had towers on each corner. The pele tower and Scottish tower houses are simular in looks. The stables, or barn, would be located on the bottom floor, or basement. The living quarters would be on the upper floors, and could only be accessed by a removable wooden ladder. The upper floors would also have very small and narrow windows so that no one could enter via a window.

Castle keeps varied in size. The round keep at Pembroke Castle is four stories, over 53 feet in diameter, 80 feet in height, and has walls 16 feet thick. It is one of the greatest keeps ever built. Here are some other heights and thickness of keeps:

    * Castle Rising Castle: 50 feet high with walls 7 feet thick.
    * Dover Castle: 83 feet high with walls 12 feet thick.
    * Newcastle Castle: 75 feet high with walls 18 feet thick.
    * Norham Castle: 90 feet high with walls 15 feet thick.
    * Kenilworth Castle: 80 feet high with walls 14 feet thick.

The earliest known stone keep built in Great Britain is at Chepstow Castle, built in 1068.

The Moat and Gatehouse at Leeds Castle

The Moat and Gatehouse at Leeds Castle

Built in 1119 by Robert de Crevecoeur to replace the earlier Saxon manor of Esledes, the castle became a royal palace in 1278 for King Edward I of England and his queen, Eleanor of Castile. Major improvements were made during his time, including the barbican, made up of three parts, each with its own entrance, drawbridge, gateway and portcullis.

The castle was captured on 31 October 1321 by the forces of Edward II from Margaret de Clare, Baroness Badlesmere, wife of the castle's governor, Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere who had left her in charge during his absence. The King had besieged Leeds after she had refused Edward's consort Isabella of France admittance; when the latter had sought to force an entry Baroness Badlesmere had instructed her archers to fire upon the Queen and her party, six of whom were killed.

Richard II's first wife, Anne of Bohemia, spent the winter of 1381 at the castle on her way to be married to the king. In 1395, King Richard II received the French chronicler Jean Froissart there, as Froissart described in his Chronicles.

Henry VIII transformed the castle for his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and a painting commemorating his meeting with Francis I of France still hangs there. His daughter, Queen Elizabeth I was imprisoned in the castle for a time before her coronation.

Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron was born at Leeds Castle. Consequently, there is a sundial at Fairfax, Virginia, telling the time in Leeds Castle, and a sundial at Leeds Castle telling the time in Virginia.

The castle escaped destruction during the English Civil War because its owners, the Culpeper family, sided with the Parliamentarians. The last private owner of the castle was the Hon. Olive, Lady Baillie, a daughter of Almeric Paget, 1st Baron Queenborough, and his first wife, Pauline Payne Whitney, an American heiress. Lady Baillie bought the castle in 1926. She redecorated the interior, first working with the French architect and designer Armand-Albert Rateau (who also oversaw exterior alterations as well as adding interior features such as a 16th century-style carved-oak staircase) and then, later, with the Paris decorator Stéphane Boudin. During WWII Lady Baillie hosted burned Commonwealth airmen at the castle as part of their recovery. Survivors remember the experience with fondness to this day. Upon her death in 1974, Lady Baillie left the castle to the Leeds Castle Foundation, a private charitable trust whose aim is to preserve the castle and grounds for the benefit of the public.

View From The Tower

View From The Tower

Towers (or keeps) are the central part of any defensive castle plans. Often round and hollow they would have living quarters on the upper floors. If they were part of a town wall or an outer ring then the rear of the tower would often be open.

The largest tower was probably at Caernarvon castle which was 21m in diameter. Generally castle towers were half this size. A rectangular tower or keep suffered from the dead ground at its angles which effectively became a blind spot in the defenses and laid it appleby castle keepopen to mining as at Rochester castle.

Castles in France probably developed solutions to this quicker than anywhere else. The round defenses at Houdan (approx. 1110 AD to 1125 AD) being probably the first significant change.

Although polygonal keeps were quite rare in France the round tower was adopted much more quickly. Strangely round towers or keeps were developed much later in England.

Round towers can be built on square or rectangular bases such as at Cardigan castle. They can also be found on polygonal (usually semi-octagonal) bases such as at Picton (Pembroke).

The Follies

The Follies

In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs. In the original use of the word, these buildings had no other use, but from the 19th to 20th centuries the term was also applied to highly decorative buildings which had secondary practical functions such as housing, sheltering or business use.

18th century English gardens and French landscape gardening often featured Roman temples, which symbolized classical virtues or ideals. Other 18th century garden follies represented Chinese temples, Egyptian pyramids, ruined abbeys, or Tatar tents, to represent different continents or historical eras. Sometimes they represented rustic villages, mills and cottages, to symbolize rural virtues. Many follies, particularly during famine, such as the Irish potato famine, were built as a form of poor relief, to provide employment for peasants and unemployed artisans.

The Gatehouse at Warwick Castle

The Gatehouse at Warwick Castle

Warwick Castle is a medieval castle in Warwick, the county town of Warwickshire, England. It sits on a bend on the River Avon. The castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068 within or adjacent to the Anglo-Saxon burh of Warwick. It was used as a fortification until the early 17th century, when Sir Fulke Greville converted it to a country house. It was owned by the Greville family, who became earls of Warwick in 1759, until 1978.

From 1088, the castle traditionally belonged to the Earl of Warwick, and it served as a symbol of his power. The castle was taken in 1153 by Henry of Anjou, later Henry II. It has been used to hold prisoners, including some from the Battle of Poitiers in the 14th century. Under the ownership of Richard Neville – also known as "Warwick the Kingmaker" – Warwick Castle was used in the 15th century to imprison the English king, Edward IV.

Since its construction in the 11th century, the castle has undergone structural changes with additions of towers and redesigned residential buildings. Originally a wooden motte-and-bailey, it was rebuilt in stone in the 12th century. During the Hundred Years War, the facade opposite the town was refortified, resulting in one of the most recognisable examples of 14th century military architecture.

In the 17th century the grounds were turned into a garden. The castle's defences were enhanced in the 1640s to prepare the castle for action in the English Civil War. Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke, was a Parliamentarian, and Royalist forces laid siege to the castle. Warwick Castle withstood the siege and was later used to hold prisoners taken by the Parliamentarians.

Dungeons are Scary Places

Dungeons are Scary Places

"Dungeon" is a corruption of donjon, the French term for tower. Contrary to popular belief of the dank, dark basement pit, most prisoners were held in the castle's highest tower, passage to which was guarded by soldiers. Basement or pit dungeons did exist with famous prisoners immortalized in literature.

For six years Francois Bonivard was chained to a pillar in Switzerland's Château Chillon, near Montreux. In the early 1800s, romantic poet Lord Byron spent a night in the dungeon and wrote The Prisoner of Chillon. His name can still be seen carved into the third pillar.

The Château d'If near Marseille, France was the setting where Alexandre Dumas père's fictional character ... escaped to become The Count of Monte Cristo.

Medieval castles' stone walls, narrow windows and limited access points led many to be converted into prisons. The Tower of London and Paris' Bastille housed many political prisoners over the years.

Winchester Cathedral

Winchester Cathedral

The cathedral was originally founded in 642 on an immediately adjoining site to the north. This building became known as the Old Minster. It became part of a monastic settlement in 971. Saint Swithun was buried near the Old Minster and then in it, before being moved to the new Norman cathedral. So-called mortuary chests said to contain the remains of Saxon kings such as King Eadwig of England, first buried in the Old Minster, and his wife Ælfgifu, are also housed in the present cathedral. The Old Minster was demolished in 1093.

Construction of the cathedral began in 1079 under bishop Walkelin and, on April 8, 1093, in the presence of nearly all the bishops and abbots of England, the monks removed from the Saxon cathedral church of the Old Minster to the new one, "with great rejoicing and glory" to mark its completion. The earliest part of the present building is the crypt, which dates from that time. William II of England and his older brother, Richard, Duke of Bernay are both buried in the cathedral. The squat, square crossing tower was begun in 1202 to replace an earlier version which collapsed, partly because of the unstable ground on which the cathedral is built. It has an indisputably Norman look to it. Work continued on the cathedral during the 14th century. In 1394 the remodelling of the Norman nave commenced to the designs of master mason William Wynford, this continued into the 15th and 16th centuries, notably with the building of the retroquire to accommodate the many pilgrims to the shrine of Saint Swithun.

Much of the sturdy limestone used to build the structure was brought across from the Isle of Wight from quarries around Binstead. Nearby Quarr Abbey draws its name from these masonry workings, as do many local places such as Stonelands and Stonepitts. The remains of the Roman trackway used to transport the blocks are still evident across the fairways of the Ryde Golf Club, where the stone was hauled from the quarries to the hythe at the mouth of Binstead Creek, and thence by barge across the Solent and up to Winchester.

After King Henry VIII seized control of the Catholic Church in England and declared himself head of the Church of England, the Benedictine foundation, the Priory of Saint Swithun, was dissolved (1539) and the cloister and chapter house were demolished, but the cathedral continued.

Corfe, A View From The Castle

Corfe, A View From The Castle

Corfe Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It is the site of a ruined castle of the same name. The village and castle stand over a gap in the Purbeck Hills on the route between Wareham and Swanage.The village lies in the gap below the castle, and is some eight kilometres (five miles) south-east of Wareham, and the same distance west of Swanage. Both the current main A351 road Lytchett Minster to Swanage and the Swanage Railway thread their way through the gap and the village.

The civil parish of Corfe Castle stretches across the width of the Isle of Purbeck, with coasts facing both the English Channel and Poole Harbour. It therefore includes sections of both the low lying sandy heathland that lies to the north of the castle, and the rugged Jurassic Coast upland to the south.
Burial mounds around the common of Corfe Castle suggest that the area was occupied from 6000BC. The common also points to a later Celtic field system worked by the Durotriges tribe. Evidence suggests that the tribe co-existed with the Romans in a trading relationship following the Roman invasion c. 50AD.
The name "Corfe" is derived from the Saxon word for gap.

From the 1796 Corfe Castle Census of the 96 men involved in local industries and living in the town, 55 were clay cutters. These men worked in the nearby pits at Norden supplying Purbeck Ball Clay to Josiah Wedgwood and other pottery manufacturers. Clay extraction continued to provide a major employment for the local population until the 20th century. there is a valley as well.

The castle stands above the village and dates back in some form to the 10th century. It was the site of the murder of Edward the Martyr in 978. During the English Civil War it was a Royalist stronghold and was besieged twice, in 1643 and again in 1646

The Raven's Tree

The Raven's Tree

“If the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it.”

For an example of ravens forcibly expelled from a castle tower, bringing forth a dismal curse, just look at the ill-fated Hapsburg dynasty. The Hapsburgs were rulers of the Holy Roman Empire (962-1806), and they had in their possession the miraculous Holy Lance. Long ago, the castle tower of their ancestral Schlöss Hapsburg had many ravens flying about and merrily making nests everywhere, until one day the Hapsburgs cruelly exterminated every last one of them.

This was the origin of the Hapsburg Curse. From then on, the Hapsburgs were haunted by supernatural ravens called Turnfalken, whose every appearance presaged doom to members of the imperial family. Numerous times in history the foreboding Turnfalken have been seen in Vienna soaring above the Schönbrunn and Hofburg palaces. It has been claimed that in Paris the ravens were seen hovering and screeching over Marie Antoinette as she was guillotined, in Mexico when Emperor Maximilian was shot by the firing squad, at Mayerling when Prince Rudolf and his lover Countess Maria Vetsera consummated their suicide pact (although some say they were murdered), and at Sarajevo when Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated – triggering World War I and the crumbling Hapsburg empire’s final demise.

Possibly related to the London Tower legend are other raven folktales, superstitions, and legends. According to Cornish folklore, the spirit of King Arthur is said to dwell in ravens, and for this reason it is considered unlucky and even sacrilegious to kill one. An age-old superstition states if all the ravens in a wood suddenly forsake it, surely disaster will follow. Another Tower raven legend chronicled in the Mabinogion states that upon the death of the giant king Bran the Blessed (bran means raven in Welsh), his head was cut off and buried at the “White Hill” in London, (usually identified as Tower Hill) “with the face turned towards France”. This burial is known in the Welsh Triads as one of the Three Happy Concealments of The Island of the Mighty. As long as Bran’s head stays buried there, Britain will be safe from invasion. It is as if these older legends, folktales, and superstitions fused to form the current Tower of London raven legend.

It is claimed that the ravens have been at the Tower of London since the 13th century, and for the last 400 years they have been protected by royal decree. However, Geoff Parnell, the official Tower of London historian, recently scoured records dating back a millennium and found no reference to the ravens before an 1895 article in an RSPCA journal, The Animal World. One Edith Hawthorn referred to the Tower’s pet cat being tormented by the ravens, Jenny and a nameless mate. A menagerie was kept at the Tower by generations of monarchs for at least 600 years until it became the foundation of London Zoo. There were hawks, lions, leopards, monkeys and even a polar bear – but no mention of ravens. Besides, the Duke of Wellington, who dismantled the menagerie in 1835, wanted to get dangerous animals out of the way of his garrison and would hardly have tolerated six sharp-beaked ravens hanging around. Dr Parnell’s research suggests that some ravens may have been a punning gift to the Tower by the third Earl of Dunraven (1812-71), an archæologist and antiquarian fascinated by Celtic raven myths, who added ravens to his family coat of arms.

Ravens are now a protected species in Britain. The Tower birds are cared for by one of the Yeoman Warders (known as Beefeaters) with the regal title of Ravenmaster. The current Ravenmaster, Derrick Coyle, a former Sergeant Major, has been at the Tower for 20 years, first serving as Deputy Ravenmaster before becoming full-time Ravenmaster six years ago. Coyle’s arms are full of nasty scars, evidence of the ravens’ powerful bills and razor-sharp talons – he stoically calls them “love taps.” The birds are fed kitchen scraps, an occasional rabbit, and the odd roadkill that the Ravenmaster happens to pick up. The ravens Odin and Thor, brothers, used to mimic the Ravenmaster’s voice, including the vocalisations, “Come on then!” and “Good morning.” Sadly, however, these two birds passed away in 2003.

It has been observed (not infrequently) that when a member of the flock perishes, the birds will hold what could be called a “raven funeral” – a 24-hour event marked by raucous outcries. The Ravenmaster buries the dead bird in the Raven Cemetery located in the drained moat close to the Watergate and the St Thomas Tower. (St Thomas is the patron saint of clergy.) There is a special Raven Memorial Headstone that lists all ravens buried there from 1956 onwards. (Incidentally, in England, tombstones are sometimes referred to as “ravenstones”.) The St Thomas Tower is also known as Traitors’ Gate because it was through this Tower that condemned prisoners accused of treason arrived from Westminster. The Tower is named in honour of Sir Thomas Becket, whose apparition has been seen striking the walls of the building with a crucifix, loudly proclaiming it was not made for the common good but “for the injury and prejudice of the Londoners, my brethren”.

Arundel Castle Seen Over the Village Rooftops

Arundel Castle Seen Over the Village Rooftops

Tradition has it that the town was named after the giant Bevis's horse "Hirondelle" (the swallow). A swallow is still depicted on the town's coat of arms." Little is known about Arundel before the Conquest. There is "evidence of Roman occupation and the town is mentioned in 901 in the will of Alfred the Great. It is known Alfred fortified the area against sea raiders, the town had Saxon royal connections up until the reign of Harold II." There are references of a castle and the port at Arundel in the Doomsday Book.

Arundel is the second largest castle in England. Arundel Castle has been the seat of the Dukes of Norfolk for over 500 years. "The Duke of Norfolk is England's Premier Duke, the title having been conferred on Sir John Howard in 1483 by his friend King Richard III. The Dukedom also carries with it the hereditary office of Earl Marshal of England" (since 1672).

The Montgomerys are a Lowland clan of Anglo-Norman origin." The son of Rodger de Montgomery "The Great", Rodger de Montgomery (b.1030), was joint Regent of Normandy when William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066. He contributed 60 of his ships to William to aid the invasion. Rodger de Montgomery was not only the cousin of the new King, they were also best of friends since childhood. "Rodger was given the Earldoms of Sherwsbury and Arundel, the "rape" of Chichester (which made him the Lord of 84 manors). After the conquest King William divided Sussex into six "rapes" (the origin of rape maybe derived from "hrapa" Icelandic measure, or rapiner Norman meaning to plunder), Chichester, Arundel, Bramber, Lewis, Pevensey, and Hastings.

Earl Rodger de Montgomery founded the first castle at Arundel on Christmas day 1067. He returned with William from Normandy in 1067 and he was summoned to attend Chismas (sic) at Gloucester with the king where he was awarded his honours as one of William's most trusted men.

In 1083 he founded the Abby at Shrewsbury, "which he is reputed to have entered 3 days before his death." (This is the man whose ghost is said to haunt the castle's keep) Rodger de Montgomery died in 1094 and was succeeded by his son, Robert, known as Robert de Belleme.

Of the ...sieges that occurred in the castle's history, two were caused by direct rebellion of the castle's owners against the monarchy.

Robert de Belleme was a hardened and cruel man, who had made many enemies. Extremely knowledgable in military architecture, he strengthen Arundel's fortifications. He sided with the Duke of Normandy against King Henry I in 1102. While Robert was away, the castle was besieged for three months before surrendering. Belleme was banished for life; his lands and possessions confiscated, they now belonged to the Crown.

Robert had started building the stone keep. Henry I continued the work, and it was probably completed by Henry II whose keep at Windsor Castle is very similar to Arundel's.

It can be said that, apart from the occasional reversion to the Crown, Arundel Castle has descended directly from 1138 to the present day, carried by female heiresses from the d'Albinis to the Fitzalans in the 13th century and then from the Fitzalans to the Howards in the 16th century and it has been the seat of the Dukes of Norfolk and their ancestors for over 850 years.

The Tomb Guardian

The Tomb Guardian

From Medieval times on the angel, or "messenger of God," may appear in many different poses, each with its own individual meaning. An angel with open wings is thought to represent the flight of the soul to heaven. Angels may also be shown carrying the deceased in their arms, as if taking or escorting them to heaven. A weeping angel symbolizes grief, especially mourning an untimely death. An angel blowing a trumpet may depict the day of judgement. Two specific angels can often be identified by the instruments they carry - Michael by his sword and Gabriel with her horn.

The Chapel At Warwick Castle

The Chapel At Warwick Castle

The chapel of Warwick Castle, built around 1600, has been restored and opened for Divine worship. It was built in the reign of Henry VI., and is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. Beneath the chapel are the rooms built for the residence of the priests. The giant statue of Earl Guy is still in the chapel, but is much mutilated; the right arm is gone, and the hand of the left arm that holds a shield. The statue is eight feet high. Warwick Castle played an important role in the English Civil War, which had religious origins. Oliver Cromwell may well have sought guidance at this altar. 

A Stately Home For Ghosts

A Stately Home For Ghosts

Cowdrey House: With a history dating back to the early 1500s, Cowdray was in its heyday during the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, both of whom visited and stayed at the house, with Henry VIII being a frequent visitor. Nearly three hundred years later and whilst undergoing repairs and refurbishments for the impending marriage of the 8th Viscount Montague, a devastating fire took hold on the evening of the 24th September 1793. The house was destroyed to a great extent – but with significant exceptions such as the intact Kitchen Tower.

For the next century this exquisite example of Tudor architecture simply rotted away and its gradually decaying structure was visited by numerous artists, scholars and writers alike including William Turner and John Constable who both painted the landscape.

Since then it has remained largely untouched although the 1st Viscount Cowdray did commission a restoration project between 1909-1914 when St John Hope was asked to report on Cowdray, Easebourne Priory and St Anne’s Hill. This work is generally credited with having saved the Cowdray ruins from total collapse. Nevertheless this period of desertion ensured that the features that remained of this important Tudor building were untouched and consequently give us today a unique glimpse of many important features of Tudor architecture which would otherwise have been lost.

The Castle Ruins at Bramber in the Style of Van Gogh

The Castle Ruins at Bramber in the Style of Van Gogh

The only part of the original Norman castle wall which still stands upon a huge natural mound is a 76ft high fragment of what was once a mighty fortress. Perched in this position, the castle was perfect for defending nearby old Shoreham which was situated on the river Adur. The name Bramber comes from the Saxon 'Brymmburh which means fortified place.

Bramber Castle was, in the reign of King John, owned by William de Braose whose opulent lifestyle made him the envy of his monarch but he was to incurr the King's displeasure in the events leading up to the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 AD.

The King decided to make an example of Braose and ordered that he give up his four young children to be hostages of the King insuring their father's future good behavior. When this unreasonable demand was refused, King John sent an army to Bramber with instructions to take the children by force.

Braose learned of the plan and together with his family fled to Ireland but they were later captured, returned to England and imprisoned at Windsor Castle where the spiteful King had the four children starved to death as a warning to other disobedient barons.

Although they died at Windsor Castle, it is to the sad ruin of Bramber Castle that the specters of the murdered children are said to return particularly at Christmas when they are apparently sometimes seen begging for food.

Warwick Through the Fog

Warwick Through the Fog

Since the most obvious point to attack was the entrance, steps were taken to make the Gatehouse as strong as possible. Its first defense, the moat (usually a dry one, as at Warwick), had to be crossed by a drawbridge that could be raised by various means, including chains worked by a windlass inside the Gatehouse. The heavy entrance-door, opening outwards and studded with iron bolts, was backed by a portcullis, a great iron frame which could be let down through a slot in the vaulting of the entrance passage. Thus, if the wooden doors were smashed in or burned, the portcullis behind would hold and the defenders could shoot out between its bars.

Should the portcullis fail to be lowered because the mechanism had jammed or through some trick or treachery, the attackers would still find themselves in a roofed passageway in which they could be fired upon from arrowslits on either side and assaulted from above through openings in the ceiling known as murder holes. The passage would be closed at the far end by a second door and portcullis.

All these defenses, except the drawbridge, can be clearly seen at Warwick Castle, which also has, as an additional defense, its splendid barbican. This is a fortified outwork, built on the other side of the moat, so that it had to be attacked and taken before any assault could be launched upon the Gatehouse proper. Visitors who pass through the barbican's outer gateway will readily see that if the attackers did penetrate that far, the still had to advance along a narrow passage towards the Gatehouse, from whose towers and the adjoining walls they would be subject to a murderous fire.

One of the commonest ways of trying to capture a castle was to completely surround it in hope of starving the garrison into surrender. But, since this was necessarily a long drawn-out business, efforts would be made to take the place by storm. As a first step, part of the moat had to be filled with earth or rubble, the soldiers working behind movable shields called mantlets. Next, a battering ram or a sharp pointed bore would be brought up to hammer away at the base of the walls, the soldiers again being protected by a roofed shelter known as a cat. Scaling ladders might be tried, as well as tall siege-towers from the top of which a bridge would be thrown across the battlements. Various siege-engines, such as the ballista and the mangonel, hurled heavy bolts and stones at the defenders but more to be feared was the mine, a tunnel dug beneath the walls and supported by wooden props, until, when all was ready, they were set on fire, so that the tunnel collapsed, bringing down a section of the wall to make a gap through which the attackers could pour into the courtyard.

The Watch Tower

The Watch Tower

Warwick Castle ranks amongst the most famous and daunting castles in the whole world. Its turbulent history even adds to the castle’s mysteriously magnificent aura. This massive stone fortress was constructed as a Wooden Motte and Bailey Castle by William the Conqueror. It was able to survive siege warfare to the Age of Medieval Knights and Chivalry and the English Civil War. One of the castle’s main features is its access to the River Avon. During the enlargement of the Warwick Castle, equipment and building materials were transported by boats to the castle site.

The two main round towers of The Warwick Castle were built at the front of the Castle. The Chapel, as well as a large hall, were also built against the south wall. Various additions were then made as time passed by – The Guys Tower and Caesar’s Tower were added at the end of the 14th century.

Celtic Cross Grave Marker

Celtic Cross Grave Marker

In Ireland, it is a popular legend that the Celtic Catholic cross was introduced by Saint Patrick or possibly Saint Declan during his time converting the pagan Irish, though no examples survive from this early period. It has often been claimed that Patrick combined the symbol of Christianity with the sun cross, to give pagan followers an idea of the importance of the cross by linking it with the idea of the life-giving properties of the sun. However this theory is now thought unlikely by most art historians, who think an origin from crosses carrying a victor's wreath around their intersection is more likely. Such a cross is found on the reverse of the Liudhard medalet from Canterbury in England in the 590s.

A distinctive Insular tradition of erecting monumental stone high crosses began by the 8th century, and possibly earlier. They probably followed earlier versions in wood, perhaps faced in metalwork. Some of these 'Celtic' crosses bear inscriptions in runes. Standing crosses in Ireland and areas under Irish influence tend to be shorter and more massive than their Anglo-Saxon equivalents, which have mostly lost their headpieces, and therefore perhaps required the extra strength provided by the ring. Irish examples with a head in Celtic cross form include the Cross of Kells, Ardboe High Cross, the crosses at Monasterboice, and the Cross of the Scriptures, Clonmacnoise, as well as those in Scotland at Iona and the Kildalton Cross, which may be the earliest to survive in good condition. There are surviving free-standing crosses in Cornwall, including St Piran's cross at Perranporth, and Wales. Other stone crosses are found in the former Northumbria and Scotland, and further south in England, where they merge with the similar Anglo-Saxon cross making tradition, in the Ruthwell Cross for example. By about 1200 the initial wave of cross building came in to an end in Ireland.
A Celtic cross in a 16th century church in Hiiumaa, Estonia

The Celtic Revival of the mid-19th century led to an increased use and creation of Celtic crosses in Ireland. In 1853 casts of several historical high crosses were exhibited to interested crowds at the Dublin Industrial Exhibition. In 1857, Henry O'Neill published Illustrations of the Most Interesting of the Sculptured Crosses of Ancient Ireland. These two events stimulated interest in the Celtic cross as a symbol for a renewed sense of heritage within Ireland.

New versions of the high cross were designed as fashionable cemetery monuments in Victorian Dublin in the 1860s. From Dublin the revival spread to the rest of the country and beyond. Since the Celtic Revival, the ringed cross became an emblem of Celtic identity, in addition to its more traditional religious symbolism. Alexander and Euphemia Ritchie, working on the Isle of Iona in Scotland from 1899 to 1940, popularized use of the Celtic Cross in jewellery.

Bodium Castle

Bodium Castle

Bodiam Castle is a 14th-century moated castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, England. It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of Edward III, with the permission of Richard II, ostensibly to defend the area against French invasion during the Hundred Years' War. Of quadrangular plan, Bodiam Castle has no keep, having its various chambers built around the outer defensive walls and inner courts. Its corners and entrance are marked by towers, and topped by crenellations. Its structure, details and situation in an artificial watery landscape indicate that display was an important aspect of the castle's design as well as defence. It was the home of the Dalyngrigge family and the centre of the manor of Bodiam.

Possession of Bodiam Castle passed through several generations of Dalyngrigges, until their line became extinct, when the castle passed by marriage to the Lewknor family. During the Wars of the Roses, Sir Thomas Lewknor supported the House of Lancaster, and when Richard III of the House of York became king in 1483, a force was despatched to besiege Bodiam Castle. It is unrecorded whether the siege went ahead, but it is thought that Bodiam was surrendered without much resistance. The castle was confiscated, but it was returned to the Lewknors when Henry VII of the House of Lancaster became king in 1485. Descendants of the Lewknors owned the castle until at least the 16th century.

By the start of the English Civil War in 1641, Bodiam Castle was owned by John Tufton. He supported the Royalist cause, and sold the castle to help pay fines levied against him by Parliament. The castle was subsequently dismantled, and was left as a picturesque ruin until its purchase by John Fuller in 1829. Under his auspices, the castle was partially restored before being sold to George Cubitt, 1st Baron Ashcombe, and later to Lord Curzon, both of whom undertook restoration projects at Bodiam.